The Book Club will meet Tuesday, January 9, 2018, at The Park, to discuss Mikhail Bulgakov's novel, THE MASTER AND MARGARITA, in which Satan arrives in both Roman Jerusalem 2000 years ago and in Moscow in the stalinist 1930's and turns out to be the most interesting and dramatic dude in town (think Milton's PARADISE LOST).
The Kunming Book Club has a wechat group in which many regular attendees participate, but meetings are open to all. Readings, locations and times of meets are chosen by attendees. New participants welcome.
That's creeping up on Chinese New Year, so you might want to check early on tickets to Jinghong. From Jinghong on you can probably just buy tickets the day before at the bus station.
Yahoo is not a brilliant site for news, but it works consistently for me here - perhaps there was a glitch for a week or so once, but that was a long time ago, can't quite remember.
I am a foreigner and at my local PSB I have never needed my landlord to go with me to register, I just needed lease and photocopy of his ID the first time, when I moved in. Later trips in and out of the country, I just had to show up with my passport - did this last week.
Don't mean to whitewash, the situation is terrible - just meant to point out that banning forestry was under the PRC, and that the extreme air pollution of cities, which has gotten worse since 1980, has also finally got Chinese authorities to take it seriously and do something about the environment - no, maybe not enough etc., but they've really begun to see the light. Hope they'll see more light, but of course in a globally competitive 'development' economy and competitive international political system they're not suddenly going to shut down all the coal mines etc., any more than other governments endanger their economic positions. Brings into question question about 'development' generally, as well as the wonders of competitive (naturally) capitalism and national 'strength', especially when many of the elements of such lie in the hands of folks with competitive make-money short-term interests. The light that the state has begun to see is in fact in contradiction to the demands of the kind of world economy and polity that is virtually universal. Question is, will longer-term interests prevail over the structural constraints built into the kind of world we live in, or won't they? And no, I'm not real optimistic, but there's no alternative, and it's not just a matter of the present leadership, who are, after all, not blind.
I think that in the 19th century it was not so much a matter of people not crying foul or criticizing (it was a century of several armed rebellions against the state that lasted for a decade or more and took the lives of tens of millions) - nor was it then a matter of loss of face, as I doubt that the central or local state was terribly aware of the problem - and at any rate the Qing were pretty busy just trying to keep the lid on things, suppress the massive local rebellions and foreign 'semi-imperialism, semi-colonialism' against their waning power. So I don't think whatever we are seeing today is a matter of the same old same old - but of course you're right about the difference between espoused culture and culture in action.
Sublime relation to nature in art and in numerous traditional popular practices, perhaps. However, it was already obvious to numerous Western travelers in China in the 19th century, including some who came to Yunnan, that deforestation in China had long bee seriously damaging the landscape - and note that such issues were a hell of a lot less issues of concern in Europe in the 19th century than they are today. The PRC government banned much forestry in 1997, and although this policy has not always been perfectly carried out and although that it has merely driven foresters to exploit forests in Laos and Myanmar, it does seem to be a step in the right direction - and I, for one, do not think that the current effort will be a matter of mere words.
Not quite what you'd call a jumping place, but not bad at all for rather standard US-type meals, not overly expensive, and with a really good salad bar that's cheap, or free with most dinner dishes after 5:30PM. You can get a bottle of beer or even wine if you really want to, but I've never seen anybody do it - maybe that's just to take out. Chinese Christian run, and they hire people with physical disadvantages, who are pleasant and helpful. Frequented by foreign (mostly North American) Christians and Chinese Christians - was started by a Canadian couple associated with Bless China (previously, Project Grace), who are no longer here, but no religious pressure or any of that. Steaks are nothing special, and I avoid the Korean dishes, which I've had a few times but which did not impress me.
As a shop and bakery, it's very good bread at reasonable prices, of various kinds (Y18 for a good multigrain loaf that certainly weighs well over a pound. Other stuff too, like granola and oatmeal that is local, as well as imported things, including American cornflakes and so forth, which some people seem to require.
Large portions, seriously so with the pizza, which is Brooklyn/American style, I guess. Convivial, conversational, good place to drink with good folks on both sides of the bar, especially after about 9PM.
China to establish environmentally protected areas nationwide
发布者Don't mean to whitewash, the situation is terrible - just meant to point out that banning forestry was under the PRC, and that the extreme air pollution of cities, which has gotten worse since 1980, has also finally got Chinese authorities to take it seriously and do something about the environment - no, maybe not enough etc., but they've really begun to see the light. Hope they'll see more light, but of course in a globally competitive 'development' economy and competitive international political system they're not suddenly going to shut down all the coal mines etc., any more than other governments endanger their economic positions. Brings into question question about 'development' generally, as well as the wonders of competitive (naturally) capitalism and national 'strength', especially when many of the elements of such lie in the hands of folks with competitive make-money short-term interests. The light that the state has begun to see is in fact in contradiction to the demands of the kind of world economy and polity that is virtually universal. Question is, will longer-term interests prevail over the structural constraints built into the kind of world we live in, or won't they? And no, I'm not real optimistic, but there's no alternative, and it's not just a matter of the present leadership, who are, after all, not blind.
China to establish environmentally protected areas nationwide
发布者I think that in the 19th century it was not so much a matter of people not crying foul or criticizing (it was a century of several armed rebellions against the state that lasted for a decade or more and took the lives of tens of millions) - nor was it then a matter of loss of face, as I doubt that the central or local state was terribly aware of the problem - and at any rate the Qing were pretty busy just trying to keep the lid on things, suppress the massive local rebellions and foreign 'semi-imperialism, semi-colonialism' against their waning power. So I don't think whatever we are seeing today is a matter of the same old same old - but of course you're right about the difference between espoused culture and culture in action.
China to establish environmentally protected areas nationwide
发布者Sublime relation to nature in art and in numerous traditional popular practices, perhaps. However, it was already obvious to numerous Western travelers in China in the 19th century, including some who came to Yunnan, that deforestation in China had long bee seriously damaging the landscape - and note that such issues were a hell of a lot less issues of concern in Europe in the 19th century than they are today. The PRC government banned much forestry in 1997, and although this policy has not always been perfectly carried out and although that it has merely driven foresters to exploit forests in Laos and Myanmar, it does seem to be a step in the right direction - and I, for one, do not think that the current effort will be a matter of mere words.
Kunming to put 45,000 public use bikes on roads
发布者@ Peter: Answer to your question: no.
24 hours in Heijing: Exploring Yunnan's hidden valley
发布者Good photos, good article, sounds like it was a really good trip to what looks like a really cool place.