I realize that there is no way for anyone (other than the PSB and Immigration dept.m perhaps) to produce actual statistics on this.
What I'm seeking instead is just guesses as to the average overall expat population in Kunming at any given time. My criteria for expat would exclude any tourists, but include foreign students studying for at least a year. It includes those gainfully employed, as well as Kunming's resident "retired population".
When describing Kunming to friends on the outside, I want to be able to throw out some ballpark figure - 1000? 5000? 10,000?
For those really willing, you can try to break it down by nationality.
Which nationality has the biggest population in Kunming?
Thai? Lao? Burmese? American? Brit?
What is there in the way of art galleries in Kunming? I'm having a really hard time finding much.
I already know about Nordica and a couple galleries in that complex, but I'm looking for more.
Not art museums, but smaller galleries, with independent, contemporary artists and such.
Something like 798 in Beijing, or Moshangan Lu in Shanghai (yes, yes, obviously I know Kunming won't have anything remotely approximating the scale of those cities' art scenes, but I'm still hoping to find something resembling a scaled back version)
I did an exhaustive internet search for art gallery (画廊) in Chinese, and got very few results. A pursued a couple of those results and found that one was permanently closed, and one was not actually a gallery but the private home of an artist who recently closed his gallery because of poor business.
Any help in this matter would be much appreciated.
I'm going to Cambodia soon and am trying to find malaria pills. I've asked around at a bunch of Kunming pharmacies for 抗疟疾药 (anti malaria medicine) and none of them have anything.
Anyone have any idea if they exist in this city? Thanks.
I know that all-you-can-eat buffets are not common in China, but I'm wondering if there might happen to be any in Kunming. (I know the Box has one on Thursday night, but I'm talking about Chinese food, not Italian food).
I also know that the saunas often have all-you-can-eat buffets, but I'm looking for a restaurant, not a sauna.
@Ishmael
The Chinese population isn't declining yet, but it will start declining soon.
This is common knowledge. Ask any Chinese demographer.
China is going the same way as Japan, Italy, Russia....
China is ticking demographic time bomb.
Soon, old people will outnumber young people by huge margins, and the traditional Chinese social system of the young caring for their elders financially will be overwhelmed.
The Chinese leaders realize this, and that is why they are now encouraging Chinese people to have more babies, like they do in Japan.
Unfortunately, young Chinese people just dont' want to have so many babies.
Yunnan is not a good example. The birthrate in Yunnan is much higher than in the coastal cities because of its heavy minority and rural populations.
Young Chinese people in the coastal cities view having children as a huge financial burden.
I'm just curious what the expect all those additional passengers to do in Kunming. Kunming is not exactly full of interesting things for tourists to do and its hard to see that changing in the next few years.
The interesting stuff is elsewhere in the province, and the provincial airports in those regions are already expanding themselves, with more and more direct flights to bigger cities in China bypassing Kunming altogether (e.g. Wenshan to Guangzhou, Lijiang to Chengdu, Tengchong to Beijing, Zhaotong to Chongqing).
Especially as the Chinese population begins to decline, foreign tourist arrivals continue to decline (as they already have started doing), the national high speed rail network continues to expand, and the national airspace gets more and more crowded, one would expect overall air traffic to decline, not rise.
China's airspace is already maxed out to capacity, and significantly strained by military drills which often force civilian flights to divert from their normal flight paths. China's domestic flights are already some of the most delayed in the world. Expanding the airports on the ground does nothing to solve the problem of congested air space.
@bilingualexpat
Really? Mandatory swim classes for ALL high school students in Yunnan?
I don't think that's really a priority.
And where are they supposed to take these classes? What high school in Yunnan has its own swimming pool?
If they want to protect the waters of China, they should target the factories dumping waste in waterways and farmers using dangerous chemical pesticides.
I snuck across the border to investigate this myself in 2013 after reading about the wildlife markets in Vice and Time magazine. I'm pretty sure most of the Chinese tourists who go to Mongla are going for the casinos, not the wildlife. The casino complex there (it's about 5km inland, away from the reach of the PLA, and powered by its own power plant after the Chinese cut the power) is HUGE, much bigger in scale than the wildlife market, which was nearly deserted when I was there.
I went to see these paintings in 2013.
Pretty impressive, and the surrounding region is gorgeous.
There was absolutely no tourism there at all, then.
There was a ticket booth, but there was nobody operating it.
I wonder how things have changed since the opening of Cangyuan Airport last year...
This is a really nice new restaurant in Dali. High quality vegetarian and vegan food, varied menu, daily specials. They make their own kombucha, too. The environment is very chill...multiple layers, floor seating, an outdoor courtyard and terrace balcony overlooking the the roofs of the neighbors in old Dali
Recently experienced both very early morning departure and very late night arrival at Changshui. Was worried about making the connection to and from the airport, but both turned out well.
First, the departure. It was 7:30 am. I arranged a taxi to pick me up at 5:00. That he did. Cost: 100 yuan.
The departure was scheduled for 12:30 am, was delayed, and didn't get in until 2:30 am. I was sure I'd have to find a black cab, and wasn't even sure if I would find that. Instead, I was delighted to discover that the Airport Express Bus was still running! For 25 yuan it took me to the train station, where I then caught a cab for the short ride the rest of the way home. I was very impressed by this late night bus. I'd thought the buses only ran till around 11 pm-midnight. I don't know if this is a regular occurrence or not. Maybe, knowing my flight was delayed and there would be hundreds of passengers looking for a ride home, the airport dispatched an extra bus. If so, kudos to whoever was responsible!
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Beijing approves massive Changshui International Airport expansion
Posted by@Ishmael
The Chinese population isn't declining yet, but it will start declining soon.
This is common knowledge. Ask any Chinese demographer.
China is going the same way as Japan, Italy, Russia....
China is ticking demographic time bomb.
Soon, old people will outnumber young people by huge margins, and the traditional Chinese social system of the young caring for their elders financially will be overwhelmed.
The Chinese leaders realize this, and that is why they are now encouraging Chinese people to have more babies, like they do in Japan.
Unfortunately, young Chinese people just dont' want to have so many babies.
Yunnan is not a good example. The birthrate in Yunnan is much higher than in the coastal cities because of its heavy minority and rural populations.
Young Chinese people in the coastal cities view having children as a huge financial burden.
Beijing approves massive Changshui International Airport expansion
Posted byI'm just curious what the expect all those additional passengers to do in Kunming. Kunming is not exactly full of interesting things for tourists to do and its hard to see that changing in the next few years.
The interesting stuff is elsewhere in the province, and the provincial airports in those regions are already expanding themselves, with more and more direct flights to bigger cities in China bypassing Kunming altogether (e.g. Wenshan to Guangzhou, Lijiang to Chengdu, Tengchong to Beijing, Zhaotong to Chongqing).
Especially as the Chinese population begins to decline, foreign tourist arrivals continue to decline (as they already have started doing), the national high speed rail network continues to expand, and the national airspace gets more and more crowded, one would expect overall air traffic to decline, not rise.
China's airspace is already maxed out to capacity, and significantly strained by military drills which often force civilian flights to divert from their normal flight paths. China's domestic flights are already some of the most delayed in the world. Expanding the airports on the ground does nothing to solve the problem of congested air space.
Government bans swimming at tourist-friendly Fuxian Lake
Posted by@bilingualexpat
Really? Mandatory swim classes for ALL high school students in Yunnan?
I don't think that's really a priority.
And where are they supposed to take these classes? What high school in Yunnan has its own swimming pool?
If they want to protect the waters of China, they should target the factories dumping waste in waterways and farmers using dangerous chemical pesticides.
On Yunnan's border with Myanmar, trade in illegal wildlife thrives
Posted byI snuck across the border to investigate this myself in 2013 after reading about the wildlife markets in Vice and Time magazine. I'm pretty sure most of the Chinese tourists who go to Mongla are going for the casinos, not the wildlife. The casino complex there (it's about 5km inland, away from the reach of the PLA, and powered by its own power plant after the Chinese cut the power) is HUGE, much bigger in scale than the wildlife market, which was nearly deserted when I was there.
Protecting ancient cliff paintings in western Yunnan
Posted byI went to see these paintings in 2013.
Pretty impressive, and the surrounding region is gorgeous.
There was absolutely no tourism there at all, then.
There was a ticket booth, but there was nobody operating it.
I wonder how things have changed since the opening of Cangyuan Airport last year...