Over the last week there was a lot of rant (not short of contributions by me, myself) about how much China sucks. And most points I made I stand by, but it also made me think about how much I also still love this place and I think, a lot of you guys, feel the same way. So for a change I wanted to open a thread with all the wonderful places, people and perks of this great province.

Besides my rants about China and Chinese, I love you guys (Chinese) especially my wonderful, beautiful wife....and...

My friends who are ranging from, nerdy, cool, quirky to almost literally insane (the good way),

The wonderful customers I (love to) serve.

My neighbors, who are sweet about me beeing noisy all the time.

The shop owners that give me local prices for my Chinese skills (or lack of it) hell even those wonderful security guards in my residence, real guards, that smile and greet me with politeness.

I know it sounds funny, but the Chinese driver that gave me right of way the other night (not many around so I thought he needed mentioning).

That wonderful man who helped me assist first aid until he completely took over with great skill even though he forgot a lot of his training. Wonderful a real tearjerker moment.

The nice and good cabbies who actually do stand out of the lot of shabby ones. With this I tell you, you are noticed and we do love and appreciate you.

The great doctors in Richland (I know sometimes they may not be the best, but so far, treated me and my wife, extraordinary).

The wonderful people that blog and post about foreigners and Chinese living together and learning from each other. You got my deepest respect.

The open minded, self educated, knowledge hungry parents I encountered in my time as teacher, there are more and more everyday, thanks to good teachers and managers leaning towards quality education.

The incredible craftsmanship you can get when you pay a bit extra asking for custom made stuff, especially carved furniture and clothes.

Those FuWuYuans that never get the credit they deserve being treated rudely and disrespectful a lot of times. I appreciate what you do. Especially being so friendly to kids and old people.

The cafes around wenlinjie and wenhuaxiang to make Kunming feel more like home. With café Prague to be my favorite. Food could be better but the atmosphere is great. Sal's food is better no questions about that, but as European I don't just visit a café only for nutrients and flavor. Plus the no smoking section in tobacco crazy Yunnan is paradise for the happy lungs.

Dali!!!! ('nuff said)

The fact that you can go to the market and buy all sorts of tropical and sub-tropical food, for a buck and a half.
I make my home made Mojito with mint and lime either homegrown or bought for 2 kuai/Jing ???.....I know.....Right?

That you can look at some foreigners with together with Chinese friends and shake your head in disbelieve how they behave, and make a mental note..."Oh man. ...Have I been there before!!!"

Even the China Blues, when you have to get out of this country for a week or two and then realize that you love this place and can't wait for the returning date to arrive. As all good love-hate relationships should be.

The free elementary education even for foreign kids, and being optioned to let your kid get the political education or not.

The help I got from some Chinese when things looked real dire.

The management of the company I work for, they are fantastic and showing a completely new vibe of what modern companies could look like, with incredible results.

All in all China is a fantastic place to be, and you can't give the government a blame for not trying. To welcome foreigners and with time they will get much more successful actually letting you feel that way. That goes for most common Chinese people as well. It will get better, disregarding if you accept all the bad (or good) stuff or not, because even the most resilient will sooner or later be overrun by evolution and progress. Because this place is awesome....

顶！ Good vibes seem to be few and far between on here man. My sentiments exactly.

Nice post.

About "The free elementary education even for foreign kids, and being optioned to let your kid get the political education or not."

This is different to my own experience so I am interested to find out about local schools that provide free education for foreign kids and let them sit out of Political Studies.

the 3 good ingredients of Yunnan
1. Good weather
2. Easy jobs for foreign non-qualified teachers.
3. Cheap place to live compared to other places in China.

The 3 bad ingredients of Yunnan
1. Poor level of education and civilization of its citizens compared to other cities in China
2. Absence of a harmonic plan of urbanization and permanent roadworks in kunming. It's not the same in other chinese cities, such as xi an for example.
3. Low level in basic services such as hospitals, transportation, schools and universities in general.

I have been to Kunming several times over the years and I have always said that if it were not for my wife, Kunming is the place in China where I would want to live.

Cool summer weather, seemingly good nightlife, SE Asia a short hop away by plane. Dali and Lijiang are not that far away, especially Dali which would make for a nice three or four day getaway. Yunnan is the most beautiful province in China, unlike most of China is not overpopulated or polluted. There is a cross section of peoples there also which would be fascinating.

I know there are problems there like anywhere else, like recently which has been said and does not need to be commented further. One big negative you guys have is that for most of us, coming back to our home countries involves a long plane trip to a hub city and then crossing the ocean, which would be expensive. The only ones exempt from this would be Australians.

I would love to retire in Dali, open a guesthouse and live my life there. I would love it and would never leave. Seriously. If John Denver or Lynard Skynard were Chinese, the hit songs would be about Yunnan instead of West Virginia or Alabama.

There's a lot expats take for granted without realizing it. I've been back in the U.S. the past few weeks and been noticing a lot of things I liked about Kunming that don't exist here. For example, there's nothing going on during the day. No places like Wenhua Xiang where young people hang out (unless you're near a university in which case just college students), because in America all young people are either
a) dedicating 9-10+ hours Monday-Friday working or commuting to work
b) Moping around at home because they're unemployed/underemployed and can't afford to go out.

Whereas in Kunming you've got people of all ages out around Wenhua Xiang cafes during the day or bars at night, and even (what's considered) a poorly paid English teacher can afford these things.

I like the wild mushrooms and the large variety of fresh fruit and vegetables available in the local wet market.