It's beginning to look like China's animal parks are subtly attempting to lead the way in liberalizing attitudes towards nontraditional relationships in the motherland. Not two months after Harbin allowed two gay penguin parents to adopt, now the Yunnan Wild Animal Park is promoting interracial marriage! To celebrate the love between "Long Hair" (长毛) the ram and "Junko" (纯子) the deer, they will hold a wedding ceremony on Valentine's Day next week. more ›

A male sheep and female deer who have apparently fallen in love at the Yunnan Zoo have become the latest internet stars after a series of pictures posted by the zoo on Sina Weibo went viral. more ›

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At least 23 coal miners remain trapped beneath the surface at the Sizhuang Coal Mine in Yunnan province's city of Qujing due to a gas eruption at around 6:30 a.m on Thursday that killed 20. Local rescue operations are currently underway but are marred by a hazardous gas leak. more ›

Yuck! Would you look at that?! Sorry to put this set of pictures up during lunchtime, but we just had to show you this. Last Friday, Kunming police busted into an illegal "swill oil" processing factory which is said to process up to 1 ton of swill oil per day. The "processed" swill oil was sold for RMB7.30 per kilo, and from records discovered by the police, this factory sold close to 50 tons of swill oil between June and August alone, and made over RMB300,000. more ›

Is haranguing your girlfriend on street corners and subway stations not good enough anymore? Aren't the glances of passersby witnessing your romantic psychodrama sufficient? more ›

"As a university chancellor, even when you're right, other professors may say you're wrong, because the truth is relative. As a mayor, even when you're wrong, they may say you're right, because the power is absolute." more ›

Take a look at the Silver Award winner in the Arts and Culture group from the 7th annual China International Press Photo Contest (CIPPC) that took place in Jiangsu last week. Not to be confused with the World Press Photo awards, the CIPPC is organized by the China Photo Journalism Society and this year included 38,000 photographs taken by 3,300 photographers from 70 countries and regions. This set gives us a peek at Christianity in Yunnan, where the religion has been practised since the 19th century, even among the ethnic minorities. more ›

After receiving an unsatisfying ruling about a traffic violation, this man, surname Zhou, strapped 1 kg of explosives to his body and planted himself outside the High Court in Kunming, Yunnan. Armed with an electronic detonator, he threatened to blow himself up at any minute. Police cordoned off 100 meters around the entrance, and had to expand that area to 200 meters after a large crowd of observers gathered. After a little over an hour, negotiators managed to persuade the man to give up the explosives. more ›

Take a look at an ancient fire festival held by the Yi ethnic minority down in Yunnan Province. Handed down over a thousand years, every year on the third day of the second lunar month, these people make fire sacrifices to their ancestors for health and luck (and probably a few photo ops for tourists.) more ›

Chen Guangbiao's at it again down in Yingjiang, Yunnan! After pictures of his shamelessly showy relief efforts in Japan earlier this week, it's hard to believe he could top himself already, but the man has done it! Sure, he's not pulling anybody from the rubble this time, but he's doling out stacks of cash like a rock star to earthquake survivors in Yunnan. more ›

An earthquake that struck Yingjiang, a county of Yunnan province near the Myanmar border, at 1pm yesterday has killed at least 25 people and injured 250, according to official reports. More than 127,000 people have been evacuated after over 1,000 homes were toppled and another 17,000 damaged. Seven aftershocks so far have followed the quake, and experts still have not determined whether another more serious earthquake could follow. The county has seen repeated tremors over the past few months. The provincial government has sent 9,700 tents, 15,000 quilts, clothes and other relief materials to the victims and evacuees. Many were, and mostly likely still remain, trapped in the rubble, and over 1,000 soldiers have been deployed in a joint rescue operation. more ›

At 5am on Monday morning a forest fire broke out 30 km away from historically-preserved Lijiang in Yunnan province, sparking worries that the popular tourism destination could be in danger. A force of 400 fire prevention workers and two helicopters moved in to control the blaze, but high winds on Monday postponed containment efforts. Thanks to the hard work of many, by early this afternoon the fire had been effectively put out! Special thanks also to this Sina microblogger, who supplied us (and most of the Chinese media!) with updates and photos of fire. Causes of the fire are still under investigation. more ›

As if China’s hormonal and horny students haven’t got enough to contend with. With universities getting all up in their "are you or aren't you a mistress" business and some high schools already patrolling the halls for kissing couples, now "God" has gotten in the way of them even learning about doing it... at least in Yunnan. more ›

Sublime piece of work by Abram Hodgens made with 26,000 images taken over two months travelling across Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunnan and Sichuan. This video will make you want to drop everything, pack your bags and go on a roadtrip: more ›

NetEase tells us of the most creative and harmonious protest we have ever seen in all our years here:

April 22 -- This afternoon, Wu Hao (伍皓), the deputy director of the Yunnan Propaganda Bureau arrived at the live recording studio of the Renmin University to give a lecture. At 2pm, after the host of the event gave the audience an introduction of Wu Hao, Wu stepped on stage and proceeded to start with his presentation. But he had barely started with his lecture when a 25 year old youth went on stage, and threw a stack of 50 cent bills at him, shouting, "Wu Hao! Wu mao!" [Editor's note: Wu mao means 50 cents in Chinese]. Later in the day, a Chengdu journalist managed to get in touch with the young protestor, a Wang Zhongxia who says he is a Renmin University graduate. Wang says in the morning, he went to the bank to exchange 30RMB worth of bills to "shower Wu Hao with respect". Subsequent attempts to get in touch with Wu Hao via phone calls and text messages went unanswered. [Translation by Shanghaiist]

So we're a little confused. When we first found out about the new government-sponsored gay bar in Dali, Yunnan, it was supposed to open on World AIDS day. Then reports everywhere said the gay bar was a no go. But today, according to China Daily, the gay bar did actually open, but nobody showed up thanks to all the media attention. "They [gay men] refused to show up at the opening for fear of media exposure and potential discrimination," they quoted Zhang Jianbo, the bar's founder and a local AIDS doctor as saying. Hmm, you sure it wasn't the assertion that you might not sell alcohol that turned customers away? We say advertise a two-for-one margarita night and see how your next attempt at opening up goes. more ›

We've had some ill-tempered teachers in the past but nothing as bad as this. A 24-year-old kindergarten schoolmarm, frustrated by her wards, took a page from recent spiky activities in Xinjiang and began stabbing them with syringes as a form of discipline. She was taken into custody after parents, justifiably angry about the abuse, complained to police. One mother said her four-year-old daughter had been stabbed multiple times. The school (an unlicensed one in Jianshui) said it knew nothing about the incident and that the teacher's performance had been "good." more ›

James Fallows introduces readers of The Atlantic to Brian and Jeanee Linden, a couple who are trying to turn Xizhou Ancient City in Yunnan into a lush, environmentally friendly haven for traditional Chinese arts and handicrats as well as for creative artists around the world: more ›

• Taiwan to Allow Dalai Lama Visit [NY Times] "The president of Taiwan said Thursday that he would allow the Dalai Lama to visit the island next week, a move likely to infuriate China and jeopardize rapidly improving relations between Taipei and Beijing. The Tibetan spiritual leader is expected to arrive Monday for a six-day tour of southern Taiwan, which was ravaged by a typhoon three weeks ago that left at least 650 dead."
• Thousands of Myanmar refugees flowing into Yunnan [Go Kunming] "An attempt by Myanmar's ruling military junta to bring rebel ethnic fighters under its control has led to escalating tensions, reports of fighting and a looming specter of war, with thousands of refugees fleeing into southwestern Yunnan, according to a Reuters report. China- and Thailand-based media outlets have reported that on August 8 the Myanmar army sent hundreds of troops to the region of Kokang in the country's northeastern Shan State. Kokong, which has held to a 20-year ceasefire with the Myanmar government in Yangon, is home to many ethnic Chinese as well as other ethnic groups."
• Conrad Black: Much ado about China [National Post] "Overblown announcements heralding the supposed coming of the Age of China have become a staple of journalistic futurism in recent years. When Maclean's magazine banners across the top of its cover "When China Rules the World," as it did last month -- and it is not a Monty Python send-up of swarms of incomprehensible people in Mao suits -- I know it is time to raise a peep of dissent."

An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale hit Yunnan Province's Guantun township, Yao'an County (姚安) in the mountainous Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture at 7:19 p.m. Thursday. The epicenter was about 200 kilometers from the provincial capital Kunming. Various news agencies are reporting more than 300 injuries and 10,000 collapsed homes. No deaths have been reported yet. News from this remote area is coming in slowly — CNN is just now calling the 12-hour-old earthquake "Breaking News" — so it is difficult to gauge the severity of the earthquake at this moment. Stay tuned. more ›

• On Foot in the Mystical Mountains of Yunnan [NYTimes.com] "It was for a moment like this that I had made the long journey last fall to northern Yunnan Province from my home in Beijing — which has the dubious distinction of being both one of the most polluted and one of the most populous cities in the world. Back home, looking at a map of the rugged Tibetan areas of western China, my eyes had fallen on the deep river valleys of Yunnan, where three of Asia’s great waterways come tumbling down from their glacial sources in the mountains of the high Tibetan plateau."
• Getty’s $100,000 Tab for Chinese Photos Signals Bargain Time [Bloomberg.com] "Wang Qingsong’s theatrical, large- scale photographs have been a hit with collectors, rising in price to $864,943 from $40,000 since 2006. Now, with prices for Chinese contemporary art eroding, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has purchased three prints by Wang and six by Hai Bo, who contrasts photographs of friends and relatives taken during China’s Cultural Revolution with their recent portraits."
• Sichuan Earthquake Memorial Museum To Cost 2.3 Billion [chinaSMACK] "The complete plans for the Beichuan National Earthquake Ruins Museum that has been the subject of much attention by citizens from all walks of life have been released, with a preliminary budget requiring a ~2.3 billion yuan total investment/cost. The moment the design plan was introduced, it immediately caused huge amounts of heated discussion from all walks of life in society. Some netizens have questioned whether using vast amounts of money to construct a museum amounts to an “image project.”"

The mystery surrounding the death of the Yunnan prison inmate has finally been cleared up: Last Friday, prosecutors announced that 24-year-old Li Qiao Ming died as the result of an assault by fellow inmates, rather than accidentally during a prison yard game, as police had claimed. more ›

By Richard Yu more ›

Starbucks has launched a new brand of coffee grown in Yunnan Province in southwest China called South of the Clouds, the meaning of Yunnan (云南) in Chinese. Martin Coles, president of Starbucks Coffee International, told AP that his goal is to bring Chinese coffee not just to China but to the world: "Ultimately I'd love to see our coffees from China feature on the shelves of every one of our stores in 49 countries around the world." more ›

The New York Times reports:

Police officials say that a man who died Christmas Eve after trying to plant a bomb at a coffee shop in the southwestern city of Kunming was also responsible for a pair of bus bombings there in July that killed two people and wounded 14, state news media reported Sunday. more ›

Scary news just in from our friends at GoKunming:

This morning at 10:30 the bustle of Wenhua Xiang's cafes and restaurants was violently interrupted by an explosion at Salvador's Coffee House. more ›

By 2015 it could happen, GoKunming reports. The journey currently takes 37 hours. According to GoKunming, "the Shanghai-Kunming passenger line (沪昆客运专线) will connect Shanghai and Kunming via the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan, passing through the major cities of Hangzhou, Nanchang and Changsha. Its target speed is reportedly 350 km/hr." more ›

A nice crowd of beer lovers gathered at Southern Barbarian on Saturday afternoon to ... well ... drink beer. Very good beer. And eat food. Very good food. Mission accomplished. For attendees who left with minds foggy thanks to the strong beers, these photos should jog your memory. Yes, you did drink that much. more ›

Around three hours until our craft beer tasting at Southern Barbarian. Plenty of time to take in "A Better Brew: The rise of extreme beer," Burkhard Bilger's story in the latest New Yorker. That should get you in the mood. See you soon. more ›