Kunming

Kunming[a] the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China.[4] The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II Kunming was a Chinese military center and the location of Headquarters American Army Forces, China, Burma, and India (HQ AAF CBI).[5] This airbase served as the home of the First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, [6] and transport terminus for the Burma Road. Kunming is at an altitude of 1,900 metres (6,234 feet) above sea level and a latitude just north of the Tropic of Cancer, and is situated in the middle of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. Kunming is the fourth most populous city in Western China, after Chongqing, Chengdu, and Xi'an, and the third most populous city in Southwestern China after Chongqing and Chengdu. As of the 2020 census, Kunming had a total population of 8,460,088 inhabitants, of whom 5,604,310 lived in its built-up (or metro) area made of all urban districts but Jinning. It is at the northern edge of Dian Lake, surrounded by temples and lakes and karst topography.[7]