Forums > Living in Kunming > Carrefour Giving Up On China Carrefour is selling and 80% stake, does not necessarily mean that stores will close. Initially stores and staff will be absorbed by the new owner Sunning. For those areas that do not currently have a Sunning presence, t first all that will change will be the name on the door.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Carrefour Giving Up On China Tesco did have a JV in China, but they pulled out several years ago.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Carrefour Giving Up On China Airless holes. I think that sums up a lot of superstores/hypermarkets, in many parts of the world, that are located in a larger multistorey shopping complex. True for Walmart, Homemart, Sunning, Metro, and other places I have visited.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Bike registered - Selling second hand The authorities have been trying to control the ebike market for several years and previous attempts have not been successful. This time I believe it will be successful.
Almost daily I see police with a recovery/flatbed vehicle seizing unregistered machines. There seems to be a clear mandate to get the no longer legal ebikes off of the road.
Like @JanJal, I thing the main issues have been around safety. When I first came to China in 2004 ebikes were small, light, and only did about 20kph. I also believe they were only 12 v.
Now ebikes are bigger and heavier than a gas scooter, 72V and capable of over 60kph, and still no license, insurance, or training is required to ride one.
I have been hit by an ebike once, whilst riding my bicycle, and nearly been wiped out on at least two other occasions by kamikaze ebike riders.
I have seen several ebike crashes caused by riders who do not have proper control of their vehicle (using feet as brakes, slamming on the front bike causing a low-side and dropping the machine, panicking and just freezing as they plow into other vehicles), this is a training issue. Alternative, let the untrained ride smaller and slower machines.
The market needed controlling. Yes there will be some waste, but in the next 4 years some sanity will quickly return to the streets and cycle paths.
The alternatives are to let the 'arms race' (bigger faster ebikes) and carnage continue, or do what other cities have done and ban ebikes and bikes from downtown (more cars would be the pattern, not desirable), or let the old bikes die through natural wastage (bureaucratic and uncontrollable).
Forums > Living in Kunming > Bike registered - Selling second hand It looks like the police are actively trying to phase out the older machines.
Kunming's bike share options: A user guide
Posted byThe economics of junking bikes is a short to medium term gamble..If you are early to the market and can kill competition (like Bluegogo died), you can dominate a market. If you can create a near monopoly and increase the total revenue to more than make up for the initial loss of assets.
The gamble works best when only one player adopts this strategy. Flies in the ointment include:
1. Regulations and fines for dumping.
2. Late entrants taking advantage of your attempts to clear the field, at no cost to themselves. This also negates the advantage you gained at a cost.
3. Late entrants in a strong financial position, when your cash has been depleted.
4. You run out of cash yourself (as happened to Bluegogo).
5. Public perceptions. If your bikes are seen a a pile of junk, they will get treated as such. Personally, I would be much more likely to carelessly discard an Ofo than I would a Mobike. For some users the perception of how cool a bike is, many lead some people away from services that are seen as less cool.
Kunming's bike share options: A user guide
Posted byI see a new player on the block. Hellobike, these are blue and white.
Observing Tomb Sweeping Festival in China
Posted byWiki lists 5 major traditional festivals on solar term. This suggests that there are other minor festivals.. Although Hanshi effectively rolls into Qingming. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calendar#Festivals
Baidu CEO's comments ignite internet privacy discussion in China
Posted by"...If they are able to exchange privacy for convenience or efficiency, they are willing to do so in many cases..."
In my world I did this a long time ago. I realized that I was doing this to some degree when I signed up for my first email account and online shopping. Over the years I have seen my privacy eroded as convenience and efficiency increased. Admittedly I was a little surprised by how far this has gone, and how the data has been used (post Cambridge Analytica revelations), but I knew that I had crossed the Rubicon a long time ago.
Since moving here, I also accept, grudgingly, that I am being surveilled, but to go off grid would inconvenient and inefficient.
As distasteful as the situation given by Robin Li is, I think that he is not that far wrong, in his assessment; note that he does not say it is right, just a fact. As for the the online reaction? nobody likes to be reminded of bad news.
Bureaucratic declaration limits Yunnan countryside fun
Posted byThere probably simple work around, BUT the numbers of people who have been disciplined so far (well over 100 000) and the range of sanctions being handed out means it is not worth the risk.
Some of the stories of government officials having to go out into the villages to sweep the streets suggest that a very tight rein is being used in certain quarters.