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On August 3, the Kunming government released a comprehensive development plan for the city over the next 12 years. In the course of the next dozen years, three core areas will be built up: 1. The main urban area (主城), consisting of the Guandu, Panlong, Wuhua and Xishan urban districts; 2. Chenggong new city (呈贡新城), located approximately 25 kilometers southeast of the main urban area; 3. The new airport economic zone (空港经济区), which will be northeast of the main urban area. Kunming will expand primarily to the northeast and southeast, with this phase of growth supported by the construction of the city's first urban rail network. Road connectivity between the main urban area and outlying towns including Haikou, Kunyang and Jinning will be upgraded to create a transportation network that encircles Dianchi Lake. Within the main urban area, an 'urban ecological control belt' (城市生态控制带) will be established, consisting of Xishan and Dianchi National Scenic Area. Outside of the city, the Qiaozi Snow Mountain scenic area, Xundian Red Tourism Scenic Area, Jiuxiang National Scenic Area, Stone Forest National Scenic Area, Yangzonghai Tourism and Holiday area and other tourist areas within Kunming municipality will be administered as 'urban ecological scenic controlled areas' (城市生态景观控制区). Five 'functional zones' within the main urban area will be created, with the area within the second ring road as the center of four other areas to the north, east, south and west. This is what the city plans for each zone: Center: Public services infrastructure and green space coverage will be improved and population density reduced. North: Heavily polluting industrial operations will be gradually moved out. West: Heavily polluting industrial operations will be gradually moved out. South: With the pending retirement of Kunming Wujiaba International Airport, the area currently occupied by the airport will be redeveloped for urban use. The airport land plus the nearby exhibition halls and Baohai Park will serve as a secondary city center. At the same time, Dianchi National Scenic Area, Caohai Ecological Park and Daguan Park will be built up into a sports, leisure and tourism area. There will also be extensive residential space in the area, as well as many municipal administrative offices and traffic infrastructure leading out of Kunming. East: The layout and composition of the Kunming Economic Development Zone will be optimized so that it serves as a more streamlined industrial hub. Tags: Caohai, Chenggong, city expansion, Stone Forest, urban rail network Kunming announces plans for urban rail networkThursday, 15th May 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Its streets increasingly choked with traffic, its buses full and urban sprawl pushing development southward, Kunming is preparing to start construction on its first urban rail line, perhaps before the end of the year, according to local media reports citing Kunming Municipal Traffic Research Institute Director Lin Wei. According to Lin, the Kunming Municipal High-Speed Rail Transportation Network Plan has already been completed. The plan includes a total of six high-speed rail lines covering a total of 162 kilometers (100 miles). Pending governmental approval, it is hoped that phase one of the project will begin before the end of this year. The first phase of the network, Line 1, will connect downtown Kunming with the university campuses in the south of Chenggong, a county that is technically part of Kunming Municipality. Shortly after approval is obtained and construction begins on Line 1, work is expected to begin on Line 2, which will connect Kunming's northern suburbs with the northern shore of Dianchi Lake. The two areas boast some of the city's highest concentrations of wealth with the north shore of Dianchi to become more economically dynamic via developer Shui On Land's Caohai Urban North Shore project, which is expected to cover 87 hectares and feature commercial and residential space as well as museums, theaters, an amphitheater and an "artist's community". Other proposed lines include: Line 3: Ma Jie (west Kunming) to Liangmian Temple (east Kunming) Line 4: High-tech Park (northwest Kunming) through downtown Kunming and Kunming ETDZ to Chenggong New Area Bailongtan Line 5: World Horticultural Expo Gardens (northeastern Kunming) through downtown Kunming to Dianchi Holiday Area (southwestern Kunming) Line 6: Downtown Kunming to New Airport Construction of Line 1 is expected to cost as much as 32 billion yuan (US$4.5 billion), with each kilometer of above-ground light rail costing around 250 million yuan and each kilometer of underground subway expected to cost between 400 million and 800 million yuan. According to Lin Wei, all rail lines within Erhuan Lu – Kunming's second ring road – will be underground. No time schedules were provided for completion of the lines and no companies were mentioned with regards to supplying or building the network. Shanghai subway image: New York Times Tags: Chenggong, Dianchi Holiday Area, Kunming ETDZ, light rail, Lin Wei, new airport, subway, World Horticultural Expo Gardens Official seeks resurrection of Southwestern Associated UniversityWednesday, 12th March 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Like many Chinese cities, Kunming's education sector is booming. Major universities are building massive new campuses in nearby Chenggong, English schools are heaving with students and a growing number of foreigners are coming to the city to study Chinese. If provincial education officials have their way, some of China's top universities will also reestablish a presence in Kunming, a city they fled to during World War II. At Monday's meeting in Beijing of the National People's Congress, Yunnan's provincial education minister Luo Chongmin (罗崇敏) proposed the revival of National Southwestern Associated University (国立西南联合大学), a short-lived university that was comprised of staff and students from north China's top schools who fled China's war-ravaged east after open hostilities broke out between China and Japan in 1937. The university was located on what today is the campus of Yunnan Normal University on Yieryi Dajie. There are several statues and a small pavilion commemorating the wartime university on the Yunnan Normal campus today (see image above).
This population from the north that adopted Kunming as their new home had a major demographic influence on the city – despite being one of China's southernmost cities, Kunming's local dialect is generally considered to be a 'northern' dialect. Luo proposed on Monday that the new incarnation of National Southwestern Associated University be a collaborative effort between Tsinghua, Peking University, Nankai and Yunnan Normal University. Combining the educational resources of the four schools under preferential government policies would contribute greatly to the development of both Kunming and Yunnan, he argued. So far there has been no official response from the universities or any government organs. Tags: Chenggong, Luo Chongmin, Nankai University, National People's Congress, National Southwestern Associated University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, World War II, Yunnan Normal University, 国立西南联合大学 Investment official resigns after falling asleep at meetingMonday, 25th February 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)Last week an investment official from Chenggong County – just south of Kunming on the eastern shores of Dianchi Lake – resigned from his post after being caught napping at a meeting attended by Qiu He (仇和), Kunming's top Communist Party official, according to Chinese media reports. Chenggong is being built up as a new center of development and investment for Kunming and is expected to become one of southwestern China's most important logistics hubs as it will serve much of the booming trade between China and Southeast Asia. Jiang Wenhui (蒋文辉), deputy director of Chenggong's Investment Promotion Bureau, resigned on Friday after being called out for sleeping in the front row by Qiu during a meeting on Wednesday. The outspoken Qiu reportedly woke Jiang up and criticized him thoroughly before the meeting's other attendees. Not surprisingly, many Chinese netizens have criticized Jiang's inability to stay awake on the job. What is surprising is the amount of support for Jiang that has appeared in Chinese forums and elsewhere on the web. Many participants in forums and bulletin boards have defended Jiang with the argument that little of value is said during such meetings. Xinhua quoted one commenter as saying "Speakers at many meetings just say big and empty words. It is no wonder that listeners sleep." Tags: Chenggong, Jiang Wenhui, Qiu He |
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