Like many Chinese cities, Kunming's education sector is booming. Major universities are building massive new campuses in nearby Chenggong, English schools are heaving with students and a growing number of foreigners are coming to the city to study Chinese. If provincial education officials have their way, some of China's top universities will also reestablish a presence in Kunming, a city they fled to during World War II.

At Monday's meeting in Beijing of the National People's Congress, Yunnan's provincial education minister Luo Chongmin (罗崇敏) proposed the revival of National Southwestern Associated University (国立西南联合大学), a short-lived university that was comprised of staff and students from north China's top schools who fled China's war-ravaged east after open hostilities broke out between China and Japan in 1937.

The university was located on what today is the campus of Yunnan Normal University on Yieryi Dajie. There are several statues and a small pavilion commemorating the wartime university on the Yunnan Normal campus today (see image above).

This influx of professors and students from Tsinghua University and Peking University in Beijing and Nankai University in Tianjin had a profound effect upon Kunming's development as a city. After the war, the schools packed up and headed back to Beijing and Tianjin, but many of the intellectuals and other refugees that had come to Kunming had grown fond of the city and Yunnan and decided to stay.

This population from the north that adopted Kunming as their new home had a major demographic influence on the city – despite being one of China's southernmost cities, Kunming's local dialect is generally considered to be a 'northern' dialect.

Luo proposed on Monday that the new incarnation of National Southwestern Associated University be a collaborative effort between Tsinghua, Peking University, Nankai and Yunnan Normal University. Combining the educational resources of the four schools under preferential government policies would contribute greatly to the development of both Kunming and Yunnan, he argued. So far there has been no official response from the universities or any government organs.

Tags: Chenggong, Luo Chongmin, Nankai University, National People's Congress, National Southwestern Associated University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, World War II, Yunnan Normal University, 国立西南联合大学

Little more than two months after the announcement that Tiger Leaping Gorge will not be dammed, plans for damming the Nu River (怒江) in western Yunnan near the border with Myanmar may become the focus of the next battle between Yunnan officials and environmentalists and scientists.

A plan to dam the upper reaches of the Nu, known as the Salween River after flowing out of Yunnan into Myanmar, was originally suspended in 2004 by Premier Wen Jiabao. Premier Wen's order to conduct an environmental impact study of damming the river was considered one of the first major victories for China's nascent environmental movement.

Yesterday in Beijing, during the annual meeting of the National People's Congress – China's Parliament – the Nu River came back into focus as Yunnan province's Communist Party chief and trained engineer Bai Enpei (白恩培) told reporters that the provincial government still intends to build dams and hydropower stations on the river, according to an International Herald Tribune report.

"We are actively pushing the development of hydropower plants, including on the Nu River," the IHT quoted Bai as saying. "But their construction must take into account those downstream. And the environment must be protected. The people must also benefit."

A section of the Nu River flowing parallel to the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Mekong rivers is included in the Three Parallel Rivers Protected Areas, which are inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Bai also reportedly argued that impoverished local conditions along the Nu have led to environmental degradation, including rampant tree-cutting. He said that there was still work to do to convince Myanmar's ruling military junta that the dams would not be a problem for Myanmar, adding that he didn't think that would be a problem.

In a challenge to Chinese and international environmental groups – several of which have offices in Kunming – Bai said it was unfair to deny people living in the Nu River valley the chance at economic development.
"You cannot expect the people of the Nu River to keep wearing animal skins and bring in everyone to have a look in the name of ecotourism," the IHT quoted Bai as saying.

Image: www.calacademy.org

Related articles:

Report: Tiger Leaping Gorge will not be dammed

Yunnan governor expresses solidarity with environmental NGOs

Yunnan's water woes: Dams and Dianchi

Tags: Bai Enpei, dams, environment, Myanmar, National People's Congress, Nu River, Salween River, Three Parallel Rivers Protected Areas, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Wen Jiabao, World Heritage List