I rode the Kunming subway today, registering manually. I saw an old Chinese man doing same. Not sure what his situation was.

So, color code is not an absolute requirement. Took five minutes to register so it is definitely inconvenient without code.

I started at the information booth where I explained to the agent that my phone, an older vintage, does not handle QR codes. He asked for a local residence permit. I provided my Kunming permit which was satisfactory (don't know if a permit from elsewhere in Yunnan would pass muster). He walked me to the gate and explained the situation to the temperature checker.

After passing through I stopped at the registration table where they wrote down info from a photocopy that I carry with me (I did have my passport on me in case they insisted on seeing it). They took note of the entry stamp into China from last year. They also wrote down my phone number.

Part of the delay was taking my temperature in various body locations. They tried a dozen times but it always read "Lo". I explained it's because I sweat a lot in the sun and my skin was cool underground.

'Lo' usually means that the battery of the thermometer has little life left ;)

Thanks for the update!

Monday afternoon, the 20th, my building management phoned to enquire about checks on travel within KM; specifically the subway..
KM city government informed them that travel within Kunming is free from restrictions or health forms..
Possibly the checkpoint stations have not received the memo?

If there are workers enforcing restrictions, then there probably are restrictions.
Maybe a simple case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.

Or maybe your building management asked the wrong person, or the other person did not know and plucked any answer out of the air. Or the other person was busy. A no restrictions answer requires no follow up answers, like 'What are the restrictions'.

I learned years ago, you need to get answers from the horses mouth.

even though i have completed form, they refused me yesterday at jiaosanqiao and wanted passport and phone number.

@Dan Dare... I consider the city government to be the horses mouth.
Was told to simply have my residency permit & i.d.

Think I'll just skip the subway.

If you wanna know what the regs are on the subway, speak to subway management. If you think the city government general office helpline knows what is happening with transportation, you is dreaming. How long ago did you get of the plane man?
The evidence is there, that there was controls on the subway. End of discussion really, there is nothing more to say.

An interesting article about this new health QR code on CNN.

Travel to other cities may still be confusing.

edition.cnn.com/[...]

"Because the databases are not shared among local governments, and because different governments might have different standards for assigning the colors, some have been reluctant to recognize health codes from other places, according to the state-run Legal Daily."

Useful article, thumbs up.

It’s getting more confusing by the minute. Just arrived at my new community and was asked to scan a QR code. Instead of popping up my all clean green screen it gives me the same health questions again. It looks like a different code!