Yunnan Province

We will spend the next six nights in Yunnan Province in China’s southwest. Kunming, the capital is called “the City of Eternal Spring” because, at 23º N and 1,900 meters above sea level, it has moderate temperatures year round. It was the home of allied operations in China during the World War II. At the terminus of the Burma Road, and later the Ledo Road connecting Yunnan to Assam in India, Kunming was an essential supply center in the effort to push back the Japanese occupation. One of my uncles was stationed in Kunming in 1945 as an army medic. I wonder if I will cross any of the same streets he once crossed.

We will follow in the path of part of the old Burma Road as we venture westward by bus from Kunming to Xiaguan (The old allied route cuts south here) and on to Dali, medieval capital of the Nanzhao kingdom, which was independent from Han control until both were conquered by the Mongols. Then we will continue our exploration northward to Lijiang and meet Jinsha Jiang (the Yangtse River) where it passes through the Tiger Leaping Gorge. (Notes by Curtis)