Anyone know when these interviews began? I just got my new student residence permit in July and no such interview took place when I went with the university to the PSB, very easy process, just paperwork. Also, you've all been talking about student visas, do you actually mean one year residence permits or are you here on shorter term student visas?

"Chinese Valentines Day" is this Saturday August 2nd and haven't seen any postings or events listed. Anybody know of any special dinners planned for couples, etc.? Plenty of places to dine out of course, but just wondering if any venues in particular have planned anything special?

Have heard many times about a spectacular all wild mushroom hotpot in Kunming, but not sure of the name or location. There are three such restaurants in the southern part of town posted in the listings but no reviews or descriptions have been given. Any thoughts or recommendations on these or others?

Edit: Found this 2010 article on the Guanshang mushroom district: www.gokunming.com/[...]

Anyone have any particular tips on the abundance of places there to try?

The Shangri-La Winery get's their grapes from a combination of grapes grown by villagers throughout the upper Lancang and Jinsha valleys in Deqin along with some of their own larger plantations in the same areas. The government is heavily involved with encouraging villagers to grows grapes which is also leading to some negative issues with livelihoods and food security as discussed in my GoKunming interview.

mmkunmingteacher, I would be very interested in learning more about your article and your work since this is a major part of my own research. Feel free to contact me via offline message. I will also actually have an academic article coming out on this topic later this year in a journal on culture and agriculture.

There is one ski area just outside Shangri-La with 3 or 4 different runs, though the long steep one has rarely ever been opened. The primary problem is that while the area does get snow it doesn't get that much since winter is the dry season, so snow has to be made. I'm not sure how to find out about the current opening/operating status of the ski area, but it shouldn't be too difficult to locate with a Google search. Turtle Mountain Gear in Shangri-La used to have a good deal going with the ski park where they had discounted tickets with all the gear and would drive people out there, but I don't think they're still doing that these days.