Kunming
 

We are looking at a possible oppotunity in Kunming.

What is it like there?
What is the temperature? Hear it is not too hot or cold.

How is it for foreigner? Is there a large expat community?

Anyway any info about this place is great.

Thanks

Don't know about expat community, but I can't think of any larger city in China with better climate and air quality.

I've only been there for a few days. In late December/early January it was cool to cold, but not terribly so -- much better than Beijing. It's a smallish city. I couldn't advise regarding foreigners, other than to say I didn't see too many there. We were treated as we are in most cities -- no fuss made over us, treated just like everyone else. Though I would love to live in China, I'm not sure that Kunmin would be in my top five choices only because it's a rather provincial city -- I much prefer Beijing or Shanghai -- even Shenzhen.

Here's a video of Ciuhu Park there:

http://vimeo.com/453481

What do you mean by provincial city? Other than the obvious that it is the capital city of Yunan Prov.

Great video. Got just a little feel of the place.
I think we should go and visit first then make a decision.

We have lived in Tainan City in Taiwan but that is a whole different "country" in comparision to the mainland.

I have lived in Km for the past 3 years... so I should be able to give you some insights....

Weather - pretty moderate year round. Can get a bit chilly in winter if the sun is not shining. Sometimes there are several days in a row where there is no sun and the temperature will get down around 40 F or maybe high 30's F. When this happens it can feel a bit chilly the majority of the time in the winter is pretty nice. We did have snow one morning last year. Summer is the rainy season, usually starting in June or July. This means rain almost everyday, but not raining all day. Some days will rain just for an hour or two then stop. There will be some days where it is a total washout. The temperature is cooler in the summer due to the rain. The hottest month is usually late April-May, before rain starts. Never gets unbearably hot/humid.

As for expat community, there actually are more expats there than I thought there would be, I have been told there are a few thousand but can't say for sure. We are able to get most everything we need, there are several shops selling imported groceries etc. There is an area of town with many western style cafe/bars some better than others.

Here is a link to the best expat website on Kunming that I am aware of -
http://gokunming.com/en/

People are very friendly to Westerners, can't speak for foreigners from other areas.