The Old Man and the Gulls in Kunming

By Xie Zhaoguang

In the spring of 2009, I attended an international conference in Yunnan, a tropical mountainous province in southwestern China. As I stayed at a hotel near the Emerald Lake, I had a chance to visit the lakeside park in a morning. While wandering around, I saw groups of people doing morning exercises of various kinds. Then I ran into a statue of an old man and sea gulls. A lengthy text on a nearby stone stele relates the story of Wu Qingheng, a veteran revolutionary who cared for the migrant birds.

The white birds first descended from the sky onto the Emerald Lake on November 12, 1985. In the city where spring maintains its lush presence all the year round, no one at first took them seriously. It was thought that the gulls were taking a brief break here and would soon be on their way to somewhere else. Then more gulls arrived and gathered. When the local residents realized what was happening, the birds soon became sensational news headlines.

Gradually local residents learned more about the birds. The gulls are from Siberia. In November, 1986 and January, 1987, the two separate rings on two birds seen in Kunming indicated that they were from a bird habitat in a wetland of Lake Baikal. The gulls begin to leave their northern habitats in September. The beeline from the lake to Kunming on the map measures about 3,000 kilometers. It is said quite a few birds fail to make it and that such a long journey, if compounded with difficult weather conditions, can kill half of the black-headed gulls in their seasonal transition. The survivors are the strongest and the luckiest.

Kunming residents also learned that the gulls from Lake Baikal chose Kunming for a reason. The city has a pleasant weather. It is warm in the winter; it has a lot of waters and wetlands; it has rich resources of food, and it is safe. Take the Emerald Lake for example. In ancient times, it was part of the vast Dianchi Lake, the largest water body in Yunnan Province. In the Ming (1368-1644)and the Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, the Emerald Lake was part of a princely garden. It later dried up. A few restoration projects in modern times put the lake back. Trees and flowers were planted. Unexpectedly, it had prepared the ground for the gulls.

And there is much more to the citys collective love to the birds. With the new-found knowledge of these birds, the local residents regard the birds as a blessing from heaven and as an indicator that Kunming is a special place. the residents cant resist the glamour and glory of the birds and are eager to establish ties with the feathered angels. They want more than to be part of the food resources. The whole city has come together to pet the thousands of birds and they are proud that they are favored by nature.

Wu Qingheng was not the only one who came forward and cared for the unexpected guests from the sky. But he was the one who stood out and showed his unswerving love of the gulls. He spent a big chunk of his monthly 308-yuan pension (it was big money in the 1980s) buying feed for the birds and came to the lake to feed them and stay with them every day during their winter sojourns. He was the first one whose passion for the birds was reported in the local media. Local residents identified with him and understood what he saw in the birds. Though he passed away, he was singled out to represent local peoples passion for the gulls.

Gao Feng, a retired government official, is another one who has visited the birds every day during their stay in Kunming year in year out. He comes with feed and his digital camera.

On November 27, 2008, he went to the Grand View Park to visit the gulls and to take some pictures of how the birds and people got together well. He fed some black-headed gulls and took some pictures. Two tourists from Taiwan noticed the old mans quiet and touching devotion. They asked him to pose as they wanted to capture all his natural devotion in their pictures. The two Taiwanese clicked away until they were satisfied. They expressed their appreciation and promised to send the pictures back to Gao Feng.

About half a month later, Gao Feng received a letter from the two Taiwan friends. The postmark indicated the letter had been sent on December 15, 2008, a memorable day on which the postal services across the Taiwan Straits officially resumed. The address indicated it was from Jiayi City, Taiwan. Inside the envelope was a DVD disk, and on the disk were digitalized pictures taken by the two Taiwan tourists.

Gao Feng commented that the letter and pictures were of great significance. It is the first letter that traveled directly from Taiwan to Yunnan after all these years. It is witness to both friendship and the historical resumption of postal services across the Taiwan Straits after a hiatus of decades. The letter and pictures are in Gaos private collection of precious treasures. Now Gao and two Taiwan friends write each other regularly. □