Kunming Article

Kunming summary

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Kunming.

Kunming , or K’un-ming, City (pop., 2003 est.: 1,597,800), capital of Yunnan province, southern China. Situated on the northern shore of Lake Dian, it has long been a commercial centre at the junction of major trade routes. Originally known as Tuodong in the 8th–9th century ad and a part of the independent state of Nanzhao, it came under Chinese control with the Mongol invasion of 1253. The city became the provincial capital of Yunnan in 1276 and was visited by Marco Polo. It became a municipality in 1928 and was transformed into a modern city in 1937 during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), when Chinese evacuees from the north introduced industrial plants and universities to Kunming.