The Yunnan Military Academy, founded in 1909 in the last years of the Qing, occupies a long French-influenced parade ground and barrack block on the west side of Cuihu Park. It was modelled on the Japanese Imperial Army Academy and trained an entire generation of southwestern Chinese officers, including the warlord Long Yun, the Communist marshal Zhu De, and the Vietnamese general Vo Nguyen Giap.
The academy now houses a museum tracing its history and the careers of its more famous graduates. The buildings themselves — long arcades, central clock tower, parade-ground sycamores — are the most evocative early-20th-century architectural ensemble in Kunming. The site is on the standard walking circuit between Cuihu and Yuantong Temple.