Xunjin Street is a old street in Kunming city. According to historical records, the name "Xunjin Street" was founded during the Qing Dynasty. Xunjin Street north starts out from Jinbi Road, while the south end begins at Shuanglong Bridge.
During the Qing Dynasty, due to the flooding of the Panlong River all year round, the Qing government built the “Yunjin Dyke”, a sentry post for flood control, and gradually formed a street. The "xun" in "Xunjin Street" means the meaning of observation and prevention. "Jin" refers to Panlong river.
Xunjin Street has a long history but it has become more and more worn out as time goes by. So, a repair of the Xunjin street is necessary. However large-scale renovations are not easy, so a group of students from the Yunnan Academy of Art have had some good ideas to revitalise the streets.
They are working on relief and engraving on the outer walls of the street. Some places where the wall coverings have peeled off have also been painted with cute, cartoon images.
As a special neighborhood for the revival of the old community in Kunming, the rejuvenation of Xunjin New Village not only makes the street and community environment look new, but also highlights the historical and humanistic features, bringing this old street alive once more.
In Kunming, there are a lot of historical features which use yellow as the outer wall colour, such as the Yunnan Military Academy. So, since 2014, yellow has become the main construction colour of Kunming city and has been adopted on Xunjin Street.
In Xunjin Street, you can still see a lot of exquisite and small French-style buildings. They sit under the cover of the green phoenix trees, adding to the history of this area. The various styles of wall paintings also inject a fresh afternoon sun into this increasingly urbanised pedestrian street.