Just been to Metro and smelled bread.

The bakery has re-opened. Looks like they have had a re-fit and new bakery installed.

Don't know if there will be any improvement in quality, but at least I can get cheap sliced white for my toast in the mornings.

There is a computer mall next to Yunnan Univesity's gate on YiErYi Da Jie (121 Street).

You will get the cables you mention in Metro, but the VGA/SVGA cables are much cheaper and do the job.

Ref Fake markets. The fake stuff has pretty much been reduced to cheap tat in China. I can't even find good fakes in Shanghai any more. Mostly because of government crackdowns in the big cities, where most of the market for the products was. There is a lot of lookalike bags, shoes, etc. but few genuine fakes. And the quality is really poor. But you can buy the same tat in the small stores as well.

Jonathan

I sympathise, but it is not just Kunming. In fact Shanghai is much worse for queue hopping.

Part of it is Confucian 'us and them'. If you are not one of 'us' (family or network) you really are not important.

Linked to this is the culture of 'don't get involved'. Is someone is behaving badly say nothing. This means there is a lack of negative feedback.

Therefore, with no visible punishment for bad behaviour, bad behaviour is indirectly rewarded. e.g. If nobody pulls you up for pushing to the front, you get served quicker and your strategy is successful.

Part of it is face. If there are sanctions for poor behaviour, you will never know because of face. If you behave poorly you can lose face. But is someone tells you that will also cause you to lose face. If I cause you to lose face, I also lose face.

If you lose too much face you can become one of 'them. You will never be told that you are now seen as one of 'them'.

You won't know that you have been cut off from some resource, or contacts, because of face.

Living in a big city is anonymous, and so is driving a car. Little risk to face. So do as you want.

Part of it is also the legacy of the cultural revolution. Where being sophisticated singled you out.

And so for those who lack awareness of the impacts to themselves and their own face, they really don't see a reason to give a flying frigg about anyone else.

I would say it is :
80% what @ debasser said and

20% what @flower 01 said.

I also think that some of the road rules on 'give way/yield' go back to the days of the horse and cart. But these are not appropriate for high concentrations of motorised vehicles.

On the good side here, I have only ever seen on instance of road rage, and that was in Shanghai. But there again, rage is not acceptable in this culture, but is more permissible in the West. Whereas, driving like an ass is much less permissible in the West than it is here.

You don't have to drive like a selfish ass here, but I have found that it does help.

Worst mini-buses I saw were in Shenzhen, driven like mopeds would be.
These were the grey Toyota 20 seaters.