I will be moving to Kunming as of March 1st. Before I arrive I would like to have an better idea of what the adminites that the city has. One question that comes to mind, does Kunming have any medium to high fashion clothing stores either legit or fakes. If so how what are the pricing structure like.

2) For a new comer to China and Kunming, what are your opinions of the city. I have read some of the reviews here o Gokunming concerning restaurant and bars. Where do you suggest to go?

3) Through reading blogs and posting occasionally here, I have noticed a wide range of perspectives on living in China. Some people seem to hate it, while other seem to tolerate it. No one seems to "love" it or really enjoy it. Is China really that hard to acclimate to from a Western Perspective? Or is it that people just miss home and through venting on blogs and what not that a "bad" perception of China is thus created?

Hello. I think I can answer your questions for you as I have taught in Kunming in the past. First of all, yes there are clothing stores, duh. What do you think they wear there, rags? You also mentioned fakes, in case you haven't done any research on China before, the country is full of fake items.

Also, of course you are going to notice a wide range of perspectives of living in China. It's an opinion. Some people may hate it and others love it. It's whatever you make out of it. There maybe some venting going on in the blogs about bad things and frustrating things. It's all true, it's China. It operates in no way like what you are probably used to. When I taught there we didn't even know our school schedule until about 2 days before. Finals schedule was pretty much undetermined until the last mintue, just like everything else in China, backwards.