Blogs » Society » Scarborough Shoal Dispute Flares Up Again
Blogs » Society » Scarborough Shoal Dispute Flares Up Again |
- Scarborough Shoal Dispute Flares Up Again
- The Utopia Within: In Which Herodotus Plays Diabolo
- Photo of the Day: Laundry
- Princelings At Top-Tier Western Universities: Evelyne Letawe’s Comment And My Reply
- Watch: Hennessy’s Online Ad Featuring Ultimate Frisbee Players In Beijing
- Is CCTV host Yang Rui an anti-Semite?
- The Sports-As-War Metaphor Will Never Shine Brighter Than In This Euro 2012 Ad
- Mid-Week Links: Yang Rui’s daughter in a biracial three-way (NMA), a drug enforcement officer falls victim to guanxi, and a pig farmer dies by backhoe
- Matchmaking for Chinese multimillionaires is demanding and secretive
- Will Chinese Companies Ever Be “International?”
- Watch: 3-yr-old boy on toy bike survives heavy traffic in Wenzhou
- OK now for foreigners to handle state secrets
- China And Google Put Aside Politics For Android Business
- Eco-isles: from game to reality
- Midweek Music Preview: Joss Stone, Xi Ming, China Britrock Beats
- Chinese government plans to use guns and rocket launchers to make it rain
- Video of the Week: Comedian Joe Wong Performs on David Letterman
- Top Ten Search List (May 23)
- Photoshopped photo appears on Hangzhou Yuhang district government website
- Dish of the Day: Mantis shrimp @ Yunzhong Restaurant
| Scarborough Shoal Dispute Flares Up Again Posted: 23 May 2012 08:36 PM PDT The Philippines says that two of China's most advanced fisheries protection vessels have been deployed in disputed waters off the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island to China) in the South China Sea. They are among five Chinese government ships, 16 fishing boats and 56 utility boats Manila says are plying the waters that saw a stand-off between [...] |
| The Utopia Within: In Which Herodotus Plays Diabolo Posted: 23 May 2012 06:57 PM PDT |
| Posted: 23 May 2012 04:00 PM PDT  Want to see your picture here? Share your photos with us via Instagram and Flickr using the tag #shanghaiist! [ more › ]        |
| Princelings At Top-Tier Western Universities: Evelyne Letawe’s Comment And My Reply Posted: 23 May 2012 03:14 PM PDT Evelyne Letawe took me to task for my recent post 'Children Of China's Elite Attending Top Western Schools: Hypocrisy Or Good Fortune?' Her arugments–and criticism–hit home. So, I am posting both her comment and my reply (my italics). Ms. Letawe certainly has experience to make her comments worthy of attention. Among other things, she lived many years and China, working as a broadcaster on the French-language version of CCTV. For more on Ms. Letawe, please see her resume and a very interesting 2009 interview. And, here is one of her broadcasts (in French): Evelyne Letawe's Comment That is a rather naive article. If you look at it from a realistic perspective: - "My friend's admittance was entirely on merit, and the education was entirely financed by loans and scholarships." Yes but the fact he was aware of the possibility of studying abroad and that he was authorized to do so would not have happened if he did not come from a powerful family. Some exceptional students of humble origins (who managed to gather support from some officials) also had the chance to study abroad but they were very rare (Nobel Prize materials and such). - "'[T]hey rarely attend state schools but congregate instead at top-tier — and very expensive — private colleges,…' If the author can show that their acceptance was due to their parents' or grandparents' status or influence, then this is an issue. But, if top-tier private colleges accept them on their merits, shouldn't they go?" Let's look at the most recent example: it is proven that the son of BX was not a good student in Harrow and that he had to sit for an extra year. Schools are ready to accept these students anyway because these students are 'prestigious', can open for them the doors of China's inner circles and are ready to pay big money to gain entrance. Schools would be fools not to take them, whatever their merits. Schools often claim they are forming the leaders of tomorrow, with such students, the job is halfway done already. The fact that these students gather in the same schools show that they only look for a prestigious school diploma (whatever the school or the diploma, it just has to look good). It also proves that schools that already let their academic standards down to accept these under par but prestigious students is ready to take other ones and because these princelings tend to live a secluded life with their peers wherever they are in the world. - "As far as I can see, in the long run, having these children understand well the U.S. and the West is of the greatest benefit to both the U.S./West and China Well, if you'd go to Australia by example, you'd see plenty of wealthy Chinese students living between each other and not excessively mingling with the locals. The princelings and the wealthy ones know they will go back home after graduation to keep enjoying their lives of privilege and know they don t need to adapt themselves to the society hosting them (it s not quite the case for the "normal" Chinese students who are more eager to make the most of their experience abroad). Has the author ever been to China or been in touch with Chinese culture? My response Hi Evelyne, Haven't been to China but I do like Chinese food. Now, let me address your other points. First, the Chinese friend I went to school with. I was with the friend in graduate school. The friend had come over a few years after the Cultural Revolution to go to a major university, graduating magna cum laude in international relations. Following graduation the friend worked successfully at a Fortune 500 company for two years before going to a top-tier graduate school. As far as I can see, graduate school admission was on merit, and here's why-the part of the story I didn't tell. My friend came to the U.S. after her family had been crushed in the Cultural Revolution. The friend's parents were not even rehabilitated by the CCP until the friend had graduated college. So much for the power of the family in getting into a good U.S. college. My friends decision to come to the U.S. was probably more to escape from all the friend had suffered at hands of the Chinese government and to make a new life. And, the friend did this through hard work. Oh, the loans and scholarships–I know how my friend's education was financed because much of it came from American friends of mine who felt more sympathy than the desire to gain advantage in a China still ravaged by the CR and facing an uncertain future, and from someone whose family was at the time of college in disgrace. Second, as for admittance to a top-tier school, I noted that if it is not on merit but on family status and influence then that is a problem. But, since you give Bo Xilai's son as an example, let me give one closer to my home. How do you suppose George W. Bush got into Yale, got mediocre grades, and then on to Harvard Business School? Merit? Top-tier U.S. universities are not just about academics but also being close to power. When I was at Harvard Business School, those of us who got in on what we assumed was merit (no family influence in that crowd) were at first resentful of our few fellow students whose admittance seemed certainly from the family route. But, after a time, most of saw the value to the school–and to us–in cultivating ties with those families. And, the kids were all fine if not always the best students. Finally, the benefit of the children of the elite understanding the U.S. and the west. I can't speak for the situation in Australia. But I know that I would be more comfortable if Xi Jingping had a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, whether he had been a good student or not, or gotten in because of family position or influence. In countries like China, you can't predict who are going to emerge as leaders. For China's foreseeable future, probably a good number will be princelings. I, for one, would like them to get as much exposure to and understanding of U.S. and western culture, politics, ways of thinking, and people, as possible, so that the ones who do rise to power, however unfairly, don't make policy or take actions toward the west based just on what they learned about us in China. Better for both sides. |
| Watch: Hennessy’s Online Ad Featuring Ultimate Frisbee Players In Beijing Posted: 23 May 2012 01:00 PM PDT
We spent 10 hours filming in a chilly underground parking garage off East Fourth Ring Road last month to produce the 30-second clip you see above (and after the jump, on Youku for those in China). We tossed around a regulation Discraft disc rigged with lights along the inside of the rim and in the middle. At one point, we played a mini game, a three on two within the confines of parking garage columns, and it was a damn miracle that none of us collided with the extras going back and forth on the skateboard and mountain bike. Goddamn skateboarders and mountain bicyclists, always ruining a game of Ultimate Frisbee. It's like Central Park pickup all over again. Related: Ultimate Frisbee on CCTV. |
| Is CCTV host Yang Rui an anti-Semite? Posted: 23 May 2012 01:37 PM PDT  Douchebag Chinglish talkshow host Yang Rui (杨锐) is the gift that keeps on giving. Last week, the CCTV News anchor shocked the world with anti-foreigner remarks so needlessly incendiary that even the Global Times had to tone it down by juxtaposing his diatribe against comments by critical Weibo users. Well, apparently he not only has a problem with foreigners -- the people he is supposed to have a Dialogue with -- he isn't a great fan of Jews either. [ more › ]  |
| The Sports-As-War Metaphor Will Never Shine Brighter Than In This Euro 2012 Ad Posted: 23 May 2012 10:22 AM PDT
The black spume of incendiary waste. The drifting snowflake relics of plaster and concrete. The mangled spine of a charred Eiffel Tower, and eviscerated high-rises, and a manmade earthquake rocking our cradle of rubble upon which humanity slinks toward a final reckoning. And that's only the first 10 seconds of Hong Kong-based NOW TV's advertisement for this summer's UEFA European Football Championships. Did I mention the only thing that stands tall is the Euro 2012 trophy, glittering with the light of what can only be thermal radiation — a nuclear flash? No, seriously. Here's what happens in the video: Two teams play in the finals of Euro 2012. Hong Kong singer Hacken Lee stands atop the stadium while Europe burns behind him: the Big Ben is tilted toward collapse; the Coliseum is smoldering; one team, in black (they're the baddies), advances with the soccer ball. They score. It's 1-0. Tanks fire shells and shredded flags flap amid flames. More kicking, more running, and hey, look, bombs are falling out of six-engine bombardiers and a mushroom cloud is rising from the stadium. Now here's a set play: the ball rockets past the goalkeeper into the upper right corner. It's 1-1! Everyone rejoices as a MechWarrior fires rockets, concussive shells and machine guns simultaneously. There's a lot of running, a lot of scud missiles being fired. Some dude — by which I mean soccer player — lies on the ground in pain. Where is the cutaway shot of Operation Fortitude commanders sitting behind desks, and women at switchboards? No matter. For some reason, ground troops are now on the pitch, getting obliterated by flaming soccer balls. A player jumps to head a ball already in the firm grasp of the goalkeeper. A player's eyes glow red. We're mixing metaphors now: it's Terminator time, then Two-Face time, then Transformers. (I swear to God I'm not making any of this up.) And then the music changes — an interlude — and shit happens. The Rainbow Road from Mario Kart 64 makes a cameo. Then the ground falls apart ala Heinz Field in Dark Knight Rises. Something out of Kill Bill. Another set piece. Woodwork! Like Messi's vs. Chelsea in the Champions League semis. Lions roar in the background as the ball eventually finds its way into the top-right corner for the good guys (the ones not in black) for a come-from-behind win. Sheesh. All that madness for just three goals? Cut to credits. @Zoo Music with adaption from The Russian Revolution (Red Army Choir) & Fantaisie-Impromptu (Frederic Francois Chopin), etc., etc. Here are the lyrics to the song, which I suppose I could've translated (or at least tried to), but the Google Translate version is so much better. Blasts a flame forehead streaming blood indeed. Battle grasslands (European Nations Cup theme song) Blasts a flame forehead streaming blood Blasts a flame forehead streaming blood 决战草原（欧洲国家杯主题曲） 怒射出火焰 额头流热血 怒射出火焰 额头流热血 |
| Posted: 23 May 2012 08:59 AM PDT  Monday morning's solar eclipse, as seen in China / XINHUA Thanks to all who took part in our decency test earlier today. Voting will stay open until basically forever, so feel free to vote more after these links. Infuriating, if this is the case. "When a drug enforcement officer arrested men involved in trafficking he had no idea it would spell the end of his career because they enjoyed official protection." [Caixin] Featuring a very graphic picture of two deaths. "Li Baolin and his wife Yu Shuyun had been pig farmers in Saertu District on the outskirts of the city of Daqing, Heilongjiang province. At 3 p.m. on May 15, several men came to their home and commanded a backhoe to demolish the walls in their backyard. They claimed that they were hired by Saertu District's city management bureau, commonly known as chengguan, to 'tear down whatever is there by all means.' Yu Shuyun knelt down to the group of people and begged. Soon after she heard the engine of the backhoe was started, Li Baolin, standing next to Yu Shuyun, was knock down by the dipper and crushed at the waist." [Ministry of Tofu] More on the Beijinger's Bar and Club Awards. "There's nothing like A FREE PISS-UP as a last hurrah for a condemned man, so it was fortuitous timing indeed that The BeijingerBar & Club Awards junket should fall this year on the weekend before I leave China. // Though I have railed often against the organization of this event, and raised doubts about the legitimacy of its polling (half the votes seem never to get counted because of glitches with the survey widget or failure of the second round of e-mail 'voting confirmation'), but on this occasion… the results seemed fairly credible… rational…. well-deserved (even if arrived at by dubious methods)." [Round-the-World Barstool Blues] "Kinsley gaffe." "The fact is, [Yang Rui's] not as great as he thinks he is, because dignified television hosts have enough self awareness not to let loose with xenophobic rants on social media. // Make no mistake, if Yang worked for another TV station in another market, he would almost certainly be fired. It's not just the rant – which was bad enough – but the fact it was targeted at foreigners who, I presume, are precisely his target audience and his pool of potential guests." [Zhongnanhai] For the record, Tom Fearon wrote on Weibo that he, like everyone, finds Dialogue unwatchable. "But the uproar generated since has been nonsense. Interestingly, it seems to have been overlooked that Yang doesn't denounce all foreigners as 'trash' or 'spies.' The other fallout of this saga is that it shows just how thin-skinned foreigners can be in China. // Let's face it, foreigners don't hesitate to complain about Chinese people or customs in public. They might not do it online in Chinese to an audience of millions, but unleashing expletives directed at locals in English is equally inexcusable." [Tom Fearon, Global Times] Only You — China's version of The Apprentice – causes contestant to faint. "A generation gap separates many netizens from the host and twelve judges, who appear to expect a good deal of deference from their applicants. Many children of the 80′s refuse to follow that protocol. Young Chinese tend to be more individualistic, but more importantly, with a labor force that is starting to shrink and rising wages, many feel they don't need to beg for jobs any more." [Tea Leaf Nation] A Good Samaritan is honored. "Catalan Josep Solà-Niubó has been honored in Changshu… after saving the life of a 2-year-old boy. He and another man, a young Chinese named Tang Shanlu, heard the mother's boy scream and saw the baby floating face down in a pond. Tang Shanlu rescued the baby from the pond and Josep Solà-Niubó, who knows how to perform first aid, immediately began giving the boy cardiopulmonary resuscitation." [Sinalunya] Lesson here: working "illegally" is difficult. "On May 17th, the United States Department of State sent out a policy directive to American universities sponsoring Confucius Institutes. It states that Chinese academics teaching grade-school levels at institutions without the proper accreditation are violating the terms of their visas and must leave the country at the end of the current term." [Michael Ardaiolo, Shanghaiist] Three-year-old cycling dangerously through traffic interlude (don't worry, the ending is happy): Finally… Animated Yang Rui. [NMA] Jerome Cohen on New York radio talks about Chen Guangcheng. [The Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC] If Shanghai signs Champions League finals hero Didier Drogba, will Nicolas Anelka leave team? [Shanghaiist] |
| Matchmaking for Chinese multimillionaires is demanding and secretive Posted: 22 May 2012 09:40 AM PDT On May 20, an exclusive club for single Chinese business tycoons held a selection meeting in a hotel in Guangzhou for its members who look for ideal dates. 320 women pre-selected from a pool of 2,800 applicants came to the meeting titled "Global Beauty Contest," vying for a chance to marry into a rich and powerful family. One business tycoon with a net worth of more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.59 billion) even offered a cash reward of 50,000 yuan (US$7,936) to anyone that recommends an ideal girlfriend, who must be a virgin, if the first date goes well. At the meeting, a man who claimed to be the organizer said that the process aims to "find high-caliber mothers of the second generation of the rich" and spouses "who will be managing immense wealth." As if he did not make his point clear, he added, "Finding a suitable wife is much more important to a businessman than to an ordinary people." (Read: Among the 11 business magnates who are seeking mates, one owns personal assets of more than 10 billion, whereas the other ten each have an average of 360 million yuan. None of them showed up at the meeting. They all entrusted the right of cherry-picking their women to a special panel of judges they hired for the occasion. Only staff from the organizer and candidates are at the meeting. All multimillionaires are absent. The mustachioed and bespectacled man is a physiognomist and astrologist hired to assess candidates through face-reading and horoscope. It is said that the matchmaking event for millionaires will be held in ten cities in China. Guangzhou, the first leg of the matchmaking tour, has seen more than 2,800 applicants aged anywhere between 19 and 56, even though millionaires have set the age limit at 28. In addition to pretty women from Guangzhou, some came all the way from Australia and Singapore. There is no surprise that the millionaires' wants are very high maintenance. The basic criteria that applicants must meet: Age: 18 to 28; height: 160 cm to 175 cm (5'3 to 5'9); college graduate; good looking. Each one of them also has their own set of standards. The richest billionaire has an extremely long and specific list, which requires that his date weigh below 50 kg (110 lbs) and be a virgin. But he has deliberately kept his profile content ambiguous: divorced, younger than 50, personal wealth 10 billion yuan, well-known entrepreneur in China, golf lover, strong physique. No photo or real name is provided. Most candidates said they understand and accept the requirement of virginity. Only one said "If one needs to be examined for it, it is a little insulting." Another candidate noted frankly that patching up hymen to fake virginity is quite easy, which renders this requirement meaningless. (Read: Prostitution ring makes 13-year-old fake virginity with pigeon's blood.) Eliminations proceed in five rounds. In the first round, everyone is examined by a cosmetic surgeon for their outer appearance, and more important, to make sure their beauty is natural rather than a product of some type of enhancement. Then comes the couch, where a psychological expert judges their personality and EQ through tests. In the third round, a physiognomist/astrologist determines if a candidate's facial features and horoscope are compatible with the millionaires' and thus conducive to the enterprise. Next, candidates are tested on their education and general knowledge by a scholar with appearances on TV shows. In the final round, a love coach talks to each candidate to evaluate if she is fit to marry into a rich family and if she is sincere. (Watch: Video: "Man without money is trash. Marriage is a colossal-sum transaction.) Candidates are waiting to be questioned and examined by a panel of judges. The organizer maintained that in order to respect client confidentiality, personal information of the mysterious 11 business magnates is withheld from the candidates. What is known is that the 11 multimillionaires come from backgrounds in a variety of industries, including the apparel industry, real estate, the hotel industry, the financial sector and restaurant industry. It is said that one must amass a personal fortune of at least 100 million (US$15.87 million) to become a member of the elite, powerful and secret club. The person in charge takes pride in the service and its significance, "Finding a suitable wife is much more important to a businessman than to an ordinary people. Because 80 percent of the society's wealth is kept in hand by 20 percent of people, an unstable marriage of a prominent businessman brings about much more harm, for example, that of keeping multiple mistresses." He also attributed the flamboyant, licentious lifestyle of the second generation of the rich to businessmen's lack of time to educate their children. According to the organizer, they will select 28 from these candidates and host a 2-day stylish luxurious party at a five-star hotel in mid June for the 28 lucky women and the 11 multimillionaires. All candidates interviewed by the reporter spoke on condition of anonymity. One said she did not know ahead of time that this meeting is arranged for wealthy people and thought it was only an ordinary blind date party. When asked if she minds dating a much older man, she said, she'd be lying if she said she loves a 50-year-old rich man, because obviously it is his money that she is attracted to. Many candidates said their pursuit of a better life is for the sake of both their parents and their future children, and that they don't think this notion is a worship of money. Miss Chen said she does not mind marrying a man with potential, but it is still very risky to bet on his potential. So she has chosen the shortcut. In her opinion, a successful businessman must have extraordinary merits and be very mature, which makes him a reliable husband. (Read: Material greed of Chinese women turns Chinese men off; Western women become popular.) However, it turns out that these girls who boast college degrees are not necessarily well informed and knowledgeable. Many could not answer questions like "The Statue of Liberty is a gift from which country" and "Pagoda is a structure representative of which religion." One woman who earned two master's degree abroad knew little about Du Fu's poems. She argued, "I was sent abroad to study as early as in high school." To please this particular billionaire, the organizer has placed down a hefty cash reward for "headhunters." They claim, "If you know any girl that meets the criteria, please recommend her to 'Single Chinese Businessmen Club'. If the girl you recommend goes out with this gentleman, you will get 50,000 yuan in cash or a gift of the same value. If the girl starts a smooth relationship with this gentleman, you can get a real estate property worth three million." This may attract a horde of bounty hunters. Many told the reporter that "It is a good opportunity. Worth a try." Nevertheless, one man on the street said, "I just don't know if I will be sending her to Heaven or Hell." Selected comments from NetEase
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| Will Chinese Companies Ever Be “International?” Posted: 23 May 2012 07:32 AM PDT This question has frequently been posed to me by two ethnic Chinese friends of mine who work/worked for massive "international" Chinese companies and one American friend who works/worked at a massive "international" Chinese company. All three of these friends have lived in the United States for around twenty years and three of them are eminently capable businesspeople who could easily get high level jobs at American companies or have already done so. All three are completely fluent in both Chinese and in English and all three of them have excellent understandings of the business cultures of both the United States and China. All three joined large Chinese companies to assist those companies in conquering the American market. The three companies for which these three worked are amazingly different in terms of their products/services. My conversations with these three people have been completely independent in that the other two were not present. To better hide identities, I am turning these three people into a composite. Okay, so here are the comments and musings I have been hearing, with at least 100 expletives removed, and camouflaged a lot:
Does the above jibe with what you are seeing out there? Are there Chinese companies that operate internationally in a way like Proctor & Gamble or Caterpillar or McDonalds or Mercedes Benz or Siemens or Samsung or Nestle operate internationally? Haier? Lenovo? What, if anything, needs to change? Will it change? What about Dalian Wanda's purchase of AMC? How do you see that going? You tell me…          |
| Watch: 3-yr-old boy on toy bike survives heavy traffic in Wenzhou Posted: 23 May 2012 07:20 AM PDT Via Russia Today: "Surveillance camera captured images of a three year old boy riding his toy scooter at a rush hour on a busy road in the city of Wenzhou in Eastern China. After narrowly avoiding being crushed by several vehicles, the boy was spotted by a policeman who reacted quickly and whisked him to safety. Apparently he was in the care of his grandfather, who had gone to the toilet at the time of the incident. The policeman brought the boy back to his grandfather who had rushed out to find him." [ more › ]  |
| OK now for foreigners to handle state secrets Posted: 23 May 2012 04:56 AM PDT  Our good friend Yang Rui will probably not like to hear this but a draft guideline being proposed by the State Council that will seek the OK for foreigners to legally work in posts involving China's state secrets. They will, however, first have to be approved by central or local government agencies. [ more › ]  |
| China And Google Put Aside Politics For Android Business Posted: 23 May 2012 04:14 AM PDT  BEIJING, CHINA - MARCH 23: Google's fans light the candles on the Google logo at its China headquarters building on March 23, 2010 in Beijing, China. Google has closed its Chinese-language search engine Google. cn by redirecting visitors to its servers in Hong Kong. (Image credit: Getty Images AsiaPac via @daylife) Keep Android free for another five years–that's what Beijing required of Google before antitrust authorities were willing to give the go-ahead for the Internet search giant's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Although U.S. and European regulators had already given their blessing to the deal, China had been dragging its feet, and it's no wonder. Beijing needs to secure the future of its booming smartphone industry. In a written announcement posted over the weekend, China's Ministry of Commerce said it approved the acquisition on the "additional restrictive condition" that Google would continue to make Android, its mobile-device operating system, gratis and accessible to all device makers without discrimination. China overtook the U.S. to become the world's largest market for smartphones in the first quarter, according to research firm Canalys, and it's a market dominated by Android. China's Ministry of Commerce said almost 74% of the country's mobile devices use Google's Linux-based operating system. Chinese mobile device makers, like Huawei and ZTE, have been growing rapidly in a market that still appears to have lots of upside potential. Although Huawei only started its smartphone business in 2010, it already holds a global market share of 4% and roughly 20% of China's total sales. The company shipped 20 million smartphones last year and expects to increase their tally to 60 million in 2012. Meanwhile, Xiaomi, another Chinese phone maker, has been successful selling its cheap but fashionable Android phones at the low-end of the market serving the country's youth consumers. And it's not just the telecom players, even tech firms like Baidu are trying to stake a claim to the market. The Chinese search engine just launched the Changhong H5018, a customized smartphone also based on the Android system. Though Beijing's policymakers may still have fresh memories of Google's "betrayal" two years ago when it defied their censorship requirement, this time the issue is purely economic. China's smartphone manufacturers are vulnerable to the possible withdraw of Google's Android, and the current agreement, at least, will give the industry a solid foundation for the next half decade. What will happen after that is still anyone's guess, but five years indeed is a life time in the world of technology. |
| Eco-isles: from game to reality Posted: 22 May 2012 11:49 PM PDT First appearing in a 1991 computer activity to encourage children to save an imaginary land from environmental doom, renewable-energy eco-islands now are being developed in the real world. Pilita Clark reports. When David Green gets up in the morning, the first thing he does is check the sky. If it is sunny, he likes to nip outside and charge his electric car, or put on a load of washing. |
| Midweek Music Preview: Joss Stone, Xi Ming, China Britrock Beats Posted: 23 May 2012 04:00 AM PDT  Midweek Music Preview is a weekly rundown of the events happening across stages all over Shanghai. On the docket this week: We've got the famous Joss Stone performng, probably barefoot, at Shanghai Grand Stage, Bigong Bijing doing their thing at DClub, a Chinese folk artist at Live Bar, and China Britrocks returning to Yuyintang. There's a bit for everyone, so check it out! And if that's still not enough, head over to our calendar for more. [ more › ]  |
| Chinese government plans to use guns and rocket launchers to make it rain Posted: 23 May 2012 03:30 AM PDT  The vagaries of nature be damned! The Chinese government has green-lighted plans to develop rainmaking technology during the next three to five years that would literally make it rain whenever they feel like the ol' crops need a little watering. Part of the plans include using 7000 rocket launchers, at least 50 planes and nearly 7000 guns to launch silver iodide into the clouds to boost the probability of rainfall. [ more › ]  |
| Video of the Week: Comedian Joe Wong Performs on David Letterman Posted: 23 May 2012 02:59 AM PDT Date: May 23rd 2012 2:03p.m. Contributed by: clairebared Joe Wong, the self proclaimed "All-American Immigrant", performed stand up on David Letterman. This guy is not afraid to poke fun of China. Check it out below. |
| Posted: 23 May 2012 02:04 AM PDT
1. 女童下体被放芸豆 nǚtóng xiàtǐ bèi fàng yúndòu – Recently in Yangpu district, Shanghai, a female kindergarten teacher utilized a very twisted form of punishment when she inserted a kidney bean into the nether regions of one of her female students. The teacher, at the school for only a semester, had come across to colleagues as an otherwise good-natured and mild-mannered person. The parents of the student, the school administration, the police, and Shanghai's department of education are all in the midst of figuring out how to deal with the surreal incident. Here's the story in Chinese. 2. 女县长被劫持 nǚ xiànzhǎng bèi jiéchí – On the morning of May 21st, a local female government official in Yunhe, Zhejiang province was kidnapped at a city traffic intersection, and rescued by a SWAT team 12 hours later. With the suspect now behind bars, his vengeful motivations for taking her hostage have now come to light: the municipal government is planning to build a public toilet directly across from the front door of his home. Articles are now referring to the incident as "Public Toilet-Induced Kidnapping." Here's the story in Chinese. 3. 少女裸身死于出租屋 shàonǚ luǒshēn sǐyú chūzūwū – In Baiyun district, Guangzhou province, the naked, dead body of a seventeen year-old girl was found yesterday discarded underneath the bed of her rented room. It is suspected that the girl was strangled to death by her killer. Here's the story in Chinese. 4. 溧阳地震 Lìyáng dìzhèn – A 2.5 magnitude earthquake struck Liyang, Jiangsu province yesterday, with tremors felt in Nanjing. Here's the story in Chinese. 5. 中国梅西 Zhōngguó méixī – The Chinese internet, home to countless adoring fans of Argentine footballer (or soccer player) Lionel Messi, is now exploding with news of "China's own Messi": a boy-wonder soccer prodigy from Qingdao whose brilliant footwork has caught the eye of the Chinese news media. The 12 year-old boy apparently "first touched" a soccer ball when he was 10, and is already tearing it up on the field. Here's the story in Chinese. 6. 最美抗癌女孩 zuì měi kàng'ái nǚhái - "The Most Beautiful Cancer Warrior": On May 19th, a Weibo user by the name of "Homework Notebook" posted information about a beautiful girl from Shandong named Lu Ruoqing who is currently battling acute myelogenous leukemia. The user encouraged netizens to post notes of encouragement and love on Lu Ruoqing's Weibo, and soon her fans increased from 200 to 300,000 as more and more netizens visited the page to wish her well. Recently, doubt that Lu was a fictional character began to take root, and then sprouted fully when one reporter disclosed that he had visited Lu's purported hospital, and discovered that no one fitting her description had been accepted for treatment. However, it has now been confirmed that while "Lu Ruoqing" is not the girl's real name, and is rather an alias to protect her from undesired attention, she is indeed a real person, now distraught over mistreatment at the hands of untrusting netizens, and has been admitted to a Beijing hospital for treatment. Here's the story in Chinese. 7. 地沟油检测法 dìgōu yóu jiǎncèfǎ – "Illegal Cooking Oil Detection": As the "gutter oil" (cooking oil made from discarded kitchen waste or other unsanitary, unapproved substances) food-safety crisis rapidly unfolds, China's Department of Sanitation is developing and implementing a range of testing methods for weeding out the toxic demon grease, including ways in which consumers can identify it on the spot. Here's the story in Chinese. 8. 无线被强奸女星 Wúxiàn bèi qiángjiān nǚxīng – 32-year-old Hong Kong musician Lee Ming Ho has been arrested on allegations of rape. The victim, whose identity has been kept anonymous for privacy reasons, is reportedly an actress for Hong Kong television station TVB. Here's the story in Chinese. 9. 潮州爆炸 Cháozhōu bàozhà – Yesterday at around noon in Chaozhou, Guangdong province, a six-wheeler transporting several large canisters of gas exploded at a traffic light at the intersection of Chaofeng Road and Chaozhou Avenue. According to news reports, there were no casualties, and only the driver of the truck, now being treated in the hospital, was injured. The fire was put out by 52 firefighters dispatched in 7 fire trucks, and regular traffic resumed within an hour. A lucky progression of events, all things considered, but there are still no details as to why it happened in the first place—though the municipal government has promised to further educate citizens about the dangers of transporting inflammable chemicals. Here's the story in Chinese. 10. 兄妹隐居深山20余年 xiōngmèi yǐnjū shēnshān 20yú nián – A brother-sister pair in Shandong have spent the past twenty or so years living in complete isolation on a Jinan mountain-top. The sister, the younger of the two, has developed a disease in her hands that, after going on for so long, has deformed them such that they have taken on the shape of bird claws and left her unable to use them. The hermit siblings are now garnering media attention, as they have finally solicited the help of a doctor to diagnose the sister's ailment. Here's the story in Chinese.        |
| Photoshopped photo appears on Hangzhou Yuhang district government website Posted: 19 May 2012 04:11 PM PDT May 19th, 2012 by Key | Posted in News | 1 Comment » From Sina: Recently, Netizens found another "floating photo" (photoshopped photo) on Zhenjiang province, Hangzhou City, Yuhang district government official website. In this photo which describes, "Nanhu beach park's landscape optimization project has been completed", five men were obviously Photoshopped into the background. Netizens made fun: "leaders are surely not ordinary people", they "operate like gods." The photo is from an article on the Hangzhou City, Yuhang District government official website published on May 9, 2012. The article said, "May 8, Hangzhou Nanhu Construction and Development Company invited the Beach Park optimization project construction company and its supervision unit, also forestry landscaping company and other units for handing off and transferring the construction project." The original photo Many curious netizens found the photo: five men standing on the corridor, or on grass, but they looked like they are just floating on the background. "The government website editor's photoshop technique sucks so bad!" Netizens said angrily. In fact, this is not the first time netizens found "floating photo". In June last year Sichuan Province, Liangshan Autonomous Huili county government website posted a report titled "High standard construction, Huili County highway through rural area". The photo for the article had three government officials "floating" on the highway, the caption said "several government leaders are inspecting the newly built highway." netizens then had their fun with this Later Huili county propaganda department staff acknowledged that the photo is indeed photoshopped and also removed it from the website. May 18, Yuhang District government website published a letter of apology, saying "improper operation" caused uploaded picture with serious error" and sincerely apologize to the netizens. Tags: Fake, Funny, Governement Official, Internet, Internet meme, kuso, photoshop, PS, Scandal  |
| Dish of the Day: Mantis shrimp @ Yunzhong Restaurant Posted: 23 May 2012 02:00 AM PDT  Amidst too many Shanghai dives offering an overpriced array of dismal seafood - flaccid geoduck clams, that grouper that's been captive so long it's sprouting a beard - there stands a beacon of hope: the Tongchuan Road Seafood Market. Journey here and save cash on squirtingly-fresh bivalves, rainbow-hued lobsters, and perhaps the best bang for your buck, mantis shrimp. [ more › ] |
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