Today is opening day for a government-funded "gay bar" in Dali whose stated goal is to create a "common room for partner education" for the local gay community in one of the areas of China with the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates.

The 120,000 yuan (US$17,576) bar, located in Dali's old town, is managed by the NGO The Good Friend Center, according to a Global Times story.

Reaction across the Chinese Internet has ranged from praise to condemnation, to suspicion that the local government did the project to attract funds from international NGOs. Some commentators have said that the high-profile location is bound to doom the project due to the lingering stigma attached to homosexuality in China.

For the last three years, the main meeting area for homosexual men in the area had been in a wooded area just outside Dali's city wall, Kunming Information Hub reports.

On November 24, Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu said that homosexual sex accounted for 32 percent of the HIV/AIDS infections in China, adding that that proportion was likely to grow.

Government estimates put the current number of HIV/AIDS infections in China at about 650,000, while some epidemiologists say the number is more likely around 1.5 million. The Dali Health Bureau estimates there are 1,500 to 2,000 HIV-positive gay men in Dali.

The Bureau said the new bar it has funded will employ gay volunteers to attract customers.

Zhang Jianbo (张建波), the non-gay manager of the "bar", said that the bar was going to be less about the drinks and more about education and prevention.

"We might not even sell beverages in the bar. We will turn the bar into a tribune to offer lectures and training to gay people in order to reduce AIDS infections among them," he told the Beijing News.

Official data states that Yunnan province is home to more HIV/AIDS infections than any other administrative region in China. In addition to gay sex, unprotected sex among heterosexuals – especially involving prosititution – and intravenous drug use are major contributors to the number of transmissions each year.

Last year, a Tsinghua University study focused on the spread of HIV in Yunnan announced that in general intravenous drug users were being surpassed by women and gay men as the fastest growing HIV-positive gender demographics.

The Tsinghua report added that the virus' transmission rate among ethnic Han Chinese was quickening its pace, whereas in previous years it had been predominantly concentrated in ethnic minority populations.

Update I: Chinese news site ccvic.com is reporting that the Dali gay bar has already been closed down by local officials.

Update II: Zhang has been quoted in the People's Daily as saying the bar's opening was delayed due to public pressure.

"The bar will open, but maybe later. We are under a lot of pressure now and should eliminate the negative effect first. The other reason about the bar's delay is the over exposure of the bar which makes gay people afraid to come in," he said.

Kunming facing garbage crisis
Reuters is reporting that Kunming is facing a garbage crunch, with the city's main west and east garbage dumps "fully saturated" and facing closure before the end of this year. It is estimated that Kunming produces 1.3 million tons of trash annually.

Kunming has a plan to bring three new garbage processing facilities similar to the new Wuhuan Incineration Plant online in the coming years. Using a chemical process, the plant is reportedly capable of producing electricity while processing garbage.

Schools, buses on heightened H1N1 alert
Classes at Kunming University of Science and Technology's Oxbridge campus have been temporarily canceled due to a recent outbreak of H1N1 virus (aka swine flu), in which 34 students have been confirmed to be carrying the virus and "around 200 or 300" students have been quarantined on campus. The school is home to 5,000 students.

Concerns of a large-scale H1N1 breakout have also led to Kunming's bus companies increasing hygiene precautions on the city's 3,200 buses. Buses now get a preliminary cleaning after the completion of each route in addition to daily disinfections.

Indian media: It's time to connect with Kunming
Indian newspaper The Times of India is calling on the Indian government to reconsider its decision to not rebuild the Stilwell Road, an old World War II supply route that once connected Kunming with Ledo in northeast India's Assam State via northern Myanmar. According to writer Saibal Dasgupta, India's concerns about China's growing regional influence is feeding into behavior that only amplifies India's increasingly weak regional position:


Marianas Islands courting Kunming tourists
The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI), a group of Pacific islands administered by the United States, is hosting Kunming television media this week with the goal of luring increasingly wealthy Kunmingers. A local television crew producing travel shows for Kunming TV will film in Saipan and Tinian, according to a Saipan Tribune report.

Marianas Visitors Authority (MVA) officials have high hopes for the upcoming CNMI travel special, which is expected to be viewed in around one million Kunming households in early December.

"We welcome additional Chinese tourists; their contribution to the NMI economy is significant and necessary," said MVA managing director Perry Tenorio.

Kunming garbage dump image: Reuters

China's health care system has received a major upgrade in the last decade, but this improvement in health care options has yet to make its way into the countryside. A growing number of domestic and international organizations are working throughout the country to raise the quality of health care in China's rural areas – where the majority of its citizens still live.

GoKunming recently spoke with Dr Robert Detrano, founder and director of China California Heart Watch, a Yunnan-based NGO focused on improving basic cardiac health care throughout rural Yunnan:

GoKunming: What is the basic mission of China California Heart Watch?

Dr Robert Detrano: Our over-arching mission is to serve the rural poor in China through: medical research regarding heart disease and hypertension, education and training of medical professionals about heart disease and high blood pressure, providing free healthcare to those with heart disease and high blood pressure and overseeing hands-on, once-in-a-lifetime, goodwill overseas experiences for individuals interested in any of the above.

Activities of China California Heart Watch generate no profits. We can operate solely through the generosity and vision of donors, participants, philanthropic foundations, and granting agencies.

GK: How did China California Heart Watch come about? Why does it focus on Yunnan?

RD: During the 2005 Spring festival I was teaching at a hospital in Beijing. I took a trip to Yunnan to escape the frigid winter. In Kunming, I purchased a bicycle and started cycling south. After two days, people who were on their way to a pre-nuptial party in an impoverished Hani village invited me to celebrate with them. I left my bike in a cheap hotel. The road to the village was long and bumpy and we did not get there until the sun was setting.

The bride's family fed me and treated me like one of their family. They refused money when I offered it. The drivers drank quite a bit and nobody was able to take me back so the family put me up for the night. The house had no running water and no electricity. The heating was a wood fire in the middle of the floor, no chimney. There was no doctor in the village and the clinic had been abandoned. Their hospitality and universal love in the face of great hardship was my inspiration to come back and work with the poor farmers.

GK: What is the state of health care in rural Yunnan?

RD: Rural Yunnan has very inadequate health care. Village doctors receive training for three months after they graduate from high school. Township doctors are only a bit better educated and trained. Hospitals are poorly equipped and sanitary conditions are poor. Since doctors must make much of their living from a percentage on medicines they prescribe, they often prescribe medicines that are both expensive and inappropriate. Chronic diseases like high blood pressure are largely untreated.

The rural cooperative health insurance system is inadequate to cover procedures and surgeries that must be done at high level hospitals in Kunming or in other provinces. Kids die from heart conditions that are easily curable because their families cannot pay for life saving procedures that are available in Kunming.

GK: What heart diseases are most prevalent in Yunnan?

RD: We have surveyed over 1,000 farmers. High blood pressure is by far the most prevalent heart disease and in general the most prevalent chronic disease. More than 20 percent of adult farmers have high blood pressure. In some areas this approaches 50 percent. Fewer than 5 percent of those with high blood pressure have their blood pressures under control with diet and/or medicines.

GK: What are the most surprising things you've learned through your experiences with China California Heart Watch in Yunnan?

RD: The most surprising thing that I have learned is the good heartedness of the Chinese people. China is rapidly rising from extreme poverty and there is a misconception that Chinese people do not care to help their neighbors because they are so busy getting rich.

Though it is true that those, who in a lifetime rise from poverty into the middle class, are reluctant to give up what they have worked hard for, Chinese people, when they are touched by the poor conditions of the farmers, are quite ready to donate their time in our traveling clinics and in their hospitals.

Cardiologists at several hospitals in Yunnan and elsewhere donate their time to repair the heart defects of the rural poor. This is as inspiring as is the kindness of the villagers who fed me and put me up during the spring festival of 2005.

GK: What can be done to improve cardiac health in rural Yunnan and elsewhere in China in the coming years?

RD: The first step to a solution is awareness that the problem exists. If nothing is done, by 2050 ten million Chinese people – the population of two Kunmings - will die every year from heart disease and stroke. Through research, teaching and publicity, we must increase awareness of the problem. When the Chinese people and the Chinese government are sufficiently aware, they will solve this problem.

I invite all readers to go to our website www.chinacal.org or to write to me at robert [at] chinacal.org.

Police in the southern Yunnan city of Jianshui have arrested a kindergarten teacher who they say has confessed to pricking 24 students, some as young as three years old, with a syringe.

Twenty-one year old kindergarten teacher Sun Qiqi (孙琪琪) said that she used syringe pricks as a way to discipline students who were not obedient in class or who were making noise during naptime.

Police said that during questioning, Sun repeatedly said there were no liquids in the syringe's chamber and that she had not injected her students with anything. During investigation, police found a five milliliter disposable syringe in Sun's office desk at Xihu kindergarten in Jianshui.

There were also numerous needle holes in Sun's desk, which people close to the investigation said were made when Sun stabbed her desk while trying to frighten disobedient students.

A police spokesperson said 24 students have been tested for HIV, and hepatitis B and C, with no children testing positive for any of the three illnesses, adding that there were an additional 15 students that may have been pricked by Sun who may require testing.

A former classmate of Sun's told reporters that she had a bad temper and was very impatient. According to the Jianshui Education Bureau, Sun had yet to receive her teaching permit and Xihu Kindergarten, which has 179 students, had not yet received a license to operate.

'Yunnan Naked Girl' trying to marry dwarf entertainer
It may be true love, or it may be shallow opportunism, but the internet phenomenon known as 'Yunnan Naked Girl' (云南裸女) is courting 1.2 meter tall entertainer Qiu Yupei (邱宇培), who works at a karaoke bar in Hefei, Anhui province.

On October 11, Qiu, who performs under the name Beibei, posted an online ad for a wife. His conditions: she must be 40 centimeters taller than him, less than 28 years old and a university graduate. In return for marriage, Qiu offered his wit, stable income and private estate.

Chuxiong native Peng Chunping (彭春平), better known as 'Yunnan Naked Girl' responded to the ad with a marriage proposal of her own. Peng is 1.6 meters tall and 21 years old but does not have a university degree.

"I truly love Beibei. Ever since I saw the advertisement, I've decided to live with him ever after," Peng told the Chinese-language Information Times.

Peng first gained notoriety in China in July by posting naked photos of herself online in what she said was an attempt to find her mother, who she says left her after a failed suicide attempt by Peng. She has yet to find her mother.

Qiu's agent has reportedly expressed interest in Peng's marriage proposal.

Report: 90% of Kunming's timber imports illegal
A new report by campaign group Global Witness states that although trade between Myanmar and China in illegal timber has declined significantly since 2005, there is still substantial traffic of illegal timber from Myanmar into Yunnan province.

The report, entitled 'A Disharmonious Trade', is based upon field research in Myanmar's Kachin State, Yunnan, and China's coastal region between 2005 and 2009. The report states that in 2008, Kunming customs processed 270,000 cubic meters of logs and 170,000 cubic meters of sawn timber, 90 percent of which was illegal.

According to the report, timber is often transported into Yunnan at night, "official checkpoints avoided and documentation routinely falsified. In some instances, local enforcement agencies have turned a blind eye to smuggling; sources claim that corruption and bribery are rife."

The report recommends that Yunnan strengthen awareness of and compliance with the May 2006 'Interim Measures to Manage Timber and Mineral Cooperation between Myanmar and Yunnan Province'. It also recommends that Myanmar's ruling junta work toward stopping illegal logging and timber trafficking.

Xishan district to target spitting, littering
Starting today, Kunming's Xishan district will begin a new campaign in which district hygiene department employees will patrol the streets looking for spitters, litterers and others who infringe upon general cleanliness.

People caught in the act of spitting, littering, dumping dirty water, painting graffiti, posting ads without authorization, walking on grass will be subject to fines ranging from 100 to 500 yuan.

Qiu Yupei/Peng Chunping image: aikanwo.cn

Woman falls from 28th floor, strikes pedestrian
Kunming police are investigating the death of a woman who fell 28 stories and struck an unlucky pedestrian who is in the hospital with head injuries.

Sunday at 11:08 am, witnesses said they heard a crash and then saw a body fall to a stairwell outside of building D3 of the Meijing Xincheng residential complex in the Yueyatang neighborhood. The woman who fell was killed instantly, witnesses told Kunming newspaper Dushi Shibao.

A woman surnamed Zhao, who was walking with her mother-in-law and son, happened to be walking below building D3 at the time that the woman fell from the 28th floor. A doctor at 533 Hospital said the woman was in stable condition but that she had suffered some head trauma and was unable to remember being struck by the falling woman.

Due to the fact that the fallen woman apparently crashed through a window before falling to her death, it is unclear whether her fall was suicide, accidental or if foul play was involved. Police have not released any information about the woman's identity or any other details related to the case.

H1N1 vaccines to be distributed throughout Yunnan
Yunnan will distribute 750,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine throughout the province in the coming days, according to Yunnan Provincial Health Bureau director Chen Juemin (陈觉民).

So far 414 cases of H1N1, commonly known as swine flu, have been confirmed in Yunnan, with 259 patients having already been discharged from hospitals and 155 patients still receiving treatment. Yunnan has yet to have any severe H1N1 cases or deaths due to the virus, according to an en.kunming.cn report.

Of the vaccine doses, 150,000 will be allotted for high exposure groups, particularly airport staff and police, with the remaining 600,000 doses distributed to Yunnan's cities and prefectures, the report said.

Kunming holiday tourist stats released
Municipal tourism officials announced on Saturday that during the eight-day National Day/Mid-Autumn Festival golden week holiday the city received 1.28 million visitors from elsewhere in China, an increase of more than six percent over the same time in 2008, according to a Dushi Shibao report.

It was estimated that of the holiday visitors, 1.04 million only stayed one night before moving on to other travel destinations in Yunnan such as Lijiang, Dali and Xishuangbanna. Total revenue from visiting tourists is estimated at 571 million yuan (US$83.6 million), an increase of 7.83 percent over the previous year.

After an absence of nearly one year due to the renovating of the city's second ring road, no-car days will return to Kunming next Tuesday. City officials said the day would be used to promote health and environmental consciousness by encouraging Kunming residents to walk or ride bicycles.

Kunming became the first Chinese city to hold monthly no-car days in 2007, with all private cars being banned within the first ring road – and sometimes as far as the second ring road - on the last Saturday of each month.

No-car days were suspended in the autumn of 2008 after the government determined that banning private cars for a day was untenable given the large-scale traffic infrastructure overhaul taking place across the city.

This coming Tuesday (September 22) will mark the first no-car day held on a weekday, which will have implications for people who are accustomed to driving to work.

From 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, buses and taxis will be the only motorized vehicles allowed within – but not including - the city's first ring road. The first ring road consists of Huancheng Xi Lu, Huancheng Nan Lu, Huancheng Dong Lu, Huancheng Bei Lu and Yieryi Dajie.

Kunming, often derided by locals and local media as ducheng (堵城, or 'Traffic jam city'), has one of the highest car ownership rates and some of the worst traffic among Chinese cities.

The effect of the rapid increase in car sales in Kunming was compounded by ineffective governmental road planning, best exemplified by the corruption case of Hu Xing (胡星).

Hu was deputy director of Yunnan's Transportation Bureau and Kunming Deputy Mayor from 1995 to 2006 and was responsible for road construction and city planning. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2007 for taking more than 40 million yuan in bribes after being arrested in and extradited from Singapore.

Yesterday Kunming's municipal government began an ambitious new campaign to remove the ubiquitous gobs of spit that cover the city.

Rather than introducing fines like Hong Kong or pushing public campaigns against spitting as has been done in Shanghai, the clumsily named Kunming Municipal National Hygiene City Establishment Task Force (昆明市创建国家卫生城市指挥部) has chosen to distribute millions of small green bags that would-be street hockers can fill with their phlegm.

Each day, the municipal government will distribute 116,000 of the free antibacterial bags, which it refers to as "environmentally friendly phlegm bags" (环保口痰袋) as well as "dragon saliva bags" (龙涎袋).

Distribution of the bags will take place in streets (16,000 per day) and at bus stops (10,000 per day) in downtown Kunming. Beijing Lu and Dongfeng Lu will be the initial focal areas for the program.

At yesterday's press conference announcing the beginning of the new anti-loogie drive, Olympic torchbearer Yang Guixi (杨贵喜) read aloud the philosophy behind the campaign:


In a city where spitting wherever one wants is a deeply ingrained habit for a substantial portion of residents, getting people to stop spitting in public is a rather lofty goal, reminiscent of the city's failed attempt to ban car horns at the beginning of 2008.