There is a store on the third floor of the shopping center building in the middle of the Bird and Flower Market that sells hand-made Yunnan shadow puppets. Very unique gift.

Damn, you beat me to it:
www.gokunming.com/[...]

There are a lot of foreign Kunming teachers, current and former, out there. I was wondering if anyone taught Yang Shuping?

In our office's collective experience, the lease has never once been necessary, nor the landlord's ID. But we may be registered at lax PSBs, which ain't good.

Just a heads up for foreigners living in Kunming: There are new regulations for registering at your local PSB and getting that oh-so-necessary half-sheet of paper called a household registration (住宿登记).

This applies to everyone renting an apartment, regardless of how many times he or she may have registered the same address previously.

The new policy, according to phone conversations and in-person visits, requires new renters and those who have returned from overseas to supply:

• A photocopy of their passport's picture page, latest visa page and latest entry stamp page.

• A copy of their current apartment leasing contract. If you rent the apartment from an agent, then a copy of that contract is reportedly enough. If you rent from a landlord directly, you must also bring copy of the landlord’s Chinese ID card (身份证) and their cellphone number. The contract must not be expired.

NOTE: If the name on the property license (产权证) is not that of your landlord -- for example it’s his or her spouse’s name -- make sure you know the relationship and make sure your landlord can state this clearly over the phone. The PSB will sometimes call the landlord to check while you are there.

• If you ask a friend to register at the PSB for you, or accompany you there, make sure they bring a copy of their national ID card.

• Bring a working black ink pen. You must fill out two forms and the pens at PSBs are notoriously useless.