Tomorrow Kunming celebrates International Labor Day, highlighting the contributions of workers to the mainland's harmonious society built upon socialism with Chinese characteristics.

As with every Labor Day celebration, Kunming will be staging a parade – this year's theme is "Olympic Beijing, Tourist Yunnan"( 奥运北京•旅游云南). The mid-day parade (Kunming media reports are not providing a starting time) will travel 4.7 kilometers, beginning at the intersection of Dongfeng Dong Lu and Beijing Lu.

The parade will feature performances between its starting point and Huguo Bridge, passing by Dongfeng Plaza. Afterward it will wind around to Qingnian Lu, northward toward Yuantong Jie, where it will head east back toward Beijing Lu. The procession will then head south by Renmin Dong Lu, Baita Lu and Dongfeng Dong Lu before finishing at Tuodong Stadium's north gate.

GoKunming has received unconfirmable notification that tomorrow there will be protests at Kunming's McDonald's and Wal-Mart locations – including the McDonald's at Renmin Lu/Qingnian Lu on the parade route.

We are not sure how reliable the reports are, but should any of our Western readers find themselves near an angry crowd outside of a McDonald's or a Wal-Mart, we recommend keeping your distance – patronizing the object of a such a protest will likely be interpreted as opposition to the crowd. Hopefully the notification is merely a rumor.

One of the most biologically diverse regions in China and the world, Yunnan province is home to a disproportionate amount of China's animal species – many of which are endangered. According to the Yunnan Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau, Yunnan is home to more than 59 percent of China's endangered animal species.

Not surprisingly, most of landlocked Yunnan's endangered animals such as the red panda, the Yunnan golden monkey, Asian elephant and the black crested gibbon are terrestrial creatures. However, Yunnan is covered with lakes of varying sizes and altitudes – these lakes also contribute to the province's biodiversity.

Unfortunately, many of the fish species found in Yunnan's lakes – many of which are only found in Yunnan – are also endangered, primarily due to overfishing and pollution, especially pesticide runoff. Yunnan's lakes are home to 60 species found nowhere else in the world.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences and Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ) recently released a joint appeal to protect the remaining fish species indigenous to Yunnan. Surprisingly, many of these alpine fish species can only be found in pools located within the thousands of Buddhist temples throughout the province.

For example, according to a study by KIZ – a branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences – all 25 indigenous fish species in Dianchi Lake are extinct within the lake itself but still exist in the pools of Buddhist compounds bordering the lake. Dianchi is Yunnan's largest lake and the sixth-largest freshwater lake in China.

In an unusual mix of religion and environmental protection, the KIZ report calls upon provincial authorities to protect the pools at Buddhist temples in the area and the fish which populate them. As Xinhua puts it:

"On the basis of the survey, the shrines should be made a protection sites for rare and indigenous aquatic life and protective measures should be drafted in an early date. And a publicity drive has to be launched so as to beef up the public's awareness of the conscious protection and all society's participation."

Dragon pool image: Xinhua

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