Forums > Living in Kunming > Electric bicycle ban.. "One sure way,,,is to make them pay". You forgot to mention that that is also the only way. Chinese people don't really care about people they don't know personally so just to point out the dangers of their doings works out about as well as spitting on a burning building.
Couple of days ago Chinese posters on Thebeijinger.com claimed that in China "green light means go and red light means go carefully",, seriously. One of them also claimed that the rules of traffic doesn't really apply to anyone since you only have to take care and be observant of what is going on ahead of you in traffic. I've heard that before and there is some truth to it but that doesn't necesarily mean it's the right way to run things (not to mention the obvious dangers under certain conditions).
Maybe when the next generation grows up having experienced their parents in cars and on scooters and having learnt some lessons things will improve,, I doubt it though.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Recycling batteries I don't have anything battery driven but it's a scary thought that 1.35 billion Chinese people don't have the option to recycle batteries. They'll probably end up in a landfill somewhere. Regarding the pollution here in China it probably have to get a lot worse before it gets better.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Advice on neighborhoods Kunming is fairly safe and a place near a park should be possible although there aren't that many of them in this city. Chinese neighbourhood is every place but Wenlin Jie and if you don't demand too much as your post suggests you can easily find a place to live for 5-600 a month. I am not sure what KCELC is but I am sure that you can get an acceptable flat within biking distance to any school in Kunming.
Forums > Travel Yunnan > New international airport Don't set your expectations too high,, there is a lot of talk going on as usual but remember that they also want this to be a 6 million people city by 2015. I doubt the airport and a light rail will improve traffic and living conditions markably in that light.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Electric bicycle ban.. "from today, electric bikes carrying people, riding in the car lane, going against the traffic flow, jumping red lights will be subject to penalties of 50 yuan or lower"
Sounds like common sense to me. Any initiative that can help the traffic situation and the safety here in Kunming is much appreciated. It will be forgotten in a month but still,,,
Farmers protest land grab south of Kunming
发布者120.000 yuan? That's insanely low for such an area. Are you sure of the numbers?
Beijing green-lights Nu River dam
发布者Sad.
Fracking comes to Southwest China
发布者3 to 5 years to set up rules, regulations and laws on shale gas extraction?! And here I thought that one of the pros of having a government like China's (cough, cough, haaaark, spit!) was that the decision-making process was speedy when needed.
And yes, we all know TallAm has a point unfortunately. Increased consumption pared with limited fossil fuel reserves make it inevitable that every single extractable deposit will be done with eventually, and as time passes, fewer and fewer environmental concerns will be addressed.
Lugu Lake airport slated for 2013
发布者Crossing my fingers they never get it finished.
Kunming new home sales plunge
发布者Wonder how they'll cope with the millions of migrant construction workers in a year or two when constructions grinds down to a 10th of what it is now. Seems like President Jin will be juggling several hot potatoes soon. I'll be looking for an apartment next year, so naturally I wouldn't mind a 15-20 percent drop in real estate prices personally, although I doubt it will be that much. The Chinese characteristics of this particular area of economics tell me no one wants to even consider selling with a loss unless the bank is there, knocking at your door, and the Chinese generally have a significantly smaller percentage of the RE value mortgaged than we on average have in the West due to savings and/or family loans before coughing up with the deposit.
Come to think of it, predicting what's going to happen in China it's a bit like putting on a blindfold, aim, and hope the dart ends up somewhere in the general direction of the board.