Whither Kevin Rudd? To or from China? Matt Schiavenza muses here, and Matthew Stinson follows up here.
All I know about Rudd is that he just won the Aussie election, he speaks Putonghua fluently (did he major in Chinese?), and he used to work in the Aussie embassy in Beijing. Not enough information to say either way.
As for their respective observations of the political leanings of their local Aussie populations: Could it be that Kunming, like Yunnan as a whole, attracts the backpacker hippie type, the kind more likely to be left wing? While industrial port city Tianjin is more attractive to business types who are more likely to be conservative?
And while I’m musing randomly further and further from the topic of Kevin Rudd: How is it that that Schiavenza lad has managed to go from Lianyungang to Fuzhou to Kunming, all the while resisting the Matthew Magnet Tianjin?
Anyway, if you’re interested in Australia’s recent election and swing towards Labour, go read their posts and contribute what wisdom you have.
Kunming might have its fair share of businessmen but they tend not to interact with us ruffians. I’m sure if I went to the Holiday Inn bar I’d find dozens of them happily shilling out 30 RMB for a Qingdao I usually pay 8 kuai for in the student area. But you’re right- as Tianjin is richer, bigger, and coastal it’d probably have a far higher proportion of businessmen than we do.
Hmmm…as I sit here freezing in my unheated apartment Tianjin doesn’t sound all that bad. That’s one thing I love about China- people in the south suffer far more than people in the north during winter. Do you know where the line of demarcation is for central heating?
I don’t know where the line of demarcation is (makes it sound like it’s lined with razor wire and patrolled by UN peacekeepers), but most people say it’s the Yellow River.