Looking forward to the new 345-meter skyscraper, though it doesn't appear to be on schedule. Edward, where is this new Shangri-La Hotel situated?

Agreed. As a general rule, investing in assets hedges against inflation.

Hot & sour noodles that costs 2 yuan over a decade ago now costs 10 yuan... 15 yuan in another five years. The value of RMB saved in our proverbial piggy banks is steadily losing value.

However, anyone with cash savings on-hand who aims to maximize their earning potential ought to invest in the property market elsewhere in China, not in Spring City.

Despite sprawling high-rises along KRT stations, Kunming's property market growth has been lackluster compared to other provincial capitals, secondary or tertiary cities.

First and foremost, I'm very sorry Geezer for feeling that our argument over data was perceived as an ad hominem attack... often the case when one's core beliefs & values are threatened. GKM is a relatively tight-knit community, and you're a valuable cohabitant.

Said inconsistency of China's statistics is another topic of debate.

But for sake of argument, I'd agree with you. Every nation, company, and scientific research studies have intrinsic biases and may bend statistical data and models accordingly. Some more than others.

I will concede that.

As you astutely pointed out, that 9% may be exaggerated or misinterpreted as year-on-year reductions by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), when in fact that figure may represent reductions over a three-year period since this particular data collection started. Nonetheless, the more conservative estimate of 3% is still a big reduction of coal production.

Even if we view NBS' stats with incredulous caution, the overall downward trend of coal-fired power plants for production of eco-friendly EVs is a positive sign for the environment. Cheers.

@Geezer

China's capitalist motivation notwithstanding, now you're arguing against EV production in China by claiming, with static data, that "in 2016, 59% of China's electricity was produced in coal fired plants"...

but you failed to mention that is a 9% coal production reduction, 4.7% coal consumption reduction, and 2% coal as energy mix year-on-year reduction in 2016.

Furthermore, China is the global leader in the renewable energy movement... #1 in wind energy, #1 in hydropower (by far), #2 in solar energy (quickly gaining on Germany).

All trends point to eventual alignment of EV production dominance, from sustainable green energy sources.

No Geezer, you said, "Bad idea, an environmental catastrophe in the making."

If EVs had your nimble backpedaling feature, they would sell like pancakes. ;)

@Geezer, "new research" that was published way back in 2012, and pertains to productions of electric vehicles (EVs) from dirty, coal-fired power plants...

granted CPC's technocrats ought to beef up oversight of carbon emission standards in China's supply-chain production & disposal processes of EVs en route to leading the e-mobility manufacturing revolution, trailed by Europe.

Norway, (where that research paper was written), has the highest per capita number of all-electric [battery only] cars in the world. They are a model nation for EVs, albeit produced from low carbon electricity sources. Luckily for them, 90% of electricity used by Norwegian homes are from hydropower.

As the paper suggested, EVs "make sense" if production comes from cleaner energy sources. This aligns with China's shift from coal energy dependency to renewable ones. This year, China has already halted plans for more than 100 new coal-fired power plants. A stark contrast to Trump's "bring back coal" initiative.