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Forums > Living in Kunming > Chinese family wants do adopt my son

ALARM BELLS are now RINGING for me.
You have given a number of facts that can be re-ordered and create red flags.
Let me just pick on two.

- Your wife wants a divorce.

- Your wife's family wants adoption (custody) of the baby.

I guess these could happen in reverse order.
I am not saying this is the case, but keep it in mind.

I have a Canadian friend in Shanghai. His wife's family openly said (their bigoted opinion not mine) that a Chinese only marries a foreigner for two things. Big money job or green card, and he had provided neither (he teaches). As such the daughter needed to choose between him and her family.

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Forums > Food & Drink > peanut butter?

Not sure what you mean by 'icing sugar stuff'.

I find 'Skippy' OK. Ingredients listed as Peanuts, white sugar and salt. But it does not taste sweet. I have a salt tooth.
Available in most supermarkets.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Chinese family wants do adopt my son

This sounds like normal Chinese family to me. Grandparents raise the kids so you can maximise your career. While you are still young enough.
Over a lifetime and extra promotion can give a lot more security.
Remember there are no welfare services like back in Europe.
Chinese often leave the kids back in the village while mum and dad go and work in the city, maybe getting home for spring festival, if they are lucky.

It might sound crazy, in fact it probably is. There is a problem with the mental health of many of the kids left behind. This is of concern to the Chinese government and has been reported in the media.

Crazy? Yes.
Wise? Perhaps not.
Normal? TIC

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Western groceries in Kunming

I am looking for places that stock UK/USA/EU foods.

I have been to Metro and was disappointed. And I have tried a few Carrefour and they pretty much as I expected.

I think I must have been spoilt in the tier 3 city I have just come from.

Are there any little hidden gems in Kunming?
Or is any one Carrefour better than the others?

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I don't think the courts are uneducated. I think more cynically. The amount owed is $14k. I bet the owners are still driving flash cars and own several properties. The company may not have assets to pay, but I bet the owners do.

I have just come back from a quick trip around that area, and spent one afternoon and night in Dali. Dali has found a new identity.

I have visited Dali several times over the years, and like many people on here was disappointed with what I saw. The slow commercialisation of Dali, leading to a schizophrenic (not one thing, not another) mess.

On my recent visit, the street vendors had gone the really low end food places had mostly gone. The city was busy, and for a mid-week just before CNY that was surprising. It was not a frantic busy, everything was moving smoothly and working well. Even noise seemed to be down, and I found it a lot less stressful.

There is a sort of gentrification among traders. There are more upmarket shops. There are many more shaokao (national trend) and most of these are chains, rather than small independents. Many of the small family food places have redecorated and are not the old dim and dismal places that they used to be. The commercial development has also spread into other streets.

Dali is not the Dali of old, but it has found a new identity. This new identity may not be to everybody's taste, but I found the city a much nicer place to stay, than I did 3 years ago.

@Janjal, your argument contains many assumptions and additional requirements (story tellers etc). If we cannot provide the additional resources your suggested strategy would require and you cannot get China's rural poor to demand answers; again we have a moot point.
Comparing EU farmers, who are business owners who learn to work the system for profit with the rural poor, Is perhaps a case of chalk and cheese.

Of course material wealth is not the only measure, but it affects many other measures, and is a predominant feature in a capitalist system.

Perhaps it is human nature to want more than we have now, in capitalism this includes having more than the guy next to us. If we have more now than we had before, there is likely to be a sense of achievement/progress/increased security/satisfaction/happiness in that fact alone,. It is also a very simple qualitative measure for almost anyone.

Q. Do I have more than last year. A. Yes/no. If yes, has my relative position compared to my neighbors also improved? Am I content/happy with this?
In reality the questions are not even asked, they are not even out there, but they are part of the zeit geist. In cities with stronger economic growth the answers to the questions are going to be yes for more people. Chengdu is such a place. It is only when the personal costs of achieving this wealth are perceived to outweigh the advantages of the new wealth that people start to question it, but that comes later.

Reviews

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A reasonable choice of lumber that has improved over time. Fancy hardwoods like walnut, and mahogany are in abundance. There are some plywood and rubber-wood boards available. There are also some kiln dried imported softwoods and merbao available. Some of the lumber is very green, so look for the kiln dried if you need stable timbers.

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Echo everything said by others.
Breakfast great and the serve from 8am. Most other places say 9am and they still are not ready.
Sandwiches are cheap 22-32, and really packed full of filling. We got some sandwiches for a day out, the only mistake I made was ordering two, as this was too much. These are seriously good sangars, and they are wrapped in alu foil.

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In fairness to Metro, they are a wholesalers, and not really a supermarket. Hence the need for a card, which can be got around.

They have improved in the year I have been away. They now carry a more consistent range of imported foodstuffs and they also seem to have sorted out the mported milk supply.

They have a wider range of electrical appliances now, there is a coice of more than one toast. There is also a better range of seasonal non foods, like clothes, shoes, garden furniture and camping gear.