The Cuihu Green Lake Park in Kunming

Green Lake Park, or Cui Hu Park is an urban park in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. It was established in the 17th century on the west side of the Wuhua Mountain and is sometimes described as a "Jade in Kunming".

Two long dikes divide the lake into four parts. It consists of a group of 4 small lakes linked by bridges in the traditional style. Brightly painted pavilions on the islands inside the park, tree-lined walks, flowers, and the local populace enjoying themselves by exercising in various specialist groups all add to the appeal of the park.Green Lake is surrounded by a ring road, 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 Harbour Plaza Hotel.

During the winter months, black-headed gulls 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 Chinese operas.

The Green Lake is on the west side of the Wuhua Mountain is extolled as a "Jade in Kunming". Two long dikes divide the lake into four parts .The entire Cuihu Park is a green world, with willow trees swaying gently on the dikes, and the surface of the lake covered all over with lotus plants. All the year round the park is the venue of one sort of exhibition or another, and with its snug seclusion it is frequented by local residents who come here for a few hours of leisure. In winter and spring, Kunming residents flock to the Cuihu Park to feed red-beaked gulls - there are tens of thousands of them, which descend upon the lake.

This lovable scene, in which man, birds, and nature mingle in such harmony, has kept occurring over the last ten years. The love of the Kunming people for wildlife has added to the charms of the City of Spring. Performances of Chinese operas and people watching make this park, near Yuantong Temple, a pleasant place to spend some time.

If you are to look at a map of Kunming City, the green spot in the center is the Green Lake. Now as a public park, it's a good place for sightseeing in the downtown area. With green lake water and vegetation, there are also pavilions and buildings for recreational purposes. During the last century, in the time of the Republic of China, it was reconstructed as a park.

One feature of the Green Lake is that since 1985, seagulls from Siberia migrate to Kunming to avoid the frigid cold there from mid November to February. During this period of time, there are hundreds of thousands of seagulls which come to the Green Lake in the daytime, while some others stay around the Dianchi Lake area. It has become one of the most fascinating scenes in Kunming, especially when all of them are twittering as they hover over the lake.  The green lake and white seagulls present a pretty spectacular scene.

To the west of the Lake is an eye-catching yellow building, the Kunming Army Academy. Founded in 1909 by the Manchurian government at the end of their regime (the Qing Dynasty was taken over by the Republic of China in 1911), the academy was listed as one of the three army academies in the early 20th century. There were hundreds of army generals and marshals that came from this academy who made great contributions to Chinese culture.  

The Green Lake is within walking distance of many universities and can be accessed easily.