GoKunming

Yunnan delegation visits Sri Lanka on new Kunming - Colombo route

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:45:00 +0800

Governor Qin Guangrong (秦光荣) and a delegation of provincial government officials and businesspeople flew the maiden flight of the new air link between Kunming and Sri Lankan capital Colombo last week, beginning days of meetings aimed at boosting ties between Yunnan and the South Asian island country.

During his visit, which began on September 1, Qin met with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Prime Minister DM Jayaratne. He also met with the country's ministers of external affairs, economic development and public management and reform.

Yunnan and Sri Lanka signed several memoranda of understanding (MoU), covering fields including telecommunications, agriculture, tourism and education. It was announced that Yunnan will offer 20 scholarships to Sri Lanka to promote educational and cultural ties, but no details have been made public.

The new China Eastern Airlines flight linking Kunming with Colombo now departs Kunming every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 7:40pm. Full price for a one-way ticket is 4,978 yuan (US$733), but some discounted tickets are available for as low as 2,700 yuan, not including tax.

Qin and his delegation of more than 180 people continued Yunnan's recent southward projection of soft power. Last month Kunming Mayor Zhang Zulin led a delegation to New Zealand and Governor Qin preceded his stop in Sri Lanka with a similar visit to Bangladesh.

A transcript of Qin's speech at the Sri Lanka – Yunnan (China) Exchanges and Cooperation Promotion Conference in Colombo on September 1 has been reprinted on the Sri Lankan news website Daily News.

Image: dailynews.lk

GoKunming Weekend Preview

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0800

Friday: All-you-can-eat barbecue at Sandra's
Lots of meaty goodness: sausages, ostrich, rib-eye steaks, pork chops and honey mustard chicken. From 6pm, 100 yuan per person. Call 15825267010 for reservations.

Friday: Back To School party with DJ Kris
Friday night DJ (Professor) Kris will be hosting a Back To School party at Uprock from 10pm. Local band The Great Apes will start the show. Don't forget to wear your best school clothes! Entry is free.

Friday: Folk at Half Angle Bar
For something a little more relaxed, head over to newcomer Half Angle Bar for live Chinese folk and country music. 10pm, free entry.

Friday: Folk at The Hump
The Darien Expedition will play live whisky folk at The Hump starting at 9:30pm. Free entry.

Saturday: The Box reopening party
After taking some time out to renovate, The Box officially reopens with a party on Saturday. There's 20% discount on food items all day, and beer giveaways from 4pm (Lao Dark, Dali) while stocks last. Oh yeah: kebabs!

Saturday: Strange Day album release show
Local post-rockers Strange Day are putting on a show at Halfway House to celebrate the release of their new album. 9pm, free entry.

Saturday: Funk as f**k
MC Flaccid plays dirty vintage funk from 10pm. Entry is free.

If that's a lot to remember, panic not: events are listed in full on GoKunming's mobile site.

Rock Climbing in Kunming

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0800

Editor's note: We'd like to thank Lósang Hita for compiling this Kunming climbing guide and Tom Kirkpatrick for providing the photos of Xiaomoyu cave. If you would like to contribute to GoKunming, please contact us.

A mild climate and an abundance of quality limestone make Kunming a great place for rock climbing. Both sport and traditional climbing are now more popular than ever among a diverse group of Kunmingers. There are also gyms in downtown Kunming where climbers can improve their strength and technique on rainy days or between trips out of the city. Here are some of the most established places to climb around the city:

Fumin Gorge
There is great climbing at the cliffs rising above the Tanglang River (螳螂川) about three kilometers south of the town of Fumin (富民). The area is normally a 45-minute car journey west-northwest of Kunming, but heavy road works and traffic can sometimes significantly lengthen the trip.

There are many bolted sport routes and crags that provide lovely technical face climbing in an airy setting. There are also some relatively shallow routes that are good places for beginners to develop technique without exhausting their arm muscles. Grades range from about 5.8 to 5.13 and there are even some multipitch routes.

To get there take the G108 highway to Fumin and head south along the Tanglang River on Liyang Lu (黎阳路). After about three kilometers, turn left and cross the river on a small bridge to access the crags. Coming in from the direction of Anning in the south is also an option for those familiar with local roads.

Xiaomoyu Cave
This is a hard-to-find cave near a small village called Xiaomoyu, about a five-minute drive northwest of Bamboo Temple (筇竹寺). One of the cave's major advantages is that it stays relatively dry and allows for climbing on real rock during the June to August Yunnan rainy season.

The most difficult routes are inside the cave and range from 5.10b (6a) to 5.13d (8b) with heights of 10 to 25 meters. The heavily featured limestone offers nice variation in style, ranging from short bouldery problems to longer flowing lines. Even good climbers can expect to be defeated on their first try of some of the more difficult routes, especially if they have been enjoying the holiday grades common in other parts of Asia.

While the inside of the cave has a higher concentration of quality routes there are also nice problems to be found on the wall outside, with routes from 5.10 and up.

The cave faces north and can get quite chilly: don't forget to bring a long-sleeved top even in summer.

To get there follow the road to Bamboo Temple for about 1.5 kilometers beyond the temple and turn left onto the four-lane divided highway with which it intersects. A few hundred meters later a sign indicates the turnoff for Xiaomoyu (小墨雨) on the right. Turn right and follow the dirt road past a quarry to the village of Xiaomoyu. A clean rock face should be visible from the village on the other side of some corn fields. The entrance to the cave is on the left side of this rock face.

Red Point
Red Point is the largest climbing gym in Kunming. It offers a nice environment and is frequented by many high-level climbers. Most of the 100-square-meter wall is overhead climbing but there are also some vertical sections. Red Point also has a clothing and climbing equipment shop and occasionally holds small climbing competitions that are partly an excuse to throw a party.

Location: Number 1, Building 49, Sujia Cun, Dongjiawan, Huancheng Dong Lu
环城东路苏家村董家湾49幢1号
Price: 20 yuan

Flying Eagle
Flying Eagle is an outdoor activities club that opened in early 2007. It has a quality rock climbing wall covering about 70 square meters with a bar and a small outdoor clothing shop. Most of the wall is overhead climbing. The decor and music are pleasant.

Location: 20 Xuefu Lu, 2nd floor
学府路20号2层
Price: 10 yuan

The area around Kunming is littered with limestone crags waiting to be developed by intrepid climbers. Leave a comment with your favorite climbing spot or additional information about the places we've profiled.

American conservative group makes inroads into China's classrooms

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:50:00 +0800

The conservative American organization Focus on the Family gained its first major toehold in Chinese classrooms this past week.

The Yunnan provincial education bureau has ordered high schools and universities to teach Focus on the Family's "No Apologies" (无悔今生) strategy for rejecting premarital sex.

Scripted role playing that is part of the "No Apologies" program includes scenes such as these:

Boy: "If you love me, then you'll agree to have sex with me."
Girl: "If you love me then you won't ask me to give up my cherished chastity."

Boy: "I want to dedicate myself to you and only you."
Girl: "If I'm the only one for you then you can wait until we get married."

It is unclear how "No Apologies" ended up getting included in Yunnan's school curriculum – Focus on the Family, which has a Chinese website, is not well-known in China. On the other side of the Pacific it is a well-known, influential and divisive member of the American political landscape.

Founded in 1977 and based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Focus on the Family is one of the most prominent and polemical faces of the American Christian right. The non-profit organization's stated mission is, "to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible by nurturing and defending the God-ordained institution of the family and promoting biblical truths worldwide."

Focus on the Family has a lobbying arm called Focus on the Family Action which is registered as a separate non-profit and regularly contributes money to conservative American politicians.

Focus on the Family also promotes its mission with a popular eponymous daily radio program frequently hosted by its founder, psychologist James Dobson—an influential leader in the American conservative Christian movement who is a fixture of conservative media outlets and advised former president George W Bush. The organization strongly opposes abortion.

In 2005 combined revenues of Focus on the Family and its lobbying arm exceeded US$156 million. Focus also appears to be expanding internationally with offices in at least 11 countries outside the US, including Australia, Ireland, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.

It's too early to know whether the "No Apologies" message will resonate with Chinese youth, but it would appear that there is some overlap between traditional Chinese views on marriage and family and Focus on the Family's agenda.

A professor at Yunnan University's student counseling center told Global Times that young women should not have sex prior to marriage.

[quote]"If a girl had sex with her boyfriend, she would become mentally dependent on the boy," Yang said. "It would do no good for her studies and daily life."[/quote]
Yang's view was echoed by a commenter on a story posted on Yunnan.cn about the new program, who said:

"This way of thinking is very good. Old Master Confucius said as much more than 2,000 years ago. But this step comes a little late, now only using educational materials won't get the job done, things like the internet, television and movies must be controlled."

James Dobson image: Wikipedia

Interview: Chris Taylor

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0800

For most travelers, Asia's backpacker towns are idyllic places to take in exotic cultures, explore scenic geography and finish the day with a cold beer and a nice meal. But beyond the tourist sites and Lonely Planet-toting hordes, these towns are like anywhere else, and just like anywhere else, they also have a dark side.

Since the 1980s, veteran Asia-based writer Chris Taylor has contributed to Lonely Planet guidebooks covering Seoul, Tokyo, China, Tibet, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. After recently spending more than a year living in Dali, Taylor is now based in Kunming, where he is a freelance writer and editor.

Taylor's first novel, Harvest Season, is due to hit bookstore shelves around Asia this month. The book is the first contemporary novel to be published by Shanghai-based Earnshaw Books, which is branching out from its usual territory of pre-1949 China material. GoKunming recently spoke with Taylor about Harvest Season and the themes it addresses:

GoKunming: You've spent plenty of time in Yunnan, is the town of Shuangshan where Harvest Season takes place modeled after somewhere nearby?

Chris Taylor: Actually, although a lot of the descriptions of places and the overall ambiance of the book is very much inspired by Yunnan, I never thought of it as a book about Yunnan. In fact, I never once mention Yunnan in Harvest Season. I think the only real China locations mentioned by name are Chengdu, Shanghai and Beijing.

People might label this as a China book – and to a certain extent it is – but mostly Harvest Season is about a scene. And that scene flourishes, or blights the landscape, depending on how you look at it, in off-the-beaten-track destinations all over the world.

GK: So it's a backpacker novel?

Taylor: Yes and no, there aren't any backpackers in Harvest Season, though they appear as supporting cast in certain scenes. It's like a next evolutionary step in the backpacker scenario – backpackers turned long-termers: people that aren't going home, basically. You find them everywhere here in Asia – Bangkok is full of them, China is full of them, certain parts of India is full of them – in fact, India, and Kathmandu, Nepal, is where Western travelers first started dropping out for extended periods of time in locations that had captured their imaginations, and either making lives for themselves or simply drifting from day to day on as little money as possible.

GK: Some people who remember the book might compare it to The Beach ...

Taylor: Well, now it's about to come out, I'm tending to think of it as more an antidote to Eat, Pray, Love, but, yeah, I was very aware of the shadow of The Beach when I was writing it.

In fact, one agent in London complained as he rejected a synopsis and the first three chapters, "The only precedent for this is The Beach, so you have to tick all the boxes." I don't think he was right about that. The Beach was first published in 1996, and a lot has changed since then.

I think in The Beach you have something like the nascent emergence of a sense of possibility – wouldn't it be amazing if we could just stay here and not have everything fucked up by the locals trying to make money and guidebook writers bringing in the banana-pancake brigade?

But 15 years on, there are places like Shuangshan, the imaginary setting for Harvest Season, where people do live in places like Thailand, India, southwest China, and so on, and are to a certain degree insulated from the backpacker armies – I mean, backpackers get up for breakfast and hike up mountains, for example.

The problems faced by long-term drop-out expats, for want of a better word - a friend of mine came up with the term glomads, or global nomads, which I rather like – are different from those of the inhabitants of Alex Garland's novel.

GK: What kinds of problems? How are they different?

Taylor: Well, if you look at The Beach – and I think it's actually profound beyond its intent, which might be the best way to be profound – you have a community under siege, deeply suspicious of all outsiders, and particularly the locals. The locals don't get it – they want to monetize paradise. So, in the case of The Beach, they only exist as the guys you steal your weed from.

But the reality, for those of us who drop out for a while in any of the places on the trail that have become long-term drop-in centers, is that we do have to deal with the locals. That's basically what Harvest Season is about. It notes that it can work, it usually does, but there are lines, and once they're crossed a balance is upset – and everything can go to hell.

GK: So is your book based on a scene that did just that? Go to hell?

Taylor: No. I saw something that came close to the tipping point and thought to myself, OK, what if this happened, or that happened – how might it all play out? That involved quite a bit of making things up, but – all the while – trying to do so with as much fidelity as possible to the authenticity of the scene itself.

GK: Did it make any difference at all that the book was set in China?

Taylor: Yes, definitely. The fascinating thing about China at this moment is it's as if you have the '50s, '60s, '70s and so on, all those decades with their defining values and mass trends, all merged into one and happening at the same time.

The drop-out Chinese in Harvest Season may be very marginal and represent a tiny percentage of Chinese youth, but I don't think that the book misrepresents them – they're swallowing up 50 years of counter-cultural arguments and lifestyles. And it's easy for them, because, like most of the Western drop-out diaspora, they think the system is bullshit.

GK: What's your next project?

Taylor: Nah, can't talk about that, it's too early... let's just say it will be set in Yunnan.

Chris Taylor image: Piero Vio

Yunnan's top fugitives asked to stop running from law

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0800

A list of Yunnan's 100 most-wanted criminals has been posted throughout Kunming as part of a campaign to encourage the fugitives to surrender to law enforcement officials.

The list was part of an "urging all criminals to turn themselves in to the police announcement" 《关于敦促一切刑事犯罪人员投案自首的通告》 released by the Yunnan People's Court, the Yunnan prosecutor's office and the Yunnan Public Security Bureau.

Rewards ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 yuan (US$294-2,940) are being offered for information leading to the capture of the fugitives.

What does it take to become one Yunnan's top fugitives? It apparently does not require being from Yunnan, only committing crimes here. Registered residents of Sichuan and Guizhou are well represented on the list along with a smattering of people from elsewhere in China.

Intentional homicide seems to top out the crimes cited on the list with others crimes including drug dealing, armed robbery, weapons smuggling, fraud, inciting riots and arson.

The most wanted of the handful of women on the list, Li Pingzhi, comes in at number 12 overall with authorities offering a 5,000 yuan reward for information leading to her capture. She is being sought for her involvement in the trafficking of women and children.

Despite her cherubic appearance, another woman, Cao Enrong (pictured right), age 26, of Wenshan in southeast Yunnan, is wanted on homicide charges. She is number 21 on the list.

A two-part list of all 100 suspects with photos is available here: 1-50, 51-100.

Image: Yunnan Information News

Gang death sentences upheld

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:00:00 +0800

Three of four death sentences doled out to the heads of a Kunming gang have been upheld, with one leader's sentence commuted to 'death with a two-year reprieve', according to a Xinhua report.

The Yunnan Provincial Higher Court rejected the appeals for leniency made by Jiang Jiatan, Jiang's mistress Yang Jufen and Xie Mingxiang, who in December were convicted of running a gang involved in drug trafficking, fraud, racketeering, extortion, prostitution and counterfeit money.

Yang's father Yang Guoying will only face life in prison if he does not commit any crimes during his first two years in incarceration. The provincial-level court said Yang had been manipulated by the other three gang leaders.

Most of the other sentences ranging from 18 months to life in prison were also reportedly upheld for the other 37 members of the 41-person gang, most of whom were relatives or friends of Jiang.

The gang used Jiang's drug profits from the 1990s to invest in at least 10 hotels, teahouses and internet cafes in Kunming, nearly all of which were centers of drug dealing, racketeering, extortion, prostitution and sales of counterfeit money.

The gang initially came under police scrutiny after residents of more than three villages around Kunming complained about feeling unsafe. Some of the complaints included being threatened with violence until agreeing to pay 1,000 yuan (US$147) for a pot of tea, or being beaten up after objecting to receiving fake bills as change.

GoKunming Weekend Preview

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0800

Friday: All-you-can-eat BBQ at Sandra's
The barbecue tonight at Sandra's will feature Brazilian rib eye steaks, German sausages, kangaroo fillets and chicken wings. It starts at 6pm and costs 100 yuan. Call 15825267010 for reservations.

Friday: Saer Band at The Hump Bar
Saer Band, purveyors of fine Kazakhstani flamenco, will perform at The Hump Bar tonight. The free show begins at 9:30pm.

Friday: The Great Apes at 1895 Movie Bar
The Great Apes will present a showcase of live original rock at 1895 Movie Bar tonight. Half-liter cans of Valentins Weisbier from Germany will also be available. Prost! The free show starts at 10pm.

Friday: Johann Vogel at Uprock
German minimal techno specialist Johann Vogel will perform at Uprock tonight along with DJ Maxi and VJ Pixy. The free party starts at 11pm.

Saturday: Salvadors' sixth birthday party
Salvador's Coffee House celebrates six years in Kunming Saturday with half-priced coffee all day and free sangria from 8 to 9pm. Sangria will then be 5 yuan per large glass until close.

Saturday: Exhibition opening at Cat's Cradle
Cat's Cradle Café will have an opening for an exhibition titled "True Lie" by artist Mu Yuming (木玉明) on Saturday. The opening will begin at 2pm and the exhibition will run until September 10.

Saturday: Premier League and BBQ at Lazy Bones
Lazy Bones Pizza will be barbecuing steaks and hamburgers and showing football on the projector screens on Saturday. There will also be a beer special with six Crown beers selling for 90 yuan.

The football schedule is as follows: Blackburn Rovers vs. Arsenal at 7:45pm; Chelsea vs. Stoke City at 10pm; Manchester United vs. West Ham United at 12:30am (Sunday morning).

Saturday: Concert at TCG Nordica
"The Promise, a Lyrical Concert" at TCG Nordica on Saturday will be performed by an erhu, cello, guitar and piano quartet. The concert will begin at 8pm and cost 20 yuan for adults and 10 yuan for children.

Saturday: The Great Apes at The Hump Bar
There will be another opportunity to catch The Great Apes this weekend, this time on Saturday at The Hump Bar. They will be accompanied by DJ I'm No Prize between sets and after the show. The free show starts at 10pm.

Saturday: Modern folk music at 1895 Movie Bar
Michael and Ross will perform modern folk music at 1895 Movie Bar on Saturday with half-liter cans of Valentins Weisbier available for 15 yuan. The free show starts at 10pm.

Sunday: Michael Jackson tribute at Laowo Bar
Laowo Bar will have a tribute to Michael Jackson on Sunday in celebration of what would have been the singer's 52nd birthday. There will be a VJ on hand to play Jackson classics. The 10 yuan entry fee to the 7:30pm event includes a free bottle of beer.

Getting Away: Golden Temple

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:00:00 +0800

Looking down upon the city from atop a large hill in the northeast, Golden Temple (aka Jindian, 金殿) is one of the few places in the city where one can imagine Kunming as it once was.

First constructed during the Ming Dynasty in 1602, Golden Temple was originally built with more than 250 tons of bronze, or so says the official story on the back of the site's 30-yuan ticket.

For most people, Golden Temple became much more interesting in 1671, when it was rebuilt by the infamous general Wu Sangui (吴三桂), who is considered a traitor by some and a Machiavellian role model by others.

The story of how Wu Sangui ended up in Kunming deserves some background. When serving as a general under the Ming emperor in 1644, he dealt what many consider the crucial blow against what was left of the Ming when he opened the gate of the Great Wall at Shanhaiguan (山海关) in present-day Hebei, allowing Manchurian soldiers easy access to the territory that they would soon conquer and rule as the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing government rewarded Wu for his collaboration at Shanhaiguan by naming him "King of the Peaceful West" (平西王) and giving him control of Yunnan, a move that would eventually result in what military analysts today call "blowback".

Wu may have been thinking of career advancement when he opened the doors at Shanhaiguan, but as with many of China's more enduring stories, there is also a romantic angle.

While Wu was serving as a general under the Ming, rebel forces led by Li Zicheng (李自成) overran Beijing, resulting in the suicide of the Chongzhen Emperor and the establishment of the short-lived Shun Dynasty, with Li as its first and only emperor.

Li is believed to have run afoul of Wu Sangui when he took Wu's concubine Chen Yuanyuan (陈圆圆), one of China's legendary beauties, as a hostage to ensure Wu's loyalty. It is thought that Wu was so enraged that he decided to let the Manchus in and fight alongside them to remove Li's government.

While the new Manchu rulers of China were figuring out how to rule the vast Han territory they had acquired, Wu spent more than 25 years in Yunnan enjoying large subsidies from the Qing government, who considered him an indispensible partner in southwest China. During this time Wu also served as a go-between handling Qing-Tibet relations.

Some of the Qing funds may have been used to renovate Golden Temple, but Wu also anticipated an eventual clash with his Manchu masters, so he built up a substantial army and waited until then-emperor Kangxi recalled him to Manchuria in 1673 before declaring war on the Qing.

Wu quickly began expanding his territory, conquering Sichuan and Hunan, where in the present-day city of Hengyang he declared himself emperor of a new Zhou Dynasty. Shortly afterward he died in bed, passing power to his son Wu Shifan (吴世璠) who was defeated by the Qing after only three years of rule.

Getting back to Golden Temple, although the Wu Sangui story is not played up very much on the surface, it is undoubtedly one of the biggest attractions for Chinese visitors. Looking out over the vast Dianchi Basin below, it is well-positioned to watch the afternoon sun slowly drop behind the mountains to Kunming's west.

As a visitor, it is quite believable that Golden Temple has existed here for more than four centuries, but it is hard not to notice that many of the buildings in the sprawling compound are only a couple of decades old. According to Golden Temple's Baike page, the Kunming municipal government spent more than 8 million yuan, or around US$1 million at the time, on renovations to the complex between 1983 and 1991.

Upon entering the main gate of Golden Temple, visitors can wander through a Daoist compound composed of several peaceful courtyards and small shrines. One of the standout features of this part of Golden Temple is its diversity of plants. Tropical broadleaf bajiao trees mingle with tall evergreen plants, bamboo, and even gingko trees – during our visit a park employee was up in a gingko tree, knocking the gingko nuts off the branches with a long bamboo rod while a coworker collected them below.

Our late afternoon visit to Golden Temple involved plenty of leisurely wandering from courtyard to courtyard. Heading up the hill from the courtyard portion of the compound, things took on more of a leisurely vibe, with plenty of places to sit down and contemplate the land below. We imagined Wu Sangui looking out over his domain while sipping his tea (or baijiu) and thinking about the best way to tell the Kangxi Emperor to shove it.

As we approached the top of the hill, we followed a path littered with pine needles and lined with recreations of some of the most notable bronze works to come from Yunnan. After passing a short stretch of food stalls, we arrived at the top of the hill, where the bell tower (钟楼) awaited us.

Four flights of stairs later, we were at the top of the drum tower, which appears to have been rebuilt during the last renovations, but nonetheless has a massive bell suspended from its ceiling. For two yuan visitors can ram a one-meter-long wooden fish into the much-smaller "Qianlong Emperor's Great Happiness Bronze Bell" that hangs in the doorway of one of the two small balconies open at the top of the bell tower.

Passing on the bell, we took in two very different sights, the green wooded hills to the northeast and the sprawling, hazy metropolis to the south, towering Xishan in the background the only thing that Wu Sangui would recognize of his old home.

Getting There: Golden Temple can be reached by cab for roughly 25-35 yuan from downtown Kunming. It has a lower and upper entrance, both located off of the northern end of Chuanjin Lu. Its lower entrance is adjacent to a bus station that is the terminus of the number 10 bus route, which connects Golden Temple with Baiyun Lu, Yieryi Dajie, Jianshe Lu, Xiao Xi Men, and Nanping Jie. Entry is 30 yuan/person.

Interview: Steve Hoi

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0800

Last Friday we spent the afternoon burning off a delicious lunch by plodding around a 10,000-tree olive grove and vegetable farm under blue skies and hot sun. Although it felt like we'd been teleported to some Mediterranean locale, we'd simply hitched a ride with Steve Hoi to his farm one hour north of Kunming.

Once we'd arrived at the Singaporean native's 271-mu (100-acre) mountainside farm in Songming county (嵩明县), it was obvious that Hoi's farm was different, and not just because he doesn't use pesticides or chemical fertilizers. It seems like everything loves to grow on the farm, which sits on the side of a hill overlooking a vast valley and extends downhill to a small stream.

The olive trees stretch across the farm in neat rows, arranged according to cultivar, with some types located between others for cross-pollination purposes - this ultimately adds more depth of flavor to the farm's olive oil blend. After five years of waiting for his olive trees to mature, Hoi pressed his first batch of olive oil last year for his company Olive Connexions (昆明奥力联盟农业开发有限公司).

In addition to olives and olive oil, Hoi's farm produces around 70 or 80 vegetable, fruit and herb crops plus plenty of honey for good measure. While following the spry 58-year-old up and down the hillside, we sampled fresh pears, jujubes, cucumbers, chili peppers, basil, oregano and anything else we could get our hands on. After all that hiking, we sat down with Hoi in his small guesthouse on his farm and asked him about how this most unlikely of farms came to fruition:

GoKunming: Where did the idea for an olive farm in Yunnan come from?

Steve Hoi: It actually came from a dream, a dream to leave a legacy behind and also help locals change their lives for the better economically and provide for later generations.

I think the real desire I was feeling in my heart was to help poor rural Chinese. I'm third generation Chinese, what they call nanyang (南洋).

GK: How did you decide on the location for your olive farm?

Hoi: When I came to Kunming to do my investigation I was praying a lot... coming up here it felt like I was in Tuscany. I felt a peace here. My feeling about this place was confirmed by soil tests and rainfall data.

I decided to check things out with the local government. This turned out to be the best spot for what I wanted to do – there's plenty of water, the terrain is ideal and the accessibility is good. There was no running water and no electricity in the beginning, so getting that going was the tough part.

GK: How long did it take for you to get from starting work on the farm to actually eating something you'd grown?

Hoi: It took six months, zucchini and cucumbers were the first things we grew to fruition.

GK: How much of your experience as a farmer has been guided by trial and error?

Hoi: One hundred percent. I did this with no point of reference or experience.

GK: How many different kinds of olives do you grow here?

Hoi: We've got 16 different cultivars from eight different countries: the US, Australia, Greece, Israel, Spain, Italy, France and Chile.

GK: What were the logistics for acquiring these plants like?

Hoi: I consolidated all the different plants in Australia and shipped them over by air. That was in early 2005.

GK: Why olives?

Hoi: In my dream, I received a very clear vision of growing olives. You could say this all was in obedience to a higher calling. Also, the location was very specific: 23 degrees north latitude, and in China.

GK: How did your family and friends react to your new plan based on a dream?

Hoi: "You're mad!" (laughs)

They were worried about me taking such high risks and not knowing where help would be coming from. But as I shared this idea with people, I was actually very surprised at how quickly I could get shareholders interested.

GK: How many shareholders have invested in this project?

Hoi: Quite a few, there's 26 of them... two Americans, a couple of Malaysians, and the rest are all Singaporean.

GK: What were your biggest challenges starting out?

Hoi: Local conditions, farmers, authorities.

GK: Why farmers?

Hoi: Farmers in general don't like to help each other, but they will do so if they think they can get something out of it. At one point we had more than 90 people working here. That's when you see some people who aren't putting in a full day's work.

GK: What's the current worker situation at your farm?

Hoi: We have around 30 people now, most of them come from surrounding villages. Many of our employees are women who have husbands working elsewhere. They're really hardworking, because they wake up extra early to do their own farmwork before coming here.

GK: What kind of deal do you offer your employees?

Hoi: I'm offering a decent deal: minimum salary plus extra cash if they have additional skills. I also give them paid holidays, accommodation and transport. They also have a portion of the farmland to grow whatever they want.

GK: Can you explain the social aspect of your farm?

Hoi: I look at education for children as an important start. They are the next generation of leaders, so if they grasp integrity and purity of heart and deal with other human beings with fairness and respect, then society will be better off.

So I started with local schools. Sometimes students come from a very poor background – I try to help in practical ways. Once we were invited by a local school to participate in a function and we brought warm quilts for the poorest kids.

We also have orphans from Lijiang that come here during school holidays in July, we teach them what I call "seed-to-market agriculture".

GK: Why did you choose to grow produce without pesticides or chemical fertilizers?

Hoi: It was a conviction. I was given a book by Barbara Kingsolver called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle... as I read it I became more and more convinced that people were getting sick because they weren't eating good food.

GK: How has the local response been to your produce?

Hoi: People around here like our cabbage and potatoes, both of which we sell in local markets. At first, sellers were discouraged because some of our produce has blemishes. After trying our food, people realized that our vegetables were better-tasting than the perfect-looking vegetables. Now some locals only buy our stuff.

Chinese catch on quick and recent food scares have people in Kunming looking for high-quality fruits and vegetables. I want to help them not poison their bodies.

GK: When did you start retailing your produce in Kunming and where is your produce available?

Hoi: About a year ago... I provide produce to Salvador's, Green Lake Hotel, Spring City Golf, The Wicker Basket and Samoana.

GK: How has your produce been received in Kunming?

Hoi: The response has been excellent... some local people are going out of their way to buy our produce.

GK: How did it feel to make your first pressings of olive oil last year?

Hoi: It was very emotional, like childbirth. I was very thankful.

GK: Do you ever worry about failure?

Hoi: My work is still a daily struggle. Six years is a long time to wait for return on one's investment.

GK: What are your short term plans?

Hoi: I'm looking for locals to become interested in planting olive trees and expanding olive culture. I'd like to see our olive oils sold to discerning local customers in Kunming and elsewhere in China.

Metro Line 3 construction to start this month

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:10:00 +0800

With construction of two metro lines already underway, the Kunming government has announced plans to begin construction of Metro Line 3 before the end of this month.

The 19.5-kilometer Line 3 is expected to cost 11 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) and be completed in 2016. The east-west line will have 19 stations, five of which will link to other lines, and will pass beneath the city center.

Work on Lines 1 and 2 began in May, and are currently disrupting traffic on Beijing Lu and Chuncheng Lu. The lines are expected to be completed in 2012 or 2013. It appears likely that there will be an interchange between these lines and Line 3 at at Dongfeng Square.

Line 3 will start from the Shizui station in Kunming's west and run on elevated tracks for a few kilometers before entering a 14-kilometer tunnel section at Mianshan station near Renmin Xi Lu.

This tunneled section will account for most of the length of the line, after which it will emerge again in eastern Kunming at Hongqiaocun station near the third ring road before continuing briefly on elevated tracks to its terminus at the new east bus station.

By linking the west long distance bus station in Majie to the east bus station travelers will have easy access to the stations and quick transfers between them. The metro stop at the east station will also eventually interchange with line 6, which will go to the new Kunming airport.

Line 3 is also expected to have four other interchanges in the downtown area, making it potentially the only line in Kunming's metro system that will interchange with every other line.

When Kunming's six-line metro system is completed it has the potential to ease daily commutes as well as streamline tourism and business travel in Kunming by linking the airport and all of the major train and bus stations. The metro system is currently expected to be completed in 2018.

Please see here for bilingual maps based on plans for the entire six-line metro system that were released earlier this year. Note that the projected number of stations on line 3 has now risen from 16 to 19, but the general route remains the same.

Image: The Road Traffic Safety Association of Kunming

Fake liquor operations raided by police

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:35:00 +0800

Kunming carousers beware: thousands of bottles of counterfeit Western booze seized during recent police raids suggest that fake liquor in bars and nightclubs is a citywide problem.

Kunming police have announced that they seized more than 1,300 bottles of liquor from three different counterfeiters during a series of raids on Friday. One counterfeiting operation that was run out of a rented room in Guandu district allegedly sold more than two million yuan (US$294,000) worth of fake foreign spirits to Kunming bars, karaoke clubs, dance clubs and alcohol distributors since May.

The leader of that operation, a man surnamed Zhong, is accused of buying counterfeits of well-known Western spirits from dealers in Guangdong province and reselling them in Kunming. Police say Zhong started doing so in May after first coming here in January on a scouting trip, during which he decided Kunming's market for foreign spirits was flourishing and it would be a good place to set up shop.

The other of the two liquor counterfeiting operations in the news was more of a homegrown affair. A man surnamed Pang is accused of both manufacturing and selling several brands of liquor in Kunming, rather than buying from outside.

These brands included Rémy Martin, Hennessy and Martell cognacs, Johnny Walker, Chivas, and Jack Daniels whiskeys, and Absolut vodka.

The raids echo a similar case in March of 2008 when Kunming police seized more than 20,000 bottles of fake Budweiser and Carlsberg beers that counterfeiters were making through adulterating Kingstar Beer.

Flavor aside, police said they believed the bottles and packaging of most of the fake alcohol being sold in Kunming to be of low enough quality to be detectable by bar and clubgoers acquainted with what the genuine product looks like. Telltale signs of counterfeits include missing paper and foil seals and lack of holograms and embossed seals and text, as well as poor quality printing on labels.

Bottles that look authentic but seem excessively worn or whose caps don't fit well may be real but have been refilled with fake liquor, police said.

They added that supermarkets and large retail outlets tend to have more tightly controlled supply chains and are not as susceptible to counterfeit liquor as most bars and clubs.

GoKunming Weekend Preview

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0800

Friday: All-you-can-eat BBQ at Sandra's
The barbecue tonight at Sandra's will feature Brazilian rib eye steaks, German sausages, kangaroo fillets and chicken wings. It starts at 6pm and costs 100 yuan. Call 15825267010 for reservations.

Friday: Classical guitar at TCG Nordica
Guitarist Zhao Haibiao (赵海彪) will give a live classical guitar concert tonight at TCG Nordica. Entrance to the 9pm concert is 20 yuan for adults and 10 yuan for children.

Friday: Uprock costume party
Uprock will hold a costume party tonight with DJ Shonny, DJ Sara, DJ DD and DS Music. There will be giveaways for all guests wearing costumes. The free party starts at 9pm.

Friday: Live world music at The Hump Bar
Ed & Jack will be rocking the flute, didgeridoo and guitar tonight at The Hump Bar for some live world music. The free show starts at 9:30pm.

Friday: Live rock and reggae at 1895 Movie Bar
The Great Apes will perform at 1895 Movie Bar tonight with DJ I'mNoPrize selecting tracks before the show and between sets. Tall cans of Valentins Hefeweissbier will be 15 yuan. The free show starts at 10pm.

Saturday: Skateboard competition and after-party
Local skateboarding shop ＃88 The Spot and Nike will sponsor a skateboarding competition Saturday starting at 11am with an after-party at Laba at 9pm. For more information about competing or spectating call 0871-5354050 or drop by the shop. Please note the competition is not actually being held at ＃88 The Spot.

Saturday: Exhibition opening and concert at TCG Nordica
Swedish artist Michaela Peterson will open an exhibition of works in progress called "The Unintentional" at 3pm Saturday at TCG Nordica. At 8pm Andreas Larsson will perform Western opera. The opera concert is 20 yuan for adults and 10 yuan for children.

Saturday: Fondue night at Chicago Coffee
Chicago Coffee is launching its weekly "Deliciousness Dipped in Chocolate" fondue night on Saturday. The event will also include live violin music. It will run from 6 to 8:30pm and recur every Saturday. Due to limited seating reservations are strongly recommended: call (0871) 538 – 9228.

Saturday: DJ Ninjastajlin at The Hump Bar
Mr Ninjastajlin will be selecting old school hip-hop, reggae & DNB classics Saturday at The Hump Bar. The free party starts at 10pm.

Saturday: Live world Music at 1895 Movie Bar
Ed & Jack will follow up Friday's gig a Saturday show, this time at 1895 Movie Bar. The free show starts at 10pm.

Saturday: The Great Apes at Uprock
The Great Apes will perform live rock and reggae at Uprock on Saturday. The free show starts at 10pm.

Saturday & Sunday: Premier League football at Lazy Bones Pizza
Lazy Bones will be showing football this weekend. Customers who purchase any four Australian beers will get a large bottle of Crown beer for free.

Saturday: 9pm Arsenal vs. Blackpool. 11:15pm Wigan Athletic vs. Chelsea. Sunday: 7:30pm, Newcastle United vs. Aston Villa. 10pm, Fulham vs. Manchester United.

Getting away: Fuxian Lake

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:25:00 +0800

Fresh air and a blue swimmable lake encircled by lush green hills are not as far away as you may think. GoKunming revisited Fuxian Lake this past weekend and found it to be particularly gorgeous at this time of year.

Located in greater Yuxi about 65 kilometers southeast of Kunming, Fuxian Lake (抚仙湖) makes for a refreshing couple of days out of the city. The long narrow lake runs north-south, with the sleepy county seat of Chengjiang (澄江) sitting at the lake's north end.

We went to cycle the 90-kilometer road around the lake's perimeter, but there are other options including swimming, hiking or simply lazing around and taking in the scenery. There are even bowling and indoor archery facilities.

There is very little human activity on Fuxian, at least by China standards. But there are a few heavily developed tourist areas on the fully-paved road around the lake. Among them are resort-style developments in Chengjiang and along the lake's west side at Luchong (禄充) and Sunshine Coast (阳光海岸).

Plenty of sand has been brought in to make artificial beaches in these areas and elsewhere around the lake. Although swimming and lounging on the beach may be nice, it is hard not to wonder what impact the imported sand may be having on the lake.

Sunshine Coast is probably the best-known and most established of these areas and we were interested in visiting Solitude Hill so we booked a minivan and driver to take us there and made it our base for the weekend.

The only hotel in the area – at least in the traditional sense - is the Sunshine Coast Hotel, which is a standard Chinese three-star, if you overlook its private beach. The hotel also has the requisite KTV, plus a bowling alley, indoor archery and table tennis.

For the more budget-minded there is a short strip of lakeside road crowded with establishments offering restaurants and basic lodging for around 100 yuan per day on a weekend. We decided to stay at Shuixiang Yuan - our lodging was basic but acceptable, though we had better luck with the food at other restaurants on the strip.

Sunshine Coast's restaurants offer some local specialties including fish and ham dishes, but our favorite after a long day of riding was copper pot rice (铜锅饭): rice, Yunnan ham, and chunks of potato served mixed together in a copper pot.

There is plenty of fish to be eaten at Sunshine Coast and around Fuxian Lake, some of it farmed outside of the lake and some fish of varying legality coming from the lake. One variety of fish from which visitors should refrain is the endangered kanglang fish (抗浪鱼), which is facing extinction but is a sought-after delicacy nonetheless.

Other parts of the lake, especially the east side, are less developed for tourism, but every hamlet seems to have a least one restaurant and rooms to rent for the night. Hikers might have better luck on the east side, where small footpaths run in all directions through the hillside cropland. Locals are often quite receptive to requests to camp on their property, but will be eager to check in and chat frequently.

Cycling the road around the lake can become stressful sometimes from the weekend tourist traffic and involves a bit of highway riding, but the surfaces are in good condition and the scenery is spectacular. There is one fairly large hill on the west side of the lake between Luchong and Chengjiang where the highway detours inland.

The water in the lake seems quite clean and it is a popular swimming destination. Pedalboats and inner tubes can be rented out at some of the resort areas, but one can jump in for a refreshing dip almost anywhere.

Getting there
Considering its proximity to Kunming, Fuxian Lake is somewhat difficult to get to, especially without a private car. We decided to throw money at the problem and hire a minivan and driver. The trip should cost around 300 yuan each way including tolls and take one and a half to two hours.

Since Kunming closed most downtown bus stations and built new ones on the edge of the city all bus routes that go to Fuxian Lake now run out of the new South Bus Station, which can be reached from the Green Lake area by taking bus 85 from Wenlin Jie to the end of the line at Juhua Cun (菊花村), switching to line 12 and riding it to Zhaoxi Cun (照西村).

From the south station there are frequent departures to Chengjiang for 16 yuan. We have also heard it is possible to go from the south station to Jiangchuan (江川) and then switch to another public bus that goes directly to Sunshine Coast.

After reaching Fuxian Lake, it is relatively easy to hire a van to take you wherever you want to go.

Interview: Chen Jianxuan

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:00:00 +0800

For many years, the pleasant sounds of the two-stringed erhu have echoed throughout the tree-lined alley outside Yunnan University's west gate. Silver-haired and with a well-kept goatee, Chen Jianxuan (陈健轩) sits on the sidewalk outside the foreign students' dormitory and plays his erhu, at his side is a small duffel bag filled with small notes, waiting for the next tip.

Always quick with a nod and a smile for tippers or familiar passersby, Chen is one of the more easily recognizable faces in Kunming, but few of the countless people who hear his music know much about him. We sat down on the sidewalk with Chen to learn more about this man who has supported himself his entire life by playing the erhu:

GoKunming: Where are you from?

Chen Jianxuan: I'm from Hunan, from a place called Yiyang (益阳).

GK: When did you come to Kunming?

Chen: I first came here in 1998 and I've been here ever since.

GK: Why did you come to Kunming?

Chen: Well... I came here looking for my son. I never found him.

GK: Why didn't you go back to Hunan after a few years?

Chen: Once I realized I probably wasn't going to find my son, I looked at Kunming and, you know, the climate here is pretty nice – it's well-suited to old people like me. So I stayed.

GK: When did you learn to play the erhu?

Chen: When I was in my early teens.

GK: Who taught you?

Chen: Nobody taught me! (laughs) I taught myself!

In my home village I would play flower drum opera (huaguxi, 花鼓戏) and other people would sing along. Wanna smoke? (offers a cigarette)

GK: No thanks, I don't smoke.

Chen: (laughs) Yeah, that's a good habit.

GK: What are your favorite songs to play?

Chen: I like songs from the Ming Dynasty.

GK: Why's that?

Chen: They sell well.

GK: I've seen you playing here on Tianjundian Xiang over the last six years, how long have you been playing here?

Chen: I've been playing around this area for eight years now.

GK: I suppose you know a lot of people just from sitting here on the pavement and playing erhu over the years.

Chen: Yeah, I've got a lot of friends and recognize a lot of people because I see them almost every day. Foreigners are all very friendly to me. A lot of foreigners give me money to play songs on my erhu.

I've taught a lot of foreigners... French, Japanese, Thais, Koreans, I've taught 'em all how to play the erhu.

GK: Your dog is very friendly, what's her name? Is she a good companion?

Chen: Her name's Xixi (西西)... you know, I'm an old man living by myself... it's good to have a buddy. Xixi's about a year old, a friend gave her to me.

GK: Can you play us your favorite song?

Chen: Yeah, of course. Get over here Xixi!

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