@Alien - that was one of the clearest and best argued posts I've ever read by you.
However, Napoleon is also right - in historical terms, the Japanese invasion/occupation and associated atrocities/war crimes (esp Nanjing) are quite fresh in the mind. There are probably a few Japanese soldiers involved in those acts that are still alive today, though they will not be alive much longer. Never has a large country had such humilation as China did in the C19th and early C20th. After China helped the Allies in WW1, it was decided to give German concessions in China not back to China, but to Japan. Japan obviously liked owning China and decided it should own it all.

Mei's Mandarin is quite cheap, most of the schools are, apart from Keats -I think they charge slightly more. They can provide visas, but beware; officials occaisionally come to check for fake students so the school may rat you out if you are just using the school for the visa and not actually studying. If that happens, you may get deported.

I don't see it as exploitation. The dwarves run everything at the dwarf empire. It's a real community. As soon as they have finished doing a performance, they go back to manning their stall or making food or whatever daily chores they need to do. Chinese often meet their spouses at work, so it's a great place for them to meet people and form sexual relationships, given that most of us non-dwarves, because of our prejudice, would not consider marrying a dwarf.

Okay Christian, thanks for clarifying. Some of your points are correct. spoken English levels are very low amongst the majority of people, because the majority of people are a) not highly educated and b) not used to meeting travellers who don't speak any Chinese. However, with a bit of help from an English speaking local or a Chinese speaking foreigner, you'll be fine. They can write down or send you the names of the places you want to go in Chinese characters. Prices are the same for foreigners and Chinese, though of course as a foreigner, prices that you barter for may start higher (much like in Thailand/Vietnam/Laos). You can find other travellers easily in hostels. Go to The Hump or Cloudland/Upland in Kunming, or Jade Emu in Dali, and I guarantee there will be foreign travellers there.

I think what Peter may perhaps be hinting at is that if the nationalism gets out of hand, foreigners may be beaten up or worse. Not sure though, he needs to say so for himself.