Checking our son's birth certificate, the only reference to a government office is "National Health and Family Planning Commission of the PRC".
Assuming your child was born in Kunming, Google search for local office of same nature brings up "Kunming City Maternal and Child Health Hospital" at 5 Huashan West Rd, Kunming.
It is also listed as "Kunming Municipal Service Center for Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning". They should at least know where to go, if cannot handle your case themselves.
Noticed this thread, and want to update some details based on my experience in 2022.
I do not have permanent residency, but due to uncommon employment situation the district's work permit bureau essentially required me to subscribe to the local social security scheme. So I do not think that permanent residency is required.
I also got the health insurance card, with added complication that they could not write it for foreign name, so I had to invent myself a Chinese name on the spot. I'm sure that should I ever need to use it, questions will arise because obviously I don't have the same name on my passport.
About the pension part of social security, I was warned that I will hit 60 years before the 15 years of payments is full, so I will have to make payments after retiring also, before I could get the retirement benefits.
Bumping this thread again because new school semester is just beginning, as reference of recent experience for any families in similar situation - specifically about the choice between public vs private schools.
We live in northern Kunming, but much of this applies elsewhere as well.
Our son is treated as Chinese national, so last spring we went through the standard preregistration process for primary schools. Essentially the local education bureau then informs you which public (government funded, and therefore the cheapest) schools you could choose from.
Parent's of foreign children would skip this, and ask directly from schools.
Because we have not bought property here, we were only given a public school choice outside the city, one that caters to nearby villagers, and were told to seek a private school if such suits us better.
Situation may be different for foreigners who have bought property in the area.
Related to private schools, at least in our area lot of primary schools that were originally started as private schools have changed into public schools in last few years. This was bit of a downer, because in our immediate surroundings there are several primary schools, and all of our son's friends in the neighborhood go to one of those.
The one private school we found around here, and the one our son will attend, is Haibei Chinese-English Primary School, which is located close to Yunnan Wildlife Park. They have campuses elsewhere in Kunming too. It's about 3x more expensive than the public schools around here, and teach normal Chinese curriculum with some added emphasis on English language.
Between the lines I read that there is more to the question/challenge of getting her passport than the name on either of the birth certificates.
Is it that you want the passport, but more specifically you want the passport with name of your choice on it, rather than any/current name? Or is this a question of questionable nationality rather than birth name? Like, does she have Chinese citizenship and ID?
I am pretty sure that the ORIGINAL birth certificate cannot be altered now, 18 years after birth, so this would be more like a process of acquiring a name change. I don't know how that goes in China.
Might be different in UK, but in my home country within EU, it doesn't matter what name our son had´s on his Chinese birth certificate. There is no requirement of having my family name on it, for him to be recognized as my descendant, and obtaining EU passport or other privileges with that recognition.
It was only that the first passport (and other registrations) had to be done with the exact Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese name. If we/he later wants to change the name, he can do that and then get new passport/other documents with the new name. We might do that, because the direct Pinyin version results in a bit incorrect spelling. But as far as just getting a passport goes, that's has not been a problem.
Development brings changes to old rituals as well.
About two years ago I was in a funeral ceremony of a close relative-by-law deep in Changning county in eastern Baoshan prefecture.
The deceased was not really an Yi, but was written off as such in the population records. Rest of the family, as well as most of the villagers, were Yi.
New regulations from authorities state that the deceased may no longer be just buried like they were in past. Instead, they must now always be cremated. I assume this is to save valuable farmland in the mountains, and perhaps for hygiene reasons as well..
Since this cremation is done in a separate facility, it means that the deceased (and his or her left-behind spirit), who previously remained in the family house until buried, have to be taken out of the house for cremation and then returned to the house in a small coffin.
The spirits are known to have some temper, so much care is always put to making them happy.
In that specific village, this was the first case of implementing the new regulations. The ritual specialist had to establish new rituals so the spirit could safely travel outside the house and then return.
Wooden stools were lined in the courtyard, and a line was attached to them to form a kind of bridge, which the spirit could use to leave the household and then return there for further rituals. Firecrackers naturally escorted the way.
This was a variation of a case where somebody would die (accidentally for example) outside of the house. In that case, a similar pathway would be created so the spirit could return to the house for rituals, before usually returning to the mountains where the death occurred.
I was told of a spirit of a man who lives in the nearby mountainside. At that time guns were still allowed, and the poor guy fell to his death when taking a shot at a wild goat or similar animal.
On top of the mountain there are half a dozen shrines for everyone who has died in the mountains. Visitors to the mountain top are expected to kowtow to each of these shrines, or risk wrath of the spirits on their way down.
I was going to mention that. Also If there were (even) more dams and associated buffer lakes along the river, then those (unless already full of course) could dampen the impact of this kind of natural disasters further along the stream. But that would be man vs. nature of course, at cost of nature.
Since many Chinese tourists will not stay in Kunming, but head to more touristy places in Yunnan, I'm wondering how many will change plane at Changshui to get to their final destinations, and how many will take subway or other transport downtown and then to other travel nodes - like the high speed train terminal.
I'm thinking that for many the latter option would give a chance to see at least a bit of the provincial capital, and also some countryside from train or bus that they wouldn't catch from air.
Thus the question is, how rest of Kunming's transport system is up to take this expected increase in air passengers.
@Montaigne: The 2pm opening time in end of the advertisement refers to opening time of the original Shanghai location. This ad does not mention opening time of the Kunming location at all, but clicking to the official event calendar entry, it seems to be at 11am.
I would tend to think, that it is not easy to separate loss of cognitive performance caused directly by air pollution, and loss of same abilities indirectly by otherwise weakened other abilities (ranging from lung performance to worse sleep for example) arising from the same pollution.
Considering the wide range of parameters that may affect ones cognitive performance, it should be no-brainer to conclude that (one way or another) air pollution affects cognitive performance.
Paying a visit to the Cool Mountain Yi
Posted byDevelopment brings changes to old rituals as well.
About two years ago I was in a funeral ceremony of a close relative-by-law deep in Changning county in eastern Baoshan prefecture.
The deceased was not really an Yi, but was written off as such in the population records. Rest of the family, as well as most of the villagers, were Yi.
New regulations from authorities state that the deceased may no longer be just buried like they were in past. Instead, they must now always be cremated. I assume this is to save valuable farmland in the mountains, and perhaps for hygiene reasons as well..
Since this cremation is done in a separate facility, it means that the deceased (and his or her left-behind spirit), who previously remained in the family house until buried, have to be taken out of the house for cremation and then returned to the house in a small coffin.
The spirits are known to have some temper, so much care is always put to making them happy.
In that specific village, this was the first case of implementing the new regulations. The ritual specialist had to establish new rituals so the spirit could safely travel outside the house and then return.
Wooden stools were lined in the courtyard, and a line was attached to them to form a kind of bridge, which the spirit could use to leave the household and then return there for further rituals. Firecrackers naturally escorted the way.
This was a variation of a case where somebody would die (accidentally for example) outside of the house. In that case, a similar pathway would be created so the spirit could return to the house for rituals, before usually returning to the mountains where the death occurred.
I was told of a spirit of a man who lives in the nearby mountainside. At that time guns were still allowed, and the poor guy fell to his death when taking a shot at a wild goat or similar animal.
On top of the mountain there are half a dozen shrines for everyone who has died in the mountains. Visitors to the mountain top are expected to kowtow to each of these shrines, or risk wrath of the spirits on their way down.
Sichuan water release devastates parts of northwest Yunnan
Posted byI was going to mention that. Also If there were (even) more dams and associated buffer lakes along the river, then those (unless already full of course) could dampen the impact of this kind of natural disasters further along the stream. But that would be man vs. nature of course, at cost of nature.
Beijing approves massive Changshui International Airport expansion
Posted bySince many Chinese tourists will not stay in Kunming, but head to more touristy places in Yunnan, I'm wondering how many will change plane at Changshui to get to their final destinations, and how many will take subway or other transport downtown and then to other travel nodes - like the high speed train terminal.
I'm thinking that for many the latter option would give a chance to see at least a bit of the provincial capital, and also some countryside from train or bus that they wouldn't catch from air.
Thus the question is, how rest of Kunming's transport system is up to take this expected increase in air passengers.
Bringing classic Shanghai elegance to Kunming
Posted by@Montaigne: The 2pm opening time in end of the advertisement refers to opening time of the original Shanghai location. This ad does not mention opening time of the Kunming location at all, but clicking to the official event calendar entry, it seems to be at 11am.
Study: Air pollution causes loss of intelligence
Posted byI would tend to think, that it is not easy to separate loss of cognitive performance caused directly by air pollution, and loss of same abilities indirectly by otherwise weakened other abilities (ranging from lung performance to worse sleep for example) arising from the same pollution.
Considering the wide range of parameters that may affect ones cognitive performance, it should be no-brainer to conclude that (one way or another) air pollution affects cognitive performance.