Forums > Living in Kunming > Smiles and China There are lots of studies and working papers about it:
www.china-mike.com/[...]
embots.dfki.de/mmc/mmc11/Luetal.pdf
www.plosone.org/[...]
jcc.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/11/28/0022022113513922
eview.anu.edu.au/cross-sections/vol6/pdf/ch08.pdf
And yes, you can blame it on Confucius. If you are inside the guanxi group, you smile. But you dont smile to people outside your guanxi group.
In 女子,女学 and 兒女英雄傳 it is described how a virtous woman is supposed to smile eg dont show your teeth...
The inside/outside guanxi thing also explains why Chinese poop next (and I really mean next to it) to the toilet in public toilets, but meet the hole and even flush the toilet in private.
Still, Chinese only pick and remember the things they want to. The above mentioned books also describe how a woman is supposed to behave, in which position to sleep, how to dress, how to approach husband and family and so on.
But to be honest, it's not a shame that a lot of cultural habits and traditions got lost during Maos time.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Cultural Colonialism The only authentic places on earth are the places where you cant buy coca cola: North Korea and Cuba
Forums > Living in Kunming > Cultural Colonialism The Chinese try to colonise themselves. The guy with the verruca took Karl Marx (German) ideas and opposed them upon his people. Obviously the people werent too happy about it. Besides, the real Karl Marx has nothing to do with what the Chinese understand. Well Chinese are very good at pick and choose. Every year a lot of Chinese travel to Germany to worship Marx.
==> colonising themselves
wear Italian clothes, drive German cars, drink French wine...
==> colonising themselves
still waiting for the sexual revolution in China though. About sexual education: China is lost, no hope
@blobbles: I havent seen that Chinese want to live like Americans. I hope they wont what a ecological disaster and there will be war all over the world (telling everybody that they have nuclear weapons instead of saying we want your ressouces, is not ok)
@laotou: Chinese always say that there have a 8000year long history, but that's there own definition. According to Western standarts definitely not.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Monthly expenses in Kunming rent: 2000kuai (fully furnished apartment in Green Lake area)
utility bills: 100kuai internet, 20kuai gas (cook every day at home), electricity 120kuai (no solar power only electric heater for water), water bill is only paid once a year
==> 2300kuai
Occasionaly eating out in Western and Chinese restaurants, but eat Western food at home (eg bread and cheese, cereal for breakfast) and buying a lot of fruit and dairy. Going out a the weekends to have a drink or two.
==> 2500kuai
plus travelling, clothes and so on
Forums > Living in Kunming > Cultural Colonialism Sure, forums are there to discuss things, but the way questions are asked reminds me of "The Sun".
And about transcending into other cultures. Maybe one day in the future, it will be normal for every Chinese to flush the toilet :-DD
Kunming neighborhoods face water rationing
发布者As I said before: Complete mismanagement and ignorance. What really makes me laugh is, on the one hand it's drought, but they still water the plants in my xiaoqu with tap water and of course in the afternoon when sun is at it's peak. On the other hand when it's raining, and heavy rain is very common here, everything is flooded within minutes.
By the way, who helps the elderly people to carry their water buckets into their apartment?
Life in Kunming: A cabbie's perspective
发布者@magnifico: In China everyone asks anyone about their income. Also about your age. Back home a no go, but here absolutely fine.
Plus, it's a general question about this particular industry. Might even be the case, that taxi drivers here in China have a good income not like the ones back home.
Still waiting for the answer of the question: How much does a taxi driver make per month?
Kunming neighborhoods face water rationing
发布者@Elisa: Good question, because for watering the streets 中水 (reclaimed water) is used not tap water.
Kunming neighborhoods face water rationing
发布者The questions is: What causes the drought? Is it the vast destruction of the environment (cutting down forests, removing whole mountains, building dams and so on) or is it only because of climate change as some Chinese government 'experts' say. If you know the answer, you can solve the problem instead of just cutting the water supply.
Second question: Does Kunming and Yunnan use up more water then they posses?
Growing agricultural and flower sector (plants need water and animals use up huge amounts of water during their lifetime), changing life style (cars, meat and so on), mining, construction sites (you need water for mixing concrete and while the concrete dries) and so on
Are there ways to use the water more efficient and not waste it?
Non leaking pipelines and more clarification plants...
I clearly doubt, that any of the government officials would ever think that far. Beijing is the best example. They havent got enough water, so they redirect water from the Yangtze river which is just 1500km away. Not considering the vital consequences...
Kunming neighborhoods face water rationing
发布者The problem is not the drought. It's the complete mismanagement of precious ressources. Instead of spending money on the construction and maintainance of the water system (pipelines) and the waste water system including clarification plants, Yunnans officials rather spend it on prestige buildings. Why? Because the officials on the next higher level will only judge on what they see, meaning above surface.
It's very easy: If you already havent got enough of something, dont waste it.