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• The Greatest Father In The Universe, Right Here
• Abbot of ancient temple returns to secular life to get married
• The Monk And The Monkeys: One Million Views On ‘Sina’ Since Yesterday
• Photo of the Day: Canopy
• Weekendist: Dragon Boat Festival 2012 Edition
• Ai Weiwei barred from court in tax case
• The Confusing Slowing Of China’s Economy
• China’s shifting public space
• Pale shade for the green economy
• Top Ten Search List (June 21)
• Evergrande Allegations
• Wang Yang considers the economy
• Questions for an editor
• ZOMG! Enterprising street seller now passing off artificial vajayjays as taisui mushrooms!
• Presented By:
• Which Porn Stars Are Stephon Marbury Following?
• ‘How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression’: Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science
• The Limits of Evolution
• Top Ten Search List (June 20)

The Greatest Father In The Universe, Right Here Posted: 21 Jun 2012 08:49 PM PDT It's easy for non-fathers to joke about what they're going to do when they have kids, e.g., "When I'm a dad, I'm going to punt my kid around the house like he's an Aussie football," or, "I'm not going to spoil my kid, he's going to sleep in a toolbox underneath the kitchen sink." But for a father to actually do it — "My child will be put in a plastic crate and dragged behind my moped via rope" — is really something to be admired. This man rolls to his own beat, because he knows the world's given him shit and he owes nobody nothing. So yeah, look if you want. He'll continue riding his moped with legs crossed, dragging his toddler son behind him, humming, Just don't give a fuck. (H/T Daily Mail)

Abbot of ancient temple returns to secular life to get married Posted: 21 Jun 2012 04:28 PM PDT June 21st, 2012 by Key | Posted in Life Style, News | 1 Comment » sources: huagu |  sina video Life is precious but love is even more priceless. These words are very romantic when used on ordinary person, however if applied onto the monk abbot then it must be an incredible story. The abbot, head of thousands-year-old Qiongzhu Temple in Kunming, named Qing Yin could not withstand the temptation of love, gave up years of practice and retried on June 9 in order to return to secular life from the Temple. He was going to get married on 17 of June. Qing Yin had the wedding with 30 tables of guests at the Grand View Hotel in Kunming on Sunday, June 17, the bride was a 26-year-old jade businesswoman. Qing Yin did not notify the monks at the temple when leaving; instead handed all procedures to the Kunming Buddhist Association, so none of the monks at the temple knew. Qiongzhu Temple was built in the Tang Dynasty, is one of the Buddhist cultural sites in China. Existing buildings and one of the painted sculptures are built in the Qing dynasty. The Five hundred Arhats sculptures are typical creation of the Qing dynasty. The reporter found the old Master of the oldest temple-cultivation. 90 years old grand master grew up in Qiongzhu Temple and it had been 78 years. Old Master confirmed the news of Qing Yin returning to secular life to get married. "This is the first time I never heard an abbot to return to secular life to get married. We Buddhism has three No begs (to stay). No beg to stay if return to secular life, no beg to stay if leaving for seeking knowledge; no beg to stay if leaving for wandering. His heart is no longer here, he is already returned to secular life." Old Master smiled and said, "Yesterday someone called me and told me he held the wedding at the Grand View Pavilion. Many others called me, asking us if he made a mistake. But he already returned to secular life, whatever he does is his personal choice, which has nothing to do with the temple anymore." In December 1990, Ming Dao was the first abbot at Qiongzhu Temple after liberation. 1997, Ming Dao suddenly gave all affairs to the young student Qing Yin, thus became the current abbot. In the phone, Kunming Buddhist Association also confirmed to reporters that Qing Yin abbot returing to secular life went through the normal procedures. After his resignation, whatever he does is he is personal choice, Buddhist Association has no right to intervene. Photos of the wedding: This news attracted much attention on the Internet… The following are translated from an article on the issue from people.com.cn blog. Famous abbot to return to secular life to get married, what does it mean? What can we learn from it? 1. Today's China reveals improvement on tolerance and liberation. However Qing Yin abbot's marriage, as the secret of the Buddhist community still caused uproar. 2. Qing Yin abbot's marriage proves that freedom of religion in China. A long time ago, in the eyes of the Western countries, since the liberation, freedom of religion and religious believers are often subject to many constraints or restrictions. 3. Qing Yin abbot's marriage perhaps shows that Buddhism is not as Western media reported as government-run. The views of the Western media is that China's various religions are run by the government, through the "Buddhist Association" on the surface, to reflect the authority of the Bureau of Religious Affairs and reflecting the intent of the official. 4. Qing Yin abbot's marriage proves that love is indeed magical. Love is all pervasive. Even the abbot in thousand-year-old temple with years of practice, eventually is shot but Cupid's arrow. 5. Qing Ying abbot's marriage shows Buddhism is humane and speaks of human nature. Buddhism in fact, never forced to promote the practice is to strengthen the individual's inner mind, Zen enlightenment. But no matter which, whether attained or not, will be treated equally, humanly. In summary, the head abbot of Qiongzhu Temple could not defend the temptation of love to give up years of practice and get married which is a private affair of a citizen.  It is normal, and showed that today's religion is open and relaxed, religion is also advancing with times.  sources: huagu |  sina video Tags: abbot, Internet meme, Love, Marriage, Monk, religion, return to secular life, temple

The Monk And The Monkeys: One Million Views On ‘Sina’ Since Yesterday Posted: 21 Jun 2012 04:46 PM PDT Monkey King The association of Buddhism and monkeys began more than 2,500 years ago with the teachings of the Buddha himself. He described each of our minds as the 'Monkey Mind,' like countless monkeys jumping about, seeking attention, and generally creating confusion in our heads. That association was most famously described in the Chinese novel, The Monkey King, or Journey to the West. The novel has become the subject of Chinese opera and now in this age, movies and cartoons. (Below is a video clip from showing the Monkey King's encounter with the Buddha.) But, of all these, the best encounter of Buddhism and monkeys I've seen is a recent video, courtesy of NBC's Behind the Wall,  of a hapless, but remarkably well composed Chinese monk trying to give a lecture. And, here's the video from China's Sina. By the way, it went viral with over a million views since it was posted yesterday. Here's some background on the video: Yen Shen, a monk who serves as a director of the Cangzhou Buddhist Association in China's Hebei province was at Mount Emei – a popular tourist site and home to a well-known Buddhist temple – in western Sichuan shooting a little video about the beauty of the region. With lush forest and fog draped valleys behind him, Yen was speaking poetically about the beauty of the region and the need to take time to connect with nature. "As the years pass, let us bless our friends, let us bless everything," he waxes on poetically in the video, "when the year's pass let us bless spring and the autumn." And, here's the clip of the Monkey King and the Buddha:

Photo of the Day: Canopy Posted: 21 Jun 2012 01:00 PM PDT Want to see your picture here? Share your photos with us via Flickr or Instagram using the tag #shanghaiist! [ more › ]

Weekendist: Dragon Boat Festival 2012 Edition Posted: 21 Jun 2012 10:11 AM PDT Still in Shanghai for Dragon Boat Festival weekend? Fear not! With tons of music fests and parties going on all weekend, you won't be disappointed. Ellen Allien makes her Shanghai debut at Lola on Friday, TICT continues its Rooftop Series at Atanu and SHPride has a whole list of events planned for Pride Week. And what's the weekend without some Dragon Boat races? iMandarin Institute will once again be hosting a Dragon Boat competition over at Qingpu Sports Center. So get planning, because there's tons in store for your three-day weekend here in Shanghai! [ more › ]

Ai Weiwei barred from court in tax case Posted: 21 Jun 2012 09:09 AM PDT Via AFP: "Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei says he's been barred from a hearing challenging a multi-million-dollar tax order against a firm he founded, and accuses authorities of trying to 'crush' him." That's not all -- Ai has also been barred from leaving China and threatened with bigamy and pornography charges. [ more › ]

The Confusing Slowing Of China’s Economy Posted: 21 Jun 2012 08:54 AM PDT For all the efforts to talk up a second-half rebound by China's economy, the economic indicators fluctuate inconsistently and inconclusively between recovery and continued slowdown. The latest, HSBC's June flash (preliminary) purchasing managers' index (PMI), a measure of manufacturing activity … Continue reading →

China’s shifting public space Posted: 20 Jun 2012 08:14 AM PDT New laws to boost the citizen role in green governance are major gains for Chinese civil society – at least on paper. Chang Cheng looks at highs and lows of the last decade. Ten years ago, a small delegation of Chinese NGOs went to Johannesburg for the 2002 Earth Summit. For China's nascent green activist movement, it was something of a milestone – the first time civil-society groups had taken part in international environmental summits. As another Earth Summit rumbles on in Rio de Janeiro, it's worth taking a moment to reflect on that decade, which has seen some notable successes for civil society, but new challenges too. The early years of the 2000s were a crucial period for the Chinese public. After the country joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001, there was mounting pressure to bring its laws in line with international practice, including legislation on citizen participation in public decision-making. The following year, a new, national Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Law was published, for the first time making public hearings an official part of the approvals process for new projects. And then, in 2003, crisis and panic over a new and potentially fatal disease originating in south China – SARS – and dissatisfaction with how it was handled, prompted public demands for greater transparency from government. It seemed like a new dawn for public participation in Chinese policymaking. But a decade down the line, how successful has the push for greater engagement actually been? Views are mixed. Great triumphs like the suspension of hydropower construction on the Nu River and a public hearing on a project in Beijing's Old Summer Palace have been matched by poor implementation of EIA law and continued frustration of litigants trying to pursue environmental cases through the courts. An article in the magazine Business Watch described how the Nu River campaign began: "On August 26, 2003, the National Development and Reform Commission examined the Nu River Middle and Lower Reaches Hydropower Planning Report and approved the building of two reservoirs and 13 dams on one of China's two remaining unspoiled rivers. The plan would see over 102 billion kilowatt hours of electricity generated annually, more than the Three Gorges Dam." But, during the meeting – the article continued – an official from the State Environmental Protection Agency "refused to sign the report, as an EIA had not been completed in accordance with the law. After the meeting, the official spoke to Wang Yongchen, founder of environmental NGO Green Earth Volunteers." This marked the start of a fierce battle to defend the Nu River, led by Chinese campaign groups. Two later meetings of experts produced further disagreement and deadlock. Meanwhile, NGOs from over 60 nations signed a petition against hydropower on the Nu River and presented it to UNESCO. In 2004, the tug-of-war finally triggered a high-level response. Premier Wen Jiabao said that "major hydropower projects such as this, which attract a high degree of public attention and different views on environmental protection, must be considered carefully and decisions made scientifically." His words were effectively a red light, and the plans were shelved. Civil society activists had scored an important victory.  This was the first time China's environmental NGOs had acted in concert to influence government. But at that time, there were no mechanisms in place to facilitate such a role. Policymaking and public opinion were not linked. In April 2004, the government published a notice on law-based governance, making government by rule of law a 10-year goal. Aims included "scientific, democratic and standardised mechanisms for administrative policy decisions." As transparency campaigner Ma Jun has pointed out, "this document went into considerable detail on the right of the public to know and to participate." The same year, Pan Yue, then deputy head of the State Environmental Protection Agency, or SEPA (later the Ministry of Environmental Protection) indicated that central environmental authorities wanted to bolster public participation in environmental protection. At the same time, he expressed support for the 10th principle of the Rio Declaration, also known as the Access Principles (See "20 years of China's public voice" for more on this). Soon afterwards, SEPA appeared to be putting these ideals into practice, when it held the first public hearing since the 2002 EIA law came into effect. The hearing – on a project to lay an impermeable membrane in the lake at Beijing's Old Summer Palace – was a breakthrough for public participation in environmental affairs. The government had used a process enshrined in law to bring the public into decision-making. A range of people attended the hearing, and it was broadcast live online. In 2006, the momentum gathered further, when China published its first document standardising public participation in the environmental sector – the "Temporary Method for Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessments". Between that date and April 2007, there was a "storm" of government action. EIAs for 43 projects worth a total of 160 billion yuan (US$25 billion) were rejected. The clout of both NGOs and the environmental authorities increased, to the benefit of both sides. But six years later, opinions are divided as to the outcome and legacy of that "storm". Interviewed in 2011, deputy head of Renmin University's School of the Environment Ma Zhong lamented the weakness of the EIA legislation: "Currently 99% of all China's capital construction projects pass their EIA. That's an embarrassing figure." And it isn't the only figure to raise eyebrows. An environment ministry report from June 2010 includes the results of a survey of bodies which had carried out EIAs in 2009: forty percent of those sampled suffered from quality or management problems, while 17% of the reports examined were classed as "quite poor". Forty EIA workers were criticised by name. The EIA system, the first policymaking system to involve public participation in China, has been widely scorned. Ma Jun is among the critics: "It should be a mechanism of participation, using democratic policymaking to ensure scientific policymaking. But in China it is often simplified into a system for evaluating technology, and easily loses its effectiveness under the influence of interested parties." At a consultation on legislation for pollution permits at Nanjing University in 2010, an official argued that the Chinese public did not have the specialist knowledge needed to express opinions on public policy decisions. Paternalistic attitudes like this are not uncommon; many officials still believe the people are unable to make their own decisions, and need close shepherding. The Old Summer Palace case provides a good example of government, the NGO sphere and the people working together. But, much more common is a mismatch between resources and need. China is a vast country, with uneven political, economic and social conditions. Where the public is keen to participate and the conditions allow it, the government is often reluctant. Where the government is more open and willing to innovate, there may be fewer environmental problems to resolve, and the result is a lot of fanfare about public participation, but little by way of concrete results. This kind of mismatch is particularly evident when it comes to defending environmental rights in court. Wang Canfa, director of Beijing-based NGO the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV), once told reporters: "The defendants in environmental cases are often businesses which create tax income for local governments, and as such they receive open or covert protection." Often courts will simply refuse to hear a case. Sometimes, documentation is withheld so that the plaintiff cannot appeal. Xia Jun, a lawyer and member of the environmental committee at the All China Lawyers' Association, is dispirited by the state of environmental litigation: "Unlike public participation and openness of information, there has been no progress – and in some places things have worsened." A trial programme of specialised environmental courts, which started in Wuxi, Guiyang and some cities in Yunnan in 2007, has been more successful than pursuit of lawsuits through the regular channels. Dozens of environmental courts are now operating in more than 10 provinces. But again, there is a mismatch: "Where environmental courts operate, environmental lawsuits are generally better received," said Xia. "But the problem is that, where pollution is worst, where the need is greatest, there aren't any environmental courts. The guarantees aren't in place where they are required the most." And, as a result, environmental courts find themselves under more pressure: "Much hope has been placed on these courts, and they have failed to live up to expectations. They have no cases to hear, and just sit around waiting for something to do," said an official from Yunnan Highest People's Court in 2011. It wasn't until October last year that Yunnan's environmental courts heard a case brought by a grassroots NGO. These courts have in part been designed to hear precisely these kinds of cases; lawsuits brought in the public interest, by plaintiffs with no direct relationship with the case. In theory, that means that green NGOs can bring lawsuits themselves, and that environmental courts provide a new route for civil society to protect public environmental interests. The reality is somewhat different. All cases brought by NGOs between 2007 and 2010 involved the All-China Environmental Federation, a group established by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Participation by the majority of groups founded by the public is still limited. Chang Cheng is deputy director of Friends of Nature. Homepage image by adopt a negotiator

Pale shade for the green economy Posted: 20 Jun 2012 08:32 AM PDT One of the most hotly debated concepts in the approach to Rio has been watered down in the summit's draft declaration to a point where it means almost nothing. Joydeep Gupta reports. "Green economy" has been the buzz-phrase in national and international development circles for quite a few years now. It has almost as many definitions as there are economists. But most agree the concept adds two important elements to the way the economy is traditionally viewed: one, it seeks to include the use of air, water, soil, minerals and other natural resources in the calculation of national budgets. And two, it seeks to add the notion of equity to the notion of efficiency, the bedrock of traditional economics. It may seem self-evident to many people that these additions are desirable, especially in a world where natural resources are being depleted ever faster, and poverty stubbornly persists. But it is not self-evident to finance ministers. They and their advisers are used to assuming that the supply of clean air and water is limitless, that soil can be used and abused repeatedly and that the only cost associated with mineral extraction is the mining cost. They are also used to addressing the notion of poverty through separate welfare measures, with only an indirect link to gross domestic product or gross national product, the measures by which countries measure how well they are doing. For many years, certain leading economic thinkers have been uneasy with the prevalent wisdom on what constitutes national wealth. Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz have written strong critiques, while economists like Kenneth Arrow and Partha Dasgupta have developed entire theories about what needs to be included and how the true wealth of a nation should be measured. Slowly, their ideas have seeped into development discourse. The new analysis was supposed to win official recognition from over 100 heads of state of government gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, which marks the 20th anniversary of the seminal Earth Summit, which took place in the same coastal city of Brazil in 1992. It has received that recognition, but only just – and with so many conditions as to become largely meaningless and almost impossible to use. The 49-page declaration to be signed by the political leaders has a whole section entitled "Green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication". The section starts by acknowledging the naysayers: "We affirm that there are different approaches, visions, models and tools available to each country, in accordance with its national circumstances and priorities, to achieve sustainable development in its three dimensions which is our overarching goal. "In this regard, we consider green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication as one of the important tools available for achieving sustainable development and that it could provide options for policymaking but should not be a rigid set of rules." But this is so different from the "rigid set of rules" by which GDP or GNP is measured that a declaration of this sort makes green economy almost a non-starter. The declaration then addresses the concerns many developing countries have expressed as the concept of a green economy has been pushed in international negotiations in recent months. One section of the draft text reads that a green economy should "effectively avoid unwarranted conditionalities on ODA (overseas development assistance) and finance; and not constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade, avoiding unilateral actions to deal with environmental challenges outside the jurisdiction of the importing country, and ensure that environmental measures addressing trans-boundary or global environmental problems, as far as possible, are based on an international consensus." After the recent decision by the European Union to charge an extra tax on all flights landing within its territory, because planes use petroleum-based fuels, developing countries had become very afraid that the green economy concept would be used to impose more trade restrictions. And so they insisted on this section. This fear illustrates the bigger worry of those who seek to maintain the business-as-usual situation. Namely, that their national accounts would look far worse if they had to consider the true cost to the environment of using coal and oil, for example. They are aware that it would also look far worse if they took into account the state of health and education of their citizens, ideas strongly advocated within the green economy concept. The rest of the draft declaration on the green economy does support these and other concepts of sustainable development. A recent study by the International Human Dimensions Programme of the UN University shows what would happen if countries actually worked within a green economy framework. Called the Inclusive Wealth Report (IWR), it looks at the productive base of economies, based on capital assets – produced or manufactured capital, human capital and natural capital. Traditional economic planners look only at the first. The moment the other two are added, the results change significantly. The IWR authors found that, between 1990 and 2008, six out of the 20 countries they analysed decreased their IWI per capita. In five countries, population increased at a faster rate than inclusive wealth, resulting in negative changes to the IWI per capita. The majority of the 20 countries studied had seen a rise in manufactured stock per capita during this period. In China, India and Chile, positive changes in IWI were mainly driven by manufactured capital. The authors, led by IHDP head Anantha Duraiappah, also found that human capital –the prime capital form that offsets the decline in natural capital – had increased in all the 20 countries during this period. But they found that in almost all the countries studied, potential gains in renewable resources were not enough to compensate for the depletion of exhaustible stock, like fossil fuels. The general trend they found was that population had been growing in most of the countries, exacerbating the decline in natural capital growth rates, as resources are divided among a larger number of people. The authors point out that "a large part of what nature offers is a necessity and not a luxury. There are options for some level of substitutability, but in consideration, caution must be taken for irreversible processes that might cause a decrease in well-being." Taking these concepts into account gets you more or less to the business-as-usual scenario. Perhaps that is why the green economy section has been watered down to such a pale shade in the Rio+20 draft declaration. Joydeep Gupta is south Asia director of thethirdpole.net. Homepage image by Xavier de Jauréguiberry

Top Ten Search List (June 21) Posted: 21 Jun 2012 04:55 AM PDT Here is today's top ten real-time search list, recorded at 2:00PM. 1. 婆媳榔头大战 póxí lángtóu dàzhàn – "The Great Hammer War of Mother and Daughter-in-Law":  The Chinese title of the Zoltan Spirandelli film "Danger: Mother-in-Law!" is "Póxí Dàzhàn" (婆媳大展), which translates literally as, "The Great War of Mother and Daughter-in-Law." Editorials and books have surfaced here and there in China shedding light on an increasingly common phenomenon: the strained relationship in many modern Chinese families between the mother of the one and only precious son and his new, often unsuspecting wife. Now, Chinese media portals are reporting a "real-life Poxi Dazhan": yesterday morning, an angry 60 year-old Urumqi mother brutally attacked (or was in a one-to-one brawl with, depending on who you ask) her son's 25 year-old wife, who also happens to be 5-months pregnant. The daughter in-law took a hammer to the head, and the mother was somehow also the victim of a hammer to the face; it's unclear whether or not she "did it to herself." Either way, both women are now in the hospital in critical condition, each with her own side of the story. According to neighbors, mother and son used to live alone together in peace, but once wife moved in, the daily wall-piercing screechings began. The son/ husband/father-to-be "feels helpless," say reports. Here's the story in Chinese. 2. 在押人员看球死 zàiyā rényuán kànqiúsǐ – "Death by Football-Watching": After detained criminal suspect Shu Shubing was reported dead "from complications related to illness" in a Zhanyi, Yunnan detention center on June 16th, a microblog account called "The Adventures of Rees Tin Tin" posted a satirical news update which reported that upon further investigation, it had become clear that "Shu Shubing actually died from watching the Euro Cup; he was literally excited to death." Weibo-users went wild over the post, but the detention center itself responded saying,"There is no TV in the detention center, so the claim of 'death by football-watching' is completely absurd." As absurdity was sooorta the point, it seems the parody may have gone over the ole policemen's heads. Nevertheless, with so many cases recently of detainees mysteriously dying at the hands of China's detention center guards, "death by football-watching" is an all-too appropriate slogan. As a famous netizen voice speaking under the alias "Frontier Man" (边民 Biānmín) recently put it, "People die in detention centers all the time, it's nothing new. What is new is always the 'cause of death' part: such a diverse range of 'causes,' each more outlandish than the next. A detention center should be a place that restricts personal freedom at the same time that it absolutely guarantees personal safety. How could so many different things be the cause of death, all in one place?" Here's the story in Chinese. 3. 蒙牛代工点脏乱差 Méngniú dàigong diǎn zāng luàn chà – A Xi'an college junior recently posted an online diary recounting the details of her internship at Tianfu Dairy, a subcontractor for Mengnui Dairy located in Inner Mongolia. The student posts incriminating photographs—revealing what turns out to be an extremely unsanitary processing environment and a bunch of already spoiled products due to be recycled into "new" ice cream cones—and describes the abysmal work and living conditions she and her fellow classmates had to endure over the course of an experience that turned out to be less like an internship and more like hell.  Here's the story in Chinese. 4. 让领导先就诊 ràng lǐngdǎo xiān jiùzhěn – "Let the Official Go First": A citizen of Liaoning recently reported to the media that during a visit to the Central Hospital of Liaoning Electric Power (good name, right) a local official was granted priority over her solely based on his political status. The female patient had come to the hospital for a doppler ultrasound, and saw upon her arrival that a doctor was stationed at the door of the examination room to ensure everyone held to his or her place in line. But when it came to her, the guard-doctor opened the door and smiled at a middle-aged man standing further back in line, shouting out, "Please, leaders first!" and ushering him in ahead of her: the rightful, patiently waiting patient. Though the hospital has since apologized for the doctor's behavior, it's too late; netizens are irate over the unfair invocation of privilege, especially as it relates to a health matter. Here's the story in Chinese. 5. 风光归国有 Fēngguāng guī guóyǒu – "State-Owned Wind and Sunlight": An ordinance recently issued by the Heilongjiang Provincial Government on the matter of the protection of "climatic resources" states that any business intending to use wind or solar energy to power its operations or for any other purpose must obtain the permission of the Provincial Meteorological Bureau, and that all such resources are the property of the state. Some very perplexed netizens are asking if they are going to have to pay a fee every time they lie in the sun, and prominent economist Xu Xiaonian has probed, "Since when are sunlight and wind government-owned?" Yesterday, in response to steadily rising bemusement levels, the deputy director of the Heilongjiang's Meteorological Bureau explained that the ninth provision of China's constitution states that natural resources are the property of the state, and as climatic resources are natural resources, it follows that they are also the property of the state. So taxation of individual sunlight enjoyment is indeed a possibility for the future. Hollman and Kotis are out there somewhere thanking Heilongjiang for their next tragicomic masterpiece. Here's the story in Chinese. 6. 像凤姐那样自食其力 xiàng Fèng Jiě nàyàng zìshíqílì -"Self-Reliant, Just Like Sister Feng": At Chongqing Normal University's graduation ceremony yesterday, one sentence in the remarks of Zou Yu, president of the college, stuck out among all the rest when he brought up the topic of online sensation Luo Yufeng, who it turns out is a Chongqing Normal alumna. He discouraged students from becoming burdens on society, and encouraged them to remain down to earth and realize value in their lives, adding, "Look at Sister Feng, for example. She went to America and became a pedicurist; for her, this was actually a very positive step. It represents her strong points, her ability to be self-supporting." In so saying, Zou not only proved himself to be totally hip to all the young peoples' online happenings, but also made what most consider to be a good point about Luo. Here's the story in Chinese. 7. 郑州拆除报亭 Zhèngzhōu chāichú bàotíng – In April, the municipal government of Zhengzhou, Henan province announced the implementation of a new city-wide project which would order the demolition of all of Zhengzhou's 421 newsstands, making it the first capital city in the country with absolutely zero of them. The relevant organs of Zhengzhou have explained that the existing newsstands are impediments to traffic and operate illegally, among other issues, and that the objective of the "clean-up" is: "End the Operation of Business, Give the Streets Back to the People." (Do they mean put people back on the street?) That's right, from now on, residents of and visitors to Zhengzhou will be able to buy their newspapers and magazines in markets, bookstores, gas stations, and so on, but no longer from newsstands. Before the new policy was put into place, scholars and local media voiced concerns that the destruction of newsstands would hurt the ecology of Zhengzhou's urban culture and might not even be in compliance with the law.  But the Zhengzhou government held no hearing on the issue, and now, two months after the implementation of the project, the local newspaper market is atrophying with increasing momentum, as expected…, while many previous newsstand owners still await their promised compensation. Here's the story in Chinese. 8. 泰国《达人秀》Tàiguó "Dárén Xiù" – Today the Chinese internet is abounding with emoticon-riddled Weibo posts and giddily furtive search queries mentioning the show "Thailand's Got Talent," after female contestant Duangjai Jansauoni's appearance on the live show yesterday, during which she painted a large canvas with her bare breasts as her paint brushes. Not a new idea, but it sure has stirred up a lot of controversy over in Thailand. Here's the story in Chinese. 9. 张绍刚遭转业军人呛声 Zhāng Shàogang zāo zhuǎnyè jūnrén qiàngshēng - A recent heated exchange between an ex-army officer and Zhang Shaogang, host of the Tianjin TV talkshow "Belong to You" (非你莫属 Fēi Nǐ Mò Shǔ), has attracted a lot a bit of attention in a little bit of time. Though the Weibo user who first posted news of the interaction on June 19th has provided no visual proof, claiming the corresponding video "has been blocked" already, his story is as follows: ex-army officer Ma Ding, originally from Liaoning province, applied to come work for "Belong to You" and was subsequently written off by Zhang. He retorted by criticizing Zhang for always interrupting contestants, calling Zhang a hypocrite, and doubting whether he was truly qualified to be a host. Zhang was apparently dumbfounded and had no comeback. Even though it is just a Weibo post with no accompanying video, the content of the interaction has been re-tweeted 27,089 times and discussed 4,747 times in the span of a half-day, as Zhang Shaogang comes under fire yet again for his hosting style. Some doubt the truth of the story, but it still seems to speak to something true about public opinion. Representatives from Tianjin TV declined to comment. Here's the story in Chinese. 10. 捐精猝死 juānjīng cùsǐ – "Sperm Donation Sudden Death": An MD student at Huazhong University of Science and Technology by the name of Zheng Hang died suddenly several months ago in the midst of responding to a fifth call from the Hubei Province sperm bank. Zheng's mourning family and wife have received RMB 88,000 in compensation from Hubei and Zheng's school but are demanding more. Meanwhile, experts are attempting to dispell the notion that Zheng's death was related to the sperm donation itself (based on the search volume, it seems that many netizens fear the activity he was engaged in at the time of his death is what killed him), saying that this is the first time something like this has happened in a sperm bank and that his sudden death was likely the result of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular complications. Here's the story in Chinese. READ MORE

Evergrande Allegations Posted: 21 Jun 2012 04:59 AM PDT I was quoted today by the BBC on today's announcement that China will relax some of its restrictions on foreign investment in its domestic stock market.  You can read my comments here, and I'm also going to talk about it live on BBC TV at 6:30am Friday morning Beijing time (6:30pm Thursday NY time). The big story today, in my opinion, is the report issued by Citron Research accusing Evergrande, one of China's ten largest property developers, of massive fraud and arguing that the company is deeply insolvent and nearing the end of its rope.  I can't vouch for any of the allegations, but the report is well worth reading.  Concerns about dodgy accounting practices have dogged Evergrande ever since its 2009 IPO, but Citron's multi-barrelled shotgun blast takes them to an entirely new level, forcing the Hong Kong-listed company to issue an official denial today. The allegations of rampant bribery and misuse of funds are certainly titillating, and do expose Evergrande to certain risks, but the really critical issue here is the company's solvency and liquidity — whether it is a genuine going concern, or a house-of-cards Ponzi scheme.  Citron notes that Evergrande, which just this week shocked markets by paying a record-high RMB33k/sq meter auction bid for a plot of land in Guangzhou, has run a cumulative RM 26 billion operating (pre-Capex) cashflow deficit since 2006, sustaining itself by running up ever-rising levels of debt.  The report contends that Evergrande has hidden at least RMB 23 billion and possibly as much as RMB 56 billion in  trust loans and other debt off its balance sheet in Enron-style special purpose vehicles (SPVs).  It uses industry metrics to argue that Evergrande is overstating its cash balances by RMB 17 billion and overstating the value of its real estate holdings by RMB 10 billion.  Overall, its report argues that Evergrande is RMB 36 billion in the hole and fast running out of cash. As I say, I'm not in a position to validate any of these specific allegations.  But they do resonate with me, because they resemble or are connected to many of the systemic risks I see building up across China's property, trust, and banking sectors.  The big question I have been asking myself all Spring — with so much developer debt coming due, and with their cashflow so visibly impaired by the property downturn — is why we've hardly seen any Chinese developers (and the trusts that have fueled their building binge) go bust.  The hidden losses alleged by Citron may help answer that question, and the explanation is unlikely to be limited to one "bad actor."  Like the losses that have been brushed under the rug in the Zhongdan Guarantee fiasco, they are just one piece in a much bigger and interconnected mosaic. Here are some other data points and article links I've tweeted over the past few days @prchovanec: (Jun 21) oughta be interesting RT @MalcolmMoore PLA, in internal corruption investigation, asks officers to reveal assets http://is.gd/masI0X (Jun 21) HSBC new export orders PMI sub-index drops to 45.9, lowest since March 2009 http://reut.rs/L6Yp0J (Jun 21) Busnweek: In China's Dating Scene, Women Get Pickier http://buswk.co/NlOYzf wow, tough market (Jun 21) RT @ProfGillis PCAOB Warns China Patience is Wearing Thin – Compliance Week http://www.complianceweek.com/pcaob-warns-china-patience-is-wearing-thin/article/246467/ (Jun 21) HSBC flash PMI for China falls to 48.1, 8th straight month of contraction, 7-month low http://reut.rs/L6Yp0J (Jun 21) Alchemy: AMCs regard property NPLs as "low risk" and have been booking large profits on spread btw promised returns and own borrowing (Jun 21) Silent bailout? China's AMCs have bought RMB 50b in troubled developer loans to keep real estate trusts from going bust (Jun 21) Xi Jinping urges stronger Party grip over China's top universities http://bit.ly/Ll98cs wonder what that means for the likes of me? (Jun 21) Caixin: Rising alarms over food safety in China http://bit.ly/LDyPGE (Jun 21) RT @BrookingsInst: @JonHuntsman, former Gov of Utah and Amb to China, joins Brookings as a distinguished fellow: http://brookin.gs/Azwy (Jun 21) RT @michaelmccrae Sinopec considers bid for Chesapeake assets http://bit.ly/M5JMy6 (Jun 21) @andrewserickson offers insight into China's naval strategy and capabilities http://bit.ly/N9JhB7 (Jun 21) RT @AdamMinter Why are Chinese investors buying up Toledo real estate? http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/20/toledo-china-real-estate/?iid=SF_F_River (Jun 21) China defends rare earth restrictions http://on.wsj.com/Kl3Kle but they may be beside the point http://onforb.es/MrO1oi (Jun 20) RT @theanalyst_hk $$ Australia's inverted yield curve points to recession http://dlvr.it/1l69QV (Jun 20) WSJ: Chinese gold imports skyrocketing http://on.wsj.com/M2UR2U (Jun 20) China Banking Assoc says outstanding loans to "social housing" projects up 66% yoy (Jun 20) PBOC survey: 15.1% of Chinese households plan to buy car in next 3 months, highest since survey began in 1999 (Jun 20) PBOC survey: 68.5% find housing prices "high and hard to accept," +0.8% QoQ, -5.8% YoY (Jun 20) PBOC survey: 20.4% expect housing prices to go up in Q3, +2.8% QoQ, -15.8% YoY (Jun 20) PBOC survey: 15.7% of Chinese households intend to buy house in next 3 months, up 1.6% from 12-year low in Q1 (Jun 20) Is Germany looking bubbly, or just rebalancing? http://bit.ly/NfNR46 (Jun 20) "Give us the dead body" – more on protest by African migrants in Guangzhou http://bit.ly/M4PuCr (Jun 20) Censorship at SCMP? http://bit.ly/N5QdiD Is it even remotely ethical for new editor-in-chief to be CPPCC member? (Jun 20) Cambodia arrests Frenchman linked to Bo Xilai, at Chinese request http://bit.ly/KxR8fi (Jun 19) Foreigners take to Guangzhou streets to protest after African man dies in Chinese police custody http://bit.ly/Pjchcw (Jun 19) Was China's inflation imported from QE2? You decide: http://bit.ly/Ph0cok (Jun 19) China steel industry assoc says revenues down 1%, profits down 97%, taxes paid down 58% YTD April (Jun 19) 86% of South China factories saw orders fall or stay flat, but 90% are still struggling to hire enough workers http://on.ft.com/LB8MuV (Jun 19) WSJ: China turns to securitization to boost bank lending http://on.wsj.com/Nc3uK5 (Jun 19) Official numbers show avg China home prices down 1.5%. This is discount everyone's excited about? Either figures lie or buyers are nuts. (Jun 19) Economic Observer reports steel, iron ore, coal, cement, and paper pulp piling up to record levels at China ports http://bit.ly/KOZ4FH (Jun 19) MOFCOM says FDI inflow into China up (tiny) 0.05% yoy after six straight months in negative territory – basically flat (Jun 19) China Bsn News reports China's domestic airlines lost RMB 1.4 billion in May (Jun 19) China's Ministry of Finance says state sector profits down 10.4% YTD by May, revenues up 11.3% (Jun 19) China Securities Journal reports Beijing housing sales up 46.5% yoy in May

Wang Yang considers the economy Posted: 21 Jun 2012 09:49 AM PDT by Allison Carroll Goldman on June 21, 2012 The top headline on the front page of today's Dongguan Times: "Wang Yang strongly supports the 'three crackdowns two developments' (三打两建)". The picture shows him at the Dongguan investigation bureau, hearing a report on the 'three crackdowns two developments'. On the table in front of him are drugs, counterfeit cash and illegal weapons. Wang Yang is the Provincial Party Secretary of Guangdong Province, and a member of the CPC Central Committee. He is the representative of what has been called the "Guangdong Model." In contrast the state-led, neo-Maoist "Chongqing Model" pioneered by Bo Xilai before his recent fall from power, Wang's way is seen as more private-enterprise friendly and politically liberal. Last month, Wang caused a stir on twitter by commenting at the Party Congress that it's not the Party's role to bestow happiness on the people like a feudal leader. (See Danwei link below for more information) In today's article, Wang Yang discusses the recent economic slowdown in his Province and what should be done. He praises the work of the Dongguan municipal government, but says that more needs to be done in terms of structural adjustments to the economy. This means pursuing the goals of reform and opening up even more strongly, abiding by the new slogan: 'three crackdowns two developments.' The 'three crackdowns' refers to cracking down more severely on crime, while the 'two developments' mean strengthening the rule of law and supporting a good international economic market environment. Links and Sources Dongguan Times: 汪洋充分肯定 东莞"三打两建"  Danwei: Wang Yang says it's not the Party's role to bestow happiness on the people ;  Wang Yang's not lying low

Questions for an editor Posted: 21 Jun 2012 03:45 AM PDT This is Danwei Week, a summary of the most important China stories from the last seven days. We'll choose a maximum of five topics per week, and try to link to the best coverage of them in English. Let us know your suggestions or send hate mail to: feedback -at- danwei dot com. Questions for the editor of the South China Morning Post From Asia Sentinel: Journalistic ethics questioned at SCMP A decision by the South China Morning Post's new editor in chief, Wang Xiangwei, to reduce a major breaking story on the suspicious death of Tiananmen dissident Li Wangyang in a Hunan hospital to a brief has kicked off a new controversy at the paper. Reuters picked up on the story, titling it 'China casts long shadow as Hong Kong paper stands accused of censorship' (link). Asia Sentinel followed up with a piece reflecting statements from Wang Xiangwei: 'SCMP Editor Says He Didn't Downplay Dissident's Death' (link). The article notes: The South China Morning Post has long been considered a largely objective observer of affairs in the mainland and an important window into the country for diplomats, businessmen and others, giving it an outsize importance in the region. That may have once been true, and the South China Morning Post remains influential in Hong Kong. But in mainland China and across Asia, in Europe, Australia and the USA, the Post has almost no influence at all thanks to its Cretaceous digital policy. Niubi (the Twitter winner of Danwei's Model Worker awards) has more influence on global 'diplomats, businessmen and others' than the poor old Post, with its doomed business model, absence from the open Internet, and reliance on the patronage of the Kuok family. The Post's slide into irrelevance is a shame, but it's already a mere sideshow thanks to a decade of dumb digital decisions. One ought perhaps not to be too critical of the pompous tone of Wang Xiangwei's emails as reported in the articles mentioned above. He is merely continuing a South China Morning Post tradition of supercilious and humorless actions by chief editors. In 2007, for example, then editor Mark Clifford fired two staff members for producing an in-house spoof of the newspaper's front page as a gift for a departing colleague. See Asia Sentinel's report No Joking Please, We're Journalists, and on ESWN, The Cultural Gap in Hong Kong Journalism. Space travel and abortions: 'One woman touches heaven, another hell' On Saturday, Liu Yang became China's first female astronaut as the Shenzhou 9 launched into outerspace. The Shenzhou 9 later succeeded in successfully docking with the spacecraft Tiangong 1, China's first such docking with a crew of astronauts on board. (You can watch the video here, or see Xinhua's official coverage and graphics. Back on earth, many Chinese Weibo users contrasted Liu Yang's journey to the heavens with a far less fortunate woman: Feng Jianmei, a resident of rural Shaanxi, was forced to abort her seven-month old fetus due to her inability to pay a 40,000 yuan fine. A horrific photograph of mother and dead fetus lying together on a hospital bed was circulating online at that same time state media were blasting the nation with images of Shenzhou 9 and the female taikonaut on board. On Weibo, users circulated photo montages showing a smiling Liu Yang together with Feng and her dead fetus. Race car driver and blogger Han Han summed up the situation in a short comment: "One country, two words: torn apart." Tea Leaf Nation has the best roundup of Chinese Internet discussion of the above: Netizens Reflect As One Chinese Woman Touches Heaven, Another Hell. See also Evan Osnos at The New Yorker: Abortion and politics in China. Death of Nigerian man prompts street demonstrations by Africans in Guangzhou From the Wall Street Journal's China blog: Protests by Africans in Guangzhou this week over the death of a Nigerian man in police custody prompted wide reactions online and served to draw attention to tensions between locals and the southern city's large population of African immigrants.(link) The China Daily reports that the 'Nigerian embassy in Beijing has sent officials to Guangzhou to cope with the investigation of a Nigerian's death in police custody' (link). ChinaSMACK covers some of the Chinese Internet reactions; predictably, there are many racist comments about 'black devils' and such. On the other hand, one African man, football player Drogba who is from the west African country of Côte d'Ivoire, is getting a much friendlier reception in China: Didier Drogba's Move to Shanghai Shenhua Is About Much More Than Soccer and Money On the subject of football, another must read this week is Playing fake ball: Why Chinese soccer matters by The New Yorker's Evan Osnos. Read it together with the preciously-titled Little red card: Why China fails at football, published in December 2011 in The Economist.

ZOMG! Enterprising street seller now passing off artificial vajayjays as taisui mushrooms! Posted: 21 Jun 2012 02:11 AM PDT Reporter Ye Yunfeng's amazing rediscovery of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's secret to longevity -- the taisui lingzhi mushroom -- has spurred local entrepreneurship and spawned a whole new industry. One very enterprising street cleaner who makes additional income by hawking things off the street is now passing off artificial vajayjays as the long lost magic mushroom, and selling them for as much as 18,000RMB (US$2,800)! [ more › ]

Presented By: Posted: 21 Jun 2012 02:11 AM PDT

Which Porn Stars Are Stephon Marbury Following? Posted: 21 Jun 2012 02:00 AM PDT There's nothing wrong with following porn stars on Twitter, as China Daily has taught us. To wit, Stephon Marbury of Starbury fame –point guard of the Beijing Ducks, the CBA's current champions – follows these lovely ladies, as revealed by Buzzfeed: Well, no surprise here. Who doesn't follow this starlet-turned-actress? And if you didn't know before, she has her own tag on this very site. Star level: Awesome. I'm unfamiliar with Alexis's work, and a Google search of "Alexis" doesn't turn up this gal until the eighth hit. Go figure. She says she is "alexis texas aka buttwoman" though. Hm. I do wonder about that. Star level: Blonde. Not sure what Starbury has in mind with Welsh girls, but this one has massive breasts. Just massive, in a "I really hope these don't pop and flood my basement" kind of way. Star level: Plastic.

‘How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression’: Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science Posted: 19 Jun 2012 09:45 PM PDT 'The results are clear: posts are censored if they are in a topic area with collective action potential and not otherwise. Whether or not the posts are in favor of the government, its leaders, and its policies has no effect on the probability of censorship.' This from 'How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression,' by Gary King, professor at Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard, and others. I learned of this paper in an arresting post, 'Harvard Report Suggests China's Censorship Not Aimed at Suppressing Criticism of Government,' by Rick Martin on the TechInAsia blog. Mr. Martin quotes, as I do here with approval: [C]ontrary to much research and commentary, the purpose of the censorship program is not to suppress criticism of the state or the Party. Indeed, despite widespread censorship of social media, we find that when the Chinese people write scathing criticisms of their government and its leaders, the probability that their post will be censored does not increase. Instead, we find that the purpose of the censorship program is to reduce the probability of collective action by clipping social ties whenever any localized social movements are in evidence or expected. [bold is Mr. Martin's] Learn more from Mr. Martin and from the source, Dr. King's fascinating and important paper.

The Limits of Evolution Posted: 19 Jun 2012 06:00 PM PDT We have had many dark moments at Popup Towers, but perhaps none darker than the summer of 2009 when Echo bought a cricket from a street peddler on Nanluoguxiang, and proudly placed "The Great General" by the window in his wicker cage. For the first few days as our guest settled into his new quarters, his timid nature made him an amiable office companion. This period of quietude was not to last, and while his death three months later was sad, it was not without its upside considering we run a recording facility. Learning Chinese? We've decided that this is a lesson perfect for Absolute Beginners to the Chinese language... or really Advanced students looking to brush up on their pronunciation of what we've decided is basically the hardest word in the entire Chinese language. If this is your first lesson you might be better off picking another one from our lesson archives, but if you're up for a challenge, take a listen and let us know what you think. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Top Ten Search List (June 20) Posted: 20 Jun 2012 09:07 PM PDT Here's the top ten real-time search list for today, recorded at 1:57PM. 1. 方丈还俗完婚 fāngzhàng huánsú wánhūn – "Monk Secularizes, Marries": Qing Xian, the revered head abbot of Qiongzhu Temple in Kunming, has given up years of devoted practice to return to the secular world, with pictures now circulating of his June 17th wedding to the 26 year-old owner of a jade business. According to the source who posted photos of Qing and his bride, the ex-monk, who "couldn't resist love's temptation," submitted his resignation papers directly to the Kunming Buddhists Association without a single word to his monk colleagues. The post immediately evoked netizen shock, as Qing was not only a member of the Kunming Municipality CPPCC and Vice President of the Kunming Buddhists Association, but also generally a highly respected spiritual figure. So everyone's like, wtf? Here's the story in Chinese. 2. 贪官大闹法庭 tānguān dànào fating – "Corrupt Official Courtroom Disturbance": On the morning of June 19th at the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court, an official suspected of corruption and bribery in relation to a recent demolition project lost control during his hearing, kicking over tables, refusing to answer questions, and making enough of a racket that the hearing could not continue on. His wife, also lacking in composure, overturned seats in the gallery, badly injuring herself in the process. "Mr. Luan" (his full name has not been disclosed), a high-up party committee member of Nanjing's Liuhe District, was not being tried yet as a criminal, and would have had the chance to save himself if not for going completely apeshit. Here's the story in Chinese. 3. 广州外籍人员堵路  Guǎngzhōu wàijí rényuán dǔ lù – On Monday in Guangzhou, a Nigerian man (according to English language reports, whereas Chinese reports are referring to him just as a "foreigner") and the electric bike driver who gave him a ride through town got into a fight over a disputed fare and were both taken into police custody. The Nigerian man was subsequently reported to have "suddenly collapsed" in his jail cell, and died shortly afterwards in spite of that fact that police had "immediately called in 120 medics" to try to save him. "Cause of death unknown." Following the man's death, hundreds of Guangzhou expats collected around the police station in protest, causing a major traffic block. After two hours, the police got the crowds to disperse, and have now issued an announcement "reminding foreigners to abide by Chinese laws." The evasive  nature of official Chinese reports on the incident has not hindered  vocal netizens, whose commentary ranges from "serves him right" satisfaction—in that the incident may serve as a warning for other "black expats who try to mess with China"—to unbridled anger and shame over the painful likelihood that the police actually beat the man to death. Here's the story in Chinese. 4. 胡锦涛捡国旗 Hú Jǐntāo jiǎn guóqí – At the opening of the G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, the world's leaders posed for a group photo, with each leader's place in the photo marked on the floor by a sticker bearing the flag of his respective country. When the shoot was finished, the leaders dispersed, everyone walking all over all of the mini-flag placeholders—save the patriotic Chinese President Hu Jintao, who proudly bent down and carefully picked his up. Here's the story in Chinese. 5. 傅明宪 Fù Míngxiàn – Rumors have begun to circulate of an "older sister, younger brother" romance (jiědìliàn: despite the way it comes across when translated literally, this is not about incest, and rather describes what in English we might call "cougar and cub" dating) between 41 year-old Hong Kong TVB actress Gigi Fu and 31 year-old Albert Chuang Kapun, the eldest son of Chuang's Consortium chairman Alan Chuang and himself an executive director at the company. Here's the story in Chinese. 6. 女导演性侵女星 nǚ dǎoyǎn xìngqīn nǚxīng – "Directress Sexually Assaults Actress": Changchun International Trade, host of the Changchun International Film Festival, recently posted on its own Sina Weibo news that last month a B-List actress arrived at the local police station in Chaoyang district, Beijing to report that an A-list director, also a female, had sexually assaulted her. The names of the two women in question have not been revealed, and netizens are going crazy trying to guess, but according to the police the case has already been resolved and "people should stop paying the matter any attention." Good luck with that, Po-po. A relevant "human flesh search" probably to follow soon. Here's the story in Chinese. 7. 神奇参考书 shénqí cānkǎoshū – "Magical Test-Prep Book": Some test-takers sitting a written test for recruitment into public service in Mizhi, Shaanxi ended up enjoying an extremely "lucky" advantage this week when it turned out that 100 multiple-choice questions in the actual test exactly matched those offered in a practice test many of them used to prepare. Netizens are fuming that such an important, ostensibly merit-based test has apparently become a matter of drawing lots and buying a good test score. Here's the story in Chinese. 8. 庄家彬 Zhuāng Jiābīn – The name of Gigi Fu's supposed new young lover Albert Chuang Kapun is also getting a good amount of search time, with more details coming out regarding the pair's romantic vacation spent in Okinawa, attending the wedding of Taiwanese actress Annie Wu. Here's (more of the same) worthless gossip story in Chinese. 9. 泉州大洋百货血案 quánzhōu dàyáng bǎihuò xuèàn – According to eye-witness reports posted on Sina Weibo, during a violent robbery in a large department store in Quanzhou, Fujian this past Tuesday, a man went on a sudden knifing spree and stabbed five people, four of whom were left seriously injured. One pregnant woman, a store manager, was severely maimed. The robber cut four people on the second floor before rushing up to the third floor, where he launched at a customer in the midst of trying on a dress, before dropping his knife and fleeing upstairs. He was finally caught and arrested on the 19th floor of the building. A horrifying picture of a bleeding female customer lying on the floor has been circulating on Weibo. Here's the story in Chinese. 10. 小学生散发名片xiǎoxuéshēng sànfā míngpiàn – On June 12th at a primary school in the Erqi district of Zhengzhou, Henan, a boy by the name of Qiao Mengke and 19 other students were democratically elected to one year terms as representatives of the Young Pioneers of China, a mass youth organization run by the Communist Youth League (CYL). Qiao, whose grades were not nearly as good as the other candidates, used other means to become well known by his classmates—printing and handing out 1,000 business cards, in a move to completely overtake the competition and eventually be elected district captain, with 900 votes in his favor. Netizen commentary is mainly focused on whether a 12 year-old boy should be messing with schmoozy things like business cards, usually reserved for businesses men and not for sixth graders, and some Weibo users are even voicing distaste over the fact that the CYL is dragging young people into politics, teaching them at such an impressionable age to want to become cadres: a path that many now see as synonymous with corruption and the moral deterioration of society itself. Several news articles are lauding the electoral process of the Young Pioneers of China, loftily professing that these students have "now learned first-hand what 'democracy' truly means": a statement that many find controversial or laughable or both. Here's the story in Chinese. READ MORE

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