My son's kindergarten is going to resume in Monday, and they asked for 48h test results from everyone in the household by Monday morning.
Possibly related to this, today I heard a central free testing facility in our neighborhood had run out of swabs by 4pm, and had to stop taking tests for the day because of that.
@AlPage48: "hate the way the word "free" is used in the context of health care"
Even if it's all provided by the state's tax revenues, someone does pay indeed.
But compared to many other countries, in China the state and local governments get revenue from many other sources than direct taxation of individuals.
Lot of people (in particular in cities like Kunming and lower) do not earn enough to ever pay income tax, even if full-time employed. What you earn you keep, and what you spend is your choice.
It makes it appear less like you are paying for someone else's health care when you finance the system by buying an apartment, cigarettes, train ticket, or whatever.
I'm not sure sure if you interpreted my previous post as I intended, but to continue on the HOD theme, my point was for the underlings to do as the King judges best, so the King may observe possible errors in his own judgement and improve on that in future.
So as to avoid giving false impression of (for example) businesses surviving despite the restrictions, just because the restrictions are not actually followed that much.
Varying enforcement and miscommunications could be primary reason for some debatably tough policies (and not just about CoVid) in China.
If government decisions would be followed more accurately, perhaps said government could better observe side-effects of hazardous policies, and avoid formulating such in future.
From this perspective I think that reporting (for what it's worth on forums like this) what really happens on the ground is beneficial in bigger picture - even if it could land some businesses in trouble.
In our vicinity there are places where you can still get the test for free, and other newer ones have been popping up where it is the 16ish RMB with shorter lines. I take this as government acknowledging that the testing burden is too much without buying extra services, hence the fees.
I get that these restrictions are for all of China, but so are my arguments above to try to understand them.
Personally I am against the restrictions despite the (debatable) life saving reasoning behind them.
I would quote a medical professional from Finland at early stages of the pandemic, who tried tor rationalize the acceptability of old people simply dying away. He phrased it along the lines of "old people don't die because they stop eating, they stop eating because they are dying".
About the elderly and other vulnerable groups, I can only assume that the very purpose of these restrictions is to get them stay at home. Getting around is problematic, but that's probably the point of this exercise.
I dare to speculate that the number of those missing important hospital visits or other other life-critical appointments is small relative to those that might get seriously (deadly) ill from getting the virus from going to shopping centers, dancing, or picking up grandchildren, if that was easy.
Notable also that at least in some locales elderly are/were not allowed to get vaccinated at local clinics, and are still missing vaccinations completely.
Development 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.
I 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.
Since 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.
@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.
I 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.
Reviews
No reviews yet
Cookie Preferences
Please select which types of cookies you are willing to accept:
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.