Visiting China–Yunnan Province
by Jian Ping
Kunming University
I flew from Beijing to Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province in the southwest of China, bordering Burma, Laos and Vietnam. Due to its high elevation, Kunming is known for its beauty and nice weather all year round.
I arrived at Kunming on a Friday, the day Francis finished his business part of the trip. I joined him at Grand Park Hotel near Green Lake and jogged along the lake early the following morning. It was nice seeing locals practice Tai Chi, walk along the lake, or simply admire clusters of blooming lotus in the water.
Liping and me at Stone Forest
Liping, a friend, drove us to Stone Forest, a well-known attraction about 60 miles from the capital. The new highway was wide open and we made it to Stone Forest in about an hour. I was impressed by the stone formation, seemingly out of nowhere, and how well maintained the site was.
We had a taste of the local bumpy road on our way back to Kunming when a segment of the highway was closed. Liping remained cheerful and made good time to take us to a restaurant known for its local food—a special noodle cooked in front of you in a bowl of piping hot soup, which was served with many small dishes of fish, chicken, and veggies. We left the restaurant full and sweating.
A minority elder with a Mao hat selling snacks at Su He
We flew to Shangri-la that evening and booked a car and a Tibetan guide to take us to Pu Dacuo National Park. Yunnan boasted 26 of the 56 minorities in the country and I was pleased to find out our driver was a Xina and tour guide, a Tibetan. The “paradise” of Shangri-la fell short of expectations, and Francis suffered from high elevation (between 3,000 to 4,000 meters). One attractive site in town was the Songzanlin Temple, a Tibetan temple situated on a mountain side.
Our driver took us from Shangri-la to Lijiang, an ancient town, a day later. The three-hour drive, which passed the “first turn” of the Yangtze River, turned out much more spectacular than Shangri-la, at least to our eyes.
Tiger Leaping Gorge along Yangtze River
Lijiang is quite unique, with its old quarters preserved (or restored) in the center of town. However, it had become so commercial and so crowded with tourists that we ended up spending more time at Su He, a smaller version of the ancient town about half an hour away. It was lovely and beautiful, with local minorities selling snacks in the streets, or wandering around to pose with tourists (for a fee). We would have stayed in this charming area if we had known about the many family-run hotels with courtyards.
We watched two performances in Lijiang. One given by a group of elders, many over 80. They played traditional instruments of the local minorities. The other, stated by students from the Minority National University, was dynamic, elegant, and unique.
We saw some minorities with their colorful clothing on the streets and couldn’t tell who belonged to what. It was nice to see them being represented, each by their own descents, on the stage.
Jian Ping, author of Mulberry Child: A Memoir of China. Visit www.mulberrychild.com, www.moraquest.com for more information. Mulberry Child has been turned into a feature-length documentary film by award-winning director Susan Morgan Cooper and will be released in 2011.
Tags: China, Green Lake, Kunming, Kunming University, Laos, Lijiang Yunnan, minority, performance, Shangri-la, Stone Forest, Su He, Tibetan Temple, Yangtze River, Yunnan
