Kunming's status as one of the cities with the highest vehicle ownership rates in the country is in no imminent danger – the city now has 1.1 million registered motorized vehicles, with 900 vehicles being registered daily, according to a Dushi Shibao report.

Kunming car sales have rebounded from a several-month slowdown caused by the global financial crisis. Statistics provided by the Kunming Public Security Bureau's Vehicle Management Department show that car sales are approaching the all-time high experienced in late 2005 and early 2006, when nearly 1,000 vehicles were being registered daily.

Despite being relatively small in comparison to other Chinese cities – it is China's 23rd-largest city – Kunming became the ninth Chinese city to have one million registered vehicles last year.

Conditions are ripe for auto sales in Kunming to continue to increase in the coming months. The recent completion of the city's double-decker second ring road, the local economy's recovery from the effects of the global economic downturn and a growing second-hand car market have made the idea of purchasing a vehicle more feasible to the average Kunming resident.

Ramifications of the growing number of vehicles on Kunming's streets are apparent. In addition to increased air pollution, the Chinese saying "many monks, not much porridge" (僧多粥少) aptly sums up the parking situation throughout the city. Many of the city's parking lots are filled during the day, leading to many Kunming drivers parking illegally, often in bike lanes or on sidewalks.

To address this problem, the city government has recently announced that automobiles parked on sidewalks that block the yellow ground tiles intended for blind people will receive 50 yuan parking tickets on the spot. Whether the city has the ability – and will – to enforce this new regulation should be apparent soon, just as it was with last year's ill-fated attempt to ban the unnecessary use of car horns.

Image: poco.cn

Yesterday Kunming's municipal government began an ambitious new campaign to remove the ubiquitous gobs of spit that cover the city.

Rather than introducing fines like Hong Kong or pushing public campaigns against spitting as has been done in Shanghai, the clumsily named Kunming Municipal National Hygiene City Establishment Task Force (昆明市创建国家卫生城市指挥部) has chosen to distribute millions of small green bags that would-be street hockers can fill with their phlegm.

Each day, the municipal government will distribute 116,000 of the free antibacterial bags, which it refers to as "environmentally friendly phlegm bags" (环保口痰袋) as well as "dragon saliva bags" (龙涎袋).

Distribution of the bags will take place in streets (16,000 per day) and at bus stops (10,000 per day) in downtown Kunming. Beijing Lu and Dongfeng Lu will be the initial focal areas for the program.

At yesterday's press conference announcing the beginning of the new anti-loogie drive, Olympic torchbearer Yang Guixi (杨贵喜) read aloud the philosophy behind the campaign:


In a city where spitting wherever one wants is a deeply ingrained habit for a substantial portion of residents, getting people to stop spitting in public is a rather lofty goal, reminiscent of the city's failed attempt to ban car horns at the beginning of 2008.

Although it may not be apparent to any Kunming residents who have walked the bustling streets of the city recently, today is the fourth day of a ban on car horns within the second ring road, according to a Dushi Shibao report.

Following the lead of megacities like Shanghai and even other cities in Yunnan such as Yuxi, the Kunming municipal government has banned the use of car horns within the second ring road (二环) in all situations except for emergencies.

In an emergency situation – such as prior to a likely collision – cars are allowed to sound their horns no more than three times, with each toot lasting no more than half a second. Violators will be fined, although it is unclear how much the fines will run.

As Dushi Shibao noted, and as anyone in downtown Kunming during the last few days has experienced, the no-horn rule has yet to have any effect upon Kunming drivers, who are far from horn-shy. According to police, the initial phase of the no-horn rule will be focused on 'educating' Kunming drivers, after which the fines will begin to be doled out.

Editor's Note: This site is pleased to see that the city government appears to be acknowledging the growing problem of noise pollution in Kunming. We applaud and support the decision to restrict horn usage to emergencies only.