@TigerTiger: I don't know about the shaokao sellers where you say, but in other areas it seems to me to be about the same - no?

I don't get any of these reactions. I know nothing of Shanghai for comparison. However, I will have to be convinced that any of the above is really significant, with the exception of the reactions that Sarah 1998 gets when she says she's German I've noticed that a lot of people in both mainland China and Taiwan don't have a good grasp of the European war of WWII, and this has always bothered me, especially when people indicate that they think that Hitler's being a strong leader is admirable (although this does not necessarily indicate overall approval of Hitler - though sometimes I think it does). But then how many Westerners understand much of anything about the Japanese war in China, which lasted far longer?

@abcd: a fair-enough general definition, I think - but times have changed and I think many backpackers today are little different from the tourists that previous generations of backpackers looked down upon. I'm not claiming any of the attitudes or goals are necessarily justified, but there seems to be a diminishing percentage of people with backpacks who have the characteristics mentioned in the definition, and an increase in what should probably be called backpacker tourism.

How are you.

@jordan11: Can't help that much concerning the stabbings. I am not Chinese. I was out of town when the stabbings happened - got back about 10 days later. My impression is that people were of course horrified, but, at least by the time I got back, nobody seemed to be freaking out. Things are basically cool now, although there have been a few more cops on the streets, the idea being, for the most part, to give people a sense of security, I think - the cops are not all nervous all the time. There were some raids on suspects etc., I think, but as I said I was out of town. I have heard some people expressing negative stereotypes of Uighurs, but not about Muslims in general (most Muslims in Yunnan are Hui-nationality (Chinese-mother tongue) people, and I have not noticed any reaction against them. Near where I live there are numerous Hui restaurants, and they seem to be doing business as usual.