All I know is that when pandas go to the States, they live the good life: fresh-picked bamboo, legions of adoring fans, panda porn and seven digits a year in pure unadulterated bank.

colinflahive - didn't fool me - grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, and dead-give-away - use of contractions (and slang) - and your sarcasm has the irony of truth. No normal Chinese can write that fluently - and if they could - they wouldn't be HERE - they'd be on the Beijing or Shanghai blogs.<br><br>

aiyaryarr
I'm guessing you're not Chinese or Chinese American. Regardless of whether I'm traveling solo or with the kids - I ALWAYS get hassled by the arrogant overbearing insolent moronic lazy imbecilic INS at passport control. I vehemently hate (not enough room for more invective adjectives) returning to the USA - but maybe it's the bounce in LAX or SFO. Don't get me wrong - I love the USA - just not what it's decaying into including the apathy, laziness, apathy, etc ad infinitum - welfare state. <br><br>

I CONSISTENTLY get singled out for the allegedly random screening - ALL THE TIME is seriously too frequent to be a coincidence or even qualify for random - statistically, given the number of travelers etc - it's impossible. I'm guessing it's safer to screen a chinaman or the chink with kids than look for real terrorists - lazy moronic imbeciles. so, I figure it's either a black racial harassment profiling thing - blacks love/hate chinese americans or the more paranoid side of me suspects the US state department still has it "in" for me... or both.<br>

I'll re-route through Hawaii next time instead - see if that bounce creates less adverse invective to my qi - decidedly fewer mainland blacks at immigration - at least the kids can enjoy the weather and beaches for a week or so - minus the mainland crime, hassles, and traffic...and as Colin bemoans - we'll stuff ourselves to obesity with good ol yankee cuisine and learn how to wear mumus, since we'll no longer fit into any of our clothes.

Laotou, I'm talking about the public toilets around Wenlin Jie I often have to use these and every time I do at least half the cubicles are full off piles of unflushed shit.

Most of the things I moan about in China are just petty annoyances really, but not flushing shit away??!!! It is pretty rank.

Omgirl
Um...yeah - that's pretty disgusting. Don't know if this is limited to South China - but seems people here are pretty lazy - kids chuck their trash anywhere, don't bother flushing, I jump all over my kids when I see them chucking their trash on the street (or anywhere but the trash can in the house).

Truthfully I don't understand that part of Kunming culture - so I can only attribute it to either laziness or a rural habit (and I'm NOT calling rural people lazy!). Many rural parts of Kunming don't have flushing toilets, so kicking the flush lever is not a habit. Kunming has a LOT of rural migrants living and working throughout the city - so it's not uncommon to share public restrooms with the occasional migrant or group of migrant laborers - not experienced with the flush feature of city toilets.

Fortunately - public toilets come with toilet "monitors" whose job is to keep the toilets somewhat clean and usable. Guess the toilets need a "don't forget to flush" sign for everyone to ignore - along with the "please throw your toilet paper in the trash can (instead of flushing it)" signs - gotten used to that one yet?

Colin, I appreciate your honesty in rebuttal to my comment above. "Cause and effect" show things happen for a reason. Posting unilateral "hearsay" excerpts without details of the possible cause(s) can be misleading.

As JJ had mentioned in another thread, very few GoKunming Forum users register with their real names. That being the case, it is fair for anyone to assume that even real names may be fakes. Having read nearly all of the Forum's threads upon discovering this website, my registered user name was an attempt to be a simple reaction to the threads and the ensuing discussions. Particularly when it's obvious that many Forum users are non-expats and who along with some expats, seek to manipulate this Forum for personal gains or use it to vent their indignation & rage towards people different from themselves.

As a side note to the "banned user" who made a claim for the "Golden Rule" in another thread ("locked" by this site's host on January 11, 2011) and this "banned user" is now likely a Forum user again under a less offensive assumed name. I'd like to remind him of another old saying (Origin unknown): "Practice what you preach." and remember to "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." if you choose to preach the Golden Rule.

Laotou, I am Chinese-American, a New Yorker and a designer by training and profession. Therefore, my forte is with images and not words and spelling, due to one side of my brain is handicapped or maybe a little in both. So, if in any of my posts, my New York habit of "telling it like it is" words inadvertently appear offensive to anyone, please accept my apologies in advance because they are not so intended. I must count my blessings because my INS experience differs greatly from that of your. I have always been treated nicely and often with a "Welcome home" greeting at each of my dozens of business and personal return flights to the USA, both at SFO & JFK by INS agents of all represented ethnicity. I've traveled to LA frequently on business and lived in San Francisco for a 15-month period and feel California culture is quite different from the rest of the Country. If I have a bone to pick, it's with the arrogant attitudes of the "local" employees at the US Consulates. But that topic should be reserved for another thread.

Rural people should not always be the scapegoats for the poor habits. I doubt many newly arrived rural folks are so fond of Western food that they choose to patronize Western restaurants on a regular basis. In some Chinese cities I have visited, I have asked some people why they throw trash on the street while the rubbish bin is just steps away. The answer I always get was: "Because the street sweepers will clean it up." I have also asked traveling Chinese acquaintances why they make such a mess in their hotel rooms and the answer was: "Because I am paying money to stay here." I guess it's the same attitude & expectation that prevail amongst the typical user at public toilets. As for the signs requesting people to throw the used toilet tissue in the trash can, it's because many people in China, including at upscale establishments, are under the impression that the tissue will obstruct and back up the toilet. I think people need to be educated that toilets are designed to flush the tissue along with the normal deposit preceding the tissue, unless someone has discarded items other than the two aforementioned. People also need to realize throwing used toilet tissue in the trash bin instead of flushing it is an extremely dangerous health hazard.

I surmise much of the comments against one group or another really has nothing to do with bias. Rather, the friction comes either from naivete (lack of exposure) or a lack of understanding, as well as a simple matter of personal chemistry. This lack of understanding manifests itself as fear (of any unknown) from within. Consequently, as a defense mechanism, further leads to divisiveness, accusations and other negative behaviors.

If we can simply remember and try to practice the Golden Rule in our daily lives (Without claiming which country/culture/religions was the original author, since its origin can be traced back to many countries/cultures/religions for millenniums), the world should be a better place.

alyarr
Thanks for the update - I envy your creative ability - always admired people with talent - I'm rather boorish and have to work extremely hard to accomplish - simple things.

The toilet paper thing has to do with Kunming and other older city sewage infrastructure - the toilets really would back up or clog. The older parts of the city - such as around Salvadors have the ancient pipes - which replaced the ancient open trench. Most metro cities have sewage pipes a couple of meters in diameter (ex NYC) - but China is still learning about sewage treatment and water recovery systems (without that incredibly noxious odor that they use to water parks and public places.

I though I qualified my comments as not being a scathing attack on rurals - but was intended more to contrast their lack of education or ignorance based on where they're from.

But you're right about the new Chinese - you're (we're) from a culture that ceased to exist about 40-60 years ago - maybe somewhat promulgated in Taiwan/Singapore - but not really.

FYI - San Francisco-ites and east-coast-ites are obvious stand-outs at INS - your clothes, hair style, even eyeglasses are different from the So-cal surf bum culture. I used to dress like US military - because - well I used to shop at the PX or the off-base clothing stores overseas - but still - I have a bone to pick with the morons at airport security - perhaps they can sense my seething irritation and acquired disrespect for their vocation. I've dealt with these kinds of people half my professional life, from top to bottom management. They make things up based on utter ignorance that just burden normal people and do virtually nothing in the name of security - at significant taxpayer cost.

I suppose I'm biased with homeland crap because I used to pay taxes for it - and cannot stand to see a great country which I served in my own way, although not even a grain of sand compared to JJ's valiant life, spiral into decay and apathy - with no end in sight. Example - the recent Gifford's shooter - his court case is expected to drag out for years. Where's the justice?

Indeed Laotou, A sign would be welcome. The last thing I want after a nice breakfast is to have to face a pile of steaming bear sized craps blocking the only loo available.

Quite used to the toilet paper problem, lots of time spent in India...

Dear PO'd expats: don't let the men hit you on the pigu when you leave!