Wow, so much hate and callousness here. How about some respect to the bereaved?
What about sadness to the fact that Kunming itself has been gravely wounded?

Regarding all of the off topic comments on this thread, it is important to remember that AA is for /alcoholics/, and if you are not an alcoholic it is probably irrelevant to you unless you are living with, friends with, or working with one. Alcoholism is not just 'heavy drinking,' it is a chronic, destructive disease of the body and mind that progressively gets worse, never better. Anyone would not like to see a befuddled sufferer of alcoholism get better and makes jokes about it is either callous or sadly insecure about his own self (imo). If you are not an alcoholic and are just bored enough to play the antagonist on forums I would suggest that there are far better things to do with your life. Thank you Flying Horse for reaching out to people whose lives may depend on it. And one more note about religion and AA: "AA is not allied with any sect or denomination..."

Sure, but from the sound of things I'll definitely be arriving in Kunming with a Z and not an X. Sounds like you need to get to know some people before you'll get a study visa you can work on.

Well, the sky is big and Beijing is far away...
It seems that immigration is not really looking out for the needs of students, and schools are indifferent to immigration. In time the law needs to change.

It would be ideal, for both the scholar and for China, and the rest of the world for that matter, if researchers could at least earn a stipend from work related to their area of study and not be weighted down by some English job teaching the upper middle class (not that that's a bad job, but it's probably not relevant to most master's degrees in Yunnan, right or wrong?).

I am definitely planning on moving to Kunming and by hook or by crook and enrolling at YUN as a linguist. God knows that there are scholars that Yunnan really needs, and they include linguists, botanists, ecologists, engineers, and anthropologists. I'm also determined midway through to get an X1 RP with an 'annotated' seal approving a part-time job. Heck, I even hope to be working for the university in some form or fashion (besides teaching English) at some point, however limited that may be (hey, somebody has to do IPA mapping!). To be honest (and oh so humble), it's rather a waste of my talents to continue on with EFL- I've already done that for 20 years! Not much further to go with that. Of course I will if I have to.

It often seems to me that the Kunming government has the tendency to forget that it is capital to a province that is world famous in scholarly quarters everywhere for its diversity in just about everything. I think they should work much harder to preserve it. Yunnan looks to Greater China as a model of growth when it should be looking inward towards developing more sustainable eco-friendly industries. OK, blah blah I know but isn't this all about why we want to promote education in Yunnan?

Yes, with all due respect Long-Dragon, it would seem that it should be of great concern to those schools issuing visas, those hiring foreigners, and the police themselves, but I'm learning after two years in China in which my FAO took care of everything for me that it's not. Your post seems to imply that one better be very clear about their employment on an X1 with the school and the PSB before they do it.
I guess a good employment agent should be able to handle it. I can't think of any reason of why I should have to hire a lawyer so I can work part-time for a few thousand a month. It would be bettor then to study on a Z visa, though I contend that's a real headache (I know- I've been doing it for a year now). However, studying while under a Z is better than not being allowed to work under an X1.