I was just joking, but that's not a bad idea if the ticket price isn't much different.

heh, I think in the future I'll just plan my flights out of Chengdu and take the train to/from Kunming during the foggy and rainy seasons... probably faster and less of a hassle.

Wow, just wow... anyone who goes with this program ( Homestay China) obviously didn't do their homework. I just read their website. Short version, it's a complete rip off.

Let's see what they provide. I'll be generous and calculate most things at a very naive foreigner monthly price(probably 2 to 3 times what you should pay for most of these things)

Health insurance: 500
Chinese classes(provided by KCEL...haha, suckers): 700
Room/small apartment: 2000
pocket money(on their website) : 750
food(30 kuai a meal?): 2,700
shared maid: 1000
visa cost(student visa...still 800 a year?): 70

Grand total: 7720 RMB... let's round up to 8000 just to be even more generous.

Here's what you have to do: Teach/babysit.. and possibly even escort their kids to and from school for 25 hours a week. Wait, is that legal? Are they providing a work permit? doubt that.. anyways. Most schools will charge at least 200 RMB/hour for that kind of service. Especially rich families which is definitely what this school is using. So that's 21,500 RMB a month that you should be getting.

So you're provided 8,000 a month in goods, and you should be getting 21,500 a month.... hahaha, hahahaha...sad anyone would do this seeing that 8000 a month is really more like 2 to 4 thousand a month.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention they charge about a 3000 rmb deposit.. probably what that mafia...er I mean KCEL( Kunming College of Easter Language and Culture / 昆明东方语言文化学校 ) charges for their grey market student visa.

usually when they say no, you can't it means they don't want to bother. I have china telecom and back in 2009 when i signed up they required a passport then too. I'm pretty sure China mobile asked for my passport too back then.

My guess is that the police are enforcing the regulations and the clerk isn't sure about how to do it so they give the standard没办法. Just goto a main branch and ask for their boss.

Pay the 2,500 RMB. It's not a lot of money, and you're not going to win. Change schools as soon as you can, and warn others of your experience. Oh, and stay the hell away from KCEL. They will cheat you any chance they get, and they don't keep their promises. Find another school if that's the one that's offered to you.