Get to know Wuhua District
Photo adjustments
Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
- Administrative area
- District · 市辖区
- Part of
- Kunming
- Chinese name
- 五华区
- Local areas
- District guide
Area & population
- Area in the source
- 397.86 km²
- Population · 2020
- 1,143,085
Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.
What to see
The Green Lake and Military Academy scenic area (翠湖·讲武堂景区), a national 4A scenic area in central Kunming, combines Green Lake Park with the former Yunnan Military Academy. The district tourism bureau notes that the four streets ringing the lake are lined with cafés, independent bookshops and restaurants serving Yunnan food.
At 4 Cuihu South Road (翠湖南路), the Lu Han Residence (昆明卢氏公馆) was the home and office of Lu Han (卢汉), chairman of Yunnan; its older, 1930s block is a two-storey French-style building. On the night of 9 December 1949 Lu Han detained Nationalist commanders here and declared the Yunnan uprising. Other national heritage sites in the district include the former site of the National Southwestern Associated University (国立西南联合大学旧址), now within Yunnan Normal University (云南师范大学). They also include the Huize Hall (会泽院) of 1924 on the Donglu campus (东陆校区) of Yunnan University (云南大学), where the old imperial examination hall (云南贡院) is also protected; and Fulin Tang (福林堂), a building of 1857 on Guanghua Street (光华街). The Ming-to-Qing Yuantong Temple (圆通寺) is on Yuantong Street (圆通街).
Qiongzhu Temple sits in the flank of Yu'an Mountain and faces east. Tradition dates it to the Tang dynasty, but inscriptions record it from 1280, under the Yuan. It is known for its 500 arhats, modelled between 1884 and 1890 by the Sichuan folk sculptor Li Guangxiu (黎广修) and his pupils, no two alike. The temple, with twenty monks' stupas from the Yuan to the Republic, is a national key heritage site.
History
The Yunnan Military Academy (云南陆军讲武堂) opened in 1907 and, between 1909 and 1935, trained 22 intakes of nearly ten thousand cadets, among them the later marshals Zhu De (朱德) and Ye Jianying (叶剑英). Its main building of 1918 is a courtyard block mixing Chinese and Western styles, with a Gothic-style gate on the east side and a drill ground of more than 10,000 square metres in the middle. It became a national key heritage site in 1988.
Highlights
- Green Lake Park 翠湖公园: Part of a national 4A scenic area in central Kunming.
- Yunnan Military Academy 云南陆军讲武堂: Military school of 1907–1935 whose cadets included Zhu De and Ye Jianying; national key heritage site.
- Lu Han Residence 昆明卢氏公馆: French-style residence where the Yunnan uprising was declared on 9 December 1949.
- Qiongzhu Temple 筇竹寺: Known for 500 arhats modelled in 1884–1890 by Li Guangxiu and his pupils.
- Huize Hall, Yunnan University 会泽院: 1924 building on the Donglu campus, a national heritage site.
Sources for this guide
翠湖·讲武堂景区——国家AAAA级景区_旅游_昆明市五华区人民政府 · Wuhua District Culture and Tourism Bureau, Kunming
云南陆军讲武堂（国家级）_文保单位_昆明市五华区人民政府 · Wuhua District Culture and Tourism Bureau, Kunming
筇竹寺（国家级）_文保单位_昆明市五华区人民政府 · Wuhua District Culture and Tourism Bureau, Kunming
昆明卢氏公馆（国家级）_文保单位_昆明市五华区人民政府 · Wuhua District Culture and Tourism Bureau, Kunming
五华区各级文物保护单位列表 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
五华区 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-25.
Explore Wuhua District
Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.
Places to explore around Wuhua District
Yunnan Military Academy History Museum · 云南陆军讲武堂历史博物馆Yunnan Military Academy History Museum云南陆军讲武堂历史博物馆
The Yunnan Military Academy Historical Museum (云南陆军讲武堂历史博物馆) occupies the former Yunnan Military Academy site at 22 Cuihu West Road, in Wuhua District, Kunming. The academy operated from 1909 to 1935, is grouped with the Baoding and Whampoa academies as one of the three famous military schools of modern Chinese history, and is a national key cultural relic protection unit.
Read the place guide →
Kunming Botanical Garden · 昆明植物园Kunming Botanical Garden昆明植物园
Kunming Botanical Garden (昆明植物园) is the Kunming campus of a garden run by the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, standing in the Heilongtan scenic area in the northern outskirts of Kunming; the Panlong District government's table of A-grade scenic areas gives its address as 132 Lanhei Road, Panlong District. Founded in 1938, it covers 1,018 mu at an elevation of about 1,990 metres, with a sister campus in Lijiang.
Read the place guide →
Aerial view of the Kunming Old Street pedestrian district and surrounding cityscape, Wuhua District, Kunming · 云南省昆明市五华区昆明老街步行街及周边城区航拍 Source-recorded photograph date: 2025-05-16 14:55:18.Kunming Old Street昆明老街
Kunming Old Street (昆明老街) is a historic quarter of Wuhua District, Kunming, bounded by Zhengyi Road on the east, Wuyi Road on the west, Jingxing Street on the south and Renmin Middle Road on the north, which Chuncheng Evening News calls the only quarter left in the city keeping its historic character intact across a continuous area. The area has formed part of Kunming's urban footprint since the Tang-dynasty Nanzhao kingdom and had become the city's political, economic and cultural centre by the Ming and Qing periods, still holding many late-Qing and Republican-period buildings.
Read the place guide →
Black-headed gulls gather at the edge of Cuihu (Green Lake) Park in Wuhua District, Kunming · 昆明五华区翠湖公园，游人观赏红嘴鸥 Source-recorded photograph date: 2013-02-05 08:51.Green Lake Park翠湖公园
Cuihu Park (翠湖公园) is a lake-centred garden of older buildings in central Kunming, at the western foot of Wuhua Hill in Wuhua District, with about 15 hectares of open water inside it.
Read the place guide →
Yunnan University Donglu Campus Historic Buildings (云南大学东陆校区历史建筑), Wuhua District. Photograph: "Building - Yunnan University - DSC02352".Yunnan University Donglu Campus Historic Buildings云南大学东陆校区历史建筑
The historic buildings of Yunnan University's Donglu campus stand on Cuihu North Road in Wuhua District, Kunming, and include Huizeyuan, the 1924 main teaching block of the former Donglu University, and the surviving parts of the Yunnan Gongyuan, the provincial examination compound the campus replaced.
Read the place guide →Plan your visit
Getting there
Wuhua District covers the centre of Kunming. Search for 五华区 in a map app to find stations and your accommodation.
Where to stay →Build your route
Yunnan Military Academy History Museum and Kunming Botanical Garden are both listed here. The linked place guides have entrance and visit details.
Continue with Kunming →More in Kunming
Sources & geographic information
Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.
Some facts checked against 五华区各级文物保护单位列表 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against 五华区 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Yunnan Military Academy History Museum · Source photographer · License not provided. EXIF orientation normalized; resized without changing aspect ratio; converted to WebP. No subject edits.
Photo: Kunming Botanical Garden · 阿橋 HQ · CC BY-SA 2.0. EXIF orientation normalized; resized without changing aspect ratio; converted to WebP. No subject edits.
Photo: Kunming Old Street · 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Green Lake Park · drnan tu from Shenzhen, China · CC BY-SA 2.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
.jpg){kind=link}
Photo: Yunnan University Donglu Campus Historic Buildings · Daderot · Public domain. Full frame retained; EXIF orientation normalized, proportionally resized to at most 800 pixels and converted to WebP. No generated pixels or subject changes. Cards may crop the display.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins mark approximate centres, not entrances or boundaries.