Encompassing 21,688 square kilometres, and with a population of 4.73 million, Kunming (known as the Spring City), a famous historical and cultural city, is also a beautiful tourists' destination. Neither cold nor hot, the city where people can enjoy flowers throughout the whole year is like spring all the time. It is therefore known as "Spring City" because every season is like spring. The city has appeared on the worldwide map because of its international horticulture exposition in 1999.

A classic museum piece is the unearthed relics of Y uanmou Man, from some 1.7 million years ago. The finding indicates that Chinese people might have originated in Yunnan.

Kunming has plans to become a centre of tourism, finance, horticulture and a communications hub linking China and Southeast Asia. Cities should bring together a combination of capital, talent, technology and information. The most important function of a city is to provide an environment conducive to habitation, transportation, services and transmission of information. Kunming has 10 city-improvement projects in the works, including a watersupply project at the Zhangjiu River, the project to clean up the Dianchi Lake, the construction of Caohai Ecological Garden and a clean up of the upper reaches of the ]insha and Zhujiang rivers. All this is aimed at making Kunming cleaner and beautiful. Now that emphasis is being put on the development of western China, Kunming has been chosen as one of the four trial cities to improve transportation and environmental conditions.

World Horticultural Exposition Garden

The China Kunming International Horticultural Exposition '99 was held in Kunming from May 1 to October 31 lasting 184 days. The five indoor exhibition halls included the Chinese Hall, the Man and Nature Hall, the Large Greenhouse, the Science and Technology Hall and the International Hall. The six special exhibition gardens included the Tree Garden , the Tea Garden , the Bamboo Garden , the Potted Landscape Garden , the Medicinal Herb's Garden as well as the Vegetable and Fruits Garden . The three outdoor exhibition areas were for different countries and regions, international organizations and enterprises. The annual average temperature is 15.1 degrees centigrade in Kunming.

Oianchi lake

Blue-green algae-which has threatened Dianchi Lake, the biggest lake in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, for three decades-will soon be out of control again. The provincial government has spent more than 3 billion yuan (US $ 361 million) during the past decade trying to bring the algae under control. Blue-green algae, a kind of water plant, grows easily in polluted water with a high concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus and with temperatures around 18 degrees centigrade. Too much blue-green algae will remove oxygen from the water killing fish and other aquatic life, and can turn Dianchi into a "dead" lake. Blue-green algae had been threatening Dianchi Lake since 1970s. In 1999, blue-green algae covered 20 square kilometres of the lake, one-fifteenth of the lake's total area. Since 1983, the provincial government has tried to curb the growth of blue-green algae. Four sewage treatment plants were built near the lake. They are able to treat a total of 365,000 tons of wastewater each day. In 1999, a government-led campaign spurred 249 of the 253 factories along the lake to stop dumping their industrial sewage into the lake. The government also spent 250 million yuan (US$ 30 million) to dredge 4.2 million cubic metres of mud. The network to collect sewage is incomplete, and more than 80 per cent of domestic sewage with fertilizers and pesticides still flow into the lake through 16 rivers.

The Gold Horse and Jade Cock Archways

The Archways are located in J inbi (Gold and Jade) Street. The archways, 19.5 metres tall and 14.7 metres wide, feature stone bases carved with eight famous scenes of Kunming. Included is the West Kunming, which looks like the profile of a sleeping beauty. One of the archways has the gilded characters "Jinma (Gold Horse) at the centre of the top beam, the other has the words "Biji" (Jade Cock). For five centuries, the two archways had witnessed the ups and downs of the city of Kunming. During the" cultural revolution" (1966-1976), the two archways were destroyed. These two archways were rebuilt in 1999 to cope with the development of Kunming. There are many legends about the horse and cock. The most popular one goes that a golden horse flying out of the sun and a jade cock from the moon descended on Kunming. Whenever they went, lush grass and tall trees would blossom in gold. The horse and cook sang and danced side by side, making Kunming one of the most charming places in the world. But the most distinctive aspect about the two archways is their architectural design, which combined mathematics and astronomy. Before the archways were destroyed in the 1960s, local people gathered around them in the afternoons during the Mid-Autumn Festival, waiting for a "wonder" to come. The local legend has it that between 5 to 7 pm on one Mid-Autumn Day, the heads of the shadows of the two archways would meet as the setting sun in the west and the rising moon in the east both spread light on them. But it is said that this only happens once every 60 years. The local people call it Jinbijiaohui, or "the sun and the moon join their brightness." However, historic records vary on the year of the wonder-no one knows exactly when it will happen again. People still wait patiently for this omen. Since the 1980s, the city's people lobbied for the archways' reconstruction. During the preparation for the horticultural-exposition, the city government included the archways into the project of the tourism centre. Over 50 companies participated in the construction. Two new archways were erected in April 1999. At the southern rim of the Horse and Cock Square, tourists come into rows of new buildings in Kunming's traditional style. Rice noodles, baked bean curd, and some strange but tasty insects will satisfy the choosy gastronomes. Across the street from these small shops, tourists will find a sunken arena-an open square of over 2,000 square metres about 10 metres into the ground. Purple-column archways guard all four sides of the square, a total of 24 elevators carry people up and down.