K'un-ming

Settlements at a few favored basins, and strategic outposts were established very early, such as those at Kuei-yang and K'un-ming, but the vast extent of the territory remained under the local autonomous rule of tribal chieftains with nominal subservience to the Chinese Emperor.

During World War II K’un-ming received many refugees from eastern China and later from southeast Asia, and became a Chinese military base. It was also of great importance as the transport terminus for the Burma road and for cargo flown over the "Hump" by U.S. air forces.

Ninety-five per cent of the cultivated area of the country lies east of a line drawn from Tsitsihar (Ch'i-ch'i-ha-erh) in northern Manchuria to K'un-ming in Yün-nan Province. This is eastern China, and within it is the Chinese ecumene.

Julia Child helped one of the world's richer and more puritanical nations to view its menu afresh. A Californian, she worked for U.S. intelligence in wartime K'un-ming, where the American food she ate was "terrible" and the regional Chinese food was a revelation.