Historical Kunming

When the ancient kingdom of Dian dissolved and conquering Han armies from the north established new political entities in the area Kunming became the site of a new administrative centre. It was known as Yizhou under the Han and during the Nanzhao era it was the most important of the kingdom's cities in the east. After Kubilai Khan swept through Yunnan and annexed it to the Mongol Empire, he selected Kunming, rather than Dali, as the new provincial capital. It has remained the political, economic and cultural capital of Yunnan ever since, as well as its largest city.

But it is difficult to imagine what this bustling, sprawling, modern city might have looked like a thousand years ago. No buildings, city plans or records of the city proper exist prior to the Ming Dynasty. From 1382 on, though, the picture is much clearer. That is the year the Ming garrison commander Mu Ying began constructing a new, walled capital around Green Lake, imprinting Kunming with the classical Han-style urban layout and architecture that the Ming rulers were imposing on all parts of their empire.

The original governor's mansion stood on the big island in Green Lake. The walls began on the hill behind the lake, where the Yunnan University campus is now located, ran just west of the lake, more or less along what is today Dongfengxilu, turned east just above Jinbilu, then turned north around Huguolu all the way up to Yuantong Hill, where the zoo is now.

This was the core of Old Kunming. The rich and the important lived within its walls, but a sizable population resided in adjacent suburbs. Most religious centres and monuments were outside the walls, with the notable exception of Yuantong Temple. Lying in a capacious compound just east of Green Lake, at the foot of Yuantong Hill, it was the largest monastery in the area. The main hall was erected in the Yuan Dynasty, over what was originally a Nanzhao temple site. Expansion and renovation in later centuries have given it its present look. Its four gardens contain specimens of all the main flowering trees in the province, each blossoming at a different time. Thus, no matter what month it is, flowers of some kind are blooming in Yuantong Temple.

South of Jinbilu, at the end of a long rectangular grove, stood the East and West Pagodas. The grove is gone but the pagodas are still there. These pagodas were not the city's first, for a different type, sculpted with figures showing a strong Indian influence, went up in the Nanzhao era. A fine example, on a pedestal chiseled with classical Sanskrit inscriptions, can be viewed in the City Museum, near the corner of Baitalu and Tuodonglu. In the same building is a large relief model of Old Kunming, with its walls, buildings and monuments.

In the Ming era the urban area outside the city walls did not extend anywhere near as far as it does now. Forests lay beyond and in quiet, secluded spots on the slopes of the hills religious-minded patrons sponsored the building of temples. Most were too far for an ordinary excursion, though they are easy to reach by car or bus now. But one such temple, Tanhuasi, built in 1634, lies just 4 km from the city centre near the end of Renminlu. Named for the ephyllium tree (a species of magnolia) in the courtyard, it was probably the ex-urban temple most frequented by Old Kunming residents. Like they do again nowadays, they came to offer prayers, observe religious holidays, or just for the pleasures of the outing, the smell of the flowers and the appreciation of the rockery and the entire temple setting.

Even today, with buildings, roads and overpasses occupying what was once a woods, Tanhua Temple retains its charm. Just far enough from the main roads to be beyond its noise and stench, the compound consists of three main sections that rise gently up a slope. The first contains several courtyards grouped around the main temple, on the walls of which are mounted individual images of the Buddhas, inscribed on stone slabs. Courtyards feature rockeries, ponds, pavilions, sitting halls, flowering trees and, in the nicest one, Chinese couplets inscribed on marble slabs and fitted into the walls in the hall along the walkway.

The next section up is laid out more like a classical park, with its pavilions, shade trees, tables, sitting halls and morning tai qi exercisers. Ascending the knoll behind brings the visitor to a seven-story pagoda, up which one can climb for a grand view of Kunming. The city is also visible from the pond in front of the pagoda. The entire compound is an oasis of serenity in modern Kunming.

Old Kunming was a very tolerant place. Not only did Daoists erect their own temples, the Muslim residents constructed mosques in the Ming era, despite the fact they were brought into Yunnan by the Ming's Mongol enemies. The Hui quarter of town was the area around Jinbilu and on up to Dongfengxilu. The original mosque still stands on Jinbilu, as does a later one at the end of Shunchengjie, near the Provincial Museum. Both are in the Chinese style, which means they resemble Buddhist temples on the exterior. The difference is in the carved and painted decorations, wherein the mosques generally eschew depiction of people, and in the symbol mounted in the centre of the roof, which will be a crescent moon, not a lotus. The interior is, of course, simple and unadorned. Services are still conducted every Friday.

No major changes in the city layout came with the founding of the Qing Dynasty. Temples and pavilions, in roughly the same style, continued to be built, while those already up underwent renovation and expansion. Among the most imposing new buildings was the Daguan Pavilion, now standing in the lakeside park of the same name. The early Qing governor Wang Jiwen decided in 1690 to initiate large-scale building expansion on a site occupied by a seven-year-old Buddhist temple. The three-story pavilion went up first, affording a fine view across the lake to the Western Hills. A Qing poet, Sun Ranweng, composed a 180-character couplet which is inscribed on two boards on the pavilion's lakeside facade. The upper scroll extols the beauty of the scenery, while the lower scroll offers some thoughts on the seminal events in Yunnan's history.

Governor Wang added other buildings, lotus pools, the inevitable rockery and flower garden, plus walkways and small pavilions along the water. Nowadays a hotel and other new buildings have been erected, boat services established and high-rise residential blocks have spoiled parts of the view. But it is still a quiet and pretty place, especially at sunset and full moon.

In the closing decades of the Qing Dynasty small numbers of Europeans began arriving in Kunming. Missionaries were permitted to build churches in the city and by the end of the Nationalist era the city had three: on Wuchenglu, on Jinbilu and on what is now Beijinglu. The Christian congregation remained small, but the mission also provided hospitality and a degree of cultural familiarity to 19th century European explorers, business travellers and political attaches.

Life and commerce in Old Kunming ran much as it did in other Chinese inland cities. Residents lived in houses of brick and wood, with tiled roofs. The gentry built two-orthree-story homes with walled compounds. Most everyone else occupied smaller houses, jammed next to each other on cobbled streets. In the commercial quarters shop owners ran their businesses on the ground floor of their houses and used the upper floor for sleeping. Most houses had ledges outside the tiny upper floor windows, where they placed pots of flowers or perhaps kept a caged songbird. Certain occupations dominated specific streets or neighbourhoods. Vestiges of this characteristic persist today in the heart of the city, with beef merchants still on Shunchengjie and sign-makers on Wenmiaozhijie, the lane parallel to Zhengyilu.

Wealthy house owners and shopkeepers often hired carvers to add decorative flourishes to their exteriors. Artisans fashioned animals and vegetation in relief on doors, shutters, roof struts, awnings and window brackets. A bit of this art has survived in those parts of the old town that have not been demolished, such as the area west of Zhengyilu.

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