Kunming's history goes back over 2,000 years to 279 BC, when a general of the Chu Kingdom settled with his troops near Lake Dianchi. In AD 109, during the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, the city of "Kunzhou" was established to the southeast of present day Kunming. Towards the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the area became known as Kunming County. In 1832, a traditional walled city was erected, which became Kunming municipality in 1928. From its founding through the 19th century, this isolated provincial capital was the region's major market and transport center. Until this century, Kunming was an archetypical Chinese city --- characterized by congestion, dirt, and a maze of winding cul-de-sac crooked lanes lined with one and two story wood and mud brick buildings. The residents were considered "provincial" and Kunming was considered a hardship post by Chinese administrators sent there to govern the province. Until 1949, many of Beijing's political "undesirables" were banished here.