Category Archives: Kunming

The recovering Dian Lake

The recovering Dian Lake, Ai Chi-Han

近20年来,随着滇池周围的经济发展和城市规模的扩大,加重了滇池流域生态环境的压力,导致湖泊严重富营养化,内湖水呈暗黄绿色,含有有机、有害、有毒物质,大量氮、磷、重金属及砷沉积于湖底,形成底质很厚、很肥的淤泥;淤泥中有动植物残体、呈黑色,味极臭。滇池平均深度仅剩4米,不及早期深度10米的一半。

为保护滇池,1988年7月1日起颁布实施的昆明市地方性法规《滇池保护条例》以提升滇池的水质,并减少污染,2013年1月1日政府根据《滇池保护条例》进行修正并重新执行,除了规范污水排放之外,还设立滇池保护专项资金来进行生态补偿,目的不但要减轻滇池的污染状况外,还要回复滇池的天然原貌。

在「城镇化中国UrbThe recovering Dian Lake, Ai Chi-Hanachina」第三次年度大会中,与会成员参观了滇池边从事环保高新技术开发的公司,其净化滇池水质的方式,是以构建滇池蓝藻水华屏障,并剔除蓝藻与水体物理化过滤的净化,剔除的蓝藻通过压滤机压滤脱水,获得含水量为75~80%藻饼,此藻饼可进一步形成无害资源化生产生物有机肥料。而经由蓝藻物理提取的水质净化,可实现劣Ⅴ类水净化后能达到地表Ⅳ类水。

然而,虽然透过水质净化后,滇池的污染程度已有明显改善,但以滇池的污染情况与水质净化的速度来说,昆明市的企业及政府单位仍有很漫长的路途要走。

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Kunming, a dynamic city

Crumbling old Kunming, Goulard SébastienThe city of Kunming has extremely changed and expanded for the last ten years. Very few old buildings have remained. A CBD has emerged in the city-centre and new suburbs have grown up.

Most of the older districts have been redeveloped.  Driving forces to this redevelopment include rural flight, increasing real estate or demand for better living standards.

Yes, Kunming has changed, and some of her old charm has disappeared for ever. But this may be the fate of most dynamic cities.

Sebastien Goulard

Ph.D. in political science (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in social sciences (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in international relations (IRIS, Paris), B.A. (Hons) in international political studies (ESE - Nottingham Trent University)

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Gender wage differences and illicit drug use: findings from Yunnan Province

Elizabeth Monk-Turner, Charlie G. Turner, Xiushi Yang, Huasong Luo (2013), Gender wage differences and illicit drug use: findings from Yunnan Province, China: An International Journal, Volume 11, Number 1, April 2013, p. 113-130.

Abstract

This work compares differences in income between men and women in Yunnan, in 2003. The data collection, conducted by co-authors Yang and Luo, was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The focus is on how illicit drug use shapes gender wage differences. Little research has been conducted which examines how drug use shapes wage differences in China and the existing work that does explore this relationship in the United States yields mixed results. Utilising basic ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression analysis, differences in earnings (log income) were examined, controlling variables for drug use, experience, marital status, educational attainment, Communist Party membership and other background variables. The data provide supporting evidence that current drug users reported higher income compared to others, all else being equal.

Full text of the article avalaible on Project Muse

 

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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Energy consumption and indoor environment in Kunming

Centre de Kunming (Yunnan), Fu Jie .
Hu, Tianchi, Yoshino, Hiroshi (2012), “Analysis on Energy Consumption and Indoor Environment in Kunming, China.” Sustainability 4, no. 10, p. 2574-2585

Abstract

The purposes of this study are to investigate and analyze the actual conditions of the urban residential energy consumption, and hence to ascertain what will be the important factors that influence the annual energy consumption in Kunming, which has a mild climate. The questionnaire surveys reveal building characteristics, housing appliances, household characteristics, indoor thermal environment and aspects of life style, during winter and summer seasons. The questionnaire analyses show that only 5% of the investigated households have air conditioning, and 12% have heating appliances. Most households use solar energy as a water heater energy source because the sunshine hours in Kunming are long. The energy consumption analyses show that the average annual energy consumption of households in Kunming reached 12.2 GJ, and cooking accounted for 5.3 GJ, which is the largest part. Most of the time in summer, the outdoor temperature is lower than living room and bedroom temperatures; thus, natural ventilation is a useful cooling method for households in Kunming. The absolute humidity in summer is about 11 g/kg, while in winter it is about 5 g/kg. The influence factor analyses show that building construction year, water heater type and annual income are important influential factors on annual energy consumption.

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Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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Drought in Yunnan: ecological and water quality factors

Yang, Fangyi and Zhou Jiading (2013). Why has water-rich Yunnan become a drought hotspot? China dialogue, 29 April. (Accessed 23 May 2013). [English version]

杨方义, 周嘉鼎 (2013). 云南为什么缺水?中外对话, 4月 29日. (Accessed 23 May 2013). [中文版本]

Yunnan’s drought continues. During China’s annual parliamentary session in March, the deputy party secretary of the south-west Chinese province, Qiu He, blamed spring floodwaters that flow through Yunnan and on into other countries for the water shortages.
He proposed a system of reservoirs, dams and tanks to store that water, which could then be distributed more evenly over time and between locations. But many complained that Chinese officials were trying to pass their own troubles on to others.
Historically, Yunnan hasn’t been known for suffering droughts. Today, however, it is famous for it.
The winter and spring droughts that started in 2009 continue to plague China’s south-west, harming the region’s vulnerable economy – particularly agriculture and forestry. Cash crops such as sugar cane and coffee have been lost, and the crisis is restricting Yunnan’s economic growth.

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云南继续大旱。2013年3月,云南省委副书记仇和在全国两会期间表示:云南不是没有水,且水资源充沛,但三江春水向南流,多流到国外了。并 建议要大中小水库、坝塘、水窖一起蓄水,提高水资源时间和空间分布不均衡的解决能力。此语引发争议,很多人认为这是一些中国官员“以邻为壑”心态的体现。
历史上,云南绝不是一个以旱灾著称的地方,然而今天它成了中国著名的旱地。

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Related

Watts, Elleka (2013) Water scarcity and social equality in China. China power. A new world order, 23 May 2013. (Accessed 23 May 2013).

 

 

 

Monique Abud

Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine, EHESS, Paris, France

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Fieldwork on pollution in a heavily industrialized Yunnan village

alorawainwrightAnna Lora-Wainwright (2013). The inadequate life: Rural industrial pollution and lay epidemiology in China. The China Quarterly. doi:10.1017/S0305741013000349.

Based on fieldwork in a heavily industrialized Yunnan village, this article examines how villagers understand and respond to pollution-related health risks. Building on Robert Weller’s (2006) concept of environmental consciousness, it shows that Baocun villagers have developed an acute environmental health consciousness. However, despite earlier instances of collective activism, they no longer act as a community to oppose the harm to their bodies caused by pollution. The article investigates the role of uncertainty surrounding illness causation in deterring action. It argues that uncertainty about pollution’s effects on health is reinforced by the social, political and economic contexts and developments in the past few decades. As a result, villagers engage in a form of “lay epidemiology” to make sense of the effects of pollution on their health, but not in a “popular epidemiology” consisting of collective action against presumed health damages. The article concludes with some thoughts on how locals act within and despite uncertainty.

 Anna Lora-Wainwright research

Anna’s work embodies a particular synergy between human geography and the study of China and focuses on environmental pollution, development and health in the Chinese countryside. She is a keen supporter of long-term ethnographic field research and since 2004 she has carried out a total of 18 months of fieldwork in Southwest China (Sichuan province and more recently Yunnan). Her work is concerned with unpacking the naturalisation of perceptions of health and pollution, how they are produced and their political economic overtones (for instance how dependence on a nearby factory might make pollution acceptable). This offers a new type of bottom-up political ecology, which does not assume local communities are passive and isolated victims of development and capitalist oppression, nor that they are inherently ‘nature-friendly’ but focuses on the agency of farmers or workers in polluting industries, potential conflicts of interests and attitudes to ‘clean nature’ versus ‘pollution’. More information

Recent academic Journal Papers

 

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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An ethnographic eye on Kunming

Li Zhang (2011), In search of paradise. Middle-class living in a Chinese metropolis, Cornell University Press.,This book is also available as an ebook from Amazon/Kindle and Kobo.

  • Winner, 2012 Robert E. Park Award for Best Book (American Sociological Association’s Community and Urban Sociology Section)
  • Winner, 2011 Francis L. K. Hsu Book Prize (Society for East Asian Anthropology)

A new revolution in homeownership and living has been sweeping the booming cities of China. This time the main actors on the social stage are not peasants, migrants, or working-class proletariats but middle-class professionals and entrepreneurs in search of a private paradise in a society now dominated by consumerism. No longer seeking happiness and fulfillment through collective sacrifice and socialist ideals, they hope to find material comfort and social distinction in newly constructed gated communities. This quest for the good life is profoundly transforming the physical and social landscapes of urban China.

Li Zhang, who is from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, turns a keen ethnographic eye on her hometown. She combines her analysis of larger political and social issues with fine-grained details about the profound spatial, cultural, and political effects of the shift in the way Chinese urban residents live their lives and think about themselves. In Search of Paradise is a deeply informed account of how the rise of private homeownership is reconfiguring urban space, class subjects, gender selfhood, and ways of life in the reform era.

New, seemingly individualistic lifestyles mark a dramatic move away from yearning for a social utopia under Maoist socialism. Yet the privatization of property and urban living have engendered a simultaneous movement of public engagement among homeowners as they confront the encroaching power of the developers. This double movement of privatized living and public sphere activism, Zhang finds, is a distinctive feature of the cultural politics of the middle classes in contemporary China. Theoretically sophisticated and highly accessible, Zhang’s account will appeal not only to those interested in China but also to anyone interested in spatial politics, middle-class culture, and postsocialist governing in a globalizing world.

Reviews of  In Search of Paradise: Middle-Class Living in a Chinese Metropolis  in JSTOR

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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New metro opens in Kunming

Subway opens in SW China’s Kunming

KUNMING, May 20 (Xinhua) — A subway line opened Monday in Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, the first to be built in the area.

The 22-km-long line will eventually act as an overlapping section for two planned subway lines, a manager from subway operator Kunming Subway Co., Ltd. said.

The subway’s trains will run at an average speed of 39.3 km per hour, taking 34 minutes for each one-way trip, the manager said.

Construction on the line started in April 2010. It went into trial operation on April 9 this year.

A continued infrastructure boom

Dozens of cities are building a metro system. Some do not need it

NOT many global cities of nearly 9m people lack an underground line, but until the end of last year the eastern city of Hangzhou was one of them. Now city slickers and rural migrants squeeze together inside shiny new carriages, checking their smartphones and reading free newspapers like commuters the world over. There is standing-room only in the rush hour and, with tickets at less than a dollar, the metro is revolutionising the way people travel across town.

Two other Chinese cities—Suzhou and Kunming—have also opened their first underground lines in the past year, and the north-eastern city of Harbin is preparing to open one too. Four more cities have just added a new line to their existing systems. At least seven others have begun building their first lines.

Read the full text of the article

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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The long way to Kunming

Southeast Asian architecture in Kunming

As Ai Chi-han explained two weeks ago, Kunming plans to become a regional hub, increasing its connections with Southeast Asian countries. The fulfilment of Kunming’s ambitions depends on the development of transport infrastructures between China and its southern neighbours.

In the past, Kunming played a major role in relations with Southeast Asia, thanks to the Burma Road, for example, or the Kunming-Haiphong railway. After WW2, exchanges between Yunnan and Southeast Asian decreased – mostly due to the Cold War – and Kunming became a dead end.

Since the 90’s, new projects have been drafted to improve transportation between these two regions, by means of highways, a railroad and travel on the Mekong.  The Greater Mekong sub-region, created in 1992, illustrates this trend.

However, the execution of these projects has been very slow and random. Of course, the authorities of Kunming support most initiatives that are likely to transform their city into a regional hub, but they have to face resistance from their neighbours and need to adapt to the international context.

Several factors threaten Kunming’s ambitions.

  • Kunming’s plan to become a regional hub depends on Chinese diplomacy. The province of Yunnan is not able to make direct deals with its southern neighbours without Beijing’s approval.  Cross border projects are the results of international agreements, and these can be lengthy to conclude. For example, it took three years for India and China to negotiate the possible construction of a road from Kunming to Kolkata1
  • Southeast Asian countries may also consider increasing traffic and exchanges with their northern giant a threat. China needs to reaffirm that all parties will benefit from more exchanges.
  • The new transport infrastructures connecting Yunnan to Southeast Asia need to be efficient and competitive. Several studies show that these in-land routes are still more expensive and less reliable than sea transportation2.
  • Administrative regulations need to be reduced to encourage cross-border trade.
  • The recent political change in Myanmar may also affect Kunming’s regional leadership. In the past, Myanmar proved to be a reliable partner for China. It is possible that political instability and growing ethnic conflicts may delay China-Myanmar projects. However, Myanmar’s opening is going to increase the level of exchange, and thus more goods will be carried between Myanmar and Yunnan.

Kunming will certainly benefit from the creation of new transport infrastructures to Southeast Asia, but these routes will lead nowhere without strong political support from both the Chinese and the Southeast Asian governments. More cooperation (perhaps modelled on the European Union) is needed to boost Kunming’s southern trade.

  1. Saibal Dasgupta (2012, 27 November). Road from Kolkata to Kunming? Times of India. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-11-27/india/35387026_1_stilwell-road-trade-route-yunnan  []
  2. Thiengburanathum P., Banomyong R., . Sopadang A. The impacts of Kunming-Bangkok expressway: logistics channel analysis []

Sebastien Goulard

Ph.D. in political science (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in social sciences (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in international relations (IRIS, Paris), B.A. (Hons) in international political studies (ESE - Nottingham Trent University)

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Kunming citizens demonstrate for a clean environment

Rob Schmitz (2013, May 16), “Chinese protesters oppose petrochemical plant in Kunming”,  Marketplace.

Today, hundreds of protesters shut down traffic in the Chinese city of Kunming to dramatize their opposition to a proposed petrochemical plant. It’s the latest in a series of ‘not in my backyard’ or NIMBY protests in recent weeks throughout that country.

So why are we seeing more of these environmental protests now?

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Hundreds join second protest in Kunming over oil refinery (2013, May 17), South China Morning Post.
 

Hundreds defied police orders and took to the streets of Yunnan’s provincial capital Kunming yesterday to protest against an oil refinery project.

Ignoring warnings that any gathering would be illegal, they started congregating near the provincial government headquarters at about 10am despite a heavy police presence.

They dispersed only after the city’s mayor talked to them.

At least one demonstrator was briefly detained when he unfolded a banner, witnesses said.

It was the second demonstration in Kunming about the controversial project this month, after more than 1,000 protesters took part in a rally on May 4.

Full version

 

Sebastien Goulard

Ph.D. in political science (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in social sciences (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in international relations (IRIS, Paris), B.A. (Hons) in international political studies (ESE - Nottingham Trent University)

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After work or study abroad: Chinese return migration and Kunming’s ‘Jia Xiang Bao’ – hometown babies

Seth E. Werner (January 2012), After work or study abroad: Chinese return migration and Kunming’s ‘Jia Xiang Bao’ – hometown babies. University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. vii, 163 p.Full text available on University of Minnesota digitalconservancy: http://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/120985

Abstract

The process of migration has long been framed as a unidirectional process comprised of arrival, settlement, citizenship and assimilation motivated by economic necessities. This dissertation moves beyond these limited views and utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to explore the process of return migration of Chinese nationals to Kunming, China. By utilizing in-depth interviews and observation to explore the motivations of a specific group of returnees to Kunming, a rapidly changing city in China’s developing western region, this study has identified three insights that can contribute to a better understating of the return migration process. The first two key findings – jia xiang bao `hometown babies’ and the desire to be a `big fish in a little sea’ – can motivate future policy decisions that seek to attract returnees. The third, unexpected finding – xiao xiong xin or `little ambition’ of younger generations – acknowledges the perceived heterogeneity among returnees. Further research and policy efforts that recognize heterogeneity by age group and other potentially important but, as yet unstudied factors will be able to develop a more nuanced understanding of the ever larger and inevitably more diverse returnee population.

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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Journalism culture in Kunming

Liu, Zhaoxi (2012). “Journalism culture in Kunming: market competition, political constraint, and new technology in a Chinese metropolis.” PhD (Doctor of Philosophy), University of Iowa,  viii, 203 p.  Full text of the thesis available on Iowa Research Online: http://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/3492.

Abstract

This study explores the occupational culture of journalism in a Southwestern China metropolis, Kunming, answering the questions of what and how journalists there give meaning to their work through analyzing the substance and form of the journalism culture. Over three months of fieldwork in four different local newspapers revealed a gap between the meanings these journalists aspire and the meanings they can materialize through practice, due to political and economic constraints. As a result, the journalists felt conflicted and deeply frustrated but at the same time tried to push the boundaries in different ways, including active use of digital technology and social media. The study also found that the journalism culture was intrinsically intertwined with the social, cultural and global environment within which it resided, as social conflict, widespread mistrust and global influences played important roles in shaping the meanings the journalists gave to their work. The journalism culture was also one of contradictions and uncertainties, still in the making and changing at a rapid pace. It is a journalism culture of a particular transitional era and place, with Chinese characteristics.

Jacqueline Nivard

Jacqueline Nivard, Centre d'études sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine

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Kunming, an allied base during WW2

Kunming played a major role during WW2. Before Japanese  invaded British Burma, the capital city of Yunnan was the terminus of the “Burma Road” that was used by the UK to supply Chinese Nationalist forces. After the fall of Burma to the Japanese, the Allied continued to supply Kunming by air. Wujiaba, the former airport of Kunming1, became a base of American and Chinese air forces, including the “Flying Tigers”, and American volunteer group.

To know more about the strategic role of Kunming during this tragic episode, please have a look to Franklin Evans’ 600 Days in Kunming China, 1944-45 ((Evans F. B. (2005), 600 Days in Kunming China, 1944-45. AuthorHouse, Bloomington)). The author tells us his personal story as US soldier in Kunming.
  1. Last year, this airport was replaced by the new Kunming Changshui international airport. []

Sebastien Goulard

Ph.D. in political science (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in social sciences (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in international relations (IRIS, Paris), B.A. (Hons) in international political studies (ESE - Nottingham Trent University)

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Dian Lake – Recovering a sparkling pearl embedded in a highland

Dianchi-Kunming, Hu Ying
Dian Lake, also known as Kunming Lake, is the largest freshwater lake in Yunnan Province. Dian Lake is located south of Kunming city, 5 kilometers from the city centre. Because of its magnificent scenery, Dian Lake has always been a popular holiday resort. It is an important asset not only for tourism, but is also for econmic activities such as shipping, fishing, irrigation, water provision, etc. In 1988, Dian Lake was awarded a status as one of the National Scenic Areas by the State Council1. However, tourism has not always been a blessing for Dian Lake. Since 1980, as a result of rapid urbanisation in China, water pollution in Dian Lake has been progressively increasing2.

The reasons for the deterioration of the water quality include the following:

  • As Dian Lake has aged, it has evolved to become a semi-enclosed lake, and its rate of flow has slowed down. This has caused a large quantity of pollutants to be deposited at the bottom of the lake.
  • Discharges from domestic and industrial sewage are the second reason. Studies show that domestic sewage has been the main source of pollution in recent years. The urbanized area of Kunming accounts for 5% of the drainage area of Dian Lake, but its output of pollutants amount to more than 50% of the pollution in the lake. The main sources of pollution are the fast growing  population and the increasing number of factories3.
  • The overdevelopment of coastal Dian Lake is the third reason. Tourism and industrial activities, as well as the daily activities of Kunming citizens, have seriously effected the Dian Lake ecosystem.  As a result of the exploitation of land resources, Dian Lake has lost its natural defenses; it therefore cannot fight against pollution from domestic wastewater, and other types of pollution.

In order to preserve the environment of Dian Lake, the Kunming city government enstated the “Dian Lake Protection Act” in 1998. The objective was to improve water quality and reduce pollution. This act was modified and re-enstated in 20134. According to the new terms, the government regulates the sewage discharge and also is responsible for setting up a special fund to administer the ecological compensation. The purpose is not only to reduce water pollution in Dian Lake, but also to restore its original natural appearance.

Water pollution is the accumulated damage to water resources over many decades. Generally, it takes at least 10 to 20 years for environmental management to show significant results. In addition, there is no precedent in history of a lake that is being polluted fully recovering. This means that  the management of lake water pollution is a difficult and complex project requiring a long period of time to be completed; it indicates that Kunming Dian Lake still has a long way to go.

 

  1. Dianchi jianjie 滇池简介, http://special.yunnan.cn/feature3/html/2011-05/23/content_1627042.htm, Retrieved May 6, 2013 []
  2. Ma Wei et al. (2007) Investigation on countermeasures for water environment management and water pollution prevention in Dianchi Lake, Journal of China institute of water resources and hydropower research. Vol. 5(1), pp. 8-14. []
  3. Wang Yuchao, Peng Yongan, Li Yimin (2004), The Characteristic of water pollution and engineering-oriented prevention on Dianchi, Areal research and development, Vol 23(1). pp88-91. []
  4. Guowuyuan guanyu dianchi liuyu shui wuran fangzhi “jiuwu” jihua ji 2010 nian guihua de pifu 国务院关于滇池流域水污染防治“九五”计划及2010年规划的批复, http://www.hflib.gov.cn/law/law/falvfagui2/JJF/FLFG/NL%20ZRZY%20HJBH/1160.htm, Retrieved May 6, 2013 []

Chi-Han Ai

Ph.D. candidate of EHESS ( École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris) focusing on regional economic development in China and Taiwan.

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Smoking in Kunming

Small shop selling tobacco in KunmingEach week, the UrbaChina team introduces a new aspect of Kunming, the capital city of the province of Yunnan where the third UrbaChina conference will be held on June 3-5.

China is the largest consumer of tobacco in the world1. It is also the number 1 country for tobacco production. Most of China’s tobacco is produced in the southern provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou.

It could be said that the province of Yunnan is tobacco-dependent in terms of employment and tax revenues. In some rural districts such as Dehong2, the introduction of tobacco crops has helped villagers to increase their income. Furthermore, taxes on tobacco make up the largest portion of Yunnan’s fiscal resources3. As was explained in an article published in the Economist4, the city of Yuxi, near Kunming, is home to the Hongta group, producers of one the most successful cigarette brands in China. This company has heavily invested in the province, building hotels and financing schools. Connections between the provincial authorities and the tobacco industry are very strong in Yunnan.

This is also the case at the national level. In fact, “China Tobacco”, the parent company of Hongta, is a government-owned corporation, and is the only cigarette producer in China. This industry generates high revenues for the government5. However, the new Chinese educated middle class have expressed concern about smoking hazards. Under public pressure, some restrictive policies have been implemented. Since January 2011, smoking has been banned from indoor public spaces at the national level. This policy seems to be enforced in leading cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, but this is not always the case in other places6.

In Kunming, the authorities have only reluctantly put up anti-smoking billboards and law-enforcement still remains weak. However, as shown in a research paper published in 2009 (Li et al, 2010), even in Kunming there is growing concern about tobacco consumption. The authors of this study argued that educated urban dwellers were the most likely to support the smoking ban. They also noticed that many Chinese were still unaware of the ill effects of smoking for health.

If the smoking ban is not very effective in Chinese cities, this is bcause of the interests involved in relations between the state and the tobacco industry, as well as the lack of information on health issues caused by smoking.

Clearly, the Chinese provincial authorities should not repeat the mistakes made in the USA or in Europe and should try to think ahead and start to plan the aftermath of tobacco. Even if it is true that there is a demand for tobacco in China right now, it is certain that this will no longer be the case in the near future as the members of the new urban generation become more and more concerned about their health. Furthermore, local governments, including the Kunming authorities, need to understand that tobacco may not be the goose that laid the golden egg after all, as more costly cancer treatments will be needed. Revenues from tobacco should be invested in planning the transition to a tobacco-free Yunnan.

  1. Li Q., Hsia J., and Yang G. (2011) Prevalence of smoking in China in 2010. The New England Journal of Medecine []
  2. Dehong: The Land Fertile with Winter Crops (2012, November) Dehong Gov,http://www.dehong.gov.cn/en/dehong/2012/1120/en-75852.html. Retrieved May 4, 2013 []
  3. Lan X. (2010, January 26), Tobacco Dilemma,  The Beijing Review, http://www.bjreview.com.cn/business/txt/2010-01/26/content_242242.htm . Retrieved May 4, 2013 []
  4. Yunnan’s tobacco boom: Poisonous gift (January 28, 2012). The Economist, http://www.economist.com/node/21543594 Retrieved May 4, 2013 []
  5. In 2011, tobacco revenue represented about $90 billion. China leader’s job at odds with tobacco ties, Brookings says China Leader’s Job at Odds With Tobacco Ties, Brookings Says (2012, October 25), Bloomberg, Retrieved May 4, 2013 []
  6. Despite ban, smoking is rampant in Internet bars (2012 March 6), China Daily, http://en.kunming.cn/index/content/2012-03/06/content_2865830.htm. Retrieved May 4, 2013 []

Sebastien Goulard

Ph.D. in political science (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in social sciences (EHESS, Paris); M.A. in international relations (IRIS, Paris), B.A. (Hons) in international political studies (ESE - Nottingham Trent University)

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