Forums > Living in Kunming > Foreigner children attend local primary school? Let's bring back another old thread, because time has passed.
Our son is turning 5 this spring, and apparently he gets to enter primary school in autumn next year - at 6 years old due to the cutting date in China being in autumn rather than end of year.
I'm looking for intelligence on what to expect in grades 1-2, primarily about education itself, and specifically reading and writing Chinese language.
This could be issue for us, because wife works weekday evenings and weekends in training school, and let's just say that I'm not qualified to help with Chinese homework.
My wife tells me to not to worry, because the recent crackdown in educations means grades 1-2 get no homework whatsoever, Chinese or otherwise.
Other side of the coin is that the same crackdown bans buying tutoring, should we need that.
I'm looking for recent experiences to confirm these things. Kid is treated as Chinese if that matters, and speaks the language fluently given his age.
Forums > Travel Yunnan > Dinosaur park between Kunming and Chuxiong To backtrack to the original topic, there is a review of the park from 2016 on this site:
www.gokunming.com/[...]
Does anyone know if the park today operates at same level of quality as witnessed in the article, or has it been improved or fallen from that?
To get there, the article recommends taking bus from Kunming West bus station to Lufeng (1h30min) and then small bus to the park (40min), and leave the park before 16:30 to catch last bus to Kunming.
To connect back to the more recent posts, does the high speed train to Dali stop at Lufeng? That would allow for better options to get there from Kunming - maybe even day visit there and get to Dali by evening.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Any place to watch NBA games? China's state broadcaster CCTV has apparently resumed showing select NBA games this month, after couple of years stoppage.
Warriors @ Spurs on CCTV-5 right now. Meanwhile QQ continues to stream most of other games.
Forums > Living in Kunming > COVID 19 vaccine for foreigners I recall by-appointment was mentioned in the first doses too, but neverthless you could just walk in without.
Probably appointment was originally needed for schools or others potentially large groups, and extended to everyone in way that is common bureacracy here - only to be ignored in the end.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Hospital recommendations for giving birth I'm not sure what qualifies as "proper VIP" for you, but I would suggest to settle to any medically qualified maternity hospital that can arrange private room where not only your wife, but also you can sleep the couple of nights prior to delivery if needed - if that's what you want of course.
Paying a visit to the Cool Mountain Yi
Posted byDevelopment brings changes to old rituals as well.
About two years ago I was in a funeral ceremony of a close relative-by-law deep in Changning county in eastern Baoshan prefecture.
The deceased was not really an Yi, but was written off as such in the population records. Rest of the family, as well as most of the villagers, were Yi.
New regulations from authorities state that the deceased may no longer be just buried like they were in past. Instead, they must now always be cremated. I assume this is to save valuable farmland in the mountains, and perhaps for hygiene reasons as well..
Since this cremation is done in a separate facility, it means that the deceased (and his or her left-behind spirit), who previously remained in the family house until buried, have to be taken out of the house for cremation and then returned to the house in a small coffin.
The spirits are known to have some temper, so much care is always put to making them happy.
In that specific village, this was the first case of implementing the new regulations. The ritual specialist had to establish new rituals so the spirit could safely travel outside the house and then return.
Wooden stools were lined in the courtyard, and a line was attached to them to form a kind of bridge, which the spirit could use to leave the household and then return there for further rituals. Firecrackers naturally escorted the way.
This was a variation of a case where somebody would die (accidentally for example) outside of the house. In that case, a similar pathway would be created so the spirit could return to the house for rituals, before usually returning to the mountains where the death occurred.
I was told of a spirit of a man who lives in the nearby mountainside. At that time guns were still allowed, and the poor guy fell to his death when taking a shot at a wild goat or similar animal.
On top of the mountain there are half a dozen shrines for everyone who has died in the mountains. Visitors to the mountain top are expected to kowtow to each of these shrines, or risk wrath of the spirits on their way down.
Sichuan water release devastates parts of northwest Yunnan
Posted byI was going to mention that. Also If there were (even) more dams and associated buffer lakes along the river, then those (unless already full of course) could dampen the impact of this kind of natural disasters further along the stream. But that would be man vs. nature of course, at cost of nature.
Beijing approves massive Changshui International Airport expansion
Posted bySince many Chinese tourists will not stay in Kunming, but head to more touristy places in Yunnan, I'm wondering how many will change plane at Changshui to get to their final destinations, and how many will take subway or other transport downtown and then to other travel nodes - like the high speed train terminal.
I'm thinking that for many the latter option would give a chance to see at least a bit of the provincial capital, and also some countryside from train or bus that they wouldn't catch from air.
Thus the question is, how rest of Kunming's transport system is up to take this expected increase in air passengers.
Bringing classic Shanghai elegance to Kunming
Posted by@Montaigne: The 2pm opening time in end of the advertisement refers to opening time of the original Shanghai location. This ad does not mention opening time of the Kunming location at all, but clicking to the official event calendar entry, it seems to be at 11am.
Study: Air pollution causes loss of intelligence
Posted byI would tend to think, that it is not easy to separate loss of cognitive performance caused directly by air pollution, and loss of same abilities indirectly by otherwise weakened other abilities (ranging from lung performance to worse sleep for example) arising from the same pollution.
Considering the wide range of parameters that may affect ones cognitive performance, it should be no-brainer to conclude that (one way or another) air pollution affects cognitive performance.