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Forums > Travel Yunnan > WWOOFing in China?

Unless shannigans means WFOE.
Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise.

Either that or a dog with a speech impediment.

Or consuming too much food at the Spring Festival dinner.

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Forums > Study > YNU First World $$'s, 2nd Rate Institute

I have to say that I see the problem as much simpler than any political historical thing. I think it is more about the business culture in the particular institution, and aspects of Chinese business culture.

Universities are not businesses. The quality of management in the public sector is often lower. Hierarchical systems do suffer from poor management, group think and resistance to change. Add 'face' to the equation and the office politics get worse. It was also pointed out that nepotism is an issue.
The systems may be poor, but many staff will criticise it. It would not be in their best interest to criticise a system that they have no power to change.
The university I worked at before, in a tier 3 city, was very political. There were things that just would not happen. Anything that would in any way change any admin procedure would never happen. Most Directors had come from the admin stream. Admin held the power. Teaching was secondary. In other universities the power base will be somewhere else. I just learned the system there and worked it as best as I could.

A third element also touched up is expectations. In the west we expect certain levels of service and accountability as a given. Here in China expectations are rising, but they are not yet at US levels.

And again, as said above, TIC.

My two cents.

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Forums > Living in Kunming > Friendly forum

I am new on here, refuge from another forum. Even though its editorial was much improving it has been taken over recently by trolls.

I would just like to thank admin, as well as other goKunming contributors, for the friendly and positive attitude on this forum.

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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.