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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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This isn't a rant. It is said with a little sadness.

This development is good for Kungfu, but perhaps not so good for Buddhism. Anyone who has visited the main Shaolin Temple will have experienced Kung Fu Incorporated. Including the Kung Fu cabaret, Cirque de Soleil rip off, blatant commercialism, and overpricing. The only thing missing are the harlots and moneychangers. Call me cynical, but many Chinese visitors I have spoken to are also saddened and disappointed (with a capital D) by the culture.

Many temples are now attracting money from many sources, and the need for commercialism is not as strong as it used to be. Those temples that have not already died, seem to be more stable than before, many are renovating.

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@ James,
This is sadly the result of unrestrained capitalism.

There is nothing new under the sun. A book was recommended to me, Upton Sinclaire's 'The Jungle' about the meat industry in Chicago in 1905. Not just tainted meat, but other fake foods, tainted milk (sound familiar), exploitation of factory workers (Fox... anyone?), crime, trafficking, drugs, etc.
The jungle was a protest book, and shares common flaws with other protest books, but the parallels with life in modern China are uncanny.

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Ref. shit brew.
That is more to do with the processing, and not so much the bean.
There is a reasonable variety of different 'flavours'/roasts of Arabica beans available. Some of it really good.
Nestle seem to specialise in instant coffee. The top one is Gold Blend which is not very hard to find, probably too dear for local tastes, but a damned sight better than UCC's offerings IMHO.

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.