By the way - another serious problem I see along the same lines - law enforcement here isn't really good or prepared to deal with the bad guys.
This is my one main issue with China-lack of the rule of law. The police really don't give a shit, especially when it comes to foreigners. That guy who went mad with the sword would have been shot or tazered in the USA, no question, yet he was allowed to hang around there and NOONE, bystanders included, did ANYTHING.

Yep, as you no doubt know by this time, a Frenchman and his newly-wed Chinese wife were so unlucky to encounter the swordsman. She died in hospital as a result of the attack. They were going to emigrate to France within a month. The assailant accused the foreign male of being American. He probably assumed the Chinese woman was an American too. What a tragedy! And it was allowed to take place in Beijing! There, a swordsman can circulate freely without being apprehended for being in possession of a lethal weapon!

Let's say you are an FT shopping with your TA in a Chinese county. It's possible you will encounter a crazy Chinese guy like the swordsman there. It doesn't bear thinking about what could transpire!

There are mentally ill Chinese people who should be in lunatic asylums circulating freely within the society. They can kill a person with or without a sword!

Nanning is experiencing a kind of new problem and its the traffic. The subway construction and the increasing numbers moving into the city and of course all the other construction. What I see is that Nanning people are actually experiencing great stress and crowding and pollution and traffic jams for the first time on this scale. I guess you can say its a kind of 'test'. Sure, Beijing people are now adjusted to it. Its old news to them. Nanning people are facing this and yes I think we are seeing who is going to crack first. The untested are now facing their first tests!

Hehe, yes its easy to be easy-going and casual when the environment allows it but yes we can see the attitude might start adjusting to the challenges.

I do think there are more foreigners coming in (overall) than leaving just as it goes from 7million to 10million or whatever the numbers but I do agree the long-term expats here tend to be quite assertive. They are often the types married to Nanning (Guangxi) people and in a way already know how to deal with rude behavior from past experience.

by the way - another serious problem I see along the same lines - law enforcement here isn't really good or prepared to deal with the bad guys. Just take the University area as an example: Just a few years ago you maybe had just 1 or 2 'local crazy ladies' and then at worst some rowdy drinking boys causing trouble. You might get the odd fight or shoplifter. NOW you can see 6 unstable crazy people, shady looking people hanging around the outdoor eating but not just 'bad boys' from the uni but clearly bad dudes. Now some gangsters, now some dangerous types are out late at night up to something bad.

In my opinon, the security and police are too typically laid-back Nanning types who are in a way 'innocent' and actually the crooks are happy to take advantage of that. Whereas a Beijing cop or actually most security guards from Zhengzhous district would KNOW IMMEDIATELY what they were looking at AND know exactly what kind of confrontation is going to happen. Also what prevention methods to put in place.

Poor Nanning just doesn't seem to know what to do. The bad guys probably even phone their buddies around China saying "Hey hey.. get down here - these people are soft, dumb and easy! We got a great new place!".