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Forums > Study > Specific books about Kunming

Hint for your search: There are a lot of titles featuring the word 'Yunnan', but rather few that feature 'Kunming', despite the fact that most of the former may have considerable sections on the city. And I think that most of the western foreigners here, anyway, very much feel that it is the province that is the overall interest and which remains the necessary context for the city - without this context there is considerably less to be said about what makes Kunming what it is.

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Forums > Study > Specific books about Kunming

Start early: get hold of Jacqueline Misty Armijo-Hussein's 1996 Harvard PhD dissertation - Sayyid 'Ajall Shams Ad-Din: A Muslim from Central Asia Serving the Mongols in China, and Bringing 'Civilization' to Yunnan.

Shams Ad-Din was the first governor put in to rule Yunnan (capital became Kunming) in the 13th Century. Interesting man, good governor, much about his building & work in Kunming.

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Forums > Study > Specific books about Kunming

See the book recently chosen by the Kunming Book Club (or Book Club Kunming - there's a forum thread, scroll down a bit): David Atwill's book, all about the massive 19th-century war here. There's a good bit about the Kunming Massacre, but it's all fitted into the history of Yunnan, without which you can't really understand the history of Kunming. It's in English.

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Not quite what you'd call a jumping place, but not bad at all for rather standard US-type meals, not overly expensive, and with a really good salad bar that's cheap, or free with most dinner dishes after 5:30PM. You can get a bottle of beer or even wine if you really want to, but I've never seen anybody do it - maybe that's just to take out. Chinese Christian run, and they hire people with physical disadvantages, who are pleasant and helpful. Frequented by foreign (mostly North American) Christians and Chinese Christians - was started by a Canadian couple associated with Bless China (previously, Project Grace), who are no longer here, but no religious pressure or any of that. Steaks are nothing special, and I avoid the Korean dishes, which I've had a few times but which did not impress me.

As a shop and bakery, it's very good bread at reasonable prices, of various kinds (Y18 for a good multigrain loaf that certainly weighs well over a pound. Other stuff too, like granola and oatmeal that is local, as well as imported things, including American cornflakes and so forth, which some people seem to require.

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Large portions, seriously so with the pizza, which is Brooklyn/American style, I guess. Convivial, conversational, good place to drink with good folks on both sides of the bar, especially after about 9PM.

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Really good pizza and steaks. The wine machine fuddles me when I'm a bit fuddled, & seems unnecessary. Good folks on both sides of the bar.