National Highway 320 reopened yesterday, bringing Kunming closer to Yunnan's second largest city, Qujing, which is now just over an hour's drive away, almost half the previous travel time. The renovation, which took two years and 3 billion yuan to finish, comes a few months after the completion of a new highway shortening the drive from Kunming to Dali to under four hours.

The four-lane, 76-kilometer Kunming-Qujing Highway (昆曲公路) is expected to greatly improve the economic prospects for Qujing, which has a population of 5.4 million and is already one of the richer cities in China in terms of per capita purchasing power parity. Qujing's tourism sector will likely receive a big boost from easier access to visitors coming from Kunming to scenic areas around the city such as Luoping. At present, tobacco, automobiles, power generation and chemical engineering are pillar industries in Qujing.

This morning Kunming International Academy (KIA) and the Kunming government celebrated International Children's Day with a groundbreaking ceremony for KIA's new campus in the Kunming Economic and Technological Development Zone (ETDZ).

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by more than four hundred people including the entire KIA student body - more than 200 students from over 20 countries. KIA staff, representatives of the Kunming municipal government and diplomatic staff from the Malaysian, Cambodian and Thai consulates in Kunming were also in attendance.

The Kunming government and Kunming ETDZ both showed strong support for KIA's expansion into its new campus. The site was decorated with banners welcoming KIA to the zone, featuring statements in Chinese such as "Warmly welcome international friends from all over the world!" and "Build the international academy into a cradle for development of international-style talent!"

After opening addresses by KIA Director Eric Alfrey and the director of Kunming ETDZ, KIA music director Lynne Picker led a student choir performance featuring a well-received vocal solo by secondary student Solomon Dixon. The performance was followed by school and government representatives breaking ground on the new campus with shovels.

Founded in 1994, KIA is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and teaches students from the Junior Kindergarten level to 12th grade. KIA is currently located in the Yan Jia Di Residential Area off of Xiyuan Lu in southern downtown Kunming. KIA is expected to move into its new campus at the beginning of 2009.