Good news! The high speed rail (HSR) train from Kunming to Xishuangbanna will finally be complete at the end of this month, and in service for the public on December 2, 2021.
Approximately a 3-hour trip from Kunming to Xishuangbanna. 2.5 hours for Puer. Also stops at Yuxi. The HSR will continue beyond the Chinese border and connect to Laos as part of the BRI.
Perhaps I'll pay those elephants a visit later next year to apologize.
Semantics.
The "complicated topic" lies in the interdependence of China’s economy with real estate developers, as JanJal alluded to:
29% of China’s national GDP is riding on the property market.
40% of local government revenue come from land sales. Land sales make up more than half of combined national tax revenue.
30 - 40% of total loans from China’s largest banks/ financial institutions consisted of property-related loans. (Limits are being applied)
40% of household wealth are derived from real estate.
Evergrande, whose CEO was once hailed as a socialist hero and champion of urbanization, is now being thrown under the "common prosperity" train. Yet, the villagers castigating the proverbial evil witch into the fire pit may be complicit in the derailment; the governments, banks, investors seeking high interest rate returns, and homebuyers are all culpable in paving this track for over two decades.
Curbing the status quo property growth model while sustaining economic growth to alleviate poverty would require skillful tempering of the double-edged sword. We will see.
@DAWP Without including the ubiquitous, empty apartments that have closed escrow yet collecting dust, there are approximately 3,000,000,000 square meters of unsold housing inventory existing across China.
That equates to apartment vacancies that could house ~90 million "ghost" residents. Assuming there are three friendly ghosts haunting each household.
The result of speculative building/buying decades in the making.
The first, maiden store in Yunnan will open next week, August 4th near the west.
According to an old Xinhua article, the Swedish company reported spending over 1 billion yuan on this three-story building. It's huge. Over 120,000 square meters of floor space. They were supposed to open last year, but was delayed due to pandemic.
Expect heavy traffic on its grand opening day.
No pastries, yet. I believe only waffles now. Regular waffles priced at 28rmb, 35-38rmb with ice cream. Whip cream and fruit toppings included.
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Video: Zen and the art of patisserie with chef Igor Nataf
发布者I hope Igor is eating that one himself, cause I worry about the hygiene.
Video: Zen and the art of patisserie with chef Igor Nataf
发布者Located at very top in editor's note, this article is clearly described as a "sponsored post" which is a win win win for expat community in Kunming, Igor, and GoKunming.
My only critique is the name "pain campagnard"... such a added-value fancy way of saying country bread to mark up the price of bread.
But like tasting omelets, gauging the skill of a chef sometimes requires tasting their simplest goods, such as the French bread tucked between the owner's arm.
Video: Zen and the art of patisserie with chef Igor Nataf
发布者Good sponsored post.
Looks like we found a place for chess players to meet over coffee and pastries. A chess master awaits your next move.
Igor's may be a sight for sore eyes. I'm tired of the gastronomic staleness of mainstream bakery chains in JustHot, Breadworks, BreadTalk, Holiland (though their warm fresh-out-of-oven almond danish isn't bad), and particularly Jiahua Bakeries.
Kunming's first ever PechaKucha, Cross Pollination, coming soon
发布者Like exotic flowers in a garden. Thank you Vera.
Video: The Legend of Shangri-la
发布者Some landmark attractions such as Pudacuo National Park, has already become your dreaded "tourist theme park." Unless you trek off the beaten track by not getting on the park shuttles.
A bit of devil's advocacy...
So what if Shangri-La's popularity was based on a novel? At face value it's not. The bulk of tourists are Chinese who've probably never heard of Lost Horizon.
And if you think about it from another perspective, the majority of human race base their faiths/lifestyles on books such as the Bible, Quran, or the Pali Canon. Entire nations have become theme parks of a different variety.
Books dubbed holy are culminations of hearsay folklore verbally passed down for centuries, subject to distortions, before being written down and revised in various editions to reflect the social norms of their times. They are texts which elicit the hope of a glorious, eternal paradise in the afterlife, despite no actual proof of existence let alone vulnerabilities to scientific debunking.
Nevertheless, billions of souls on this planet await their interpreted versions of Shangri-La-ish Garden of Eden, which would put James Hilton's "mythical" one to shame. We'll never actually know if the deceased will reach that promise land. At least readers of James Hilton's novel won't be totally disappointed when arriving at actual geological wonders bordering Tibet, Sichuan, and Yunnan.