We have never had problem taking taxi FROM airport to anywhere in the city, only the other way is troublesome.
The taxis from airport (the official ones behind the usually empty queue - not the people picking you up inside and outside of the airport) have always used meter without requesting to do so.
The only problem could be if your Chinese is not good and are unable to give the exact address to the driver.
We use taxi almost exclusively to get to and from airport, train and bus stations when we have too much luggage for other transport options. Taxis from airport use meter, but the other way it's always haggling.
Recently we used Didi to get a car in "early" morning to the airport and it was a pleasant experience compared to Kunming taxis.
The Jinxing swimming pool (金星游泳池) reviewed in that article should still be there.
I faintly recall reading about Kunming mall or other sight which at the time had just aquarium but the article mentioned wanting to expand to more animals in future. Was it penguins or something, I can't remember, but definitely something exotic.
To follow up on Goldie's earlier post and related discussion about the petition for this bear, CCTV News (state TV's English news channel) had following in their daily WeChat news articles today, clearly showing that the petition had effect:
'World's saddest and loneliest' polar bear lives in mall
2016-07-27 CCTVNEWS
A polar bear dubbed "the world's saddest" is living at the Grandview Aquarium in the Grandview Mall in Guangzhou city, south China's Guangdong Province.
Pizza lives alone in an enclosed glass box, measuring just 40 square meters. The polar bear spends its days lying in the small space, occasionally moving lethargically, while shoppers take selfies.
Visitors and netizens have expressed alarm about Pizza's living conditions and questioned whether it is appropriate for the bear to live in Guangzhou, a city which has a subtropical monsoon climate.
Concerns were exacerbated after photos emerged online of visitors crowding in front of Pizza, snapping photos and tapping the glass.
"The space is too small," Xinhua News Agency quoted a visitor as saying. "Pizza looks depressed and is eager to get free."
Li Chengbing, the deputy manager of the aquarium, insisted that because Pizza came into the world through artificial breeding it has adapted to the room temperature, which is regulated at 18 degrees Celsius. He claimed that the bear receives a monthly health check and more than 120,000 yuan is spent on its food each year.
However, it seems that animal protection experts don't accept the aquarium's defense. Sun Quanhui, the senior scientific advisor of World Animal Protection, stated that although delivered through artificial breeding, Pizza, in essence, remains a wild animal suited to his species' natural habitat.
"Settling the polar bear in such a crowded shopping mall would affect its psychology, immunity and life expectancy due to his frequent exposure to people," Sun added.
Animals Asia, a Hong Kong-based animal protection charity, initiated a petition to ask for the closure of the mall's aquarium in March this year. It has attracted nearly 500,000 signatures.
Dave Neale, the animal welfare director of Animals Asia, stated in the petition: "There is no excuse for any animal to be trapped this way but it's widely believed that polar bears are one of the hardest of all animals to effectively provide for in captivity. Polar bears often exhibit 'stereotypic' behavior as captivity restricts their natural instincts such as the need to forage."
"We are calling on the Chinese public not to attend this attraction. We are calling for it to be closed down. This is a bear that suffers for what? For selfies? For shopping?"
Facing a profusion of controversies, the aquarium plans to build an outdoor space for Pizza and says it will find a partner for Pizza in the future.
The aquarium maintains that it is operating within the law. Last Sunday, it held a press briefing during which Li presented a business license and permit for the use of aquatic and wild animals issued by the Forestry Bureau and Ocean and Fishery Administration of Guangdong Province, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
A draft amendment to the law on wildlife protection, due to take effect in 2017, specifies that artificially-bred wild animals must be guaranteed suitable space. Breeders must provide sufficient funds, infrastructure and room for animals to be taken care of properly and must not mistreat wild species.
Would you visit the lonely polar bear in Guangzhou? And do you think it should be freed from the small enclosure? Let us know your opinion in the comment section below.
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In interview, Yunnan Party chief stresses ending poverty
发布者@Geogramatt: "Why the rush? Let this generation pass peacefully. The young all want to leave anyway."
I would think that it makes China look bad (and that's what the leadership cares, despite what their actions sometimes come through as), if there are so many elder people left behind in undeveloped rural homes.
Combine this with left behind children, who often are seen sharing those poor living conditions with their grandparents (if even that).. If the elderly are migrated to better housing closer to even minimal services, then so would their grandchildren - and that's for the future, right now.
In interview, Yunnan Party chief stresses ending poverty
发布者As of late, Chinese pro-party commentators have repeatedly mentioned that Deng never said that it is glorious to be rich for everyone - they argue that Deng always meant for select few to become rich first, and rest later.
If much of China growth, or at least opening the potential to it, can be attributed to reforms that Deng initiated, then just as much of the so-called economic injustice (or relative poverty) can be attributed to those same political decisions - not so much people unintentionally falling off the wagon of development and economic prosperity, as is case in some western countries.
Secondly, the culture of shared poverty being the glorious thing (that the previous generations were forced to), would not have disappeared over night.
I have witnessed the internal conflict in some elderly rural residents in Yunnan, torn between being angry for not getting to enjoy the fruits of China's growth on one hand, and not accepting the steps that would be needed to pick the fruits on the other hand.
Bureaucratic declaration limits Yunnan countryside fun
发布者I was at a rural funeral in Yunnan last autumn, and throughout the event there was a bookkeeper registering and writing down all donations.'
Back then I understood that the family had purchased the feast for a certain price, and this communal bookkeeper was subtracting the payment for that from all those donations.
But in light of this article, I wouldn't be surprised if he served some administrative role as well.
Migrant workers receive bricks in lieu of pay
发布者Chinese state does have some economic muscle, and tradition of state-owned enterprising. I think that the state should jump in here.
They could confistace this kind of non-monetary resources (like bricks, or frozen french fries), pay market price to the employees, and then sell the goods back to the market (or donate to charity) through it's own channels.
But I guess there is more bucks in cigarattes and oil.
Migrant workers receive bricks in lieu of pay
发布者@alienew: "drive investors to go to places where they can get away"
Well, technically it would drive them away to places where they can get away with unpaid wages in some other ways than being beaten to death.
Preferably the alternative would be a more civilized way to lose face than doing so concretically.
The process somewhere else would be that after 1-2 months salary is unpaid, the employees quit and contact union, which then more or less peacefully negotiates the best possible solution between the employer and the employee.
The workers can then choose better representatives, if the union-led negotiations still produce nothing but bricks as compensation for unpaid wages.
The problem in China is that if you quit, there are 10 other guys waiting to take your position regardless of how you were dealt with.
But in that scale, there is usually just 1 guy offering those positions, and if he or she is dealt with this way, there may not be another guy taking his place.