Background: For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.
July 21st 2008Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming 22 hours on the train and a few instant noodle-pots later ("Have noodles, will travel" as Karen called it) I arrived in Kunming. I also managed to loose another hat on the train, the 4th one since I s ... 3 photos[full story]
May 15th 2008Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming Ich verbrachte die letzten Tage in Kunming, der Hauptstadt Yunnans. Diese moderne, für chinesische Verhältnisse wohl recht entspannte Großstadt hat Touristen nicht viel zu bieten, aber es ist mir Sich ... [full story]
June 16th 2008Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming From Mohan, on the border with Laos it was an easy bus ride of about 4 hours to Jinghong teh capital city of what is called the Xishuangbanna region of southern Yunnan province.
The name actually com ... 10 photos[full story]
July 13th 2008Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming Saturday was our first real free day. I really took it as an opportunity to catch up on some sleep as well as school work. I took a trip to Walmart to buy a few things and watched a movie in my room. ... [full story]
July 11th 2008Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming So Friday we had class in the morning. That afternoon was to be more relaxing than previous ones. It was raining pretty hard and we had a coffee group discussion scheduled. We met downstairs in the l ... [full story]
July 10th 2008Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming Thursday July 10th was our most intense day so far. Today we were to be downstairs ready to go by 9:00 am for our trip to the Stone Forest, a one and a half hour drive outside of Kunming. The drive wa ... [full story]
July 9th 2008Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming Wednesday morning, class as usual. That afternoon we were to visit the Provincial Museum and the Flower Market. The museum was in some old soviet style building. It was cold and dreary inside. Yet whe ... [full story]
July 14th 2008Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming Tuesday July 8th we had class in the morning. We had a short break in the afternoon and then had a tour of the university campus scheduled. We met at the front gates to the University and were met by ... [full story]
July 14th 2008Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming Monday morning we had class. That afternoon we had a trip scheduled to the Bird and Flower market and to a traditional neighborhood. It was a very nice day, the first full sunny day I have had in Chin ... [full story]
July 6th 2008Asia » China » Yunnan » Kunming Saturday was a free day for us. Unfortunately it was raining all day. We went to bakery to get some breakfast and from there some people went to the movie theater while a few of us went to Walmart to ... [full story]
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