In 1899, French consul Fang Suya (Auguste François in French) arrived in Kunming, China, with seven cameras and a large number of glass negatives. In 1904, he returned to France with more than a thousand photos.

Nearly a century later, Chinese photographer Yin Xiaojun, with the financial support of a friend, made several trips to France with more than 80 kilograms of photographic equipment. After experiencing several twists and turns, Xiaojun obtained the right to use these photographs in China. He remade hundreds of them and brought them back to China. In 2017, Yin Xiaojun collected and published a book of old photographs of Kunming from 1896 to 1925 taken by Fang Suya and others. 

Now, twelve of them are selected as iconic scenes of Kunming. Let us approach the streets and alleys in those old photos to look back again at the city's appearance across time and space for more than a hundred years. History has changed dramatically, but the city's precious treasures and values have always been inherited. Now, we can seek the cultural marks of the city's prosperity, review Kunming's growth and changes, and appreciate today’s new Kunming.

Shuncheng Street, where the Escort Agency escorted the caravans in the late Qing Dynasty, has now been built as the Shuncheng Street Shopping Center.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the horsemen entered Kunming, and now the international cargo train of the China-Laos Railway departs from Kunming.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the Jinma Biji Fang in Kunming stood out from the rest of the buildings, but today it is surrounded by numerous skyscrapers.　

Jinma Biji Fang in Kunming.

The Huguo Bridge was once filled in for road construction, but it was restored in 2001 after uncovering.

The Buddhist Stone Pillar of Dizang Temple, built in the Song Dynasty, is known as "the best art in Yunnan". It is now exhibited in the Kunming Museum, which was built on the original site of the Buddhist Stone Pillar of Dizang Temple.

Tuodong Road, Kunming.

Xisi Tower was established in the Tang Dynasty and it was destroyed by an earthquake in the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. It was then rebuilt in the Guangxu period. The current Xisi Tower was renovated in the 1970s according to historical data.

The area of Xiaocaiyuan in Kunming's eastern urban part.

Yongyue pavilion.

Yunnan University was built on the site of the Yunnan Gongyuan Examination Hall. Founded in 1922, Yunnan University is one of the earliest comprehensive universities in the western frontier of China.

First built in the Ming Dynasty, Zhong Aifang has been destroyed and reconstructed several times and the existing one was rebuilt in 1999.

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(Editors: Carina, Amy)