Blogs » Society » Shanghaiist Year in Review: 2012's Biggest Losers (Part Two)
Blogs » Society » Shanghaiist Year in Review: 2012's Biggest Losers (Part Two) |
- Shanghaiist Year in Review: 2012's Biggest Losers (Part Two)
- Trending Right Now On Twitter, For Whatever Reason: #IfSantaWasAsian
- Acid Dumplings [43]
- Merry Birthday (An Expat Christmas No. 3)
- Because We All Need More Pictures Of Xi Jinping, Here He Is Looking Spiffy In Color And Black And White
- Hammered
- The Tree (An Expat Christmas No. 2)
- Top-of-the-Week Links: Skyfall opens in China on Jan. 21, world’s longest high-speed rail, and Beijing coldest winter in 30 years
- JZ Lounge: JZ Goes Yuppie
- Toddlers Locked Inside Cars Pose Ultimate Dilemma As Parents Weigh Child’s Health Vs. Vehicle Integrity
- Air pollution: what China can learn from the US
- China’s hottest “styles” of 2012
- Shanghaiist Year in Review: 2012's craziest subway moments
- JZ Lounge: JZ Goes Yuppie
- Spa Pick: Spa Staycations at Faye Spa
- Kang Yi’s Hickey Art Mixes The Rawness Of Human Flesh With Whatever Roasted Chickens Are Supposed To Symbolize
- Sina Weibo Will No Longer Post In Real-Time If It Detects Sensitive Words
- Chinese government to crack down on cigarettes, maybe
- Shanghaiist Year in Review: 2012's Biggest Losers (Part One)
| Shanghaiist Year in Review: 2012's Biggest Losers (Part Two) Posted: 24 Dec 2012 08:00 PM PST In every year there are winners and there are losers, and 2012 was no different. With the Communist Party leadership transition taking place at the end of the year, this was always going to be a tumultuous time for China, but its unlikely any of us could have guessed just quite how much drama would occur. Here are the people who won't be looking back on 2012 fondly.Read all Shanghaiist end of year coverage. [ more › ]     |
| Trending Right Now On Twitter, For Whatever Reason: #IfSantaWasAsian Posted: 24 Dec 2012 07:37 PM PST I'm not going to call this racist because it's the holidays and we're all having fun, but some of these tweets are pretty borderline. Also, Angry Asian Man can do it for us:
Merry Christmas indeed, everyone — wherever you're spending this day that may or may not mean anything to you. |
| Posted: 24 Dec 2012 07:18 PM PST
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| Merry Birthday (An Expat Christmas No. 3) Posted: 24 Dec 2012 04:00 PM PST
By Pete DeMola I'm one of the few people I know who can probably recount all thirty of my Christmases without skipping a beat: I was born the day before the Big Day, and I have a twin brother. As such, the two-day period has historically been conflated and has taken on a special significance characterized by a sense of the Other – a Bizarro World consisting of shuttered storefronts sighing under the weight of the Northeastern winter gloom and midnight church services and loving parents and the Little Sis making sure that the Big Two were always consistent in their borderline mediocrity as the Other Guy and I found ways to amuse ourselves. Twenty-three of those years were spent identically. Apart from my first Christmas – one that was passed, in part, tucked into a stocking alongside the Other Guy (good one, parents) – they've all been the deadened hum of vehicles traveling over packed snow to visit relatives and ruminating over another year while fielding volleys of folksy questions from good-hearted simpletons like, "Gee whiz – I guess you get gypped every year on presents" and "Wow, what a Christmas for your parents!" This will be my eighth Christmas abroad. And since I spent the first twenty-three of them traipsing around snowy suburban lots with the Other Guy stirring up holiday mischief in attempts to generate an antidote for the often-numbing sameness, I suppose that on some unconscious level, I'd prefer to be alone if I can't be with him. Life in China, however, has finally provided the sought-after cure to that historic two-dimensionality, namely for two reasons: The country's insular culture pushes expats to generate their own holiday traditions – we are all immigrants, after all, seeking to create new shared schematic experiences – and because the ephemeral nature of expat existence leads to a revolving cast of friends and networks that often shift from year-to-year, resulting in a variety of different celebrations depending on who you happen to be hanging with at the time. Those twenty-three years of the blurred Big Two, then, have been replaced by unbelievable variety, a wide range of Christmas Day experiences that have run the gamut from the particularly Chinese (starting a new job as a business reporter) to joyous (the year when a multinational rainbow coalition of expats assembled at a Mexican restaurant before getting tanked at a Japanese sake joint) to subdued, like last year's session of scotch swirling with a German businessman at a dimly-lit café in a southwestern provincial backwater. This will be my first Merry Birthday in Hong Kong, a city that, unlike the mainland, actually seriously observes the holiday – that is to say, it means a hell of a lot more to locals than a mere cynical vehicle for marketing that is also a reminder of the paradoxes of modern-day China, a desire to fit in yet shun foreign influence: all cheap advertising copy and gaudy decorations and butchered traditions and the idiotic donning of pointy Santa hats and antlers outfitted with blinking LED lights. It's made the leap from an insular tradition to one that's been incorporated into the mainstream. Here in the former British colony, the traditionalism is here if you want it – and so are the submerged pockets of uniqueness. With over 150 years of practice, the holiday's staid British customs are cemented into the Hong Kong psyche: brandy-laced pudding, roasted turkey dinners, Dickensian plays and the singing of hymns all run deep alongside the threads taken from the SAR's increasingly-dynamic grab bag of nationalities – like the hallowed Nochebuena from the fun-loving (and devoutly Catholic) Filipinos, for example, or the local tradition of taking in the holiday lights while reveling at the Causeway Bay, and Tsim Sha Tsui countdowns after blowing five figures on an ostentatious feast before hopping on a plane to a glamorous holiday destination. The kids even had a riot one year, an act of Yuletide cheer in 1981 that unfortunately didn't become a recurring tradition. While my experiences during the Big Two will undoubtedly again be a product of ephemeral circumstance – like singing folk songs with my Filipino shopkeeper pals under the palms, for example – the city's distinctive culture will come into play, too – namely that of making money to survive in this cutthroat hotpot of ultra-competitiveness: the SAR's defining characteristic. Nonetheless, I will wish that the Other Guy – that burly bearded figure who works up in the Arctic Circle doing what it is that he does in his Kerouac Life – was here to add that element of sameness. Pete DeMola is a writer and creative consultant in Hong Kong. He tweets at @pmdemola. |
| Posted: 24 Dec 2012 12:00 PM PST
People's Daily has just published 23 photos of China's Party Secretary, Xi Jinping (via Xinhua), from various stages of his life. In most of them — keeping with a theme — he looks ordinary. We're sampling eight more after this top one — eight is auspicious, after all — but you should also check out the other 14, starting here, because one can never get too much of Xi Jinping. More images of the vintage variety are here.
General Secretary Xi Jinping's old pictures (People's Daily via Xinhua, h/t Haisu T.) |
| Posted: 24 Dec 2012 08:41 AM PST This Bystander has been in sufficient army mess halls and enjoyed sufficient banquets and receptions to know that a drop or two of alcohol may, on occasion, get consumed. But even we were slightly taken aback to see that the … Continue reading →  |
| The Tree (An Expat Christmas No. 2) Posted: 24 Dec 2012 06:30 AM PST
By Allison Reibel I usually avoid IKEA. The abundance of foldable furniture and storage containers makes me see the transience of my own life in China. But Christmas moves us to do crazy things, and I had my heart set on a laptop stand for my roommate, who is Chinese and won't likely be leaving the country anytime soon. I imagined her reclining on the couch, streaming a movie with maximum comfort, saying to herself, "The foreigners are right! Christmas is fucking great!" In line for my pre-shopping Swedish meatballs, however, I realized my ICBC bank card wasn't in my wallet. I ran home to look for it, then to the supermarket to ask if I'd left it. It seemed to have disappeared into Beijing's icy air. I brought my passport to the bank and was told I could pick up a new card in seven days: December 25. "But that's Christmas!" I told the teller, and she giggled a little. She and her English-speaking coworker called in for backup. "No card, no money," he said. I had about 600 RMB at home, which would have been more than enough any other time of year. But two days later, I was picking up my mom at the airport, who hadn't brought cash in anticipation that I'd be able to loan her some. I felt bad ruining the plan and forcing us both to pull out our foreign credit cards. But she was too excited to care, and didn't seem to mind that there would be nothing under the tree for her – or, for that matter, anyone. The crooked little tree is the one sign of Christmas in our apartment. It was passed down from another English teacher who left the country when his contract ended in September. He was happy to be rid of it and I was happy to have it. Christmas is a time when life in Beijing feels especially transitory. No one wants to buy decorations because no one believes they'll be staying much longer anyway, and an extra gift may just mean an extra suitcase. But the tree knows it has a job to do. It reminds us every day that Christmas is coming. And its beauty is radiant enough for my roommate to snap Weibo-bound iPhone pictures. We'll have Peking Duck instead of turkey and sweet doujiang in place of eggnog. We're spending Christmas eve in Xi'an, rushing away from the Jingle Bells of the hostel lobby and toward the city's Great Mosque. And on Wednesday, we'll be at the Summer Palace. But strangely, the China holiday experience doesn't feel too strange. As for December 25, I've only written one note of reminder: "Christmas!" (And, of course, "Pick up bank card." There's a story here about how my colleagues gave me bundles of pink hundred-kuai bills at our office Christmas party, but I'll save it for another time in fear that their generosity is too obvious a symbol of the holiday spirit.) And sometime after New Year's, when its exotic charm has worn off for my roommate, I will dismantle the little tree. I will shove it back into its box and begin the search for its new home. A traveler must know how to find Christmas wherever you find yourself. And an English teacher's Christmas tree must always be ready to move on. Christmas isn't about the presents; it isn't even about the cookies. It's about sharing what you have, hugging those you love (or at least those you like, if the ones you love are out of reach), and bracing yourself for whatever comes next. Allison is a writer and editor in Beijing who blogs at Early Allison Dynasty. You can reach her at @AlllisonR. |
| Posted: 24 Dec 2012 05:00 AM PST
Skyfall coming to China on January 21! "The date means that Sony and MGM's newest 007 film will likely roll out ahead of Warner Bros.' Middle-earth epic 'The Hobbit,' which is expected to open in February, after China's Feb. 9 Golden Week holidays are under way." (The Wrap) China tests world's longest express rail. "China tested its 2,298-kilometer (1,428-mile) high-speed rail line, the longest in the world, as it prepares to start passenger service on Dec. 26. // Bullet-trains on the line from Beijing to southern Chinese city of Guangzhou can run at an average speed of 300 kilometers per hour, the official Xinhua news agency said. It will shorten the rail travel time from the capital to the Pearl River Delta to about eight hours from the previous 24 hours." (Bloomberg) Actually, can be pretty annoying for these homeowners. "Annoyed homeowners have slammed the door on tourists seeking to visit their beautiful courtyard houses for a glimpse at life in Old Beijing, complaining that under a local government scheme they received hundreds of visitors at all hours, but never received a penny or any logistical support for their troubles. // The Dashilan management committee held a contest in July for the old homes in the historic area, which lies west of the Qianman shopping street near Tiananmen Square." (Global Times) But sex scandals are so entertaining. "Speaking in the wake of a spate of sex scandals involving Communist Party officials, Mei Heqing, a senior member of an anti-corruption body in the city of Guangzhou, urged officials to rein in their libidos or face the consequences. // Mr Mei said that in 2012 his unit had investigated 61 government officials for corruption. 'Thirty-eight of them, nearly 63%, have been found to keep mistresses or have more than one sexual partner,' he told a news conference according to the state-controlled China Daily newspaper." (The Telegraph) On one area needing reform. "I believe the most critical sector to watch is reform of China's State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). In 10 years, the Hu-Wen government essentially did nothing to deepen or strengthen the 1994 Company Law which set out to privatize and bring efficiencies to the state sector. Now with the Youth League clique backpedaling, Xi and the Princelings will have a chance to rein in state-owned industrial sector. – after all the Princelings built the party profit machine in the 1990s vis-à-vis the SOE system." (Brian Eyler, Rectified.name) A helpful service. "A year after the Beijing Red Cross announced its new emergency air rescue service, it has only been used twice, by a foreigner and a patient covered by a foreign insurance policy. // The service is out of reach to most Chinese. Even in life-threatening situations, people must pay upfront to use the service. // 'Now the air emergency rescue services can cost over 100,000 yuan ($16,000) a trip, which is too expensive for most people,' Li Chongsen, the spokesman of Beijing Red Cross, told the Global Times." (Global Times) "Chairman George," the Canadian troubadour. "Of the thousands of federal public servants whose jobs disappeared this year, few have a Plan B quite like that of George Sapounidis. // His was one of the 10,980 positions the government erased within six months of unveiling a budget with billions in spending cuts. // A career mathematician at Statistics Canada, he has a doctorate from the University of Toronto and spent his work days designing business surveys. But starting in 2000, through bits of vacation time here and there, he began to cultivate another life on the other side of the world." (Globe and Mail) Gangnam getting official recognition. "'Gangnam Style,' Psy's signature song, has been chosen along with 'fiscal cliff' and 'Romneyshambles' as some of Collins Dictionary's words of the year." (Sina) Hmm. "Female body issues: The most ironic thing about me dating only Asian guys, I feel, is my body type. At 5'9", 150 lbs and hips to spare, I don't think I'm the kind of girl Asian guys typically go for, resulting in some female body issues." (Asian Man White Woman) Britain looking to China for holiday cheer interlude: Finally… "China Takes Chilling Look at Security in Its Schools." (NY Times) How to tweet without a VPN in China. (Tech in Asia) "Beijing temperatures may plunge to 30-year low." (Global Times) "…Freezing to death two lost hikers and allegedly a homeless man." (Global Times) |
| Posted: 23 Dec 2012 11:20 PM PST |
| Posted: 24 Dec 2012 03:19 AM PST According to the Youku video description, a toddler was trapped in a car in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province on Saturday after his/her parents locked the keys inside. But when firefighters arrived on the scene, the parents refused to let them smash the car windows, because who wants to have their car windows smashed? Oh right, the kid. Eventually, the rescue workers were given permission to proceed, and the child was freed. In a separate incident earlier in Shanghai, a one-and-a-half-year-old toddler was also trapped inside a car. While the mother freaked out, it was the grandmother who reasoned that the windows shouldn't be smashed because that would make driving "inconvenient." Well of course. Oh right, the kid. Thirty minutes later, a locksmith arrived — and the child, surely, will forget about the totally non-traumatic incident in which his caretakers stood peering inside his box of sorrow, where he was trapped, helpless, and alone, all alone in a cold, cruel world. |
| Air pollution: what China can learn from the US Posted: 21 Dec 2012 03:44 AM PST China's existing pollution management system is not equipped to deal with a challenge as serious as cleaning up the country's dirty air, argue Zhao Lijian and Xu Nan. China finds itself in the grip of a serious air pollution crisis. A new report from Greenpeace in December suggested more than 8,000 people were killed by the pollutant PM2.5, fine particulate matter linked to asthma and lung cancer, in four Chinese cities this year. As the country continues its rapid pace of urbanisation and industrialisation, with a large reliance on coal, sources of air pollution are also rising. During the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010), emission of nitrogen oxides increased by about 40%. That means that even if nitrogen oxides emissions fall by 10% by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), levels in 2015 will still be higher than in 2005. The Chinese government is striving to respond. Following last year's public furore over urban air quality, it revised its pollution standards, introducing new indices for PM2.5 and ozone, among other changes. But getting vast and rapidly urbanising China to meet higher standards is no easy task. In the early days of industrialisation and urbanisation, the US and Europe experienced severe air pollution. The great smog of London, which may have killed as many as 12,000 people in a single week in 1952, was symptomatic of a dirtier era. Though both regions still have major problems with air quality (last year, 121 counties in 18 US states failed to meet national air quality standards, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)) progress has been made since the bad old days. A closer comparison of the US and China can flag up some useful lessons for China. Perhaps the most obvious difference is in the resources available for tackling air pollution issues. The EPA employs 18,760 people, among whom 1,400 are responsible for air-quality management, with corresponding employees for each state, county and city. In California alone, there are 1,273 people in the air-quality management office and 35 air-quality control districts, each with its own management personnel. In comparison, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has several hundred employees in total, among whom only a small number are responsible for air-pollution management. If environmental management staff were employed in proportion to the population or number of pollution sources, this figure would be on a completely different scale. It's worth noting that the US government rarely provides financial support to help companies cut pollution, believing this to be the companies' own responsibility. The state's main function is to provide the corporate world with a fair market and sound legal environment. US businesses caught discharging pollutants illegally can be fined up to US$250,000 per day, while economic gains obtained through this illegal activity may be confiscated. If the action has caused environmental damage, civil litigation and public interest litigation will likely be carried out to determine compensation. The cost of breaking the law in China is considerably lower. US system encourages innovation What's more, China's standards are static. Once an emissions standard for a particular pollutant has been formulated, the Chinese government sets an emission limit and a timescale for when it must be met by. At a local level, plans to meet these targets are not approved by officials from central government, meaning no one higher up the chain is judging the value of these projects or supervising their outcomes. In comparison, the US system is much more dynamic. New projects are approved by the EPA and expected to adopt the best available technology. Companies with advanced environmental technologies are invited to put these forward, and if they are recognised by the local environmental protection department as being the best and most applicable technology, subsequent projects must adopt them. This system encourages dynamic innovation within environmental protection companies because it is in their commercial interests to get their products out on the market. Recently the Chinese public has significantly – and noisily – upped its demands for better air quality. And the government has tried to respond. But to get 80% of China's cities to mandated standards by 2025, average concentrations of coarse particulate matter PM10 and the finer and more dangerous particulates PM2.5, would need to fall by 10-15% within each five-year plan. This target range is far greater than the 11th and 12th five-year plans' goals for controlling the total amounts of major pollutants. The difficulties involved in reaching this target are obvious. But in view of the negative impact air pollution is having on public health, China must come up with a solution, and fast. China's advantages It has some advantages in this process. First, it can benefit from accumulated scientific and technological knowledge, which the US didn't have access to when it was starting out on this road. During the early stages of air-pollution management, America didn't have a clear understanding of the impacts of different pollutants. For a long time, VOCs (volatile organic compounds) were thought to be the cause of ground-level ozone (photochemical smog). It was only later that the role of nitrogen oxides was recognised. Modern China also has access to mature technology, which can be used to tackle different pollution emission sources, for example the desulphurisation of coal-fired power plants, de-nitrification and dust removal. Advanced technology to control car emissions, combined with clean fuel, can now remove most pollutants from vehicle exhaust. And experience shows that China is able to use its cost advantage to apply new technologies on a massive scale more cheaply than has been managed elsewhere. |
| China’s hottest “styles” of 2012 Posted: 24 Dec 2012 10:18 AM PST The Six O'Clock This Morning (今晨六点) from Shandong province today has a special feature rounding up the newspaper's selection of the hottest "Styles" of 2012. Intending to capture some of the humor and pedantic banality of our social media-obsessed world, the special round-up of 2012 is divided into six categories: To put the whole section in its proper context, the newspaper prefaces it with the following quip:
So without further ado, here's the newspaper's slightly dubious round-up of the hottest "Styles" of 2012: 1. Gangnam Style (鸟叔 江南STYLE) Yes that one. 2. "Du Fu is very busy" (杜甫很忙) online spoof (恶搞) If you enter the words "Du Fu is very busy" (杜甫杜甫很忙) in any search engine, you'll find countless spoof images of the dignified and contemplative visage of the 8th century Chinese poet Du Fu. This spoof (恶搞) of Du Fu is the latest in a series of such spoofs of ancient Chinese literati, following other popular ones such as "Li Bai (李白, ancient painter) is not convinced" (李白不服气了). Go ahead, Google them. 3. Yuan Fang, what do you think? (远芳,你怎么看?) This phrase is probably the most famous one to emanate from Chinese television in 2012. From the television series Legendary Detective Di Renjie (神探狄仁杰), Li Yuan Fang is Di's assistant and is often asked this question by the master sleuth. The phrase became very popular on the Chinese Internet and even in general conversation as a question that can be used for any kind of situation. Yuan Fang's response to the question became almost just as popular, as he was prone to answer, "I think there's something fishy here" (我觉得此事有蹊跷). 4. Feng Zhe (冯喆) does cross-talk The Chinese Olympic athlete Feng Zhe (冯喆) performed his own cross-talk comedy routine to ridicule his coaches and illustrate his experiences at the London Olympics, winning him many new followers online. 1. Mo Yan (莫言), Chinese winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature "China's most important cultural event of 2012″. 2. Chinese swimmer Sun Yang (孙阳) beats adversary Park Tae-Hwan at the Olympics All the drama of Sun's victory over South Korean swimmer Park Tae-Hwan (朴泰桓) in the 400 meters freestyle swimming final at the London Olympics. 3. Ye Shiwen's (叶诗文) grand slam at the Olympics Chinese female swimmer Ye Shiwen's (叶诗文) record-breaking achievements in the pool at the London Olympics and the accusations of doping that followed. 4. Jeremy Lin "ethnic Chinese marvel" Jeremy Lin, ethnic Chinese NBA player, "Linsanity", etc. 1. Lin Dan defends gold and gets married / Zhang Yimou Chinese badminton player Lin Dan (林丹) successfully defended his Olympic gold medal at the London Olympics and this year also married his girlfriend of eight years, Xie Xingfang (谢杏芳), in a moving ceremony. This happy story is contrasted with the relationship troubles that Chinese film director Zhang Yimou (张艺谋) experienced in 2012. 2. Actress Yao Chen(姚晨) marries Cao Yu (曹郁) / Actor Li Ming (黎明) divorces his wife Marriages and divorces of the rich and famous. 3. The saga of Olympic diver Guo Jingjing (郭晶晶) and husband Huo Qigang (霍启刚) / Zhang Ning's (张宁) melodrama The Olympic diver Guo Jingjing (郭晶晶) finally married husband Hou Qigang (霍启刚) in 2012 after a long relationship (and many rumors). This is contrasted with the melodrama surrounding former Olympic badminton champion and current head coach of the Chinese women's badminton team, Zhang Ning (张宁). Ning gave birth to a girl in December and caused an uproar when the identity of the father seemed to be in doubt and when people pointed out online that she attended the London Olympics while being pregnant. 4.The acrimonious divorce of Dong Jie (董洁) and Pan Yueming (潘粤明) In October news broke on Weibo that the fairytale wedding of the two actors was over. 1. The shocking mascot Lele (砳砳) In November, the mascot of the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics was revealed as the strange apparition called Lele (砳砳). Derided as a multi-colored frog, Lele did not go down well online. 2. The divisive figure of Italian footballer Mario Balotelli Contrasting opinions on the wild child of European football. 3. The strange sounds of Wu Mochou (吴莫愁) This summer, a girl wearing weird clothes and strange make-up made it into the final round of the singing game show "The Voice of China" (中国好声音). With her exaggerated performance, Wu Mochou (吴莫愁) caused quite a stir, with some viewers complaining that the sound of Wu's voice made little children cry. 1. "The Voice of China" (中国好声音) The singing game show "The Voice of China" was the hottest show on Chinese television this year, according to the Six O'Clock This Morning. The newspaper describes certain novel aspects of the show that made it worthy of inclusion on this list. 2. Cao Qi (曹琦) selected for film role Young actress originally selected by Six O'Clock This Morning was in 2012 appointed to an important film role (this seems like plug by the newspaper for itself) 3. Zhou Lulu (周璐璐), most notable Chinese athlete at London Olympics Of all the Chinese female athletes at the London Olympics, Zhou Lulu (周璐璐) stood out, literally. She wore clothing that was five times larger than normal, and her weight (130 kg) was far in excess of all the other female athletes as well. Yet Zhou Lulu not only won a gold medal at the Olympics, she also broke her own world record. 4. "China on the Tip of the Tongue" (舌尖上的中国) Cooking show broadcast on CCTV in May that garnered rave reviews from the public. 1. Olympic hurdler Liu Xiang (刘翔) The controversy of the famous 110-meter hurdler and his second Olympic injury flop at the London Games. 2. Han Han (韩寒) provokes Fang Zhouzi (方舟子) Heated exchanges between author and Internet celebrity Han Han (韩寒) and campaigner against academic malpractice Fang Zhouzi (方舟之) rumbled on through spring 2012 as Fang accused Han of using a ghost writer. The matter ultimately fizzled out. 3. Li Zongrui (李宗瑞) and his secret sex films and pictures In July the scandal of Li Zongrui (李宗瑞) broke with him admitting to drugging around 60 women and then secretly filming them naked or "in the act." 4. Guo Degang (郭德纲) disciple causes trouble A disciple of the Chinese cross-talk artist Guo Degang (郭德纲) somewhat blackened his mater's name by getting into fights with journalists. Links and sources Six O'Clock This Morning (今晨六点): 抢镜STYLE; 幽默活宝粉丝不少; 实力干将声名远扬; 分分合合折腾不停; 另类的花儿别样红; 剑走偏锋也能成功; 文体奇葩层出不穷  |
| Shanghaiist Year in Review: 2012's craziest subway moments Posted: 24 Dec 2012 01:00 AM PST  When this was suggested in the Shanghaiist office, many were doubtful that we would have enough content to fill a Top 10 with just subway stories, until we looked at the archives that is. As China develops and more and more cities equip themselves with state-of-the-art subway systems the strange and the wonderful characters who inhabit those cities flock to the subway to fight, spit, pole dance, and generally be as weird as possible. [ more › ] |
| Posted: 23 Dec 2012 11:20 PM PST |
| Spa Pick: Spa Staycations at Faye Spa Posted: 23 Dec 2012 11:12 PM PST |
| Posted: 23 Dec 2012 10:16 PM PST What do roast chickens and love have in common? Absofuckinglutely nothing. Form and content in art should go hand in hand. However, in Guangzhou-based performance artist Kang Yi's recent work, nothing seems to fit. He stands on a podium, stripped down to a thong, with three golden-brown, baked birds hanging from his limbs. A girl climbs up and bites his exposed flesh, leaving red, raw teeth marks on his neck, belly… With this piece, Kang Yi theoretically hopes to inspire people to choose a more traditional Chinese path of love. I think this performance will turn me off physical contact with others altogether — and that takes a lot. Performance art is always best experienced in person, and perhaps I would have hated it a little less had I been present, but to add insult to injury, the video documentation that has been circulating for Kang Yi's work is insultingly poorly edited. The watching of it leaves me a little confused at best. There is no feeling between the boy and girl. The chickens are there to make the connection between human flesh and meat? — it's either too obvious or too obscure, and aesthetically very displeasing. This search for "true love" can be seen in other contemporary Chinese performance pieces. In Liu Jin's "How Much Love We Still Have," the artist rolls his nearly-naked body through a room of rose petals which stick to him, and fall off. This is a beautiful piece that works with the audience to create an almost religious environment. The shock value itself of Kang's piece is not enough. Use of public nudity and self-mutilation is not new to the Chinese performance scene. Zhang Huan covering himself in honey, sitting in a public toilet, and waiting for the insects to descend upon him is a prime example of great art. Kang, on the other hand, makes a spectacle of himself without considering the audience as viewers, onlookers, voyeurs at all. Suggestion: Make Zhang Huan your new role model. Or take a look at Yoko Ono. She may have broken up the Beatles, but she makes a mean performance. Lola B is BJC's resident artist. You can read her previous work in the Yishus Archives.
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| Sina Weibo Will No Longer Post In Real-Time If It Detects Sensitive Words Posted: 23 Dec 2012 09:59 PM PST
As China ramps up Internet restrictions, companies like Sina Weibo are demonstrating they've clearly gotten the message by passing on the consequences to you, the user. Via Tech in Asia:
Sina (along with Tencent) has been punished before for lax censorship, and it appears the company wants no part of the government's doghouse. Then again, it's unclear at this moment exactly how much of Sina's new microblog policy is their doing, and how much came at the strong, unassailable behest of its online overlords. It's not gonna get better, folks:
Welcome to Purgatory: Sina Weibo Now Delaying Mentions of 'Sensitive' Words by 7 Days (Tech in Asia) |
| Chinese government to crack down on cigarettes, maybe Posted: 23 Dec 2012 08:00 PM PST  China's cigarette smokers sucked down 40% of the world's supply last year, a phlegmy 5% more than in 2006. The Chinese government plans to fight this trend with upcoming legislation that would outlaw smoking in most public places throughout mainland China and ban all advertisements, promotions, and sponsorships by tobacco companies (including the now discredited rumors of a Mo Yan smoking advertisement). The government's goal is to cut China's number of smokers down to 25%, about the same as the United States. [ more › ] |
| Shanghaiist Year in Review: 2012's Biggest Losers (Part One) Posted: 23 Dec 2012 08:00 PM PST  In every year there are winners and there are losers, and 2012 was no different. With the Communist Party leadership transition taking place at the end of the year, this was always going to be a tumultuous time for China, but its unlikely any of us could have guessed just quite how much drama would occur. Here are the people who won't be looking back on 2012 fondly.Read all Shanghaiist end of year coverage. [ more › ] |
BJC's "An Expat Christmas" 
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