Last night there was an argument and fight in front of Salvador's. Everyone is safe and the dispute has been settled. However, tensions between the market vendors and businesses on Wenhua Xiang have spurred some anti-foreign sentiment and some general misunderstanding by people who were not present.
A time like this is very sensitive and everyone, especially those of us who are guests in this country, need to tread lightly. This means being extremely careful with what is posted online and also avoiding places where conflict could be likely. We are sure more information will come out over the next few days, and spread by word of mouth, but in the meantime please play your part to keep the peace.
This forum is not meant for use as a platform to vent frustrations about China or to reignite a situation that has already been resolved. As always, please remain civil and maintain respect for other posters.
Another example to get out of China.
I've received a few posts on friend's Weibo and Weixin accounts, but the story seemed really too outlandish to believe. I wonder what really happened.
Anyone want to elaborate? Or is there going to be a follow up news story from GoKM staff?
@blobbles: There will not be a GoKunming story about this. Details, at this point, are speculation and we would prefer the bombast taking place on Weibo not spill over here. What we do know is that the concerned parties spent the night in police arbitration where they reached a mutual agreement.
So reading between the lines... this is all heresy and conjecture:
A foreigner/Chinese person(s) started a fight with a/some Chinese/foreign person(s). Someone got hurt. Racial epithets ensued. The police intervened. Salvadors was somehow involved (it's not an Embassy!) and the foreigner and Chinese people were both (or one of them) thrown into prison until they came to a mutual reconciliation (likely someone/both sobered up!).
That's news? Jeez! Its like Saturday night on most western bar strips! I guess though its big news in China if some foreigners appear to be behaving badly (even though it may not be them who started it).
Despite this "news" i will live on with my daily life and behave like a good citizen (chinese or foreign) should... no problems with this so far. And i believe in karma. ;)
And I think we should make outlandish rumours of what happened!
I heard it was Obama who was on holiday here. He heard that there was someone wearing a "Yes we can" shirt on the street and wanted to go and shake their hand. The secret service personnel surrounding him accidentally trod on one of the sellers new Minion toys from Despicable Me. He refused to pay for the damage claiming diplomatic immunity meant, and I quote "I dun hav to pays for nuffin!". He also stated that Wenhua Xiang is actually disputed land with the Philippines also having a claim on the land. The seller, while laughing hysterically accidentally pushed a secret service man, who then trod on the presidents little toe. The exclamation of pain from the president sent all the secret service agents into a panic, they surrounded the president facing inwards on all sides and the back of their jackets opened up spraying pepper spray in all directions. This caused mass panic among the sellers, not because of the pepper spray was hurting them (they are immune due to the amount of chilli ingestion), but because it was scaring away all the foreigners who were their best customers because they could overcharge them the most. The secret service mistook Salvadors for the American Embassy and hid him inside fearing reprisals and a riot. The police came and took Obama and the seller away on charges of damaging property and public disorder.
After a few hours in a cell while they confirmed the presidents identity, the president and the seller came to an agreement that they would import 5 million Despicable Me minions into America as restitution. Obama also got 2 free for his girls.
That's totally what happened. I was there!
