I agree with the webmaster on this one. James put his bad review in the wrong place, it should have been in the reviews section. If I was running the site, I would have moved it to the reviews section with a zero star rating and locked the thread. Why? Not because he is insulting a paying advertiser, because the forums is not the place to write a review.
This highlights a clash between western and Chinese culture and (I think) is a good indication of something bad about western culture. We seem to think we have a god given right to scream obscenities about anything we want to anyone we want... after all nobody has to listen to us. Even though our own countries have laws against this (libel and slander defamation laws), we still seem to think its OK. The internet just exacerbates this by making our statements more anonymous. A case in my country recently saw someone sued for libel over a twitter post. You might think thats ridiculous but the person was successfully prosecuted and rightly so - they made factually incorrect statements about a person which adversely affected the victim.
This creates a problem when it comes to reviews as well - only people that feel extremely bad or good about something will generally post a review on it. While over time you will get an averaged idea about a place/product, looking at a single review will likely tell you a single persons opinion. Which is the same in this case. Looking at the original post and other forum posts about Keats, there are other people that have had good experiences with the school... and it seems some of James original facts may be questionable.
From a Chinese perspective, James is directly attacking their business by posting questionable statements on a site many of their potential clients visit. Chinese culture, laws and attitudes are completely different to those in the west and anyone coming to China needs (and probably does) understand this. This site is a western style site but with many Chinese readers and businesses advertising on it. James has made questionable statements in the wrong place and is claiming that continuing to do so is his right. Well, in China this has legal ramifications and is generally bad form anyhow. I also sense a personality clash which tends to make people exaggerate issues.
I am sure if you had posted your review in the proper place it would not have received the same response from them. Not taking the time to figure out how to post a review isn't a good excuse I am sorry. You may be stretching it a bit by saying "I don't know how" as you are obviously a smart person so should be able to figure it out pretty quickly.
A local meal cost between 5-12 RMB for a plate of food. It would cost around the same (or a little bit more) to cook for yourself using local ingredients from the market/supermarket. Average western meal would cost around 25-50 RMB for the same. So you should have some idea about how much food costs here.
Entertainment (going to pubs/clubs etc)... well it depends how much you want! A new theatre costs 120 RMB is the most expensive I have seen here, 40 RMB for a lower quality theatre. Beer costs between 12-18 RMB for a local beer (Dali, Tsingtao or Budweiser, strangely enough!) or around 20-60 RMB for imported beer from europe or Australia. Karaoke costs around 120 RMB plus beer/snacks on top of this, if you are into that sort of thing!
I am easily living on 2000 RMB per month (75 USD approx 500 RMB, multiply by 4 = 2000 RMB per month) eating the occasional western meal, NOT including rent (1000 RMB per month for a nice place) or power and with a couple of nights out per month. I think you should be fine on that budget as long as you don't want to live it up.
Well, I came to Kunming to learn Chinese, not to meet Chinese girls as I had recently broken up from a long term relationship and didn't want to start anything new. Three weeks later I have a Chinese girlfriend (a sweet, loving and beautiful gal whose English is average, but rapidly improving... and I am short and bald, still with blue eyes though!) AND are learning Chinese and really like Kunming. It sounds like, gaoxing, that you came here looking just for sex - I think that most girls anywhere know when a man is only interested in sex and are themselves not interested, so will fein not knowing any English and basically think you are an idiot. If you are interested in a real long term relationship with a Chinese girl you should want to understand her culture, language, family and (important with any girl!) her as a person. Not simply her as an object to fulfill your whims.
Frankly its a bit dispicable for you to go to foreign countries just to chase tail. This behaviour seems to have gained some acceptance in the west due to the amount of men doing it in places like Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Nevertheless it is still morally reprehensible and any man wanting to do so should take a long hard look at himself. Sure the over feminisation of the west and the "female in control" social/sexual/relationship dynamic found in the west alienates men. But you must see that coming to a place just to get your end off damages yourself, the country where you are doing it, the locals opinions of the west and the girls that you involve in your activities. I would suggest if you are really interested in meeting a Chinese girl for a long term relationship, do like many ex-pats do and come and UNDERSTAND China first plus learn the language. That will give you a new perspective on life and love plus give you a much greater chance of finding a nice Chinese girl.
I think we would be upset if something disastrous didn't happen! Wonder if you could make a business selling subway survival suits... some sort of step into suit with tonnes of pillows sewn to the outside and a huge helmet. The suit could be strapped to the inside of the train in case of sudden changes in speed as a result of derailment!
Someone should do a video on the extreme sport of riding subways in China. "At anytime, this train could jump off the tracks, or a support column could collapse, or a parking building could fall down... this is dofu dregg construction... this is EXTREME SUBWAY RIDING"... and then just be sitting on the subway, looking worried. You could string it together with heaps of radical camera movements and some slowed down footage of stepping onto the train.
Whose game to ride the subway in the first 6 months?
I can't find any decent info on Kunming regarding house prices, but we could definitely guesstimate a little.
Current house prices come in about 8600-9500 per msq. Average house size, say 2 bedrooms would be around 60 sqm = 516K-570K kuai.
Average salary is around 2500 kuai a month = 32,500 kuai a year (assuming 13 months, common to be paid an extra month for chun jie). Median multiple ration approx 16:1 - internationally still unaffordable. Remember that historically, until recently, the international median multiple ratio was 3:1!
tallamerican touches on the things that I am talking about.
The banks in America were doing some rather disturbing lending, lending over up to or over 100% of property values based on the idea that property values would always rise. I know because I worked with the heads of lending for a bank in NZ - they would often go to big conferences and hear what others were doing. These banks were delusional about house prices, believing they would always rise is failing to see that real estate is simply another capitalist based market, which means it will work in boom/bust cycles, the magnitude of the cycles usually being decided by speculators.
China is in a situation now where its economy is growing and has been for a good long while now. Their economic growth has resulted in massive infrastructure and housing development. But the market is now both saturated with new houses and suffering from a lack of real buyers - people that will live in and own the house. It is being driven by speculation from rich people who own many houses as investments, most of them have the same belief that real estate prices will only ever go one way, partly because for the past 20-40 years thats what it has done. At the same time Chinese growth is slowing, while still outstripping the west by a long way, a large chunk of the growth comes from one market - real estate. Add to this Chinas rising personal credit and you have potential for house price catastrophe.
The prices also speak for themselves. The median multiple ratio in China is beginning to be rather ridiculous (this measure median income to median property value). In my country, this is over 8:1 (8 times the median income to get the median house price) which is considered "unaffordable". In many Chinese cities this ratio is 20+:1, ridiculously unaffordable. In a place like Singapore or HK this is OK due to extremely limited land and such high demand for it, but in a place like Kunming... that sort of ratio will guarantee one thing - empty buildings.
This from the guy that predicted the housing market collapse in the US and the recession:
"No country can be productive enough to reinvest 50% of GDP in new capital stock without eventually facing immense overcapacity and a staggering non-performing loan problem. China is rife with overinvestment in physical capital, infrastructure and property. To a visitor, this is evident in sleek but empty airports and bullet trains, highways to nowhere, thousands of colossal new central and provincial government buildings, ghost towns and brand new aluminium smelters kept closed to prevent global prices from plunging."
At the same time though I completely agree with Danmairen:
"...predicting what's going to happen in China it's a bit like putting on a blindfold, aim, and hope the dart ends up somewhere in the general direction of the board"
Wow, just wow. Possibly the best Chinese food I have had in Kunming. And in one of the nicest, traditional courtyard style restaurant I have been in. A woman dressed in traditional qi pao playing a gu zheng just adds to it.
We had okra, mushroom soup, dried beef and chou dofu. All top notch with the bill coming in at just over 250 kuai. But we could have fed 3 people for that so not too bad at about 80-90 kuai each. Not the cheapest but for the quality, it's damn good.
If you have people visiting and want to take them to a traditional Chinese style restaurant with Yunnan style food, or want a romantic night out with a gal, you can't go wrong here. Close to Green Lake (down a little alley) for a romantic walk... Just perfect.
Pretty good place for getting all your documents translated and/or notarised. Note that there are a number of notaries in the building which you can find by going up the stairs (the elevators are impossible). But you have to find the stairs to do so... go in the door, head over to the right, go up the big wide stairs which head up a floor, turn right then right again into the elevator area and right again into the stairwells. Whew!
One point off for the elevators never being available and having to hike 7-9 flights of stairs (not good if you have to go 3-4 times a day like I often did!)
This does not stop at the Jinanya hotel at Da Shang Hui as the flyers state (and is on the images tab here). They need to have another stop in the same area or else they are missing out on covering a big chunk of the city.
You can take another bus, the 919C, I believe, if you are nearby Da Shang Hui, which leaves from the bus station on HeHong Lu, nearby the Qianxing road intersection. This bus goes every hour and is white, found at the western end of the station. It is operated by a different company and takes about 1 hour 10 minutes to get to the airport due to a large number of stops especially near the airport.
Friendly people, even got to the talk to the vice consulate, who told me she had done a stint in Malaysia's Siberian Consulate!
English is spoken by some of the Chinese girls working at the desk who are pleasant to deal with. I assume they do Visa's as well but I wasn't here for a visa, this time!
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Kunming subway train derails, killing one
发布者I think we would be upset if something disastrous didn't happen! Wonder if you could make a business selling subway survival suits... some sort of step into suit with tonnes of pillows sewn to the outside and a huge helmet. The suit could be strapped to the inside of the train in case of sudden changes in speed as a result of derailment!
Kunming subway train derails, killing one
发布者Someone should do a video on the extreme sport of riding subways in China. "At anytime, this train could jump off the tracks, or a support column could collapse, or a parking building could fall down... this is dofu dregg construction... this is EXTREME SUBWAY RIDING"... and then just be sitting on the subway, looking worried. You could string it together with heaps of radical camera movements and some slowed down footage of stepping onto the train.
Whose game to ride the subway in the first 6 months?
Kunming new home sales plunge
发布者Oh yeah, check out this world map affordability index:
www.numbeo.com/property-investment/gmaps_rankings.jsp?year=2012
Kunming new home sales plunge
发布者I can't find any decent info on Kunming regarding house prices, but we could definitely guesstimate a little.
Current house prices come in about 8600-9500 per msq. Average house size, say 2 bedrooms would be around 60 sqm = 516K-570K kuai.
Average salary is around 2500 kuai a month = 32,500 kuai a year (assuming 13 months, common to be paid an extra month for chun jie). Median multiple ration approx 16:1 - internationally still unaffordable. Remember that historically, until recently, the international median multiple ratio was 3:1!
How close am I?
Kunming new home sales plunge
发布者tallamerican touches on the things that I am talking about.
The banks in America were doing some rather disturbing lending, lending over up to or over 100% of property values based on the idea that property values would always rise. I know because I worked with the heads of lending for a bank in NZ - they would often go to big conferences and hear what others were doing. These banks were delusional about house prices, believing they would always rise is failing to see that real estate is simply another capitalist based market, which means it will work in boom/bust cycles, the magnitude of the cycles usually being decided by speculators.
China is in a situation now where its economy is growing and has been for a good long while now. Their economic growth has resulted in massive infrastructure and housing development. But the market is now both saturated with new houses and suffering from a lack of real buyers - people that will live in and own the house. It is being driven by speculation from rich people who own many houses as investments, most of them have the same belief that real estate prices will only ever go one way, partly because for the past 20-40 years thats what it has done. At the same time Chinese growth is slowing, while still outstripping the west by a long way, a large chunk of the growth comes from one market - real estate. Add to this Chinas rising personal credit and you have potential for house price catastrophe.
The prices also speak for themselves. The median multiple ratio in China is beginning to be rather ridiculous (this measure median income to median property value). In my country, this is over 8:1 (8 times the median income to get the median house price) which is considered "unaffordable". In many Chinese cities this ratio is 20+:1, ridiculously unaffordable. In a place like Singapore or HK this is OK due to extremely limited land and such high demand for it, but in a place like Kunming... that sort of ratio will guarantee one thing - empty buildings.
This from the guy that predicted the housing market collapse in the US and the recession:
"No country can be productive enough to reinvest 50% of GDP in new capital stock without eventually facing immense overcapacity and a staggering non-performing loan problem. China is rife with overinvestment in physical capital, infrastructure and property. To a visitor, this is evident in sleek but empty airports and bullet trains, highways to nowhere, thousands of colossal new central and provincial government buildings, ghost towns and brand new aluminium smelters kept closed to prevent global prices from plunging."
At the same time though I completely agree with Danmairen:
"...predicting what's going to happen in China it's a bit like putting on a blindfold, aim, and hope the dart ends up somewhere in the general direction of the board"