Forums > Living in Kunming > Circumcision Then maybe it shouldn't be done to infants unless medically necessary either? And I'd suggest that, if you're worried about HIV, it might be more important for adolescents and young adults to get the operation than to do it on infants, whose physical sex life is pretty much nonexistent.
As for religious reasons, seems obvious that it's about parents making choices for infants, who don't know enough about those choices to make them. Why not leave the operation until the person makes his own, supposedly informed, choice at, say, age 12 (common age for confirmation among Christians and for Bar Mitzvahs among Jews, I think - I think there's something more or less equivalent in Islam, but I can't think of it at the moment)?
I bet if this postponement were to become common practice, circumcision would be a lot less common than it is at present, despite these Shang rings (above link), which seem to be a good invention.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Advice on working as a tour guide for Spanish ppl I don't understand if you are complaining about the agency you worked with or about Spanish people.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Circumcision Good points, Dazzer, but there is also the question of whether one wants to perpetuate the particular customs of one's community, which have changed and will change and are always changing to some extent, and which can be changed by the way one interacts with the community - as well as saddling a kid with a particular irreversible aspect of/relationship to the community. Footbinding used to be popular in China, and a girl without bound feet could have a hard time getting married.
Lots of questions, and many of them are not so simple when looked at closely - blanket answers don't necessarily fit particular situations of others, and I don't pretend to have them. Sometimes perhaps we need better & more insightful questions.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Circumcision @ Liumingke: You are right, infants are not in a position to decide about this and parents have responsibilities. However, what percentage of males who did NOT have it done as a child choose to have it done after they are old enough to decide for themselves? And why is that?
My guess would be that the majority of those who choose to have it done when of age to decide for themselves would be dong so for reasons of religious conversion, probably to Islam, and even there I'm not sure how many choose the procedure (I don't know the score with conversion to Judaism, but there isn't much conversion to Judaism anyway).
And even on that score, plenty of Pushtoon (Pathan, Pukhtoon) Muslim men in the frontier areas along the Afghan-Pakistani border go about uncircumcized. For the most part, these are 'tribally'-organized people, not what are usually referred to as 'modern'.
As for female circumcision among Muslims, it persists, unfortunately, but only among certain groups, not among the majority of Muslims (though I don't know what ISIS and their ilk prescribe).
Parental responsibilities, yes, unavoidable - should be considered rather carefully, I think, especially for things that are irreversible.
By the way, I was circumcised as an infant, have never worried about it and don't have any resentments - but I think my questions are worth considering.
@ Goldie: Please don't take what I've said as some effort to come down hard on you personally, that's not my intention.
Forums > Living in Kunming > UK Citizens Brexit referendum vote I seriously doubt whether global economic, social, political problems can be dealt with effectively on a national basis. Or, for that matter, on an EU basis.
A quick guide to Kunming's Metro Line 2
发布者85 bus, as well as others, is particularly infrequent now from about 5-6:30, you might have to wait as much as 20 minutes. Thank widespread private automobile ownership here for that. 8 years ago you could get any bus anytime anywhere (before about 10:15PM) in about 5 minutes, and no journey within the city limits took more than 1/2 hour. Progress is wonderful - now, for several zillion dollars, the metro will make this possible again - just stay out of the automobile sewers, which spill over onto the sidewalks.
Yunnan serial killer gets death penalty
发布者No, just keep him locked up.
Snapshot: Saima Jie, Yunnan's Tibetan horse festival
发布者Control freakery > annoyance & resistance > more control freakery > more...> ... > disasters.
As rainy season comes to a close, reservoir levels look encouraging
发布者Good question - it started in May rather than late May or early June this year, dumped more water than usual all summer, and now we're in late September - a lot more rain in September than usual.
Things change.
Chenggong holds no-car day with eye on future
发布者Be nice if they'd do this more often in the rest of the city too. And 'no car' days are nice, but they need to get serious over the long run.