Kunming according to Lion

A mild city
Kunming's climate is very pleasant, with a lot of sunshine and comfortable weather.

It was also described to be poetry like.

Delicious !
Kunming's food is loved by many; because of the big variety, from fried insects to regional mushrooms and sweet fruits.

Romantic
Because a lot of authors have lived in Kunming, they often describe it as romantic because of the landscape and the culture.

Historic
Kunming contains a lot of different stories about bravery and courage.

Wonderful
The topography of Kunming is very strange and gives it, the signature look with a lot of ups and down's.

Class structure
You have about 60 Students per class and 20 different classes for each Grade, thus you have 1200 Students per Grade

Course subjects
Everyone learns about Chinese, math, English, chemistry, physics, biology, geography, history and politics before grade 11. After grade 10 you will still study Chinese, math and English, but you can decide between learning physics, chemistry and biology, or you can choose politics, history and geography.

School day schedule and activities
In the school's of Kunming, the schedule is very packed. You have school from 7a.m to 10p.m, you got to wake up at 6a.m and your day always ends after 12 p.m.

Homework
Every teacher of a subject gives you homework; each should take in 1 hour of your day.

Options after graduation
The opinion of most of the parents say, that College after High-School is the only chance, after Graduation, to get a good job. Mostly, you have to decide about your career choice very early to be successful.

Tips for Hamburg students exchanging to a Kunming school:

 * 1) Be prepared to schedule your day very strict and mainly focus on school.
 * 2) Get used to wake up early and to shorter sleep. I suggest already using the sleeping pattern before you are in Kunming.
 * 3) In a classroom with 60 Students, you cannot get attention from your teacher, and he/she will not focus on you. This is of course a huge difference to Hamburg, so be prepared!

1. Travelling to the university
Time: 9:00 a.m.

Transportation: by bus

Reason: the beautiful Ginkgo trees and the memorable stories that originate from the university

2. visiting the high school
Time: 2 p.m.

Transportation: by bus

Reason: The activities that you can participate in and the atmosphere

3. the Dianchi Lake
Time: from afternoon to evening

Transportation: from subway to bus

Reason: to take a break from the everyday hustle and to relax

4. Haiyan Village
Time: at sunset

Transportation: by foot

Reason: to enjoy the view of the sunset

5. watching the city lights in the dark
Time: after sunset

Transportation: by foot (still in the Village)

Reason: to enjoy the view

How can you make it greener?
It was described that after having fun activities like Basketball, you can pick up the trash that you find or made.

Food in Kunming
The two dishes that were shown me, are raw fruit with spices

and chicken soup (chicken cooked by boiler).

The raw fruit is quite a simple dish, you only need fruit of your choice, a special pepper and salt. You dry fry your pepper, until toasted. Then you just grind it up. Enjoy!

The ingredients for the chicken are: ham, bamboo shoots, local chicken, yellow wine. You also need a clay pot to serve the soup and a boiler to steam the chicken. You start with parting the mushrooms, bamboo shoots and the ham into strips. Chop up the chicken into equal pieces. Then you blanch all the ingredients for 3 minutes in hot water. Then put the chicken into cold water to wash it. For the last step, you need a boiler and add the wine, salt, ham, bamboo shoots, onion and mushroom into the boiler until thoroughly cooked.

Will the food from Hamburg be popular in Kunming?
Alice has told me how, especially in Kunming, people love different kinds of soups. So this dish will fit right in. Most of the ingredients are local, and I would suggest thinking about what you have around you. In Kunming, people use native ingredients from forests, so looking around in the market will help you to make your own style of the chicken soup.

Festivals in Kunming - The Torch Festival
Kunming has celebrated the Torch Festival for many years now, and it is an important part of Kunming's culture. It is celebrated on June the 24th.

The festival is divided into 3 days:

First day:
People worship the fire with dancing and embrace huge torches in the village. People called the fire men have the function to read out special words. After reading, they can put out the fire. These actions are being done to help the crops get rid of the insects. Then people slaughter sheep and Ox, and worship their ancestors.

Second day:
The second day is basically for fun activities and markets. People play games like tug of war, archery or bullfights. Additionally, people set up a big market and exchange goods from each other. Also, in this festival, teens find Boyfriends or Girlfriends with the activities mentioned above (through competitions).

Third day:
The third day is there to sums up or finishes the festival through traditional activities. Families put up dried pints and light up huge torches again to form them to a big one. You should also spend your time with your relatives, which is something to look forward to, especially when you don't see them that often.

Is it okay to celebrate foreign festivals?
I think it is a great opportunity to get to know new cultures through celebrating foreign festivals, but I think when festivals like the torch festival have history and a special meaning, then you should recreate it as realistic as possible. Changing these things can disrespect foreign cultures. So be careful with dealing with foreign activities and always ask people who know how it's done.