In the southwest of Kunming, the 53-kilometer shoreline of the south shore of Dianchi Lake unfolds like a melodious long poem, winding gracefully and weaving together wetlands, beaches, villages, and mountains into a stunning watercolor scroll where light and shadow interplay. Here, the wind always carries the breath of the lake, and the leaves are saturated with the bright sunlight unique to the plateau.

South Dianchi Lake National Wetland Park: An Ecological Wonderland of Natural Beauty

As the only national wetland park in Kunming, it seems like a gentle love letter from Jinning to nature.

Before the morning mist lifts, waterbirds are already fluttering about. Egrets skim the water’s surface, tracing silver arcs, while wild ducks hide amidst the reeds. Occasionally, a black-headed gull soars overhead, its wingtips stirring the tranquility of the lake.

Strolling along the wooden boardwalk into the heart of the wetland, the gentle sound of flowing water echoes beneath your feet. The water’s surface is dotted with duckweed and water lilies, as tranquil as dreams. Metasequoias and “Zhongshanshan” trees stand tall, their branches intertwining overhead to form a lush green canopy. Sunlight filters through the gaps, casting dappled shadows on the dew-kissed Setaria viridis below.

At the core of the wetland lies a hidden gem: a “floating forest” that exudes elegance and mystery. In late autumn, the leaves turn a rusty red, painting a tri-colored autumn picture alongside the ginkgo and sweet gum trees along the shore. In summer, it turns into the “Lotus Corridor”. From June to August, lotus flowers bloom in abundance, ethereal and vibrant. When the wind blows, petals tremble gently, and dewdrops slide off the leaves, startling the small fishes below.

If you visit at dusk, find a quiet spot by the lakeside and watch as the sunset bathes the water in golden-red hues. Gazing into the distance, the “Sleeping Beauty”: Western Mountain gradually becomes a silhouette, while the calls of birds echo softly into the misty twilight, as if time itself has paused for a moment.

Dianchi South Lake Beach Park: the “Lakeside Maldives” in Kunming

Traveling three kilometers east along the lakeshore from the wetland, a stretch of soft golden sand comes into view.

Dubbed “Kunming’s Little Maldives,” this beach features quartz sand polished smooth by millennia of lake waves, as fine as the powder of time. Walking barefoot, a warm sensation spreads from your soles, as if each step is a gentle touch on a distant dream.

Though small in scale, the beach is exquisitely picturesque. Scattered across it are small pineapple trees, quaint grass pavilions for shade, and blooming wisteria flowers in full splendor. Children run and play in the shallow waters, their splashes creating tiny rainbows.

The most magical feeling comes from gazing out over Dianchi Lake from here. The lake stretches as far as the eye can see, its surface merging seamlessly with the sky, shrouded in a faint blue haze that blurs the line between lake and sea. The small island named “Whale” rests quietly on the azure waves, as wonderful as an unfinished poem.

At dusk, the beach transforms into a stage for light and shadow. The sunset paints the sky in gradients of orange, pink, and indigo, while elongated shadows dance with their reflections in the water. On weekends, tents dot the beach like stars, and laughter mingles with the sound of the waves, creating the most soothing backdrop along the shores of Dianchi Lake.

Shadi Village: A Rice Field Café by the Railway Tracks

Continuing east along the Huanhu Road, Shadi Village awaits your discovery.

Every September, the thousand-mu rice fields here turn a golden hue, their heavy ears of rice bowing gracefully in the breeze. As the golden wind sweeps across the fields, a gentle rustling arises, like a whispered secret from the earth.

What adds an extra layer of surprise is the six-carriage green train quietly nestled in the middle of the rice fields. The carriages have been transformed into a café and guesthouse. Sitting by the window with a cup of coffee, you can gaze out at the endless sea of rice waves and the distant Dianchi Lake beyond, as time slows down and grows more tender.

In every March, the landscape is painted in vibrant yellow as the fields are covered with bright rapeseed flowers. Butterflies and bees flit among the blossoms, while colorful wildflowers bloom along the field ridges in shades of red, pink, and yellow, set against a backdrop of clear blue sky—a scene reminiscent of a Monet painting.

As night falls, the lights inside the train carriages flicker on one by one, their warm yellow glow blending with the lake’s hues, like stars scattered across the earth, illuminating a gentle and poetic night.

The beauty of South Dianchi Lake

Never flaunts,

Nor fighting for the attention.

It hides in the morning mist and bird songs of the wetland, lingers in the sunset glow and flowing waters of the beach, and is written in the wind rustling through the rice fields and the windows of the old train carriages.

If you’re tired of the city’s hustle and bustle,

Why not set aside a day

and come wander here?

Let the wind here brush against your clothes,

Let the sunlight here gently kiss your shoulders,

And let this hidden gem on the south shore of Dianchi Lake

become a poetic destination for your soul’s journey.

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(Editors: Shining, Rachel)