Pu'er tea starting to catch on in the West?
Roughly a year after the bottom dropped out of the out-of-control pu'er tea market, this specialty tea is starting to get more attention overseas, particularly in the West, where Silicon Valley's tea-obsessed techies are tweeting and blogging about its virtues while frighteningly skinny Victoria Beckham is touting its weight-loss properties.

Time has published an article in which it compares the city of Pu'er (previously known as Simao) in Yunnan to other places around the world whose names have become synonymous with foods or beverages such as France's Champagne, Mexico's Tequila and Italy's Parma. The big question is whether Western palates can learn to love pu'er's earthy bouquet – we're not betting on it.

Stone Forest tickets to increase to 260 yuan
It appears all but certain that tickets for Kunming's only UNESCO World Heritage site, the Stone Forest will rise in price from their current 200 yuan to 260 yuan (US$38). In recent hearings held by the Stone Forest Scenic District Management Bureau, 95 percent of representatives were in favor of the 30 percent price hike, according to local media reports.

At 260 yuan per person, Stone Forest tickets would be one of the most expensive tickets among China's World Heritage sites, more than Fujian's Wuyi Mountain (250 yuan), Yellow Mountain in Anhui, Sichuan's Jiuzhaigou (220 yuan) and Zhangjiajie in Hunan (245 yuan).

Kunming bus passengers ask for help with pickpockets
Kunming public bus system is a cheap, convenient way to get around the city, but city buses are also popular places for pickpockets to practice their trade. Kunming bus passengers have suggested to local bus operators that they broadcast short video clips about how to prevent becoming another theft statistic, according to a Kunming Information Hub report.

Passengers also shared their strategies for minimizing the risk of pickpockets, including:

• Keeping an eye on people who move after the bus starts moving
• Moving to less crowded parts of the bus, should they exist
• Staying aware of one's pockets and bag

According to the Kunming Public Security Bureau, pickpockets tend to operate between 9 and 11 am and 5 and 8 pm. Bus routes with the highest rates of pickpocket activity include 107, 26, 61, 90, 118, 2, 10, 161, 31, K1 and 84.

On August 3, the Kunming government released a comprehensive development plan for the city over the next 12 years.

In the course of the next dozen years, three core areas will be built up:

1. The main urban area (主城), consisting of the Guandu, Panlong, Wuhua and Xishan urban districts;

2. Chenggong new city (呈贡新城), located approximately 25 kilometers southeast of the main urban area;

3. The new airport economic zone (空港经济区), which will be northeast of the main urban area.

Kunming will expand primarily to the northeast and southeast, with this phase of growth supported by the construction of the city's first urban rail network.

Road connectivity between the main urban area and outlying towns including Haikou, Kunyang and Jinning will be upgraded to create a transportation network that encircles Dianchi Lake.

Within the main urban area, an 'urban ecological control belt' (城市生态控制带) will be established, consisting of Xishan and Dianchi National Scenic Area. Outside of the city, the Qiaozi Snow Mountain scenic area, Xundian Red Tourism Scenic Area, Jiuxiang National Scenic Area, Stone Forest National Scenic Area, Yangzonghai Tourism and Holiday area and other tourist areas within Kunming municipality will be administered as 'urban ecological scenic controlled areas' (城市生态景观控制区).

Five 'functional zones' within the main urban area will be created, with the area within the second ring road as the center of four other areas to the north, east, south and west. This is what the city plans for each zone:

Center: Public services infrastructure and green space coverage will be improved and population density reduced.

North: Heavily polluting industrial operations will be gradually moved out.

West: Heavily polluting industrial operations will be gradually moved out.

South: With the pending retirement of Kunming Wujiaba International Airport, the area currently occupied by the airport will be redeveloped for urban use. The airport land plus the nearby exhibition halls and Baohai Park will serve as a secondary city center.

At the same time, Dianchi National Scenic Area, Caohai Ecological Park and Daguan Park will be built up into a sports, leisure and tourism area. There will also be extensive residential space in the area, as well as many municipal administrative offices and traffic infrastructure leading out of Kunming.

East: The layout and composition of the Kunming Economic Development Zone will be optimized so that it serves as a more streamlined industrial hub.

The small city of Shilin (石林), located about 70 kilometers southeast of Kunming, is primarily known for being home to the Stone Forest, part of a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of China's most famous examples of Karst landscape. In addition to rapidly building up its tourism infrastructure, the city is also preparing to become a leader in China's alternative energy revolution.

Last week Yunnan Power Investment New Energy Development Company announced that it will be the main investor in a Shilin-based solar energy photovoltaic power station which will be China's largest upon completion. Total initial investment in the station is expected to reach 3.7 billion (US$536 million).

The solar energy base will feature an installed generation capacity of 66 megawatts and will cover an area of 173 hectares. It will be connected to the provincial power grid for consumption by Yunnan residents and businesses. Construction on the facility will begin in October of this year and is projected to be completed in 2009.

Yunnan's high altitude, bright sun and clear skies make it one of the ideal locations for solar power facilities, which are being promoted by China's central government.

In October 2007 the government of Dali prefecture announced that it would cooperate with Yuanchang High Technology Group to build a US$500 million solar base, the largest non-crystal silicon thin-film solar cell power project in Asia.

In June 2007, Kunming was named China's 'Solar City' by the Worldwatch Institute - mainly based upon the prevalence of solar-powered water heaters throughout the city. It is estimated that half of the city's population uses solar water heaters.

Yunnan Normal University in Kunming is also home to the Solar Energy Research Instititute, which was founded in 1971 and plays an important role in China's solar technology research and development.

Image: tianshannet.com

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The 'South China Karst' area, which includes Yunnan's Stone Forest (石林, shilin) and Karst formations in Guizhou, Chongqing and Guangxi was selected by the World Heritage Committee on Tuesday to be inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

South China Karst will join Madagascar's Rainforests of the Atsinanana and South Korea's Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes as the newest members of the list, which represent UNESCO's aim to "encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity."

UNESCO's decision to include South China Karst on the World Heritage List marks the third time that a site in Yunnan has been added to the list. Previously, Old Town of Lijiang and Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas were added to the list in 1997 and 2003, respectively.

Inscription on the list will likely boost domestic and international tourist visits to Stone Forest, but it is doubtful that Shilin will receive the significant influx of tourists that Lijiang has experienced since 1997. Protecting the area could lead to more discoveries - or rediscoveries - of rare flora and fauna such as the reappearance last year of Paraisometrum mileense aka mile jutai (弥勒苣苔), a yellow-flowered plant that only grows on Karst limestone formations and was last seen in 1906.

Looking at the other Yunnan inscribees on the list, The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas have benefited from efforts by environmental NGO The Nature Conservancy in conjunction with the Chinese government to minimize the impact of development and increased tourism in the area. The Chinese government has placed enough importance upon the areas to name a 2,000-square kilometer portion known as Pudacao as China's first national park two days ago. The area's spectacular mountainous terrain is brimming with tourism potential and is expected to see major growth in tourist visits as nearby Lijiang is built into a regional air hub connecting secondary cities in Yunnan with Chinese and Southeast Asian cities.

Lijiang was visited by more than four million tourists last year, with more than one million of them coming from Beijing. Not surprisingly, daily direct charter flights connecting Beijing and Lijiang were launched on Monday.

Image: Virtual Tourist

The online edition of Washington, DC-based magazine The Atlantic Monthly has published a travel story by Jeffrey Tayler about Kunming. Although the story is hidden behind a subscription wall, the Atlantic does provide non-subscribers with a Kunming slideshow featuring narration by Tayler of his photos from the Bird and Flower Market, Yuantong Temple, Heilongtan and the Stone Forest.