Editor's note: Every week for the remainder of 2008 GoKunming will publish photos from the collection of Auguste François (1857-1935), who served as French consul in south China between 1896 and 1904, during which he spent several years in Kunming. The photos have been provided by Kunming resident and private collector Yin Xiaojun (殷晓俊). GoKunming thanks Yin Xiaojun for providing us a glimpse of Yunnan at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Year: 1902
Subject: First graduating class of Kunming's Wubei Xuetang (武备学堂)
Location: Present-day Jiangwutang (讲武堂), west side of Cuihu Park

Background:

The above photo is of 13 students from the first graduating class of the Wubei Xuetang (武备学堂), Kunming's first military academy, which was founded in 1899. The students, who completed three years of training, are centered around an unidentified teacher from the academy.

By the end of the 19th Century, a little over a decade before the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Kunming had become more than just a place to exile disgraced officials, it had become a strategically important outpost at the crossroads of China, Tibet and Southeast Asia. Creating a strong local military force had become a necessity, prompting the establishment of the Wubei Xuetang on the west side of present-day Cuihu Park.

The curriculum at the Wubei Xuetang featured four main subjects: Chinese language, mathematics, cannons and the military drill book (操典). The drill book used at the academy was a book of German military drills.

Shortly after the demise of the Qing, a new military academy, the Jiangwutang (讲武堂 – see right image), was built where the Wubei Xuetang had once been located. Today, the Jiangwutang is still standing. A large mustard yellow building from another era, the building is one of the most recognizable architectural works in Kunming.

Within the Jiangwutang is a vast, flat courtyard that was once used for military drills. The building's south wing contains a free museum which narrates the role the academy has played in Kunming and Yunnan's history.

Tags: Auguste François, Cuihu Park, Jiangwutang, military, old Kunming, Southeast Asia, Tibet, Wubei Xuetang, Yin Xiaojun

The rain has stopped and the sunny weather is forecasted to last at least through the weekend, making now the perfect time to get out and enjoy Kunming's parks. Here is a guide to some green spaces around Kunming.

Cuihu Park 翠湖公园

Cuihu Park is Kunming's most magical place. Located in one of the busiest parts of the city, it does just what an urban park should do: offer a break from crowded streets and honking cars, and give people a place to meet and talk, sing, dance, drink tea or just watch the ducks swim by.

Right now the musical ensembles are especially plentiful and elaborate, in celebration of the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. It is a good time to see some traditional Chinese music.

World Horticultural Expo Gardens 世博园

Cactus room in World Horticultural Expo Gardens

Located in the northeast corner of Kunming, the Expo Gardens ('Shiboyuan') are one of the city's most popular tourist sites. It's Kunming's most expensive park to visit, but is worth the 100-yuan entrance fee (Note: From tomorrow until October 7 tickets will be available at a special price of 30 yuan). Strolling the expansive gardens can easily fill the better part of a day. You'll see Chinese-style gardens and greenhouses, ponds and temples. Climb up to the top of Golden Temple for a great view of Kunming.

Heilongtan 黑龙潭

Heilongtan or 'Black Dragon Pool' is pretty far north of Kunming's city center, but if you make it a day and also visit the Kunming Botanical Gardens, it is worth the trip. As you enter the park, you pass through an impressive corridor of bamboo stalks. Pretty quickly, you arrive at a goldfish-packed pond surrounded by beautiful old buildings. If you continue to follow the path toward the "tower," you'll pass more gardens and eventually arrive at the top of a ridge in back of the park, with a great view of Kunming.

Kunming Botanical Gardens 植物园

Not to be confused with the Horticultural Expo Garden, the botanical gardens are a lesser-known Kunming gem, located very close to Heilongtan. From the gate of Heilongtan, take the street that dead-ends into the street where Heilongtan sits. Walk about 200 meters and the entrance to the gardens will be on the corner to your left. The gardens charge an admission fee of 3 yuan.

Kunming Botanical Gardens

The botanical gardens are not too extensive—you could easily walk through them in 30 minutes. But on a sunny day, you'll probably want to relax with a book on the grass by the big flower-lined pond in the back of the gardens.

The botanical gardens and Heilongtan can easily be done together in one day.

Daguan Park 大观公园

Daguan Park statues

Located to the southwest of the city center, where a slim finger of Dianchi Lake pokes into the city, Da Guan is about the same size as Cuihu, but with a more linear layout. There is an entrance fee of 10 yuan. For 15 yuan, you can hire a long boat (with a captain) for a few friends to get a closer look at Dianchi. Or you can rent two-seat bicycle (10 yuan) or even a three-seater (15 yuan). The park also has a bunch of carnival games, including something that resembles a cross between a cannon-shooting range and a batting cage. And there are several hokey, creaky, colorful rollercoasters that are just as much fun to look at as we think they'd be to ride. In the back of the park, you'll also find a quiet sculpture garden with a few interesting pieces, and some old locals flying kites.

Wenmiao Tea Garden 文庙茶园

On Renmin Zhong Lu, just past the Wuhua district government building (the tall blue pagoda-shaped building), Wenmiao Tea Garden is tucked into the city so neatly it can easily be missed. For a 1.5-yuan admission fee, you also get a hot water bottle with green tea leaves. The small tree-filled park is composed of a walkway, a bridge, a large pagoda and several restaurant-style booths around the edges. Dozens of old locals play mah-jong and Chinese chess, but somehow there seems to always be an open seat.

Tags: Cuihu Park, Daguan Park, Heilongtan, Kunming Botanical Gardens, parks, Wenmiao Tea Garden, World Horticultural Expo Gardens

This week workers at Cuihu Park are shoveling through the muck as they drain the green out of Cuihu aka Green Lake, ostensibly to help the plant life.

"We must take out the lake water and let things dry in the sun," a sign stuck in the muddy lake-bed proclaimed, "this will make the lotus flowers grow and
flourish even more."

The seagulls were not available for comment.

Tags: Cuihu Park, Green Lake Park

Need a hug?

A group of Kunming students believe the city has become too unfriendly. On crowded afternoons by Cuihu Park they can be found offering hugs to strangers.

"Free hugs!" read the do-gooders' placards. One was written in English to attract laowai in need of affection. Chinese signs beckoned Kunmingers to "reject coldness" and hug a stranger.

GoKunming found its hug chaste, like a sustained pat on the back, but we like the idea. In spite of this call for public friendliness, not many passersby stop for an embrace. The students seem content to spread their message via their poster boards, standing passively by the waterfront with tireless smiles.

If you've been needing a hug, now you know where to go.

Tags: Cuihu Park, Free Hugs, Green Lake Park

Migratory Siberian seagulls have arrived at Kunming's Cuihu Park aka Green Lake Park. Saturday thousands of Kunmingese watched from the waterfront while others drifted among the birds in pedal boats.

According to a nearby monument, the gulls first appeared in the winter of 1985. Wu Qinghen, a Kunming native, became known as "Father Seagull" for devoting half his pension to feeding them.

"His spirit sets a model for man and nature living together in harmony," reads the inscription.

In a modern twist, opportunistic vendors circulate today's crowds hawking crusty sweetbread for feeding the gulls.

Tags: Cuihu Park, Green Lake Park

How do you say 'lawsuit liability' in Chinese?

The people at Cuihu Park are always trying to make the park more interesting for visitors, and we appreciate that. However we're still not sure what to think about the park's new attraction near the north gate: running around in rubber balls on Cuihu's surface.

We first became aware of this via Elizabeth in China, who has posted some video of children trying to get their bearings in the airtight spheres.

My ears!

This weekend we went down to check it out ourselves and it seemed that business was good. There were dozens of children queued up to be put into a zippable rubber ball that is inflated (it looks like the inflation hurts the eardrums a bit) and pushed out onto the water. Most children were unable to stand for the majority of their time in the balls.

Anyone with 10 yuan and no sharp objects on their person can run around on the water in a ball for three minutes. The balls are all on tethers that are used to keep them from going too far from the astroturf shore. Strangely, no adults were in line to join in the fun - maybe it's because of the ban on smoking and high heels.

Tags: Cuihu Park, Green Lake Park