Two new exhibitions recently opened at Contemporary Gallery Kunming – "Blank Paper", a solo exhibition of Liu Jianhua, and "The Trees", a solo exhibition of Li Ji. Both are curated by Cui Cancan, one of the most dynamic curators on the Chinese scene today.

Liu Jianhua is an internationally-acclaimed sculpture and installation artist best known for his work in ceramic. Having trained for a time in Jingdezhen, China's main porcelain production center, he was drawn to its potential as a material for contemporary creation. He often uses it as a means for exploring the nature of material, such as in "Foam", a wall of white ceramic bricks with the texture of styrofoam, made specifically for this exhibition. "Blank Paper", from which this exhibition takes its title, resembles a giant piece of blank paper hung on the wall, with slightly upturned corners at the bottom. As the curator writes in his exhibition essay:

Liu Jianhua, Blank Paper, 2019 (detail)

That narrative structure takes the form of a series of rooms, each featuring a separate artwork installation, in what Cui Cancan describes as "scattered lines of poetry." Each installation occupies an independent space, but carefully-placed passages and lines of sight create interactions between them, as the spatial experience radically shifts from one room to the next – the viewer must walk around the obstruction posed by the wall of "foam" bricks, to find themselves surrounded by thousands of black flames lining the floor around them.

Liu Jianhua, A Unified Core, 2018

The exhibition closes with "Square", a series of steel plates laid on the ground with metal-plated porcelain disks, resembling drops of molten gold, laid on top. This artwork, first featured at the Venice Biennale in 2017, explores the properties of two materials forged under extreme temperatures and stresses. Steel is often a symbol of strength and power, but rusts and disintegrates over time, while porcelain, often seen as fragile, is nearly invincible to the ravages of time, frequently unearthed in near perfect condition after centuries buried in the ground.

The Trees exhibition view

As the exhibition title suggests, "The Trees" presents a new series of tree photographs by Li Ji. Li Ji trained as a painter and printmaker, and has taught for many years at Yunnan Arts University. His focus has shifted in recent years to wildlife photography, and he has visited nearly every major wildlife preserve and national park in Asia to capture the rare and often dangerous animals found there.

The Trees exhibition view

His recent tree photographs combine his nature photography with his painting background in an exploration of ways of seeing and representation. Most of the trees in these images are too large to capture in a single photograph, so he developed a process of photographing each tree from multiple angles, and combining them into giant images. These have been scattered around the exhibition hall, often standing upright in the middle of the space, changing the way we encounter what curator Cui Cancan describes as "A party of trees":

The Trees exhibition view

As artist Li Ji describes this project, "What I do is more akin to scanning the tree. What emerges in the artwork is not a specific moment, but a representation of fragments of time."

Both exhibitions will be on view at CGK into early April. Contemporary Gallery Kunming is a non-profit museum founded in 2018 dedicated to fostering connections and understanding of the art of Yunnan province, Southeast Asia and the greater international scene. Closed Mondays, except for national holidays.

Editor's note: This article was written by GoKunming contributor Jeff Crosby. Jeff Crosby is a longtime Kunming resident. He is a translator and curator of Chinese contemporary art and culture, and is currently Deputy Director of Contemporary Gallery Kunming. If you would like to submit an article for publication, please get in touch with us via the contact form.

Spring Festival basics

The first day of Spring Festival — called danian chuyi (大年初一) in Chinese — falls on February 12 this year. At midnight, the Year of the Rat will come to a close and the Year of the Ox will begin, no doubt with a bang. If you do not understand what exactly is going on during all the festivities, you are not alone.

The Chinese zodiac is a slippery and convoluted beast. Throw in related astrology, numerology and thousands of years of tradition and things get even more complicated. Below is a quick primer on what motivates people to do what they do during Spring Festival, and what you should expect if this is your birth year. It is a basic overview and not intended to be an exhaustive catalog.

Source: Chloe Evans on Unsplash

Fireworks

At precisely midnight, huge metropolises and tiny country villages alike will explode with the sounds and lights of millions of fireworks. Traditionally fireworks were used for scaring away bad spirits from the previous year and keeping those lurking in the new one at bay. More generally, a new year is seen as a new beginning, and fireworks help to clear the way of bad luck and misfortune.

This tradition has its roots in Chinese mythology. Setting off firecrackers was an effective way to intimidate the marauding monster Nian (年兽). Legend has it the demon repeatedly attacked a village during the new year and had a predilection for carrying away small children. Villagers eventually found the Nian could be frightened away by loud noises and the color red. The Nian story is reenacted during cacophonous new year's lion dance performances and accompanied by firecrackers and traditional Chinese instruments.

Also at midnight, under a canopy of fireworks, Buddhist and Daoist temples across the Middle Kingdom will be inundated with people. Temple-goers will pray and light incense and candles to gain merit. It is considered especially auspicious to release fish or turtles into temple ponds at the stroke of midnight. Less common, but still considered propitious, is to release birds.

Source: Sergio Capuzzimati on Unsplash

In Chinese, releasing any of these animals is referred to as fangsheng (放生), which loosely translates to 'letting a life go.' In a Western sense, this is akin to doing good deeds to cleanse oneself of sins. It is considered auspicious to burn incense as close to midnight as possible, which is called touzhuxiang (头柱香). It is best to do this in a temple, but can also be done at an altar located in the home.

Spring Festival family affairs

Holidays are always a time for family in China, and Spring Festival — or Chunjie (春节) — is no exception. No matter how far from one another they live, families will get together to blow things up, shower children with red envelopes stuffed with cash and most certainly eat and drink.

New Year's Eve dinner — or nianyefan (年夜饭) — is especially important, and in preparation families will clean their houses from top to bottom. It is conventional for people to dress in new clothes for the meal, further marking a fresh start. The feast kicks off more than two weeks of celebration — each day with its own specific traditions — which come to a close during Lantern Festival (上元节) on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Shazhufan – 'kill the pig meal'

Many rural families, especially in Yunnan, raise at least one pig and hold it aside for slaughter on the new year. Every part of the pig is used to make several different dishes, which an extended family will then share, signifying togetherness. The pig can be replaced with a goat or donkey as well, depending on what is hanging around the barnyard.

The meal is called shazhufan (杀猪饭) which translates as 'kill the pig meal'. Dishes made for this feast are often consumed over several days as leftovers depending on the size of the family and of the pig. Having leftovers around is significant because for many people the first day of Spring Festival is a time to do as close to nothing as possible — with the notable exceptions of eating, drinking and spending time with family.

Home decorations and their significance

It is also auspicious to hang red-backed poems outside of one's home and to mount the character fu (福) — symbolically marking the arrival of good fortune — upside down on a door. Often people paste hand-painted or woodblock prints of Yu Lei (郁垒) and Shen Tu (神荼) on their doors as well. These two door gods — or menshen (门神) — ward off evil spirits and prevent them from entering homes. Pictures of the gods can be put up at any time of the year, but are often pasted up just before new year to replace old ones weathered by sun, rain and time.

Entrances to homes can thus become quite cluttered, as many families also hang inverted sugar cane stalks outside of their front doors to accompany the couplets and other totems. This comes from the saying 'cong tou tian dao wei' (从头甜到尾), which means 'a sweet year from beginning to end.'

Source: Prince Patel on Unsplash

The Great Race: Year of the Ox

The traditional Chinese calendar is of course a lunar one, and Spring Festival jumps between January and February depending on the year. This new year is the year of the Ox, represented in the Chinese zodiac by the character 'niu' (牛), the second of all zodiac animals. Customarily, oxen are associated with diligence, intelligence and reliability. However, they are considered poor communicators and a tad bit stubborn as well.

Chinese mythology is not particularly full of stories about oxen, but there certainly are notable exceptions. One of the best known is entitled The Great Race (伟大比赛). This folktale explains why 12 animals are used in the Chinese zodiac and why they are ordered as they are today. The Jade Emperor, so the story goes, once called a meeting of animals — especially those that are useful to humans — who were required to participate in a race.

The top twelve animal finishers in the race would from then on each represent a year according to how they placed in the competition. As part of the race, all of the animals were required to cross a fast-flowing river.

The ox, being the strongest animal, had the easiest time crossing the river and carrying rat and cat, both poor swimmers, on his back. Rat, however, pushed cat into the river, and managed to jump on shore to finish before ox, making ox the second animal to finish and therefore the second animal in the Chinese zodiac.

The Chinese zodiac and the lunar calendar

In China, oxen are also in charge of the twelfth lunar month, a time of year rightfully associated with the end of winter. Additionally, as if it wasn't enough responsibility to be in charge of an entire month, each of the 12 zodiacal animals represents a specific time of day. The Chinese double hour of 1-3am have been allotted to the ox, supposedly when oxen begin to chew the cud.

We could throw in how the five Chinese elements — earth, fire, metal, water and wood — affect the lives of people born in the year of the ox, but we will decline. Diving down this sort of rabbit hole leads to discussions of 'metal oxen', wooden ninth lunar months and every other combination you could imagine. Suffice it to say, this Year of the Ox is a metal year, meaning babies born over the next twelve month are notably sensitive, active, hardworking, and popular among friends.

Yak at Blue Moon Valley at the foot Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

Cultural significance of oxen in China

Idioms and slang

It is not an exaggeration to say the world of Chinese idioms (成语) can take a lifetime to master. Clever linguistic phrases concerning oxen are quite numerous – in fact, too many to explain here. One of the more interesting ox-related sayings is duì niú tán qín (对牛弹琴).

Broken down into its constituent parts, this phrase, at its simplest means "playing guqin to a cow", where guqin (古琴) is a traditional Chinese instrument, and is often translated as "to play the lute to a cow". The expression means that one has chosen the wrong audience, or "to preach to deaf ears".

There are many Chinese idioms related to the word ox, but the most common usage nowadays of the word, apart from referring to the animal, is to express something is awesome! "Tài niúle" (太牛了) means exactly that in modern slang. There's a slightly more vulgar version of the expression many may be familiar with, but which we shall omit in this introduction.

The battle of the Bull King and Sun Wukong. Painting in the Long Corridor of the Summer Palace in Beijing (source: Wikipedia)

Journey to the West

In Chinese literature, the sixteenth century novel Journey to the West (西遊記) — often known to Western audiences by the abridged translated version called Monkey — has an ox as one of its central characters. The book concerns a Buddhist pilgrimage to India, with the Ox King or Bull Demon King (牛魔王) being one of the most popular villains from the sweeping tale.

The Bull Demon King becomes sworn brothers with six other demon kings in the Chinese classic and was ranked as the most senior of the seven. He eventually gets captured by Nezha to be delivered to the Jade Emperor.

Cow on the high-trail of the Tiger Leaping Gorge

Oxen in astrology

Were you born in the Year of the Ox, or do you know someone who was? Well, here are a few stereotypes about this zodiacal sign you should know. Many of these character traits — both positive and negative — stem directly from the anthropomorphic attributes we humans assign to our truffle-foraging, wallowing and delicious companions.

Still waters run deep. Oxen are considered strong and reliable, while also maintaining a sense of calm. They don't take shortcuts and finish what they start with diligence. They are observant, intelligent and have remarkable memories.

Nonetheless, oxen can be stubborn and have fierce tempers. Dogmatic in nature, oxen stick to their believes, which are often rather black and white, and are generally deaf to others' advice.

Oxen are a great match with roosters, snakes and rats, and get along quite well with rabbits and dogs. They should, however, avoid tigers, dragons, horses and sheep. Apparently, an ox and a pig are not likely to become best friends either, despite being rather similar.

Source: He Zhu on Unsplash

What if the Year of the Ox is my birth year?

If your benmingnian (本命年) — or birth year — is that of the ox, there are certain traditional guidelines to follow over the coming 12 months. These are true for anyone celebrating their birth year and are not specific to those of the porcine variety. They may seem a bit strange, but failure to adhere to these rules is thought by many to result in catastrophe.

Benmingnian are considered to be difficult or trying times. At the start of one's birth year, people are often given gifts of red underwear or jewelry. They must be worn every day and are considered talismans against ill fortune. Not wearing these amulets, even for a single day, can spell disaster. People generally avoid eating their birth year animal during their benmingnian as well, which only seems rational. While this may be a simple practice for those born in the year of the dragon, considering the popularity of pork in China, this may prove a bridge too far for people born under the sign of the ox.

It is believed that major life-changing decisions should not be made during one's birth year. Weddings, childbirth, changing jobs or moving house are all out. According to Chinese tradition, things are much more likely to go wrong during a person's birth year and for this reason, talismans such as red underwear, have come into fashion.

Regardless of your birth year, the color of your underwear or the number of protective charms plastered across your front door, GoKunming would like to extend heartfelt best wishes to all of our readers in the Year of the Ox!

Source: Red Morley Hewitt on Unsplash

Zodiac image: Ancient-origins
Food image: Patrick Scally
Uncredited images: Yereth Jansen

Following three weeks of voting, we've counted up the ballots and have our winners for the Best of Kunming 2020-2021! Participation was up over 100%, with a total of 1084 voters, casting 3903 ballots in 12 categories. We'd like to thank everyone who took the time to nominate and then vote for their favorites. Now it's time to get down to the business of recognizing the winners, handing out some hardware and throwing a great party.

Awards Gala 2020-2021

This eighth edition of the Awards Gala will be held at the newly opened Chaba Brewpub on Saturday, February 6 at 7:30pm. Chaba has a great selection of authentic beers and a Dai kitchen.

The evening will center around the recognition of each of our winners, as selected by GoKunming readers and those who follow our WeChat official account. Each winner will be presented on stage with a framed commemorative award. They will each also get a three-liter beer tower provided by Chaba, and a coffee package by Yunnique.

Best of Kunming Awards Gala 2019-2020 video

Lucky Draw

As with the previous galas, we are planning an informal gathering — one with an emphasis on fun, thanking GoKunming's great user base and of course recognizing our winners. We will also hold a lucky draw giving away some amazing prizes, including a luxury two-night stay at a Villa in the Pullman Lijiang Resort & Spa, a One night stay at the Presidential Suite at SilkTree Hotel, five vouchers worth 1000 yuan each for a physical checkup at Richland International Hospital, coffee packages by Yunnique and several beer prizes by the event host Chaba Brewpub.

Practical information

This year the event is free of charge. Contact Chaba for advance bookings (tables).

Venue: Chaba Brew Pub 岔巴精酿啤酒餐吧
Address: 40 Huguo Lu 护国路40号
Date: Saturday, February 6
Time: 7:30pm until closing time

From ancient times until the advent of modern highways and railroads, the main means of long-distance trade and international commerce by land was the caravan. Consisting of sometimes hundreds of animals, carrying both trade goods and their own provisions for the lengthy, arduous journey, caravans began connecting China economically with places as far away as Europe from the early Han Dynasty. Because the main item exported from China was silk, the caravan routes became known as the Silk Road. The most famous route ran from northwest China all the way to Europe. Another, less traveled but not as long or grueling, was the Southern Silk Road, running from Sichuan through Yunnan and on to Burma and India.

Han Dynasty authority in Yunnan was intermittent and under the Tang and Song Dynasties, Yunnan was an independent state – the Nanzhao Kingdom during the Tang Dynasty and the Kingdom of Dali during the Song Dynasty. Neither of these states exerted much control of their southwestern territories, relying on autonomous local rulers to keep the peace. When the Mongols conquered Yunnan they set up an administrative center in Tengchong, but the area was still lightly populated and relatively lawless until the Ming Dynasty drove the Mongols out in the late 14th century. With Yunnan now part of China, the Ming encouraged Chinese settlement in the province.

A house in Heshun

Traffic on the Southern Silk Road revived and as Tengchong was the last major stop inside China before crossing into Burma, immigrants arrived in droves and established businesses that thrived. The city's setting was part of the attraction. At an elevation of 1640 meters, with a mild climate year-round, it sits on a broad plain with mountains standing in a horseshoe shape around it – the opening to the south. The land produced grain, sugarcane, tea leaves and oil crops. Around 400 years ago tobacco cultivation began, generally on the slopes of the volcanoes north of the city. The very high-quality tobacco nowadays is usually blended with other Yunnan tobaccos.

A house in Heshun

Tengchong was also a transit point for silk and other items from Sichuan and Yunnan. The city's main import was Burmese jade, which the city's craftsmen carved and prepared for export all over China. The jade business is still part of the city, augmented in recent years by Burmese amber. The city holds a Jade and Amber Bazaar every five days, attracting merchants from both China and Myanmar.

As their businesses prospered, some merchants left home to expand their business abroad. This was particularly true in Heshun, ten kilometers to the south. Heshun is a town famous for its high percentage of residents who became Overseas Chinese. Retaining connections with the homeland, they endowed their families, and the town itself, with funds for nice houses, as well as parks, pavilions and even a library. With architecture classical but influenced by foreign styles, obvious prosperity, quiet atmosphere, lack of slums, pleasant parks, views and pavilions, Heshun is a popular excursion out of Tengchong.

Heshun translates as Peace and Harmony, an appropriate name for a town that exemplifies those concepts in its layout and atmosphere. It lies on a knoll above a clear shallow stream, holding about 1300 houses and 7000 residents. Nearly every family has at least one relative who is an Overseas Chinese. In fact, the number of Heshun-born Overseas Chinese is nearly twice that of the town's current residents. Over the centuries it has earned a reputation for producing talent – scholars and educators, writers and artists, philosophers and rich merchants.

A pavillion in Heshun

A road winds around the base of the knoll and branching lanes lead to the houses, pavilions and ponds. A classical gateway marks the entrance to each neighborhood. The houses are usually whitewashed, with sloping tiled roofs and upturned corners. All of them look like the domiciles of fairly wealthy families. A few exhibit a mixed architectural influence, with standard Chinese style roofs – the corners turned up higher than usual – and very Western-like doors, balconies and windows.

The only non-Chinese style building in town is the large library on the campus of Yiqun Middle School. Set up in 1924, sponsored by Heshun's native Overseas Chinese, it contains over 60,000 volumes, including some rare ancient texts. The town's other public buildings all reflect the traditional style, embellished with carved beams, painted rafters and vertical boards of poem couplets, inscribed by famous calligraphers.

A pond in Heshun

Some of these structures stand in the parks and rest-stops, of which there are several, often beside ponds. The town has plenty of places for strollers to take a break and enjoy the serenity and scenery. The ponds may be active at any time, with children playing or women washing clothes, using stone anvils mounted at the edge of the pool. The women do their laundry under roofed shelters built long ago as a gift by newlywed husbands before they set off on their business travels. Yuanlongtan, about 1.5 km behind Heshun, has the most limpid water and lies in front of the town's largest temple compound, sprawling up the wooded hill behind it.

Back in Tengchong it is difficult to find traditional architecture, as such neighborhoods are scattered between concrete high-rises and are slowly but inevitably disappearing. The city does boast one outstanding natural attraction not far from the center—Dieshuihe, a waterfall that plunges 40 meters over a sheer cliff. Inscribed in stylized calligraphy on the side of the cliff are four characters that describe the waterfall as "a sword that sweeps away the dense miasma."

The words take on a poignant irony when one knows that in 1879 Qing Dynasty troops, fearing a revival of the Muslim Rebellion, massacred hundreds of Tengchong Muslims by hurling them over the falls. The incident, not mentioned on any signpost in the vicinity, makes Dieshuihe a kind of historical attraction. Another is the city's former British Consulate, a large, forlorn-looking building built from 1921-31 and abandoned when Japanese troops invaded Tengchong in 1942.

Dieshuihe waterfall in Tengchong

British involvement in Tengchong began with an expedition led by Augustus Raymond Margary to explore trade routes from Shanghai through China and into India. While he was traveling a little north of Tengchong, in February, 1875 bandits waylaid his party and killed him and his ten Chinese workers. Great Britain then demanded compensation from the Qing government, while local authorities countered that the British had not informed them in advance of Margary's trip. Well aware of the Qing Dynasty's decline and weakness, the British forced one of its 'Unequal Treaties' on China, this one called the Chefoo Convention.

Under its terms the Qing government agreed to pay compensation to the victims' families, arrest and try the killers, grant British citizens the right of extra-territoriality and make revisions in its trade policy favorable to Britain. Ten years later Britain took control of northern Burma and Tengchong eventually became a trading post for goods coming out of British India. Prosperity returned to Tengchong and prevailed until the Japanese occupation of Burma.

After the Japanese War came the Chinese Civil War, the establishment of a Communist system, the convulsions of the Cultural Revolution, which reached into even remote cities like Tengchong, and finally the Reform Era. From then on former businesses revived and thrived, while industrialization and exploitation of the county's natural and mineral resources accelerated. The construction of new highways across the province rendered access to Tengchong much easier, an asset which sparked growth of a tourist industry.

While it doesn't have the towering snow mountains of the northwest or the tropical environment of Xishuangbanna, the county is unique in Yunnan for its many volcanoes, some of them still active. Relatively young volcanoes, geologically speaking, form a partial ring around the county capital. Adventurous visitors can take a long hike up the side of one to see the crater and view other mountains from a high perspective.

Rehai hot springs

Most tourists were Chinese from big cities and unlikely to make such an endeavor. The geothermal feature more interesting to them was the presence of hot springs. Several of these lie scattered around the county, but the biggest is Rehai—the Hot Sea—about 20 km south of Tengchong.

Visitors here take a leisurely walk through the forest on a trail beside a creek. The hot springs pop up at frequent intervals, sometimes within the creek, or spewing from a fissure in a rock shaped like a toad's head, and sometimes out of a nearby pool. A few bubble out of man-made stone cauldrons, decorated with carved animal figures. The most impressive is the Big Boiling Pot, 3 meters wide and 1.5 meters deep, its steam, at 90 degrees celsius, gushing up several meters into the air.

The Rehai springs contain many minerals good for the health. They are effective in the treatment of rheumatism, arthritis and skin diseases. Near some of the larger hot springs in the nine square kilometer park are bath houses and steam beds where guests can indulge in such treatment.

A Lisu lady in Guyong

Tengchong's other alluring attraction is the presence of the very traditional Hua Lisu ethnic minority, living in the highlands northwest of the city. Hua means 'flower' and this Lisu sub-group is so named for the bright, 'flowery' colors of their traditional apparel, especially that of the women. Lisu tradition claims the Lisu had a kingdom in eastern Tibet before the Tibetans migrated there. Afterwards they gradually moved south through Sichuan into western Yunnan.

They are divided into several sub-groups, but share the same language – part of the Yi group of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic group and related to Yi, Hani and Lahu. They have no written system, but the Lisu preserve their history in songs, which can sometimes take an entire day to sing. The Hua Lisu, one of the largest sub-groups, moved into the mountains of Tengchong around the beginning of the 16th century.

A Lisu lady in Guyong

Security was an initial problem, for Ming Dynasty rule had not established control very much beyond the Southern Silk Road route. Bandits ruled the rural and remote areas. Finally, in the early 16th century the Ming Court dispatched Minister Wang Ji to conduct a pacification campaign in southwest Yunnan. To augment the forces he brought with him, he recruited local residents who had suffered from cross-border bandit raids, especially the Lisu, and gave them military training.

The campaign was a success, though Wang Ji died just before its conclusion, and law and order was established on the frontier. Other than being conscripted for government labor projects from time to time, the Lisu remained pretty aloof from the plains, practicing swidden agriculture, hunting and gathering and a basically subsistence economy. Over the centuries some of them moved to lower altitudes, straddling or flanking streams, and raised different crops on fixed fields. They were also involved in the logging industry in the past.

Hua Lisu village

The easiest place to meet them is Guyong town, 52 kilometers northwest of Tengchong, on market day. Guyong sits on an elevated plateau a few hundred meters higher than Tengchong. The town is Han-dominated, as is the immediate rural area, but the hills are just several kilometers away, full of Lisu villages, and some of them show up in Guyong on market day.

They stand out at once for the attraction of their colorful clothing, both men and particularly women. Men might wear a turban or a broad-brimmed hat, plus a long jacket, usually white or pinstriped gray, boots and a sash over one shoulder of discs cut from cowry shells. The women wear long-tailed blue coats with silver clasps in the front and brightly colored flaps at the back, knee-length pants and puttees or black rattan rings around the calves and a belt with embroidered tassels holding a long black apron with colored trimming.

A Lisu lady in Guyong

Their jewelry comprises many strings of beads, a stiff round collar ornamented with silver studs, buttons, shell discs or cowries, with silver pendants suspended from the bottom of the collar, plus other pendants that hang from the belt or apron. The traditional headgear is a round cap of a row of cowry shell discs, with colored cloth on top and in flaps over the back.

The most interesting time to visit Tengchong's Lisu is during the Sword Ladder Festival, on the eighth day of the second lunar month. They stage it in honor of Wang Ji, their commander in the pacification campaign. His soldiers revered him and said he was so brave he could walk across a bed of hot coals and climb a ladder of swords. This was a way of saying 'very very brave' but the Lisu took it literally. Every year brave volunteers run over a 'sea of fire' at night and the next day climb a ladder of 36 machetes, the sharp side up. Their only reward is the prestige from doing it.

Bridge in a Hua Lisu village

Lisu villages have a better material life now, with roads, bridges, schools, easy access to the market and other improvements. They are more integrated into the modern world, yet the Sword Ladder Festival proves that they cling to certain old traditions, especially those that are so tied up with their history and identity, that are quintessentially Lisu.

Editor's note: This article by author Jim Goodman was originally published on his website Black Eagle Flights. There you can find accounts and photos of Goodman's 40 years in China and Southeast Asia. Collections of his works — many of them about Yunnan — can be purchased on Amazon and Lulu. Goodman has also founded Delta Tours, where he guides cultural and historical journeys through Vietnam and western Yunnan. Recently Goodman has also started a Facebook group called Yunnan Discovery where he frequently posts pictures of Yunnan.

All images: Jim Goodman

On December 30, 2020, the Dali-Lincang railway opened after five years of construction work. The much awaited new route began its first run that day departing from Lincang Station headed to Kunming South Railway Station. The 15.5 billion yuan project is part of Yunnan's poverty alleviation campaign by upgrading infrastructure and connectivity around the province. It is the first railway line to connect the prefecture-level city.

Cruising speeds are expected to reach 160 kilometers per hour, greatly reducing travel time to the land of Pu'er tea. Initially trains from Dali will leave three times per day, while Kunming is serviced by a single train service daily. The trip from Dali to Lincang, which generally takes four to five hours by car, can now be completed within an hour and a half to two hours. Train services from Kunming leave at 08:19am from Kunming South Railway Station and at 08:41am from Kunming Station.

The new railway line has a total length of 201 kilometers with 19 stations overall. Dali (Xiaguan), Weishan, Yunxian and Lincang are the four stations currently accessible to passengers. The new route will also enable more convenient access to the Qingshuihe port in Lincang County – one of Yunnan's gateways to northern Myanmar.

Lincang Station

Lincang, famous for its Pu'er tea, is also one of the country's biggest producers of coffee. Coupled with a growing interest for coffee in China, the new connection appears promising to bring more attention to one of the less-traveled places in the province. Yunnan is still among China's top travel destinations, with tropical Xishuangbanna and historical towns at the Himalayan foothills such as Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-La attract the largest number of visitors.

Weishan County, despite being the birthplace of the Nanzhao Kingdom in the seventh century, is also one of the lesser visited places in western Yunnan. Directly accessible from Kunming by train, the ancient regional empire now offers an attractive weekend getaway for Kunming residents.

China's network of fast bullet trains keeps expanding rapidly around the country and now connects most major cities. Trains on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway are already reaching speeds up to 350 km/h. Yunnan province does not enjoy the same fast-paced development as do east-coast cities, which is partly related to challenges the mountainous landscapes provide for such immense infrastructure projects.

Despite those challenges, the previously postponed Lijiang–Shangri-La railway is scheduled to open the end of 2021. After its completion, it will add an important stop on Yunnan's most popular travel route and will be the first railway connection reaching the province's Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

You may have noticed voting is already officially underway for the Best of Kunming Awards 2020-2021. Until January 31 readers can choose their favorite Kunming businesses, establishments and travel destinations in 12 different categories. A separate, smaller group of categories in Chinese will be made available soon through GoKunming's official Chinese WeChat account.

This year, after having cast your ballot, live updates in this yearly survey can be observed by following the link above, or navigating to "awards" in the main menu. Each person can only vote once in each category, but may return to the voting page to participate in those categories not voted in before.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out our survey and submit the names of their favorite places! Each group contains eight nominees — except for the two destinations categories, which have more. These lists automatically include last year's winners and further include user nominations submitted to the website.

How to vote

Voting for 2020-2021 is open to all registered GoKunming users. Simply log in and then place your votes here. If you do not yet have a GoKunming account, you can sign up by registering here. Alternatively we now support Facebook, LinkedIn and Google login options and are working on supporting WeChat in the near future. Each person is allowed only one ballot, so make sure yours counts!

Now, without further ado let the voting begin!

On November 3rd, 2014, Taetea Group, the world's largest Pu'er tea manufacturing company, held a live charity auction event celebrating its 10th year of privatization. The event drew more than 3,000 Pu'er tea enthusiasts to bid on Taetea certified handmade 1kg bricks of pressed Pu'er tea leaves produced for the anniversary. Soon after the tea cake went under the hammer, hollering sounds of those eager to purchase the produce filled the auditorium. A Korean man named Seo Young-Soo took everyone by surprise bidding a whopping 50,000 yuan (roughly 7,650 USD). Seo Young-Soo further surprised people by donating the tea back to Taetea's museum.

Seo tells us the reason behind donating the tea cake back to Taetea Group. "I believe the tea cake will do more good as a memento marking the growth in Pu'er tea culture. I hope Taetea Group will use the donation to further promote Pu'er tea in Korea." He adds, "Korea is one of the biggest Pu'er tea consumers outside of China, but this fact is hardly known. So I went out of my way to leave a mark."

So who is Seo Young-Soo? For the longest time in his life, he was called "Director Seo". Born in 1956, Seo Young-Soo is a film director who established his name in the fledgling Korean film industry during the 1980s. His directorial debut is the classic Korean film "The Unnoticed", released in 1984. The movie had Seo making headlines as the youngest movie director in the history of South Korean film. He went on to write and direct significant films such as "Rose Motel" and "Seoul Emmanuelle". Later he continued his work as a director and producer in television as well as in advertising.

His first encounter with Pu'er tea took place while working on set with filmmakers from Hong Kong in the 1980s. Seo recalls how the Hong Kong crew members would carry thermoses with Pu'er tea. A couple years later, Seo was given the role of director for a documentary on the diplomatic relationship between Korea and China. It was at that time when a Chinese government official presented him with a Pu'er tea cake that Seo Young Soo found himself truly fascinated. Seo mentions that he loves the lingering warm sensation as much as he loves the exquisite taste and aromas. Seo then decided to take his fascination with Pu'er to another level.

Seo Young-Soo started to use his spare time between his films to travel to the origin of Pu'er tea in China. "There are over 100 well-known places growing Pu'er tea in Yunnan province. I have been to at least 80 of them." says Seo. With only a backpack, the tea enthusiast hiked the deep valleys of the ancient Southern Silk Road (茶马古道) and the snowy paths around Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山) in search of Pu'er. Seo recalls he had only started to describe himself as a researcher of Pu'er tea once he knew the exact roads to many Pu'er tea farms by heart.

A sprouting Pu'er tea leaf

Seo Young-Soo says there are too many tales from his many journeys to share that it would take days to describe them. He says the most unforgettable moment was his encounter with Jinxiu Ancient Tea Tree King – a 3,200 year old tea tree in Yunnan. He recalls the tree can only be reached after an arduous trip of crossing the Xiaowan Dam and a cave with no lights. About eight hours into the trip, he almost felt like giving up. But eventually the tunnel led to open fields of tea trees which he could only describe as overwhelmingly peaceful. When he finally found the ancient tree, he found himself astonished with its beauty and living history.

The Xiongda Tea Wholesale Market in Kunming

Some of his travels to Kunming also remain to be some of his fondest memories during his search. His experience in the Spring City mostly involved searching local markets searching for tea. Seo mentions some hotspots in finding good tea in Kunming. He says the Jinshi and Xiongda tea markets are worth visiting, as they are located right next to each other. Between these two, the Xiongda market was established more recently. Thus it has the convenience of better parking and a more spacious shopping area offering all kinds of Chinese teas. The Kangle market is also an attractive destination for tea lovers. It has a lively atmosphere with bigger crowds and is developed more recently than the other markets.

Like for most people in the world, Seo Young-Soo's expeditions have come to a full stop in 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Nevertheless, he does not stop practicing Cha Dao, the art of making tea. "Rather than worrying for myself and my inability to travel, I am more worried about those who suffer in this age of isolation." he says. Seo Young-Soo wants to communicate with the emotionally distressed under the current pandemic that process of making and drinking tea can help. Opening a jar of tea, boiling water to exactly the correct temperature and brewing the dried leaves into the well-known drink with that gentle green color can be very therapeutic – especially for those cut away from their ordinary lives, Seo explains. He also insists that drinking Pu'er tea could help strengthen immunity by increasing our body temperature and supplying antioxidants.

When asked about the first thing he wants to do after the current pandemic, Seo says he wants to merge the two biggest passions in his life: Pu'er tea and film. "If given the right opportunity, I would like to direct a movie about Pu'er tea in Yunnan. I want to share my passion and experience with Pu'er tea."

The auctioned Pu'er tea cake

Seo Young-Soo says both his passions are lifetime endeavors. Seo explains why. "Pu'er tea and Film has this in common – it is the art of patience. Pu'er tea requires time to grow, ferment and brew, and so does producing a film. A masterpiece is never made overnight."

GoKunming users have chosen their favorite Spring City businesses and Yunnan travel destinations for over a decade. As the tradition goes, we start the nomination process for what is the thirteenth edition of this Best of Kunming reader survey.

Winner's from the 2021-2020 edition are automatically entered as candidates, while all other establishments will be selected by GoKunming users. After the nominations are tallied, official voting will begin January 8 and run through January 30. The final results will be announced the week after, just before Spring Festival.

Submitting nominations

We have prepared a new system to make the nomination process more accessible and interactive.

• Find your favorite businesses in the GoKunming Listings section or through our improved site search. If the listing does not exist yet, you can add it yourself by clicking add listing on the listings page.
• Open the page of the establishment of your choice and click the nominate button.
• That's it! We will take care of putting each listing in the right category. Please note that only businesses located in Kunming can compete.

The seven establishments receiving the most reader nominations in each category will make the final cut, joining last year's honorary nominees, for a grand total of eight nominees in each group. Thank you to everyone in advance for your input!

2019-2020 Best of Kunming Award Winners

Best Chinese Cuisine

Winner: Tusheng Shiguan (25%)
Runners up: Hongdouyuan and last year's winner Heavenly Manna (both 16%)

Best International Cuisine

Winner: Cantina • Wine & Chat (38%)
Runner up: Salvador's Loft (16%)

Best Café

Winner: Salvador's Coffee House (37%)
Runner up: À Table Bakery & Café (27%)

Best Bar

Winner: Barfly (31%)
Runner up: O'Reilly's Irish Pub (Green Lake) (26%)

Best Night Club

Winner: Turtle Club (35%)
Runner up: Vervo Club & Bar (24%)

Best Brewery

Winner: Humdinger Brewpub (29%)
Runner up: EGO Brewery (26%)

Best Hotel

Winner: Sofitel Kunming (29%)
Runner up: Green Lake Hotel (19%)

Best Mandarin School

Winner: Kunming Keats School (78%)
Runner up: Yunnan University (11%)

Best Sports Center

Winner: Now Climbing (11%)
Runner-up: Haoheng Gym (10%)

Best Art & Culture Venue

Inaugural winner: Contemporary Gallery Kunming (48%)
Runner-up: Alliance Francaise de Kunming (11%)

Best Kunming Attraction

Winner: Green Lake Park (18%)
Runner-up: Western Hills (16%)

Best Yunnan Travel Destination

Winner: Tiger Leaping Gorge (12%)
Runner-up: Shangri-la (11%)

WeChat Voting Award Winners

Best English School

Winner: i2 International Institute of Education

Best Kunming Attraction

Winner: Kunming Old Street

Best Yunnan Travel Destination

Winner: Jianshui, Honghe Prefecture

Special thanks

The Awards Gala last year would not have been possible without our Best of Kunming Awards 2019-2020 sponsors, which included Keats School, Paulaner Brauhaus Kunming, Xintuo Travel and Wild Mountain, Yunnique, Silktree Hotel, Arro Khampa Hotel, Lanchie Dental, Chef's Choice, Sapore Italia, Manlao River Coffee, Hearts and Hands, Smalls Paradise Swing Dance and Dali Bars

On the evening of December 4th, 2020, a new promotional video for Yunfang Group, planned, filmed, and produced by CloudBridge, was officially released. The short film demonstrates the integration of culture, shopping, dining and entertainment in the Yunfang Cultural and Creative Park and M60 Creative Park – two of Kunming's popular areas among the younger audience.

The video release party themed "Anticipating the future · Yunfang and you" was hosted by Chen Lan, Assistant Manager of the Cultural and Creative Business Department of Yunfang Group with speeches by the company's president and the CloudBridge team. The event was also attended by representatives of famous cultural institutions such as Kunming Cultural and Creative Association, Jinding Science and Technology Park, Yunnan University Culture Development Research Institute, Yunnan Oil Painting Association, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics Tourism College, Chinese Musicians Association Erhu Society and many others.

The short film revolves around two people who work in the Yunfang Cultural and Creative Park and cross roads on several occasions. They meet at a coffee shop, in the Yunfang Museum and in a few other locations. After a night of drinks with his friends, the male protagonist falls asleep and dreams of their love story unfolding, only to wake up and discover it didn't actually happen. Going to work that morning they meet again, but how the story develops beyond that is left to the viewer's imagination.

This new video is a condensed account of the life, work, dreams and lifestyle of young people in Kunming. Through the combination of "Yunfang Reality" and "Yunfang Dreamland", It represents how one can experience music, art, culture, technology, love, and nightlife in Yunfang and M60.

About CloudBridge

CloudBridge – Media by Design is the company behind GoKunming and responsible for Yunfang's brand new promotional video. Apart from running the GoKunming and Destination Lijiang websites, CloudBridge also offers video production, branding, graphic design and international marketing services.

In 2019, CloudBridge worked with the Yunnan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism to produce "Yunnan – The China You Never Knew", a a 12-episode series of videos promoting tourism in western Yunnan. The entire travel show can be viewed on our "Destination China" YouTube channel, and on our official Facebook page.

CloudBridge also filmed and produced "Invest in Yunnan – China's Diverse Gateway Province" for the Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce. The video highlights foreign business investment opportunities in Yunnan through success stories of international enterprises and entrepreneurs that have successfully grown their businesses in the province.

CloudBridge has filmed many other small and larger productions throughout the last 5 years, including promotional videos for The Stone Forest, Lijiang and other places around the province. In 2018, we shot a documentary on Sani embroidery traditions called "Living Threads — Revitalizing indigenous embroidery in rural China", and we've helped local businesses such as Igor - French Bakery & Coffee Shop and Revolucion Cocktail with small video productions to introduce them to the GoKunming audience.

Last Saturday the Kunming community flocked to Kai Wah Plaza, for a fun-filled day raising money for Yunnan kids in need of a heart operation at the Have a Heart fundraiser.

The event was the culmination of weeks of hard work by many individuals, supported by Rotary Kunming and hosted by Kai Wah Plaza hotel.

A grand total of 316,000 yuan was raised, with donations still trickling in. For those who couldn't make it but would still like to donate, there is a secure online way to contribute. Generous gifts that arrived before the event even started included a 128,000 yuan donation by several Rotary chapters across China, a 60,000 yuan donation by Yunnan Swire Coca Cola Beverage Company, Ltd., a 10,000 yuan donation by Oishi Foods and more. A further 111,000 yuan was raised during the Have a Heart fundraiser event. Proceeds from the auction and raffle, money raised through sales from the food and craft market and ticket sales at the event raised the highest Have a Heart donation to date, far surpassing the amount raised at the 2018 Have a Heart fundraiser.

Event snapshot

In the spacious atrium at the entrance market stall holders were selling their craft products, offering a range of sustainable, healthy and/or homemade goods.

The auction and raffle prizes were displayed in the hallway.

Several well-known Kunming restaurateurs and aspiring superstar chefs served food and drinks, with all proceeds donated. Attendees could slurp Cantina's oysters, sip a Humdinger craft beer, enjoy Salvador's icecream or a French crepe from A Table, get their teeth in a Lost Garden taco and sample Jonathan's gumbo or Xiao Yang's classic Wa style cooking.

Sean and Sam of Turtle put a line-up of fabulous music performances together and provided the sound equipment.

Jeff and Lexi were the charming hosts of the event, calling out the raffle prizes to the lucky winners.

The dancefloor was on fire.

A great day was had by all and everyone.

Check out the video that Xiao Kris shot during the event:

Thank you

These are the individuals who made the event happen:

Salvador's Colin for being the heart of Have a Heart and Xiao Kris for doing everything behind the scenes and behind the camera
Kai Wah Plaza Paul and staff for the wonderful venue, food and drinks and raffle prizes
Rotary Kunming Selman and Tudou for support and donations, and guarding the bouncy castle
Turtle Club Sam and Sean for organizing the music on stage
The performers: Tymo Neuville, Stud Duck, Choco Bonnie, SOS and The 云南 Reggae allstars, Large Forehead 大脑门, Manhu, DJ Xiao Kris
Cantina Diego for coordinating the food market
Contemporary Gallery Kunming Jeff for overall coordination, art works for the auction and presenting
Lexi for presenting the event in style
Dan Siekman for running the silent auction
Audrey for coordinating the ticket desk
WenLan Vera for GoKunming articles and coordinating raffle prizes
Everyone who attended and added to the great atmosphere and donations.

A special thank you to everyone who donated:

A Table
Aling Crafts
Anthura
Arro Khampa by Zinc Journey Shangri-la
Asian Cycling Projects
Brooklyn Pizza
Cachet Boutique Kunming Artime
Cantina
Coca-Cola Yunnan
Contemporary Gallery Kunming
Crowne Plaza Gudian
Dada Bar & Club
Dangsters Dance Studios
Discover Cha
Dream Park
Flying Tigers Cafe (Shangri-la)
Gaga restaurant
[GAH] gallery art hub
Green Solutions
Hasfarm
Humdinger Craft Beer
Jade Emu Guesthouse Dali
Kai Wah Plaza
The Lilypad Inn Dali
Linden Center
Lost Garden
Mathieu's Shangri-la wines
Moon & Chalice Boutique Hotel
Now Climbing
Old French Bakery
O'Reilly's Irish Pubs
Park 1903
The Rambler Shangri-la Gin
Red Buffalo Trading
Salvador's
Sapore Italia
Slice of Heaven
Sofitel
Stone the Crows pub (Lijiang)
Tongde Turtle T3
Van den Berg Roses
Vervo Club & Bar
Village Cafe (Lijiang)
Wanda Vista Hotel
Wyndham Grand Plaza Royale
Yu Cong Enterprise Management
Yunnique Coffee

All photos and video: Xiao Kris