@tiger

But the Chinese love the gambling aspect of drawing large raffle prizes at swanky 5-star hotel X'mas feasts, exorbitant entry fees notwithstanding. Thrill of winning holiday getaway villa packages, gift idea on its own merit.

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To piggyback off @dolphin's DIY gift idea for last-minute shoppers...

the annex across the street from NanYa (南亚) Shopping Mall's Starbucks features a bunch of DIY handicraft shops: from woodcrafting, leather satchel-making (w/ guidance from leathersmiths), jewelry assembling, to putty molding and oil/acrylic painting.

Encapsulating the Yuletide spirit sometimes entails the aggregate moments of joy. More than handing someone a gift card.

So with her company or without (for surprise), put on your craftsman's apron and get busy:

i.imgur.com/0navxOW.jpg

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Name: 玩物造志(南亚NEWMALL店)
Map: www.amap.com/place/B0FFHG1JO0

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Also, HuffPo recently featured an inspirational, categorized gift-giving guide:

www.huffpost.com/[...]

A worthy gift would be to learn her native tongue... to traverse online with help of your Chinese friends/staffs to find her novel items nonexistent in Kunming.

You often take her out shopping around town. So whatever you buy in this city she has already seen, which dampens the element of surprise.

Taking the time and effort to learn simple Chinese online lingo would not only impress her, but serves a beneficial learning curve for yourself. A long-term investment to further improve relationship with your child in the 5G+ future. Especially if you intend to stay in China for the long haul. The Chinese internet isn't going anywhere in the decades to come.

You gotta start sometime, why not now?

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@Jan: "... arranging the delivery while preserving an element of surprise would be difficult."

Shipping and package retrievals have been significantly upgraded in the last two years. I'm sure you've already seen the green “Hive Boxes” (aka “feng chao” / 丰巢) placed outside or inside commercial & residential buildings.

All package delivery companies, even EMS, will use Hive Boxes upon customer request. Couriers will store your parcel in one of the container slots and send you a text password combination to open at your own convenience.

Retrievals are free for first 24 hours. If you collect your package within 24-hour time period and the Hive Box screen displays 1 rmb, it is just a misleading donation plea. Just skip (跳过) the message as the payment isn’t mandatory until after 24-hours. 1 rmb fee per day afterwards.

I’ve seen people open Hive Box by entering passwords after 30 days. The person was required to transfer 29 rmb via barcode to open. Convenient for those who’ve been out of town and needed long-term storage.

For maximum privacy. Don’t leave your frequently used mobile number for shipping contact info when making online purchases. This would cut down on annoying call solicitations and spam texts. Leave your seldom-used, secondary SIM card. Just follow Hive Box official account on Wechat. Register by verifying with said secondary number. When packages arrive, Hive Box passwords will be sent via WeChat message in lieu of text messages or calls from courier to your regular mobile phone. Granted you may need to answer their call if Hive Box is full.

To say nothing of convenience, the Hive Box not only maintains privacy and anonymity of recipient, but safety. Especially if recipient is a home alone, underaged female.

If Hive Box is absent in your vicinity, or if particular packages are too big for the Hive Box, there are plenty of package collection services around town. They are called “代收,” which may come in the form of mom & pop shops that charge 1 rmb a day to store your packages. Download Alibaba’s Cainiao (菜鸟) app to find these designated collection centers nearest you.

Shadows much too often bury the light. The world needs to be inspired than to fear.

Here's a picture of former Yunnan Governor/current CPC Secretary of Yunnan Chen Hao shaking hands and awarding our very own American cardiologist & professor Dr. Detrano the Yunnan Friendship Award for bridging the two countries through altruism:

news.uci.edu/[...]

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Amid "tensions," wishing tonight's Have a Heart fundraiser event much success! May spotlight be cast on these compassionate volunteers & givers.

Friendly discretion, it is illegal in China to solicit to sell or buy traffic points. So best to go about discreetly if such path is taken.

Slightly off-topic...

Here's a website run by Ministry of Finance showing in real time the centralized data of nearly 1.5 million EVs on the road:

show.evsmc.org:6064/#/national

Government mandates that EV manufacturers transfer over all collected customer data, which include current vehicle location and battery charging period & performance. May be an effective tool in monitoring emissions in combating pollution, among other things which may raise a few eyebrows.

Btw, in a few years all buses on the road in Kunming will be switched to electric. Shenzhen's zero-emission e-buses have already paved the way.

On that note, remember that bus lanes near bus stops are also marked with those continuous, white thick lines that are not to be crossed. Cameras are not far. Don't accumulate to 15 tickets this year. lol

Since i'm waiting for 12/12 TMall midnight purchase, allow me to assist you.

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Yes, there's an app to pay for the fines. Granted some traffic violations you can't merely pay off online, but in person at the bureau.

Types of violations notwithstanding, you only get 12 points limit for the year. You'd have to retake the driving exam if all 12 points are deducted to zero.

Fortunately, you can get your friends to allot you their driving points. Keep in mind they only have max 12 points as well. Since you've been deducted quite heavily, you'd probably need to find several friends. I believe maximum three drivers (total 36 points) can transfer their points to you. Total of 48 points including your own. So you still have a chance to keep your license in worst case scenario.