Kunming - Part 5 - Cultural Diversity

As mentioned in my previous blog entry, the Yunnan province is a very culturally diverse place. Because it borders three countries (Burma, Laos and Vietnam) it's not surprising that Yunnan is home to numerous ethnic minorities. According to Yunnan Nationalities Museum, China is home to more than fifty minorities and Yunnan has a little bit of everybody! Just for perspective, most (over 1 billion) of the Chinese you see are descendants of the Han people. The other minorities include the Zhuang, Hui, Can, Naxi, Dai and the list goes on (for the other fifty or so ethnicities). Kunming celebrates all of the minorities in the Nationalties Museum and Minority Park across the street.

The Museum, which sounds boring, really was quite interesting. You get a chance to explore the costumes, art, architecture, history, lifestyle and most importantly, musical instruments of China's people. What I liked most about the Museum (besides the instrument exhibit) was the fact that at 10am, we were the only people in the museum! After paying the student rate of 10元 for admission, we were free to roam the grounds, uninterrupted and free from the shrieks of the unsupervised children.

The affiliated Minority Park was a little more spendy than the museum (70元/person) but don't forget your student ID to get 50% off. This place was more of a tourist destination as there were junk shops everywhere and people following you, asking you to dress up like one of the races and take overpriced photos. However, it was still an enjoyable place. 26 of the Chinese minorities were represented with actual reproductions of ancient villages and buildings. If you're lucky, you can catch a performance in the local style. When we stopped for some cross-bridge noodles (过桥米先) we were treated to a Naxi-style song and dance. After that, we wandered around the park to each of the villages. The only problem we faced was that because we waited until about 1pm to enter the park, we didn't have enough time to visit all 26 villages. By the time we made it to the Tibetan village, they were closing down. Fortunately, we caught the zip-line ride before they went home. That was the best 15元 I spent all day.

Kunming - Part 4 - 翠湖 Green Lake

Today, there aren't many places you can enjoy art in the raw. When I went to Kunming's Green Lake (翠湖), I found it thriving with music and dance. As you enter you are met by billboards and line of junk shops. Don't dismiss this place on first impressions; just across the bridge and a short walk to the right you can find public traditional dance classes, music of every Chinese ethnicity performed on local instruents, local tasty snack foods and crowds of Kunming's diverse people.


After a brief lesson in Naxi dancing we passed a little comedic performance with live singing and erhu playing. Under a pavillion was a group of musicians accompanying a couple dancers and a vocalist. Understand that most of these performers are part of the older community in Kunming. The music and dance they perform is mainly passed down by rote; from family to family...and it's amazing! Throughout the park, there was at least twenty small ensembles. In these little bands, you can find all types of instruments from those made in Yunnan, to Western instruements to those found as far North as Xinjiang. And the best part about this park is that it's all free!


Towards the center of the park we found a vendor selling sheet music. This music was all written in numbers and Chinese rhythm notation. This seemed like the place to go if you were interested in studying Chinese folk music. The music was all photocopied in small plastic binders and only cost 2-10元 depending on how many pieces were in the collection. After moving on to the next performance I notivced a group of people set up behind the venue with music stands but no instruements. We asked what they were doing and they responded: “just following along!" Sounds like something I could do after I retire.

Kunming - Part 3 - Stone Forest

The Yunnan province is a geologically special place in the world. Besides having amazing places like the Tiger Leaping Gorge, you can also find a unique limestone formation known as Karst. About two hours drive from Kunming is home to a significant outcropping of Karst. Here, known as the Stone Forest, you can find all four different formations of limestone Karst including: sword,



Like most national parks in China (this one protected by UNESCO) you can find English-speaking guides. Our's name was George and for the few hours we poked around the park, I was lucky enough to hear all about the geological, historical and mythical aspects of the Stone Forest. I found it interesting the local village was in the process of being relocated. George said this was due to the tourist's complaints of the 'terrible smells'. He also explained that over 15,000 km of Yunnan's topography contains Karst formations and was considered in ancient times to be one the natural wonders of the world. Today, although beautiful, the park has become an over-crowded tourist destination. So, if you don't mind wading through people and waiting in lines to take pictures in front of the famous formations, you'll have a great time! George explained that the park's popularity is one of the reasons that Yunnan keeps the air so clean. The revenue created by the millions of visitors each year is one of the reasons this province keeps factories away.











As we wandered through the winding maze of limestone we admired the names given to the famous formations. There was the Sword, Kissing-Birds, Elephant, Tom and Jerry, and Pair of Shoes formations. Surpisingly, they represented the names pretty well (except the sword rock which was broken in the last earthquake. There were certain places where the stone surface was perculiarily shiny. George explained that these were places that were rumored to give certain luck when touched. For example, if you able to jump and touch a certain rock, you would grow taller. Another place, if your neck was able to fit through, you would become rich. I hope that one come true.

At one of the resting points, we were able to watch part of a show put on by locals. Check out the video as they perform a song and dance in the traditional style.

Kunming - Part 2 - Light Festival

Today's addition to my Kunming adventure comes the night of the Chinese New Year (Jan. 26th) and takes place in Kunming's park/carnival. On new year's day, we spent most of the day visiting relatives and non-stop eating. That evening we went to Kunming's famous lantern-style light festival. For only 30元/person it was pretty nice. They constructed a collection of scenes and characters depicting famous Chinese historical icons...in lantern style. There was everything from old style lanterns to Dragons and even Ultra Man made. Now, these weren't the traditional lanterns with a candle or oil burning wicks inside, they were definitely lit with modern light bulbs. Due to China's energy problems, it was advertised that this year, all of the light bulbs were changed to halogen to help with the environment. The show was quite long, it lead all they way until the ride section of the park(maybe a 3km or so). When Even though by that time is was around 10pm, the midway and rides were open. It was quite busy that night as people probably had the same idea as us to take a break from the family. We played a couple money-stealing games and rode one ride before calling it a night and walking back through the lanterns enjoying them one more time.


Check out my flickr site for more pics!

Kunming - Part 1 - Chinese New Year

We arrived in Kunming, Yunnan on Jan. 23rd, so we had just a couple days to prepare for the Chinese New Year. And "what?" might you ask, does the typical Kunmingite to prepare for the holiday? Clean. Clean. Clean. It's said that if anything (house, clothes, you) is dirty during the arrival of the new year, then it will be dirty the whole next year. That sounded crazy to me, but who am I to argue with thousands years of tradition. So, clean everything we did: all of our clothing, every inch of her parents apartment including the food containers, etc. And then we ate. The eating never really stopped. Every meal was prepared to the excess with all of her family's favorite dishes. We ate pork, chicken, beef, fish, lamb, every kind of vegatable possible, local cheese, rice, noodles and it was all delicious. On the day of the new year, we visited most of Karen's relative's houses, eating more and more at each place. At her uncle's house we got a chance to witness an artist at work. In the below video, you can watch as 10 year old cousin wishes us happy and lucky new year in Chinese calligraphy. At about that point, the fireworks began and lasted until about a week later when the festivities died down.

If you ask a Chinese person how they celebrate the new year, the most common response is: 'be with my family'. This was definitely true as I got the chance to be a member of the Yi and Liu families this new year.