The story I heard about the church on Beijing Lu is that the stairs were too close to Tuodong Lu. Of course, that doesn't quite explain what happened to the giant golden Jesus statue or why services don't seem to be happening...

Here's a source, though it's just a screenshot of the Yunnan Tax Bureau announcement from yesterday: xw.qq.com/cmsid/20210105A0FI4600

It looks like there's now a 10% tax on rental income (there's something about 20% for 非住房, but I'm not sure what their exact definition of that is: second home? non-residential?).

It says you can deduct any maintenance fees you can prove with a Fapiao.

Not sure how this will stack up with other income sources for income tax. It's not specifically addressed in the announcement.

I've lived in other cities where the tax was 5%. Landlords were hesitant to rent to foreigners, because tax guys would hang out at the police station when they came to register. Landlords would try to avoid getting the income on the books in the first place, and if they couldn't they tended to insist the renter pay the tax in full, or split it down the middle.

As to how this affects foreign renters, it's too soon to tell. It depends on how and to what extent it gets enforced. Will the renting agents have to report every rental? Will the police stations where foreigners have to register forward contract details to the tax man? Who knows.

I found it. It's not an outbreak. There was a shipment of car parts from Beijing suspected of contamination. COVID was detected at a workplace in Dali. A bunch of people have been tested, and several quarantined, but so far no one has tested positive.

Source is the official Dali Weibo: m.weibo.cn/3071103322/4588944086534169

Dali? Nothing is showing on the case count boards. Do you have a source on that?

"I would bet you'll be the only one on the flight"

Absolutely not true. People have been cancelling some travel recently due to the new cases in Beijing and elsewhere, but every domestic flight I've been on in the past few months has been at least half full, with many completely full.

The test is now available at most large hospitals in Kunming. I got my last one at Boya a few months ago, and it was a very painless experience. Make sure you get a red stamp from the hospital on your negative test results, because... China.

I have not heard about any requirement for UK citizens to have a test for travel in China, but the specific rules will vary from one city to the next.

Since all this started, I have made a point of calling any hotel where I have a booking to confirm that they still accept foreigners, and whether they require any further documentation beyond the green health code.