Saturday morning in Yuxi, Nie'er Cultural Square rocked out to the sound of Kunming's Tribal Moons as around 300 cyclists prepared to take part in China Vätternrundan 2009. Locals out for morning exercise showed some surprise at the gathering of lycra-clad, carbon fibre-toting enthusiasts.

The full race route of 175.5km went from Yuxi across to Jiangchuan, and then around Fuxian Lake, via Jiangcheng, Lüchong, Chengjiang and Haikou Zhen, before returning the finish in Yuxi. The route offered great views of both lake and countryside, and many locals came out and jia you'd their support. A shorter course of 78.8km finished in Chengjiang, at the north end of Fuxian Lake.

Darren Benson of Australia took first place in the men's long course, with a winning time of 4hr 40:44min, a mere 1/10th of a second ahead of David Tonks of the UK, who had to settle for second place. Liu Min of Guangzhou was 4/10ths of a second further back for third place.

The women's long course race was settled far in advance of the finishing line, with no need for sprinting heroics. Shi Yanmei took first in 5hr 7:54min, with Chen Lijuan next in 5hr 40:39min. Third place finisher He Hua came across the line just over an hour later, at 6hr 41min. More information about men's and women's race results can be found on the race's official results page.

The short course race was split into mountain bike (MTB) and road bike categories. Road/Men winner was Huang Pan (2:10:01). Road/Women winner was Amy Bainbridge of Australia (2:39:21). MTB/Men winner was Pu Jinxue (2:08:45). MTB/Women winner was Liu Ying (2:48:26). The split in categories seemed unclear, as some riders rode teched-out small-wheeled city bikes, and many MTB riders had put on skinny road tyres.

Course conditions were hot, with strong sunshine and a stiff breeze that blew from the south for most of the race. This took its toll on the participants as nearly 50 riders failed to complete their chosen courses. Organisation was handled well, with dangerous parts of the course flagged clearly, and the Yuxi police excelled at maintaining order on the course and offering help to riders in difficulty.

Vätternrundan started in Sweden as a recreational ride around Lake Vättern in 1965 and has since become the largest recreational bicycle race in the world. It is brought to China by sporting event company Nordic Ways, who held the event in 2007 and 2008 at Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province. We hope they return to Yuxi and Fuxian Lake in 2010.

High-end hotel and spa developer Banyan Tree Holdings signed a cooperation agreement with Kunming Urban Construction Real Estate Development Co on Monday to build the luxury Angsana Hotel and Banyan Tree Villa in north Kunming's Platinum Avenue Business District, according to local media reports.

The double hotel development will make Kunming the third project location for Singapore-based Banyan Tree, which already has hotel and spa facilities in Lijiang and Ringha, near Shangri-la.

In addition to entering the Kunming market, Banyan Tree is also reportedly planning to build hotel and spa facilities in Dali, Chengjiang and Yuanyang, all of which will be built in conjunction with Kunming Urban Construction.

The Kunming Angsana Hotel and Banyan Tree Villa (see above image) will be 10 stories high and will feature eight restaurants and bars plus spa and meeting facilities. The Banyan Tree Villa will have 150 guest rooms and the Angsana Hotel will have 285 guest rooms.

Kunming Mayor Zhang Zulin, who spoke at Monday's signing ceremony, noted that the completion of the Angsana Hotel and Banyan Tree Villa will have a positive impact on Kunming's northern area, helping to solidify its position as a central business district and also raising property values in the area.

Image: shxb.net

Yang Liping to unveil new dance and music production
Yunnan native and dancer Yang Liping (杨丽萍) will unveil 'Yunnan Sound', her newest dance and music production, at the Yunnan Art Institute's Experimental Theater on May 7 and 8, according to a report on en.kunming.cn.

Yang, known best for her rendition of the Dai peacock dance and her popular touring show 'Dynamic Yunnan' has reportedly focused on making instruments of everyday objects from around Yunnan and incorporating them with traditional instruments and music from Yunnan's ethnic minority groups.

Three on trial for Yangzonghai Lake arsenic pollution
Three top executives from the chemical company deemed responsible for the majority of arsenic pollution in Yangzonghai Lake are currently standing trial in the people's court of Chengjiang County. The trial, which began on Tuesday, is expected to conclude today or tomorrow.

Chengjiang Jinye Industry and Trade Co Ltd CEO Li Dahong, general manager Li Yaohong and production manager Jin Dadong are charged with contaminating Yangzonghai Lake, which was previously the source of drinking water for 26,000 people.

According to Kunming environmental officials, the lake's arsenic level has been reduced from 0.128 mg/liter to 0.111 mg/liter since September. Yunnan Governor Qin Guangrong (秦光荣) has estimated that it will take three years to reduce the lake's arsenic concentration to safe levels, which is projected to cost approximately 4 billion yuan (US$600 million).

On a related note, the Kunming government just announced that it will spend an additional 280 million yuan annually on protecting the city's drinking water supply.

South Asian Gate proposed height raised to 333 meters
The planned height of the South Asian Gate (南亚之门), a skyscraper that will tower over Kunming upon its completion, has been raised to 333 meters. The building, which will be the highest in all of Yunnan province, was originally scheduled to be 316 meters tall, with more than 70 floors.

The multipurpose building will be home to Kunming's highest concentration of Grade A office space, plus a 5-star hotel, high-end residences, commercial space and leisure/entertainment facilities.

Fossilized crustaceans linked together in head-to-tail chains recently discovered near Kunming have been recognized as the earliest form of collective behavior on Earth and an important link in the evolution of life – and have raised new questions about some of the planet's earliest life forms.

The 525 million year-old shrimplike specimens, located in the fossil-rich Chengjiang Lagerstätte roughly 50 kilometers southeast of Kunming, have been studied by a team of scientists from Yunnan University and University of Oxford and University of Leicester in the UK with their results published in the journal Science.

The Chengjiang Lagerstätte is known among paleontologists for the fossilized sea life it contains, collectively referred to as 'Chengjiang Fauna'. Chengjiang Fauna is considered one of the 'Three faunas of the evolution of early life forms' along with Burgess Shale Fauna in western Canada and the Ediacaran Fauna of South Australia.

Chengjiang Fauna centers around Maotian Mountain (帽天山) and contains numerous important discoveries, including Fuxianhuia, the ancestor of modern insects, which was discovered in 1994. It is known for its abundance of ancient arthropods, which include insects, spiders and crustaceans.

A report in The Times of London speculates on how the chain of animals was preserved so well, during the act of migration:


It is theorized that the animals may have simply 'surfed' currents or perhaps moved through a pulsating movement. According to Oxford professor Derek Siveter "It's still a bit of a mystery and there doesn't seem to be a direct comparison with any living animal."

Images: Nature.com

Kunming municipal officials intend to create a trial court which will only handle environment-related lawsuits, according to Chinese media reports.

Should the court be approved by the local government, it will handle criminal, civil and administration cases related to crimes against the environment. Defendants found guilty of such crimes will be "given severe punishments and must treat the areas they have polluted to clean them up," according to the reports.

The news comes shortly after reports of heavy arsenic contamination in Yangzonghai Lake. It is likely that a large percentage of the more than 26,000 people living around the lake had been ingesting arsenic-tainted water for years. Now the area is suffering a shortage of drinking water, with the government shipping in supplies (see image above).

Local officials in Kunming and the counties of Yiliang and Chengjiang are now engaged in finger-pointing and responsibility dodging, according to the website china.org.cn. According to reports:



As China Environmental Law Blog puts it:



Yangzonghai relief image: china.org.cn

Yesterday at the Yunnan Provincial Tourism Industry Development Conference in Chuxiong it was announced that 11 mainland and Hong Kong companies will invest more than 90 billion yuan (US$13.1 billion) in Yunnan's tourism industry.

The group of eleven is led by HK-listed Shui On Land (瑞安房地产), best known for being developers of the Xintiandi and Corporate Avenue project in Shanghai. Total investment by Shui On Land in Yunnan this year is expected to reach 48 billion, more than the other 10 companies combined.

In December 2007, Shui On signed a cooperation agreement with the provincial government – today it is working on four major projects in Kunming, Dali, Lijiang and Diqing.

Smart Hero Group (骏豪集团), another Hong Kong developer, will invest more than 25 billion yuan in the city of Chengjiang, 70 kilometers southeast of Kunming. The project, located at the Sun Mountain International Ecological Tourism and Leisure Holdiday Area, will commence construction in September. Smart Hero has existing tourism and hospitality projects in the cities of Xiamen, Sanya and Chongqing.

Smart Hero's investment in Chengjiang is indicative of a larger trend in Yunnan – in addition to established tourist cities such as Kunming, Lijiang, Dali and Shangri-la, smaller cities and lesser-known areas in Yunnan are beginning to attract larger amounts of investment. Other examples include Pu'er and Yangzonghai.

Related article:

Property giant Shui On moving into Yunnan