Just over a decade ago, most Kunmingers got around via bicycle, bus or the occasional taxi. Today it has one of the highest car ownership rates in China and a second-hand car market that is starting to pick up steam – which will make cars affordable to a new wave of first-time car owners.

When car ownership in Kunming was starting to boom at the beginning of the last decade, there was little evidence to suggest that the local government cared about the city's streets becoming increasingly choked with cars and exhaust.

In the minds of many Kunming residents, the city's previous attitude toward traffic was epitomized by former deputy mayor Hu Xing (胡星), who was found guilty in 2007 of taking more than 40 million yuan in bribes while serving as deputy director of Yunnan's Transportation Bureau from 1995 to 2006.

In the last two years the Qiu He-led government has been busy with projects including construction of a 'turtleback' flyover at Xiao Ximen, two flyovers on Dianchi Lu and the complete overhaul of the second ring road and roads connecting Kunming with surrounding cities.

Now it appears emissions are in the government's crosshairs.

The Kunming Environmental Protection Bureau announced yesterday that it will introduce mandatory annual emissions testing starting February 1 that will affect as many as 750,000 motor vehicles on the roads of the greater Kunming area.

The testing, which will include taxis and diesel vehicles such as buses and large trucks, will be a part of each vehicle's annual safety test. Testing will carry a charge of 70 yuan for private passenger cars. The process is expected to take about five minutes.

The bureau cited Kunming's geography – lying in a smog-trapping basin – and high levels of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and unburned hydrocarbons in the air along major streets as reasons for implementing the testing.

According to local media, levels will be set such that a passenger car without a modern, functioning three-way catalytic converter will be incapable of passing the test.

The report quoted one car owner voicing frustration over having to pay 70 yuan per year on emission testing for the car that he bought new in 2008. "It's not a lot of money," he said, "but overall it feels a bit redundant."

Yunnan aiming to improve driver safety
In other traffic news, the Civilization Office of Yunnan Provincial Public Security Bureau has announced that from this year until 2012 the province will be implementing what it calls a "Civilized Traffic Action Plan" (文明交通行动计划).

The announcement came on the heels of the release of automobile accident statistics for 2009, in which it was reported that there were 5,075 major accidents with 1,888 deaths and 6,549 injuries in Yunnan last year.

With a focus on numbers typical to the Chinese bureaucracy, the project contains goals such as: "boycotting the six dangerous driving behaviors," and "advocating the six civilized traffic behaviors".

Some examples of habits that the project intends to curb are talking on phones while driving, random lane changes, and running red lights.

Kunming's current 'sunshine government', headed by party secretary Qiu He (仇和) and mayor Zhang Zulin (张祖林), has had its hands full addressing the city's infrastructure, health care, education and environmental problems over the past two years, but that may just be the beginning.

According to a Kunming Info Hub report, 'evil' is the next target:


What exactly is being referred to by the word 'evil'? Leading contenders probably include official corruption (a favorite target of Qiu's when he was an official in Jiangsu), organized crime or illegal drugs.

Given Qiu's recent statement that official corruption is a primary factor behind Kunming's high housing prices, it wouldn't be a surprise if some high-profile corruption cases emerge in the coming months.

"British Media: Kunming is the next Shanghai" proclaims a story headline today on Kunming Information Hub, the municipal government-owned website charged with being Kunming's face to the world.

In truth, it is not "British media" but one magazine that has made such a claim. The Kunming Information Hub article is a translated story from the March 2009 issue of UK-based magazine Monocle, a self-proclaimed "briefing on global affairs, business, culture & design".

The original business story, written by Bangkok-based Monocle correspondent David Fulbrook and entitled "Kunming: The next Shanghai", is a snapshot of a handful of youngish foreigners doing business in Kunming [disclosure: your correspondent is one of the interviewees].

The feeling that one comes away with after reading the story – other than a Monocle editor having a penchant for sensational story titles - is that Kunming is a city with amazing potential, primarily due to being surrounded by vast resources and having good access to the high-growth economies of China, India and Southeast Asia.

Under the aegis of its current party secretary and Communist Party rock star Qiu He, Kunming has made much progress in improving its traffic, health and education infrastructure while reducing corruption and inefficiency.

Attracting investment from elsewhere in China - and the world - has also been made a priority during Qiu's time in Kunming. Attempts to bring domestic investment to Kunming have been largely successful, with companies in China's more affluent coastal regions agreeing to make substantial investments in the city's future.

Less successful have been the efforts to attract elusive large-scale foreign investment that other southwestern Chinese cities such as Chengdu and Chongqing have been able to land. Even Nanning in Guangxi seems to be challenging Kunming as Southeast Asia's gateway to China.

This begs the question: Why with everything it has going for it does Kunming lag behind other Chinese cities, even in southwest China, as a destination for foreign investment?

A sidebar in the Monocle story that wasn't translated and posted on Kunming Information Hub is its suggested 'fixes' for Kunming. In recent months, much progress has been made on the first suggestion – that Kunming add bilingual street signs so that residents and visitors can navigate the city.

The remaining four tips Monocle offers Kunming are to improve the traffic and taxi situation, stop demolishing historical buildings, work on its image/branding/promotions and also to get better English-language media:


As for what Kunming residents think about the chances of Kunming one day becoming a major city on par with Shanghai, local BBS commenters seem split, with about half considering the story over-the-top Western reporting on China, and the other half hoping that Kunming does become more like Shanghai. In the words of one commenter:

"I hope the people of Kunming can liberate their minds the way the Shanghainese have."

For full the full Monocle story in English, check Andao Tea's website

Yunnan CBA team up for sale
The Honghe Running Bulls, one of the worst teams in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), is up for sale.

The team's owner is unable to pay its players, according to a Reuters report, which is a reflection of the financial issues the CBA is currently facing.

The CBA's 2008-9 season was a lesson in overreach, with the season expanding to 450 games from 200 the year before and league teams combining to lose 115 million yuan (US$16.8 million), putting the league's existence in danger.

CBA director Xin Lancheng singled out foreign players as being one of the league's major problems, saying they were overpaid and hard to manage, adding that rules regarding foreign players would be revised.

Last year the CBA revised rules to allow teams to field two non-Chinese players. The rule change's goal was to raise competition and interest in the CBA, but dominance by foreign players like Bonzi Wells became embarrassing for the league – 19 of last season's top 20 scorers in the CBA were foreigners.

Qiu He calls for transport construction progress report
Kunming Municipal Party Secretary Qiu He held a meeting yesterday with municipal and county officials overseeing the numerous traffic infrastructure projects around the city to assess progress and to ask for understanding, cooperation and support from the city's residents, according to a report in party paper Kunming Daily.

Qiu, the most powerful leader the Kunming municipal government has seen in more than a decade, emphasized the need for research on the progress and quality of the major overhaul of the city's inefficient and overworked traffic infrastructure.

"How much construction has been completed up to this point?" Qiu asked the city officials. "What difficulties are arising during the construction process? How many shifts are there supervising all this work?"

Currently there are several major transportation infrastructure projects underway: the second ring road is being rebuilt with a new elevated road above it, a tunnel through Gangtou mountain will be added to the third ring road, the first lines of the city's subway and elevated rail network are being built, hills have been leveled to make way for the new airport now under construction and major renovation work is being done on Beijing Lu, Xiba Lu, Haigeng Lu and Rixin Lu.

Python goes on chicken-eating rampage
The China Daily is reporting that a python entered a chicken farm in Menghai county on Monday, where it ate 42 chickens before being stopped by the farm's owner. The protected animal was captured alive and was turned over to the local wild animal protection center.

The end of the year is a special time in which editors and writers around the world recycle content from the previous twelve months and repackage it as new content. We at GoKunming are not above this practice, so here's our look at the people and events that shaped 2008 in Kunming and Yunnan.

January
The year began with the Yunnan government shelving its plans to dam Tiger Leaping Gorge, while not necessarily sparing the Jinsha River – the headwaters of the Yangtze – from several new hydropower projects. Kunming banned the use of car horns and the city seemed to be getting a little less horn-heavy for about two weeks. A few days later the city – which is adding an average of 560 automobiles per day to its streets – issued its 900,000th license plate.

Pretty much all of southern China except for Kunming was at the mercy of a winter storm that paralyzed domestic travel and left thousands of travelers stranded in Kunming. Shangri-la (Zhongdian) was hit by heavy snowfalls that destroyed much of the area's livestock and crops plus telecommunications and power networks.

February
Yunnan was hit by a rash of sulfuric acid spills in late January and mid-February with more than 70 tons of the toxic chemical spilling near rivers and most likely entering local water supplies.

Kunming Municipal Party Secretary Qiu He was making waves a few months into his new post, ordering local newspapers to publish the names, titles, responsibilities and phone numbers of local officials in early February and firing a Chenggong investment official who fell asleep during a meeting.

Hong Kong director Stanley Tong signed an agreement with Dianchi National Tourist Resort to build a 3 billion yuan (US$418 million) television and film base that would become 'China's Hollywood'.

Yunnan's first international highway opened, connecting it with Vietnam's Lao Cai province.

March
Construction of the 'turtleback' flyover at Xiao Ximen commenced, throwing Kunming traffic into chaos. Work on the flyover – which is mockingly referred to as 'the newly added slope' (新加坡), or 'Singapore' in Chinese - was finished four months later.

Tens of thousands of bottles of counterfeit beer were found in Kunming's Majie area. The beers are expected to be the tip of the iceberg in terms of the amount of fake booze being sold around the city.

China played Australia's Socceroos in a World Cup qualifying match in Kunming that ended in a 0:0 draw. The match looked like a sure victory for China when it was awarded a late penalty kick, only for kicker Shao Jiayi to kick a slow roller into Oz goalie Mark Schwarzer's waiting hands. Team China went on to fail to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

April
The old standby F visa option disappeared for foreigners living in China as visa restrictions tightened in the runup to the Beijing Olympics, while protestors vented nationalist anger at Kunming's Carrefour outlets.

May
The International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences World Congress, originally scheduled to be held in Kunming in July, was canceled - apparently due to Olympic-related security concerns.

On May 12, an earthquake measuring 8.0 in magnitude centered in Wenchuan devastated much of Sichuan province and killed at least 69,000 people. Yunnan did what it could to help its neighbor to the north by treating victims from the disaster zone, taking children into its schools and raising money for the relief effort.

The Yunnan white-handed gibbon was declared extinct.

June
Free plastic bags at retail outlets were banned in China.

The Olympic torch passed through Kunming. The torch was originally scheduled to pass through areas including Beijing Lu, Wenlin Jie and Yuantong Jie, but its route was altered at the last minute, keeping it out of the view of most Kunming residents. The torch continued through Yunnan to the cities of Lijiang and Shangri-la before heading to earthquake-battered Sichuan.

The third hydropower station on the Lancang River – as the upper reaches of the Mekong River in Yunnan are known – went online.

July
Yunnan announced a total ban on the production, sale and use of plastic bags across the province, beginning on January 1, 2009.

Jackie Chan announced that he would open a 'Jackie Chan Peace Garden' outside Kunming in the city of Anning. Meanwhile, Kunming was in the middle of planting 800,000 trees throughout the city.

Two people were killed and 14 injured in double bus bombings that took place on public buses on Renmin Xi Lu. A militant Islamic group took credit for the bombings, a claim which was refuted by local police. The bombings were not declared solved until the suspected bomber blew himself up while trying to plant a bomb in Salvador's Coffee House almost half a year later.

August
After an unprecedented buildup, China hosted the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and several other cities, winning 51 gold medals, more than second-place US (36) and third-place Russian Federation (23).

Kunming unveiled its 12-year development plan, detailing how the city intends to handle a major influx in residents and an increasingly important role in regional trade and transport.

September
It was announced that Yangzonghai Lake, one of the largest lakes in Yunnan, was suffering from heavy arsenic pollution, with the bulk of the blame placed upon Yunnan Chengjiang Jinye Industrial and Trade Company, which allegedly found it easier to pay the relatively low fines for not treating wastewater than to purchase and install the equipment necessary for cleaning wastewater. Shortly afterward, Yunnan established a special court for handling crimes against the environment.

October
A government study of HIV/AIDS infections in Yunnan revealed that that women and gay men had emerged as the fastest-growing demographics for new infections, replacing intravenous drug users. It was also noted that new infections were moving away from ethnic minorities in rural areas to Han Chinese in urban centers throughout the province.

A group of fossilized crustaceans from 525 million years ago found near Chengjiang were said to display the first example of collective behavior among animals.

Citing difficulties with the local business environment, Hong Kong-listed property giant Shui On Land pulled out of its Yunnan development projects.

November
Starbucks announced that it would market Yunnan coffee via its hundreds of mainland outlets.

Kunming Airlines announced that it would launch operations in January 2009, the first step in its quest to become a dominant regional airline.

A delegation of Yunnan officials and businesspeople visiting India asked the Indian government to establish a consulate in Kunming to facilitate the visa application process for Yunnan residents wishing to take advantage of the direct flights between Kunming and the eastern Indian city of Kolkata.

The famed Shaolin Temple announced that it would take over management of four Kunming temples for 20 years, during which time it would receive all of the temples' revenue. Shaolin Temple's abbot was accused of being a 'CEO monk'.

December
A man stabbed three women and took a nurse hostage at the Carrefour on Longquan Lu, before being lured to a door where some rice noodles had been placed for him and getting shot in the head by a police sniper, ending the five-hour standoff.

Ground was broken on the 'South Asian Gate', a 72-story, 316-meter tall building that will be completed in four to five years and will be the tallest man-made structure in Yunnan province. It is expected to serve as a hub for business between China, Southeast Asia and South Asia.

A bomb exploded in popular foreign-owned cafe and restaurant Salvador's Coffee House, killing the man who was wearing a backpack with an ammonium nitrate bomb in it near the rear bathroom. Nobody else was hurt. Police concluded that the man, 30-year-old Li Yan of Xuanwei, had also been behind the unsolved bombing of two buses in Kunming in July.

Direct flights opened between Kunming and Taipei.

The GoKunming team thanks everyone who visited the site in 2008 and wishes all of its readers a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009.

On September 27 a group of high-profile names from different circles in Chinese society were named 'outstanding contributors to China's reform' during the China Reform and Development Summit in Beijing.

Before an audience of high-level central officials, national media and well-connected intellectuals, the accomplishments of economist Li Yining, environmental minister Pan Yue, 'father of hybrid rice' Yuan Longping, Olympic official He Zhenliang, SARS hero Dr Zhong Nanshan and China's first astronaut Yang Liwei were praised as major contributions to the PRC's 30 years of "reform and open" (改革开放).

Slightly out of place, the seventh VIP of the evening was Kunming Municipal Party Secretary Qiu He (仇和), one of the most ambitious, controversial and visible party chiefs Kunming has seen to date.

After becoming Kunming's party secretary in December 2007 – his previous job was vice governor of wealthy Jiangsu province – Qiu made waves immediately by publishing the name, job responsibilities and office phone number of every Kunming official in local Kunming newspapers – including his own. The attempt at increasing official accountability and government transparency was applauded by media throughout the country.

Since then, things have been changing in Kunming much faster than usual. Thousands of surveillance cameras have been installed citywide, dozens of large 'urban villages' (城中村; older, poorly built neighborhoods surrounded by modern city) have been slated for demolition by the end of the year, a large 'turtleback flyover' was built at Xiao Ximen, trees have been planted virtually everywhere they can be fit, a plan to privatize the city's hospitals has been unveiled and major education reforms are also underway.

Anyone familiar with Qiu He's record in Jiangsu would not be surprised at what has happened to Kunming under Qiu's leadership. During his tenure as party secretary of northern Jiangsu's Muyang County in the late 1990s and vice mayor/vice party secretary/party secretary of the city of Suqian, Qiu gained a reputation for taking a heavyhanded approach to government focusing on improving education, health services, transportation and environmental conditions and rooting out local corruption all with an eye on attracting investment.

Qiu's cult of personality and a no-nonsense, 'my way or the highway' style similar to that of former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji have earned the Jiangsu native plenty of media scrutiny and citizen complaints. That said, he seems to eventually win over many of his critics in the long-term and has a track record of success that has won him the respect of some officials at the highest levels of China's central government.

After initially rocking the boat in Muyang, Qiu was able to let his accomplishments speak for themselves, despite many complaints regarding his way of getting things done, which has been called 'autocratic' by his detractors. The website China Elections and Governance notes that in the end, Qiu had put up some solid numbers:



In Kunming, Qiu has what may be his biggest challenge: a massive, sprawling city with an inefficient and underdeveloped economy, severe traffic problems and major environmental disasters that plans to nearly double in size and add several million residents in the coming few years, during which time it is supposed to become the main trade and transport gateway between China and Southeast Asia.

Despite the daunting task given him, it seems that Qiu He is not only up for the challenge, but has just been given a good report card by Beijing.

Qiu He image: clzg.cn

Despite being landlocked, Yunnan has plenty of water, including the headwaters of the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween Rivers. It is also home to nine large lakes, with Kunming's Dianchi Lake (滇池) the biggest of the group.

Dianchi Lake is also famous for being heavily polluted – to the point where its water is unfit for industrial use. Yunnan's polluted lake club has recently added a new member – Yangzonghai Lake (阳宗海) – which the provincial government announced has heavy levels of arsenic in its waters. Yangzonghai is now officially considered unfit for drinking, swimming in or fishing in.

The arsenic discovery came during a snap inspection of enterprises operating in the Yangzonghai basin 45 kilometers east of Kunming, with eight companies found to be engaging in illegal polluting practices. Yunnan Chengjiang Jinye Industrial and Trade Co Ltd (云南澄江锦业工贸有限公司) has been named as the main polluter.

The company allegedly failed to build the legally required treatment facility for its wastewater, with years of accumulated arsenic seeping into the local water table. Yunnan Communist Party Secretary Bai Enpei (白恩培) and Yunnan Governor Qin Guangrong (秦光荣) have pledged to take "decisive action" to remedy the situation.

As recently as 2002, Yangzonghai had been noted for having water clean enough for drinking and swimming – a stark contrast to the environmental devastation of nearby Dianchi Lake. In February of this year, Kunming Communist Party Secretary Qiu He (仇和) visited Yangzonghai, warning local enterprises that the lake must not become a "second Dianchi".

Related articles:

Dianchi Lake slimed by blue-green algae

Sailing in Kunming

Government meetings in China are not renowned for being interesting or dynamic. Often a meeting will consist of hours of officials reading pre-scripted speeches as other officials drink tea, smoke cigarettes and try to look interested.

Last week an investment official from Chenggong County – just south of Kunming on the eastern shores of Dianchi Lake – resigned from his post after being caught napping at a meeting attended by Qiu He (仇和), Kunming's top Communist Party official, according to Chinese media reports.

Chenggong is being built up as a new center of development and investment for Kunming and is expected to become one of southwestern China's most important logistics hubs as it will serve much of the booming trade between China and Southeast Asia.

Jiang Wenhui (蒋文辉), deputy director of Chenggong's Investment Promotion Bureau, resigned on Friday after being called out for sleeping in the front row by Qiu during a meeting on Wednesday. The outspoken Qiu reportedly woke Jiang up and criticized him thoroughly before the meeting's other attendees.

Not surprisingly, many Chinese netizens have criticized Jiang's inability to stay awake on the job. What is surprising is the amount of support for Jiang that has appeared in Chinese forums and elsewhere on the web. Many participants in forums and bulletin boards have defended Jiang with the argument that little of value is said during such meetings.

Xinhua quoted one commenter as saying "Speakers at many meetings just say big and empty words. It is no wonder that listeners sleep."