User profile: kiwikiwi

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Zhongdian horse racing festival?

I have been to previous horse festivals. They vary each year in size and scope, as well as location.

Have heard this year isn't a big event. Plus prospect of it being rainy around that time.

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Forums > Travel Yunnan > Travel Lijiang to Dali

They will have a new train schedule for the Golden Week, but there will probably be two trains a day from Kunming-Dali-Lijiang (yes, all day trains stop in Dali/Xiaguan to change engines)

During the last busy season there were two or three trains from Lijiang to Dali during the day, two in the morning around 8.30 and 10am, and one in the afternoon around 4pm. Journey time is only 90 mins, whereas by bus or car it will take around 4 hours, maybe more, as lots of rebuilding for the new highway out of Lijiang.

Jim's Peace hotel in Dali is a good option with family rooms, good location in Dali old town, etc, whereas the Linden Centre is located in another village 20 mins by car from Dali old town.

In Lijiang, Zen Garden is a good option.

More info at www.lijiangtravel.info and www.southwestchina.info.

It will be busy during that Golden Week, expect crowds, slow traffic, racked-up prices, etc.

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Forums > Study > Study Chinese in Lijiang?

there is a new school just opened, in a central location by the river in Lijiang Old Town, called Huayang Language Academy. The contact email is zhangru166@yahoo.com.cn
Lijiang is probably a nicer place to study Chinese, given its environment, beauty, access to the outdoors and variety of cultures.

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As of today, 23 June, Lijiang's Black Dragon Pool water source spring has dried up. A reliable source of drinking water by locals, it reduced it flow last week and today when I went to collect water found out the trickle had finished. Thunderstorms on the way this week.

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Correction:

Lijiang Old Town preservation fee is 80y per person, usually payable at your accommodation, and now checked at entry to old town Lijiang, Black Dragon Pool and Jade Dragon snow mountain.

Entry to the Jade Dragon Snow mountain is 130y per person. The Old Town ticket is required too. Impression Lijiang show prices have increased to 260y.

There has been a marked decline in visitors to Yunnan over the last year due to the anti-corruption drive and the slow down in the Chinese economy. And prices for accommodation have come down, good news for travellers, bad news for the recent arrivals from the north-east who have come to launder money.

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Power and Patronage examines the unwritten rules and inner workings of contemporary China's local politics and government. It exposes how these rules have helped to keep the one-Party state together during decades of tumultuous political, social, and economic change.

While many observers of Chinese politics have recognized the importance of informal institutions, this book explains how informal local groups actually operate, paying special attention to the role of patronage networks in political decision-making, political competition, and official corruption. While patronage networks are often seen as a parasite on the formal institutions of state, Hillman shows that patronage politics actually help China's political system function. In a system characterized by fragmented authority, personal power relations, and bureaucratic indiscipline, patronage networks play a critical role in facilitating policy coordination and bureaucratic bargaining. They also help to regulate political competition within the state, which reduces the potential for open conflict. Understanding patronage networks is essential for understanding the resilience of the Chinese state through decades of change.

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Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Shangrila-side is currently closed, meaning no access in and out of Qiaotou to the gorge or from the end of the trek.

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