7 Days in Mengzi

A county since 109 BC; in 1938 the Southwest Associated University's arts and law faculties taught a term here, Zhu Ziqing and Wen Yiduo on the rolls. Evening crossing-the-bridge noodles by the lake.

1. mengzi nanhu lake
2. mengzi lianda mengzi site

The 1909 station on the Yunnan-Vietnam railway, complete in 1910 at 855 km with 465 km in Yunnan; the private 600-mm Gejiu line transshipped here from 1915, reaching Shiping in 1936. Read the station house, warehouses and water tower.

1. mengzi bisezhai station

The customs compound dates to 1889, Yunnan's first, after the port opened; the Yuhuang pavilion and the lanes around it carry the late-Qing streetscape. Long lunch, slow afternoon.

1. mengzi customs house site
2. mengzi yuhuang pavilion

About 130,000 mu of sweet pomegranate, harvested August-September — orchard walks and tasting stands in the morning, the Nisu Yi village by Changqiaohai lake in the afternoon.

1. mengzi pomegranate orchard
2. mengzi nisu town

The prefecture museum covers Honghe's peoples and railways — the seat moved to Mengzi in 2003 — then bird paths and reed walks at the Changqiaohai wetland north of town.

1. mengzi honghe state museum
2. mengzi changqiaohai wetland

Southeast of the city, Xin'ansuo preserves a Ming-era military colony town — garrison-era gates, temple courtyards and pomegranate fields pressing in from all sides.

1. mengzi xinansuo old town

An hour west into neighboring Gejiu — tin mining for over 2,000 years, Jinhu lake mid-town — then back for a final noodle bowl and the train from Mengzi Station.

1. mengzi gejiu tin town