User profile: michael2015

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Martial arts Kunming

@fabshq
You're welcome. Thanks for the alternative perspective on Krav - I'd only perused a few books on the subject. I was taught martial arts for health and exercise. The first rule of combat is avoid a direct confrontation, if possible - which is in alignment with SunZi et al. If you are forced to engage - be fast, precise, crippling if possible, deadly as the opportunity arises.

The art of surprise is critical in a forced confrontation - also derived from Sunzi et al.

So, depends on one's philosophy and purpose. Since you studied Krav - I assumed you were more interested in the self-defense aspects, with exercise being a secondary benefit.

FYI - All forms of Taiji (that I'm aware of in my very limited world) provide enhanced stance and ultimately balance bases - which will help you significantly in any other style. One way to verify your taiji instructor is an expert or master - check out his/her legs and thighs - they'll look like mini versions of an Arnold Schwarzenegger - hence the comment regarding the focus on stance and balance - both static and transitionary. One of my old buddies was (probably still is) a lifelong practitioner - but denied he was an expert - scrawny little guy - but his legs were like sprung steel. The drawback - he muttered something about finding pants that fit as his thighs were larger than most humans with his waist size, which may explain the loose fitting workout clothes.

Hope you find a great instructor and even more important - great students to commune with. Iron sharpens iron.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Martial arts Kunming

@fabshq
there's a poster named taijijulia who teaches Chen style Taiji. Chen style is more dynamic than the Yang style you see practiced in parks.

There's also a teacher of LoHan (luohan?) style taiji, which is allegedly directly derived from shaolin and is VERY martial. The teacher has a son who has a formal school in some of the major shopping centers (golden eagle?) etc.

Visit the green lake campus of yunda in the mornings around 10am and you'll see the practitioners subtly training.

Definitely not as lethally combat specific as krav - but it's definitely and specifically the combat version of taiji, which maybe more to your liking - although it does NOT stress the high impact sparring and lethality of krav and other harder styles.

For hardcore martial arts practitioners - most add taiji to their retinue as it focuses more on the softer aspects of martial arts - non-crippling, non-lethal (but just as capable) wrist and joint locking, blocking, and non-lethal, non-crippling threat neutralization.

Sometimes - you'll need or want the ability to neutralize without killing or crippling, to make your point.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Is the importance of Guanxi in business in decline

Guanxi or relationship management has many meanings, however in professional project management, relationship management or guanxi guanli is known as Stakeholder Management. Stakeholder Management is prevalent in most professional projects and is usually formally documented and planned during the initial phases of a project, starting with the business case analysis.

I believe the comments here are more related to the abuse of relationships - inserting family, friends, or relationships for positions that they may not be qualified for, thereby potentially introducing external risk to a project or investment, but I don't see this as very different from managing an troublesome or under qualified employee assigned to a project, by upper management for whatever reason. It's just another thing to manage.

Stephen58 - if you'd like to meet, just PM me and we can share information and perspectives on historical and current relationship management in Yunnan.

Most of my relationships in Yunnan are gravitating towards a more professional approach to relationship management, as the rather complicated business climate is slowly evolving, towards professional scientific processes for mitigating risk, reducing or eliminating corruption, and generally getting things done professionally, especially at the higher levels of government and investment organizations.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > My very blonde kids

You guys are really nice - somebody touches your child - I'd be looking might menacing - like I'm one movement away from killing somebody for molesting my child.

In the USA - one ALWAYS has to be alert to personal space in and around children, because of the pervasive and prevalence of child molesters and child murderers.

Before they even get to the physical touch - you should be glaring like you're gonna cut off their hand - a friendly, but menacing glare.

If they're too stupid to take the hint that most animals would instantly recognize - whack their hand or wrist so it hurts.

Or be passive, after all, in China it's most probably innocent harmless fascination with other people's pets.

I enjoyed MengBa's solution - but I don't like touching other people's hair because it may be dirty or contain parasites such as lice.

As they're being friendly - a resounding slap on the back and hearty laughing should do the trick.

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Took the family here to stroll around and there's a LOT of walking. Many of the stores appear closed, but the bar street nestled inside seems quite well populated.

We chose the Japanese restaurant near the entrance (there are many entrances). The food and service was quite acceptable - from the fruit salad, tuna salad, curry pork cutlet, and the ubiquitous California Sush Rolls (you can buy the small size or the large size).

It rained a little while we were there, which helped drench the heat and humidity. When the sun came out - it was HOT.

If you're lucky, you'll occasionally see people (usually women) wearing minority clothing being photographed by professional photographers. There's also a small photographer's store where you can rent various ethnic clothing and have professional pictures taken (maybe the two are related...now that I think about it).

There's also the ubiquitous game centers (shooting galleries etc) for the kids and unaccompanied teenagers.

It seems the most popular venues were the prolific food courts - but that's probably related to it being lunchtime when we visited. The place is clean and plenty of antiqued door fronts (the wood panels) for those photo shoots.

Capping off the visit, one must of course take pictures on the bridges crossing the lily ponds and the landmark temple spire. We didn't make it to the surrounding temples. Maybe next time.

Transportation is everywhere - but make sure you have your mobile phone ride share app working, just in case you hit rush hour.

Again - for now - it seems many vendors were closed - but I'm positive that'll change again as the economy begins to rebound.

Excellent way to spend a half day as opposed to the kids faces glued to their mobile devices...fresh air, good food, plenty of people watching, and walking...walking...walking...

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Took the family here a few days ago. Wonderful place to go walking with lots of snack & drink kiosks (along with chairs and tables) to rest frequently. This zoo is similar to most other large open air zoos with reasonably spacious enclosures. This place is HUGE so be prepared for a LOT of walking. Consider wearing sensible hiking or walking shoes. Your feet will be grateful.

Entrance fees when we went still cny100 for adults and kids cny70. Feeding the animals at the managed venues - cny30 per site...per child. Monkeys can be fed by tossing carrots and sliced apples into their enclosure - which is good. Monkeys famous for flash mobbing. Can be terrifying for kids (and adults). Even in the enclosures, you can clearly see they're territorial and aggressive. Bullying is displayed frequently enough for teaching moments for the kids (cuz there are monkeys in all schools everywhere in the world).

MOST people bring their own food and drink, as the kiosks are quite expensive. Example a cny5 drink outside is cny10 in the zoo, so expect most everything to be twice as expensive. I had a bbq chick drumstick (leg?) for cny25...ouch.

Bring carrots. LOTS of carrots. The zoo has several managed (paid) and unmanaged petting areas for most semi-domesticated animals, such as the Alpacas (seriously cute), deer, giraffes (ok...you can feed the giraffes on an elevated platform, but probably difficult to "pat" the animals. It's kind of spectacular to actually see giraffes face to face - these animals are simply vertigo inducing huge and tall.

The seal show was nice - typical of seal shows everywhere. Seals are kind of like the dogs of the sea. Friendly and ravenous appetites so easily trainable.

Lots of cheap touristy souvenirs to buy the for the kiddies (and relatives kids).

HIGHLY recommend taking the bus tour - they basically zoom around picking up and dropping off customers (they check your e-ticket at every pickup site) at entrances and exits to walking enclosures. They'll drop you off at roughly 15 minute walking sites. NO need to rush and you can grab ANY bus upon emerging from the walking enclosure sites.

Of course, the ultimate attraction always the lion and tiger exhibits at the top of the mountain.

Bring a fan. It gets hot. We were fortunate as the sky was mostly overcast so the temperature was generally cool, but heated up almost instantly whenever the sun peeked out of the clouds.

Bring LOTS of water. Most veteran tourists have their own liter bottles of water. Bring your own umbrella. When the sun comes out - it's HOT. Bring a wide brimmed hat if you're into comfort over vanity. SUNTAN LOTION never goes astray.

Aside from that - typical Chinese group site with everyone rushing the buses and ticket counters. Not so much rushing for the food venues, so seems the elevated prices keep that comfortably in check.

All in all - GREAT place to take the kiddies (or a date if you both know you're into each other - cuz you'll be spending an entire day together). The Outdoor Zoo seems exceptionally well designed with plenty of both managed and unmanaged (eg walking deer along the roadside and the stroll through the peacock "garden").

Easy cab or shared ride out and back. Taxis aplenty when you're ready to leave (just walk past the parking lot gate - they'll be waiting for you). You should consider dining out or delivery at the end of the day.

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Took the kiddies here again.

1. It's FREE.
2. NO knives, lighters, sharp objects, etc. There's a place in front to check bags, luggage (if you're traveling), etc - but the exit is in the rear of the monolithic building, so it's a bit of a hike to walk back around to the checked storage area (it's also FREE).

THIRD FLOOR
We went straight to the third floor - History and artifacts of Yunnan (mostly). Rich history - lots of original sculptures etc removed from grottoes and displayed in the museum. Lots of English language titles and occasionally some explanatory text in English.

SECOND FLOOR
This is the evolution floor with lots of petrified artifacts - sea life mostly, lots of recreations of animals and environments from pre-man times.

There are coffee shops and dining areas on the first floor and drink vending machines on the second and third floors. The place is HUGE so a great place to take the kiddies and walk around until they're tired. They'll probably enjoy the dinosaur exhibit on the second floor the most. Wait a few minutes and the dinosaurs will roar and move their heads and maybe pretend to chew (open and close their maws).

PLENTY of parking and unfortunately NOT close to any subway station, so you'll have to grab a cab or rideshare but seems taxis and transportation are aplenty in the city and surrounding environs.

And...it's FREE for now. Museum closes at 5pm so make sure you leave by 430-445 so you can hike back to the storage area if you checked anything in as they also close at 5pm.

Enjoy!

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This is a great place to walk around and generally kill time while shopping for nothing in particular. Nearby is the Paulaner Brewhouse for super fantastic food, coffee and drinks, outdoor patio dining or just hanging and people watching.

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DATE
2022.01.17

SUMMARY
Just popped in for the annual to biennial visa health check. Cost was CNY 487 - don't forget to bring at least THREE (3) visa pictures and your mask.

As usual, there are TWO health codes to display - the usual kunming/yunnan green QR code and the green "Arrow" code.

ARRIVAL
I went late in the morning, but still managed to shuttle through all the departments and get out before lunch.

I used didi to get there and the map now correctly shows the rear parking entrance as the destination drop-off point. You can also take the subway to a nearby station, and walk walk walk walk walk - it's actually not too far but it will elevate your blood pressure and pulse (BPP) - so make sure to rest 5-10 minutes to allow your BPP to drop back to resting state.

Upon arrival at the main gate, you'll do the usual check-in procedure - mask, sign-in, green QR code, temperature check.

Once inside - Present your passport, green QR code, and green (hopefully) arrow code. Scan the QR codes on your left as you walk in if you don't have these prepared already. The staff will then pass you an application form. Walk over to the wall of stand-up desks to your right, fill out the forms, then stroll over to the clerks to present the form. They'll print out a sheet of bar coded labels for your tests, take your digital picture, attach everything together with a paper clip, then direct you to the cashier to pay CNY 487 (WeChat, alipay, bank card, etc) Don't know if they still accept cash.

HEALTH CHECKS
Hike up the the 2nd or 3rd floor to start the battery of tests:

3rd floor

Chest X-ray

Physical (height, weight, BMI/body mass index)

2nd floor

ECG

Sonogram

Urine test

Blood Test

Eye test (color blindness and eye chart)

Dental

Heart (pulse, blood pressure)

I may have missed a few like the OB GYN...

It seems they also have a COVID/NAT (nucleic acid test) center in a shipping container lab outside the health center - but I didn't bother jogging over to check if it was still operational. In retrospect, should've checked, as the hospitals are jam packed with Chinese New Year travelers.

RESULTS PICKUP
The test results are ready the afternoon of the second day. The facility seems sparsely busy even though they service both foreigners and nationals. There were rarely lines or noticeable waits beyond a few minutes, with at most 1-2 people ahead of you.

Staff are always nice, polite, professional and tirelessly patient for those of us with limited to no communications abilities.