I understand CMB also offered a 6.0% rate for 90 days.

I have trouble with the "protected" claim. The wealth management facility would have an underlying borrower who would need to repay the loan. Should that borrower belly up, the depositors would be screwed.

With the current legal maximum of 3.3% interest on deposits, the 5.5 or 6% is mighty attractive. What bothers me is the Chinese tendency to create and fund projects that are not economically viable. When bank funded projects go south, the government banks can roll the loans over to remove the NPL aspect and not affect the balance sheet. When non government owned banks use wealth management products they would entail higher risk. Hence the higher interest paid to depositors. Wealth management products are off the bank's balance sheet. If the underlying borrower defaults, the banks is isolated but the money is gone. I would think 90 days would be safe, but, I wouldn't touch a 12 month deal.

Tiger, from a New York Times article:

One message read: "China Merchants Bank will issue a high interest financing product starting from June 28th to 30th. The product will be 90 days with a 5.5% interest rate. Please call us now."

The Hani rice terraces are about 1,300 years old. In Yuanyang, much is made of the Hani inventing this method of agriculture. But the Ifugao Rice Terraces in the Philippines are supposed to be 2,000 years old. Terraced farming can be found in Peru as well which is supposed to be 3,000 years old. Sadly, I have come to believe China did not invent every thing.

There is a season to get the usual terrace photos. In early Spring, before the rice is planted is when you can get great reflections. The wonderful colors escaped me until I found out the colors are photoshoped.

Sunsets are great but problematic. The burning of old rice plants produces a haze which is impenetrable to your camera lens. You can make some improvements with contrast and light adjustments later but you will start with a poor image. Hope for a strong wind.

I had more luck with sun rise but less luck with the driver. First morning the driver insisted on breakfast so there were no sunrise shots. Leave the hotel at least one hour before sun rise. Photos at sunrise from Dou Yi Cun were pretty good. You need to get there and set up in the dark. Use a tripod due to low light. As the light constantly changes you need to take the same shot over and over (I have a 64GB card and just click away). Unfortunately, there will at least one guy who will decide you have picked the right spot and will kick your tripod many times.

At Dou Yi Cun, they have set up multiple positions for taking photos. This is quite good as it does get crowded in spite of having plenty of room. I would expect the tourists to increase now. Look for the local tourist map.

This is an extremely interesting building. I took quite a few photos of it in 2004. When the Bird and Flower market was being renovated I got past the barricades to take photos. I was really surprised to see this was one of the preserved buildings as the corner location would be great for a McD's, not!

Took several photos in April 2009 with the streets torn up around this grand building. I am glad to see it still standing. In Beijing, everything is laid to waste in the interest of money. At least Kunming is saving a bit of the past.

不拆！