Yes, probably every year somebody gets the wrong mushrooms and actually dies, but considering the number of mushroom hotpot restaurants ,and the popularity of mushrooms locally, the percentage of those who are seriously poisoned must be pretty low - it's unlikely that they will be a major danger to you here (cf traffic, various 'natural' causes, etc.)
I have personally known 2 people (in 13 years) who got high by accident from mushrooms, one at a restaurant and one when her father cooked some up (her father wasn't affected at all by the same dish, for some reason).
Have eaten a few recreational shrooms while here myself - they were local, I'm pretty sure - were not fantastic as a high, although there are SO MANY varieties in Yunnan that there must be somebody somewhere who knows which ones to get. However, I wouldn't trust my own judgement to pick any, and in the market I only buy the few that I recognize to cook with.
The southern China sunrise tour
发布者@Campo: the phrase appears in the middle of a discussion of Yangshuo. Anyway, the Mosuo are matrilineal, not matriarchal, and under what definition of 'tribe' are they considered a 'tribe'?
The southern China sunrise tour
发布者Nice article and nice photos, but which 'community' is supposed to be a 'tribe' that is 'matriarchal'?
Yunnan Drifter: A homecoming
发布者Nice chapter, presents a little local foreign/dropout history that a lot of new arrivals may not know about. Bird Bar, yeah.
US Ambassador to China visits Yunnan
发布者A good film on the subject would be most welcome, but hagiography is a bad idea.
Lijiang to restrict risqué ads targeting tourists
发布者I mean the brainwash of 'modernizing' everything, converting all into 'entertainment'. It sells tickets.