Editor's note: GoKunming is publishing 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: 1903
Subject: Gongyuan
Location: Present-day Yunnan University

Background:

Kunming's roots as an educational hub for Yunnan trace back to the Qing Dynasty, well before the Yundas, Shidas and Jingmao Daxues of today started cranking out graduates.

As Yunnan's administrative center, Kunming was where young men from around the province came to take China's notoriously difficult and stressful civil service examinations. Those who succeeded had the chance to go on to the national exams in Beijing, those who failed generally turned to drink or did the dignified thing and drowned themselves.

In Kunming, the provincial-level exams were administered at the current location of Yunnan University, at an educational institution known as Gongyuan (贡院).

Every three years 1,500 hopeful scholars who had passed their county/prefecture exams to become xiucai (秀才) would come to Gongyuan to take the provincial exam. The few candidates who passed the exam in Gongyuan would be designated as juren (举人) and would be allowed to proceed to the national exams. Those who passed the national level exams were designated jinshi (进士), after which they were eligible for high-level official positions.

The above photo by Auguste François - taken 19 years before the founding of Yunnan University - is of Gongyuan's front gate, which is strikingly bare compared to the lush front gate of Yunnan University today, pictured below.


Related article: Auguste François, Yin Xiaojun and Kunming at the end of the Qing Dynasty

Tags: Auguste François, education, Gongyuan, old Kunming, Yin Xiaojun, Yunnan University

Long considered a business management backwater, Kunming will soon have its first international-standard business management training courses next year.

Shanghai-based China Europe International Business School, aka CEIBS, will be launching its Business Development Certificate Programme in Kunming in 2009, according to the school.

Since its founding in 1994 with funds from the European Union and the Shanghai municipal government, CEIBS has become one of East Asia's top business management schools. Now it appears the school is taking a hard look beyond Shanghai to lesser-known but fast-developing urban centers in China.

With the Business Development Certificate Programme, CEIBS and program partner Frankfurt School of Finance and Management aim to train approximately 500 Chinese managers in the coming four years, with the first phase of the program beginning this year in Hefei, the dynamic capital of Anhui province.

Kunming and Harbin – capital of Heilongjiang province in China's northeast – will be the focus of the program's expansion in 2009.

The program is part of a two million Euro umbrella project funded by the EU, which also includes another program that provides scholarships for MBA students from China's less-developed regions.

Tags: Anhui, business, CEIBS, education, Harbin, Hefei, Heilongjiang, management, MBA

In the last several weeks the tragedies of the Myanmar Cyclone and Wenchuan earthquake have shaken Kunming residents into giving what they can to help their neighbors who have fallen victims to natural disaster.

Seeing how impoverished many of these areas were prior to their respective disasters is a reminder of how many areas in this geographically varied and ethnically diverse part of Asia are in need of all kinds of assistance – even without disasters.

This Friday night at The Hump Bar, a free evening of music will be held to benefit the only school in the small Tibetan village of Jiabe (佳碧). The benefit show was organized by Kunming resident Matthieu Lelievre, who first visited Jiabe – his fiancée's hometown - four years ago.

Located in a Tibetan area of northwest Yunnan, Jiabe has a population of 130, with 30 primary school students. Remote and impoverished, the town is located near the Lancang Jiang, the headwaters of the Mekong River.

"The village used to be the county seat of Yunling until 25 years ago - they had all the facilities there," Lelievre said. "Then there was a flood which destroyed much of the village, especially government buildings."

"There was no damage to the one school in the village, but the government moved to another village, and the school hasn't changed since then - it's a 30-year-old building in pretty bad condition. When I saw it, me and my fiancée thought it would be nice to do something so that the children get a better study environment."


The benefit party at The Hump Bar is aimed at not only raising cash to renovate the school, but to also recruit volunteers to teach Chinese and English to the students of Jiabe village, Lelievre added.

Starting at 9 pm, the benefit show will begin with a Tibetan musical performance featuring performers from Makye Ame Tibetan restaurant. Afterward, entertainment will include a performance by The Tribal Moons plus DJ sets by Fan (formerly known as DJ Christian) and Lumberjack Jon.

All performers will donate their normal remuneration to the school and The Hump Bar has pledged to donate 30 percent of bar sales from the evening. A donation box will also be present for those who want to donate directly. Admission to the benefit show is free. For more information, call Matthieu Lelievre at 13708732507.

Update: Matthieu Lelievre contacted GoKunming and said the benefit raised 5,000 yuan for Jiabe's school He also requests that anyone willing to teach Chinese or English at the school contacts him at 13708732507 as teachers are urgently needed there.

Related article:

Earthquake benefit raises more than 10,000 yuan

Tags: education, Jiabe, Matthieu Lelievre, The Hump Bar, Tibet

Thanks to Kunming-based educator Ryan O'Connor for this video of some of his primary school students singing "Hello Goodbye" by the Beatles (甲壳虫乐队). If you have Kunming- or Yunnan-related video that you would like to share with GoKunming readers, please send us the link via our contact form.

Tags: Beatles, education, video

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.

Tags: education, Kunming Economic and Technological Development Zon, Kunming International Academy

Michael Sullivan, Fellow Emeritus at St Catherine's College, Oxford University, is in Kunming this week lecturing about art and Yunnan. Author of the book The Arts of China, Sullivan spoke yesterday at Yunnan University about art and art history.

Sullivan will give a second lecture this Friday at the Yunnan Art Institute's Drama College in classroom 110. The lecture is scheduled for 3-5 pm and is entitled "Impression of Visiting Yunnan". The lecture is free and open to the public.

Tags: art history, arts and entertainment, education, Michael Sullivan, Oxford University, Yunnan Art Institute

Yunnan University and Mumbai University have reached an agreement to begin educational exchanges aimed at improving relations between the two Asian countries, according to Indian media reports.

Under the agreement between the schools, Yunnan University will begin offering courses in September that are expected to include subjects such as Indian history, Buddhism, Indian philosophy, Sanskrit and Hindi. Professors and experts from India will teach the courses in Yunnan. Indian software experts will also help Yunnan University establish a software institute.

As part of the exchange, Chinese professors and experts will go to India to teach courses related to Chinese culture and history. A tentative course list includes Chinese language, Taoism and Chinese philosophy.

Tags: education, India, Mumbai University, Yunnan University

Kunming International Academy (KIA) has announced that it will move to a new campus in southeast Kunming's Economic and Technological Development Zone near Yunnan University's Yangpu campus. Construction is expected to begin this year and classes in the new facility are projected to begin in autumn 2008.

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. The school currently has more than 200 students from over 20 countries.

KIA is currently located in the Yan Jia Di Residential Area in south downtown Kunming. Land costs for the school's new campus are estimated at US$2.5 million.

Tags: education, Kunming International Academy