Playing the health card

Kunming has conducted marathon races by the Dianchi Lake and dragon boat races, and accelerated the development of infrastructure for sports activities like the Anning hot spring tennis town competitions.

Dai says La Liga, the top professional league of Spanish football is working with Kunming to bring the La Liga Hope Cup, a teenage football competition to the Chinese city, besides building a La Liga football school there.

"Kunming has also attracted football clubs to carry out their winter training, and we also want to build Kunming into a famous football training base in China," Dai says.

"But football is just one aspect of our sports development, and we also want to work on marathons, horsemanship and other sectors so we can develop healthy tourism in our city."

Kunming's tourism also features its diverse local ethnic culture. For example, an amusement park has been built on the site of the former Dian state, which goes back 2,000 years.

The roller coaster in the park is designed like the head of a tiger, a nod to the fact that the tiger was the totem of the ancient state.