Regarding rent, estate agents don't ask for huge deposits. If they help you find an apartment their fees are normally equal to one month's rent at the place you take. In addition you will need to pay your new landlord a deposit (negotiable) and a chunk of rent up front, sometimes 3, 6 or 12 months.

Absolutely no shortage of apartments, which is driving rent down slowly from all-time highs about 2 years ago.

Personally, if you shop at the local markets, cook for yourself and have a frugal 'entertainment' and travel budget, spending around 3,000 a month (not including rent) is possible.

Here's more information and a link to their WeChat post about the festival:

www.gokunming.com/[...]

The northwest corner of Yi'eryi (一二一大街) and Jianshe Lu (建设路) has at least 3 guitar stores. Not sure if any of them sell second hand, though.

And with that, this thread has reached its conclusion.

To answer a question from a page back, the only moderators on GoKunming are the user names 'GoKunming' and 'Moderator'.