...but it's mainly bad water management.

Well maybe it's a drought but according to the farmers that don't need artificial water supply for their food, it's nothing unusual and according to them they had much worse droughts in the last decade.

I talked to a fruit farmer when we went out picking fruit with friends and I mentioned the drought and he didn't quite understood what drought I was talking about.

Plus in my experience when I was in Kunming in 2002 or 2003, it was at least as dry as it is now. But I guess less populated, less (new) industry and less water used for golf course and tropical (non local ) vegetation on the roads leading to the Villa parks all around Kunming.

I liked the chaos. too... for a while.

Until I saw a few very bad accidents. Not including the times, I was hit by cars or scooters.

I liked it when there weren't that many scooters and the chaos was mostly bicycles and pedestrians.

In my opinion crossing the road safe is better then a preserved traffic culture while bleeding out in the street. :)

There never really was a drought. It is/was bad water management and a lot of water wasted.

According to locals the weather and supposedly lack of rain is nothing uncommon for Kunming in the past decades. As people can see, since the natural vegetattion didn't suffer in the "drought" and grows as happily as it did in the past decades.

Am I happy to see the rain? Yaha, becasue there is nothing better to have a wonderful summer rain, breaking the bad and sticky air.

Illegal and ulicensed is a broad term for China compared to the West, maybe but in Chinese terms I would say they are in the gray area.
If they are illegal it would be very easy to shut them down for the competition, so you wouldn't have to kill anyone.

In terms of the education business in China, probably internationally speaking it is by far the toughest, cruelest, and most aggressive.
In my term as manager in the mid-level and upper level I have experienced things that really changed me. How low people can get for personal gain not just financially.

There are spies out there thugs and other illegal services that have no other purpose to ruin, badmouth or intimidate other schools.

I have been in two, of what is considered to be, the toughest businesses in the world and I never experienced the same amount of cruelty than in the education field.

I feel sorry for the kids and the poor parents of those children. Can't imagine what it must be like to loose your kids so that another school has a few more students or less competition.

Although I think humour is a good way to deal with this tragedy, either seriousness or humour won't bring those kids back. Plus it didn't sound like the jokes were pulled at the expense of the kids and their families but rather at the business or how the education field is running here in China. And to be honest in the latter case humor is the only thing that keeps you sane in it.