I recently arrived in Kunming, and despite what I've been primed to expect before hand, I still finding the level of pollution, noise and general shoddiness unsettling. I've been to many 3rd world countries before, having stayed in Karachi for 4 months previously before returning to the States. Now I have a contract here for the next 2 years, and already the environmental, noise and water pollution is starting to kick my head in. I read recently about the risk of pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases you can pick up here just from breathing in the air, especially in the cities. How do you guys who have been here for a while cope? Ignoring it, pretend it's not there or does it just 'get better' after a while. Any info is appreciated. Xie xie.

I got a hole in my lung in Beijing and was in hospital for a month, and almost died. I moved to Kunming because the air is "better" but I still have lung problems here.

The air doesn't bother me so much, especially once the summer rains start and clean it up. Noise is another matter. I'm beginning to believe most Chinese people are deaf. None of them seem to hear the car horns that never stop. And why is it necessary for a truck to be blasting a horn at 3:00 a.m. when there is only one other vehicle on the road?

The air in the South of the city is constantly replaced by fresh air coming off the lake, a prevailing southerly wind. The air in the South is good. This wind tends to blow all of the pollution into the north and west of the city where it is trapped by the mountains. The air to the North of Kunming can be particularly bad.

After three years in kunming and another year before that in suzhou, ill give this one a go......

Simple answer: if you can't take pollution levels in kunming, china is not the country for you. Put in a months notice at your job and start again in another country.

Further reading: although kunming is by no means a "green city" by international standards, it takes the cake for Chinese ones. During my year in suzhou, I saw less blue sky days than I see in a month here, even kunmings worst pollution day would be a top tenner for the shanghai/jiangsu area of china. My other travels through this 'third world country' haven't given me the impression that there is any other city that would meet your standards as well. Other than maybe lasa,that has a total of zero jobs available to westerners. Sorry to break it to you brad.....but I think you should give it a little time and if you still haven't adapted just move on....pollution here is only gonna get worse

In answer to the original questions. Yes, no doubt about that.

The food is not safe (not even fresh foods) and therefore not healthy, even though the diet is arguably more healthy.
If you do become ill the health care on offer is not as reliable and often not as good.that

Then add to this general levels of stress will be elevated, increased water-born diseases, and a liberal sprinkling of water/air pollution.

Air pollution rose over the years along with increased car usage and construction, now it appears to be decreasing. Unless of course you get stuck behind one of the Kunming buses apparently running on discarded chip fat. Sunlight, wind and dust have caused me eye problems and, for the first time in my life, I wear sun glasses.

You could well expect a long lecture below about first generation drivers, blah blah, developing society, blah blah etc. etc. This is supposed to shut you up and put you back in your harmonious box. Ignore this tired old lecture, and next time you get woken by an air horn at 03:00 just remember you still have your hearing and you're reacting normally. You have been woken by a selfish arsehole and you are not alone in suffering temporary sleep deprivation. Other than that, I honestly think Kunming is fine. Kunming people are mostly tolerant and at best friendly. For me, this compensates for any marginal decrease in life expectancy.

Quick:
Buy a pollution mask and earplugs at any drugstore.

Long:
Kunming air is decent as far as city air in China goes. I can list about 40 or so other Chinese cities with worse air. This year's air quality is worse than ever, and it's still better than most other cities in China. So think of it as a positive you are stationed in Kunming and not in Beijing or Chongqing or Zhengzhou or Shenzhen or Changsha or Nanjing or Hong Kong even (it's air is terrible now as a result of being next to Shenzhen).

If you can't take Kunming air, then you have to move to a smaller city. Dali, Lijiang, Jinhong, all have good air as long as your not near construction, but there's more of that in those boomtowns. Another choice would be to live in nearby Chenggong. Ghost towns have better air once construction is finished. Most of Chenggong is built, and very few buses/trucks/cars go through there, so air is better and noise much lower, for now anyways.

Note:
None of this will help you when a bus spews black soot in front of you or you have to bike through Remin Xi Lu.

Kunming pollution mostly depends where you live - although most of the city is engulfed in massive infrastructure upgrades - from the subway (please please open the expletive thing soon) to the obliteration of those eyesore 6 story concrete covered brick community dwelling units. On a good note - better bare concrete than some toxic lead-based paint.

As for the trucks blaring those expletive loud horns at 3am when there's only one car on the road - if you've ever witnessed kunming drivers - blithering idiots is a withering critique - and I'm insulting blithering idiots with the comparison. The truck drivers are just letting the driver in front know if they do something stupid - the truck "ain't a stopping". That's why their license plates are purposely muddied up and unreadable by the traffic cameras - those trucks do NOT stop at red lights and if you see two or more in a convoy - stay outta their way - there's no such thing as right of way with these guys - they'll squash you like a bug and just keep on going.

As for pollution - go visit ANY of the tier 1 cities again...then come back. The skies are blue and the moon is usually brilliant white (as opposed to Beijing orange to rusty brown.

If you've got the bucks - move out of the city (requires a car) to the lower density housing areas - try to move to already built-up areas so you can avoid the construction noise and dust. However - be prepared to put up with the constant interior renovations - or exercise some insanity and convince the workers that you're utterly insane before say 8am and after 6pm.

@crazy.laowai
Congratulations on surviving a hospital in China. Usually, they'll kill you with something else in there (like putting you next to the terminal stage seriously infectious TB patients).