Kumming's Cuihu from the east, circa 1940s

Green Lake Park, or Cui Hu Park (), is an

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to r ...

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. It was established in the 20th century on the west side of the Wuhua Mountain and is sometimes described as a "Jade in Kunming". The park consists, in effect, of a group of 4 small sub-lakes linked by bridges in the traditional style. The lake was originally a water reservoir for the city. Green Lake is ringed by a street, and along the edge of that are restaurants and tea houses (some with rooftop dining), shops, and hotels, including the upscale Green Lake Hotel and Grand Park Hotel (formerly the Harbour Plaza Hotel). Green Lake Park was visited during '' The Amazing Race 18'' when the park was featured as the "Pit Stop" of the 5th leg. The park is just below the main gate to

Yunnan University Yunnan University (, Acronym: YNU) is a national key university in Yunnan Province, China. Its main campuses are located in the provincial capital city of Kunming. Founded in December 1922, Yunnan University started to enroll in April 1923. It ...

. The most famous building on the lake is Jiang Wu Tang, a tourist attraction.

Cuihu's Gulls

During the winter months,

black-headed gull The black-headed gull (''Chroicocephalus ridibundus'') is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic including Europe and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but some birds ...

s from Siberia migrate to Green Lake and entertain the crowds of visitors as they circle around and snap up bread, usefully provided by a herd of local vendors, thrown up into the air by tourists. There are performances of pieces from

Chinese opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...

s and of folk music within and around the park.

Statue of Nie Er

Located in the park is the statue of one of Yunnan's most famous patriots -

Nie Er Nie Er (14 February 1912 – 17 July 1935), born Nie Shouxin, courtesy name Ziyi (子義 or 子藝), was a Chinese composer best known for "March of the Volunteers", the national anthem of People's Republic of China. In numerous Shanghai magaz ...

, the composer of China's national anthem.

Gallery

File:Cuihu Park.jpg, Cuihu File:Cuihu night.jpg, view of the lake just after nightfall File:Cuihu panorama.jpg, Panorama File:Gulls in Cuihu.jpg, Wintering gulls

References

*https://web.archive.org/web/20100419200355/http://www.kmtrip.net/en/city/kunming/attraction/cuihu.htm {{Yunnan Geography of Kunming Parks in Yunnan Urban public parks 17th-century establishments in China Tourist attractions in Kunming Lakes of Yunnan