what's up with the apparent crackdown in kunming with respect to dvd/music stores (my favorite mom&pop store on yi'er'yi dajie across from the qinghua bookstore has shelves so bare it looks like they are on the verge of bankruptcy)? also, what about the wenlinjie/wenhuaxiang crackdown on restaurants having tables outside their joints? even the convenience store next to the french cafe can display it's stuff outside anymore.

Not sure about the DVD stores but the tables on wenhua xiang are deemed to be an eyesore on the beauty of wenhua xiang. Usually these things are enforced for a week or two then life reverts but this time wuhua gov't might stick to their guns.

things about dvd(piracy) is governments around China esp. in Guangdong & Hongkong which are regarded as the mother of piracy~ are more and more determined to ban as many illegal producers as they can. Esp. for the last 2 months...nightmare la
so, god bless Emule