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.
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Interview: Anthropologist Brendan Galipeau
Posted byTwo quick factual corrections, one of which was my fault. Cizhong is actually still in Deqin county, not Weixi, I misspoke. Second is that Benzilan is actually on the Jinsha not the Nujiang. Thanks to everyone at GoKunming for this great feature!
Hani terraces garner UNESCO status
Posted by@ Geogramatt, there's actually a sticky little provision that the government managed to stick into the original designation for Three Parallel Rivers which says the World Heritage site only includes areas above a specific elevation (don't have the figures on me at the moment), thus actually excluding the dams from the heritage site. UNESCO has been expressing a lot of concern over the overall impact of the dams on the site, but by technicality it would be impacts that are created from outside the actual world heritage area giving UNESCO a little less footing to stand on since no dams are being built within the actual UNESCO designated area.
They've also threatened to revoke Lijiang's status multiple times over the years ever since the Chinese installed the bright neon lights on everything but it's never actually happened; I just don't think the UN has the guts to do that to the Chinese government.
20 years in Yunnan with Jim Goodman
Posted byCompletely agree! The Exploration of Yunnan and it's updated version Yunnan South of the Clouds are quintessential resources for those of us who live and work here in Yunnan. Even as a researcher who has been coming here on and off over the past 8 years I never leave home without Goodman's guide and always find his information continually useful.
Just recently I in fact got a review back on an academic paper in which I cited him on the history of missionaries in the northwest and was told his book was an unreliable source by a reviewer, to which I responded to the editors that I completely disagreed. Goodman is by far the best non-academic person publishing on the Southwest; the Peter Hessler of Yunnan! His biography of Joseph Rock available at Mandarin Books is also incredible useful seeing as how the original biography of Rock by S.B. Sutton published in the 70's is now long out of print and incredibly expensive.
Changshui Airport set to debut
Posted byAny info regarding what will happen to the airport booking code for flights? Will it still be KMG who will Changshui get a new code?
Getting away: Haba Snow Mountain
Posted byNice post about a great local mountain climb in Yunnan! A few words of caution though. I have climbed Haba and while it is indeed techically non-technical (pardon the pun), the last section in entirely on the glacier and as noted indeed reaquires somewhat skilled crampon use/walking. Over tha past several years a number of people have indeed died because they were inexperienced walking on ice or possibly didn't know how to self arrest after slipping. As long as you stay on route via a path of bamboo wands, crevasses are not a concern. But having had some expereince walking with crampons and the ability to self arrest is also advised, and many seem to have attempted the climb without taking this into consideration.
I don't seek to scare anyone off from Haba. It's a great climb, but having some prior experience or climbing with someone who does is a really good idea. Having worked as a climbing instructor, safety and experience is always a high priority in my mind. Some of the local guides also don't carry and ice axe, but this is also something that I would recommend.