Guandu Ancient Town is one of the most famous ancient towns in Kunming and it is also the origin of Dian culture. As a historical hub of Kunming local culture, Guandu Ancient Town comes to the top of the list for our outdoor lessons. Ms. Ma took her student Isi to visit the Guandu Ancient Town. Besides learning about the history and the culture of the old town, they were also looking for the Huadeng Garden which represents a special opera of Kunming – Huadeng.

Just a few minutes since the sun rose, Ms. Ma and Isi set out from Keats. Although the Guandu Ancient Town is located a little far from Keats, which is in the city center, it is easy to get there. Some students went there by taxi while some got there by bus. Ms. Ma and Isi soon grabbed a cab.  Ms. Ma encouraged Isi to tell the driver where they were going in Chinese language. The driver was amazed by Isi’s clear pronunciation and praised him “He speaks like a Chinese”. Just for about 20 minutes, they arrived at the old town.

Along the street to the center of the town were various vendors selling minority clothes, silver handicrafts, and fur. While they were fascinated by the numerous little things, Ms. Ma introduced the cultural background of each product. Suddenly, they saw a crowd gathering around a middle-aged man. Curious and excited, they found out that this man was making paintings using sugar. Ms. Ma told Isi that this artistic handwork was almost getting lost in Chinese culture and it was a surprise to them to see it here in Guandu old town. You can spend 5 yuan to rotate a round plate with different kinds of animals. The needle can fell on any kind of animal. If it were a butterfly, then the artist would make a butterfly for you immediately. Some people got monkeys. The best animal to get is a dragon.

As visiting the Guandu old town got more and more interesting, Ms. Ma and Isi moved to the most important spot of the town – Golden Tower. Taking pictures and reading the introductions, Ms. Ma and Isi were busy recording everything they saw. However, Ms. Ma suddenly realized that their destination for this trip was to find the Huadeng Opera. Isi soon received a task in Chinese, which was to find its accurate location within in the old town. Isi tried to ask a Chinese young man where it was. Unfortunately, the young man did not know where it was either. Isi then tried to ask an old man.  Luckily, the old man not only told Isi where it was, but also asked them to get there quickly to catch the opera performance. The Huadeng Garden was actually a classic small building. There is a Kunming Huadeng Opera being performed here every day. If you want to learn more about Kunming’s opera culture, the Guandu Ancient Town could be the best choice.

Getting into the building, Ms. Ma and Isi saw chairs were placed row by row in the middle of the hall. The entire stage was decorated by traditional Chinese paintings. At the two sides of the stage were traditional Chinese musical instruments. Although they missed the Huadeng performance, they were lost in the beautiful and vintage environment. Isi made his mind to come here again to watch the Huadeng opera next time.