Although many of Kunming’s markets have succumbed to the recent inner city development drive, there are still a few gems tucked away. They are as diverse as the province’s many ethnic minorities and from the weird to the wonderful, you’re bound to ... Read More>>
Kunming is often viewed by travelers as a convenient staging post for the more advertised wonders of Yunnan, such as Dali or Lijiang. The ‘Spring City’ offers so much more, however, and Jinma Biji Fang, in the heart of the metropolis, provides an array ... Read More>>
For many foreigners, images of suppression and violence first spring to mind when thinking about the Cultural Revolution. Our Western text books teach us about perplexing persecutions and portray the Red Guard as a generation of youth unleashed to ... Read More>>
One of the first things that you are likely to notice upon arriving in China is how different the food is from the glutinous squelch that is served up in the greasy, generic ‘Chinese’ restaurants that are common throughout the West. Yunnan food, dian cai ... Read More>>
Two “D”s are often used to sum up the cityscape of Kunming; ‘destruction’ and ‘development’. Most of the inner city areas have been built within the last 20 years and recent figures suggest Kunming has doubled in size in the last five years. Deciding ... Read More>>
100 years ago near the Myanmar-Yunnan border, an intrepid French traveller planted the first Arabica coffee beans. Today, Yunnan coffee is recognised as one of the finest in Asia, something that Starbucks seem to have realised from their ... Read More>>
So you have finally come to the point in your trip where you want a decent cup of coffee and Nescafe just won’t suffice anymore? You want to sit outside and chat about life while sipping on a delicious cup of Java in the clean Kunming air? Well ... Read More>>
Kunming’s main art district goes by many names, some call it Kunming “Chuangku” (创库) or “creative warehouse”, others call it Kunming Art Loft Community. Following the same trend as in other major art districts around China, this art community is ... Read More>>
The Box 老夫子<br /> Somewhere in its five year history Laofuzi (Old Master) became The Box, or was it the other way round? Anyway, as a compromise this small, quirky bar anonymously situated in the middle of Wenhua Xiang keeps both names in Chinese and ... Read More>>
Housed in a former factory space in the Kunming Loft Art Community on Xiba Road, this top class space is much more than just an art gallery. It is an easy mistake to compare TCG Nordica (TCG诺地卡文化中心) with Beijing’s 798 art district because ... Read More>>
The last two years have seen an explosion in the number of Western food venues in Kunming. We’ve used the word ‘venue’ as a convenient term (or convenient duck out depending on your opinion!) to describe the restaurant-café hybrid variety of eatery ... Read More>>