For sure there is a difference between Yunnan Red and Shangri-La Red, but the French grapes the OP was asking about are almost indeed certainly those grown in Northwest Yunnan in Cizhong in the same general area where Shangri-La Red Wine grapes are grown. I may be mistaken, but I have also never seen any white wine grapes (i.e. Chardonnay) grown anywhere in Deqin up north. The wine company itself is indeed called the Shangri-La Red Wine company, so I'm still not sure what whites you are referencing. I have yet to observe a single village throughout Deqin that grows green grapes for whites.

I study this topic extensively as part of my PhD in anthropology and have spent significant time in Northwest Yunnan where the grapes are grown. The original Rose Honey strain introduced by the French can indeed be found in Cizhong at the Church and in the homes of a few villagers who grow it, specifically the owner of the Rose Honey Guest house who grows only Rose Honey. All of the other grapes grown in the region and in most Cizhong homes are a Cabernet (not chardonnay) as Liuer mentioned that have been introduced by the government for sales to the Shangri-La Red Wine company and others. You can read more about this in my interview with GoKunming here: www.gokunming.com/[...]

The grapes found in one of the church yards at Cizhong are indeed the actual original vines planted by the French missionaries, though they are kept in a locked walled off area for which only the township government holds the key.

Whenever I've been in Kunming long term I've always liked the Hong Shan area for actually living much better than Wen Lin Jie even though I spend a lot of time down there. As you mentioned it is only a 20 minute walk and when I was commuting to Yunda this provided nice daily exercise. Hong Shan is much quieter, many of the complexes have nice new apartments, and there are indeed plenty of restaurants and services nearby including Slice of Heaven which provides good coffee and food if you are in need of a western food break and don't want to head down to the Wen Hua Xiang area. There are also two large markets (one on Hong Shan Nan Lu) for buying produce, two banks including ICBC at the end of the road, and a variety of other services. Next year when I move back for a year or longer my soon to be wife and I are definitely planning to live in this area based upon what is available there and also the low level of noise.

+1, they deserve everyone's faith and support for all they do as a wonderful gathering place and for what they give back to the people of Yunnan. I'm away from Kunming in Chiang Mai for a week and just curious though, has business at Sal's actually decreased that dramatically over the past two days since the incident?

If you are on an (F) business visa and you will only be taking classes for six months or less you don't have to change it. This type of visa is multi-purpose and is used for short term studies under six months. I recently took Chinese classes at Yunda with the (F) visa I had already obtained and they had no problem with it and didn't require me to change it.