Forums > Living in Kunming > Carrefour Giving Up On China Carrefour is selling and 80% stake, does not necessarily mean that stores will close. Initially stores and staff will be absorbed by the new owner Sunning. For those areas that do not currently have a Sunning presence, t first all that will change will be the name on the door.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Carrefour Giving Up On China Tesco did have a JV in China, but they pulled out several years ago.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Carrefour Giving Up On China Airless holes. I think that sums up a lot of superstores/hypermarkets, in many parts of the world, that are located in a larger multistorey shopping complex. True for Walmart, Homemart, Sunning, Metro, and other places I have visited.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Bike registered - Selling second hand The authorities have been trying to control the ebike market for several years and previous attempts have not been successful. This time I believe it will be successful.
Almost daily I see police with a recovery/flatbed vehicle seizing unregistered machines. There seems to be a clear mandate to get the no longer legal ebikes off of the road.
Like @JanJal, I thing the main issues have been around safety. When I first came to China in 2004 ebikes were small, light, and only did about 20kph. I also believe they were only 12 v.
Now ebikes are bigger and heavier than a gas scooter, 72V and capable of over 60kph, and still no license, insurance, or training is required to ride one.
I have been hit by an ebike once, whilst riding my bicycle, and nearly been wiped out on at least two other occasions by kamikaze ebike riders.
I have seen several ebike crashes caused by riders who do not have proper control of their vehicle (using feet as brakes, slamming on the front bike causing a low-side and dropping the machine, panicking and just freezing as they plow into other vehicles), this is a training issue. Alternative, let the untrained ride smaller and slower machines.
The market needed controlling. Yes there will be some waste, but in the next 4 years some sanity will quickly return to the streets and cycle paths.
The alternatives are to let the 'arms race' (bigger faster ebikes) and carnage continue, or do what other cities have done and ban ebikes and bikes from downtown (more cars would be the pattern, not desirable), or let the old bikes die through natural wastage (bureaucratic and uncontrollable).
Forums > Living in Kunming > Bike registered - Selling second hand It looks like the police are actively trying to phase out the older machines.
Six-day visa-free transit on offer in Kunming, other cities, beginning January 1
发布者The only potential sticking point that I could see is if the visitor needs to show a hotel evidence of a hotel stay.
Lijiang China's number one tourist hotspot
发布者Great. More tourists.
Sichuan water release devastates parts of northwest Yunnan
发布者If the barrier lake had filled, and then dam collapsed, the impact would have been much greater. An interesting follow up would be about formation of development of this barrier lake, and what led to the decision to act.
Beijing approves massive Changshui International Airport expansion
发布者A thought on the aging population in China. We should not forget the economic changes that have occurred in the last two generations.
The people of retiring age over the next 10 years (50-65 now) are the generation who made the big money. What will they do with the money when they have time on their hands? One of the things they will likely do is travel.
This generation of middle class retirees is not the poor, financially dependent, aged who rely on their children for support. In fact many of them are supporting their children financially.
These people are mobile and rich enough to travel in a way that their parents could only have dreamed of. There are millions of them.
Beijing approves massive Changshui International Airport expansion
发布者I would guess that the number of people who will be able to afford to travel by air will continue to increase, even if the population declines.
As for there being not a lot to do in Kunming, it has always been the springboard to other places in Yunnan. I just see more people using the springboard.