Chinese New Year: celebrated across China, the Spring Festival marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year and is undoubtedly one of the biggest festivals in the lunar calendar. Locals get together with relatives and friends and exchange gifts, food is prepared and eaten and firecrackers are set off night and day. The streets of Kunming see traditional tiger and dragon dances and other festivities. Dumplings known as Jiaozi are traditionally eaten during this festival.

Lantern Festival: the Lantern Festival is also know as the Yuanxiao Festival and marks the end of the New Year celebrations. Local residents traditionally hang brightly coloured paper lanterns outside homes and buildings across the city. When darkness falls and the lanterns are lit, the city’s atmosphere is romantic and conducive to positive sentiment. Sticky rice dumplings are traditionally eaten at this time.

Qingming: also referred to as Chingming and the Tomb Sweeping Festival, the Qingming Festival is a time for locals to pay their respects to their deceased family members by visiting their graves, cleaning headstones, praying and making offerings of flowers, wine and food.

Dragon Boat Festival: waterways of the city are the setting for this highly popular and enthusiastically celebrated annual festival in which locals launch dragon boats and compete in frantic races against each other. Each boat has its own drummer who beats out rhythms which the rowers are expected to follow and hence improve their performance.

Qi Qiao Jie: this is a fairly low key festival and one which is celebrated mainly by lovers. Hailed as Chinese Valentine’s Day, Qi Qiao Jie is a festival that remembers and pays tribute to the old folk legend of Niu Lang and Zhi Nu. Women in search of love and marriage make offerings of fruit and pray that a happy union will come their way.

Mid Autumn Festival: hailed as one of the most significant festivals in the Chinese calendar, the Mid Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. Kunming locals celebrate with various festive activities which include the preparation of crescent moon shaped cakes that are filled with delicious ingredients such as coconut, sesame, almond, lotus seed and walnut.

The Double Ninth Festival: a relatively minor festival by Chinese standards, the Double Ninth is a celebration of the eastern concept of Yin and Yang. Locals take time to get out and appreciate the cooler autumn climate and enjoy Kunming’s pleasant outdoor areas.

Christmas: Although China is a Buddhist country, the Christian festival of Christmas is beginning to get wider recognition in the country’s big cities. Kunming has adopted some of the western holiday traditions and visitors can expect practices such a gift giving, Christmas decorations and the playing of Christmas music and singing of Christmas songs.