Links » Crème » Top Ten Search List (June 21)
Links » Crème » 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.        |
| 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. |
| Today’s China Readings June 21, 2012 Posted: 20 Jun 2012 05:51 PM PDT The best way to read this blog is to subscribe by email, especially if you are in China, as Sinocism is still blocked here. The email signup page is here, outside the GFW. You can also follow me on @niubi or Sina Weibo @billbishop. Comments/tips/suggestions/donations are welcome, and feel free to forward to recommend to friends. Thanks for reading. Abolishing the Hukou system might help but it will not be enough. Some parents leave their kids in the villages because they want to work longer hours and make and save more money. Unfortunately, serious Hukou reform is unlikely, especially for tier 1 cities, as most urban resources are already overtaxed and prejudices towards rural Chinese remain ingrained in society. I discussed some of these issues in last year's Are You Willing To Send Your Child To The Same School As The Children Of Vegetable And Rice Sellers? Mengniu has a history of food safety problems, but Denmark's Arla Foods thinks there is great potential for the firm, having just spent $283 million for a 6% stake in the company. The seller? Fang Fenglei's Chinese private-equity fund Hopu Investment Management, very smart money. Will the Arla executives feed their children Mengniu products? Caixin looks at the systemic issues in China's food industry in China's Food Fright. "Caixin has found that these publicized food safety scandals represent only a fraction of unsafe food production practices. Hundreds of chemical food additives are pumped into products that Chinese people consume every day." "The Chinese arms of all of the Big Four audit firms have been asked by U.S. regulators to turn over documents related to audits of China-based companies that are listed in the United States, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday…The formal requests made by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission raise the stakes in a standoff between U.S. authorities, the companies and Chinese officials over access to the auditors' work papers." "Without resolution, the only meaningful option for the SEC, and the PCAOB, is for the PCAOB to deregister the firms and for the SEC to ban them from practice before the SEC…The consequence of those actions would be that U.S. listed Chinese companies would be without auditors and unable to find them. Having an auditor is a listing requirement of the exchanges, so under exchange rules the companies face delisting. The U.S. listed Chinese companies would be unable to file financial statements as required. That should lead the SEC to eventually deregister the companies with the SEC." Not that the cold IPO market needs any more chilling, but how can the SEC responsibly approve any IPO applications by Chinese firms until this issue is resolved? China's securities regulator has proposed rules that will ease restrictions and broaden market access for foreign institutional investors, marking the latest effort to liberalize the country's financial sector. already backfiring on some. know of a few rich chinese who have been screwed by big banks' products, vow to never buy structured products from western banks again. some of the big banks have already done significant reputational damage to themselves. The Philippines will send ships back to Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal if Chinese vessels remain in the area, President Aquino said Wednesday. People's Daily on Xi Jinping's remarks about strengthening Party in higher education institutions Publication and launch event for Qiao Shi's new book makes page 4 of today's People's Daily Nice people's daily front page pic of Hu and Obama 【多维新闻】随着中共十八大的临近，各类准备工作也开始步入正轨。中共党报《人民日报》继发表肃清精致利己主义和狭隘极端主义的系列文章后，再度以"时代需要怎样的价值"为主题发表肃清形式主义的文章。截止多维记者发稿前，该报已围绕"主义风"连发三炮，此举也被外界解读为替十八大做好舆论层面的铺垫。 National Film Capital Co Ltd, the government-backed entertainment firm, has revealed plans to invest $300 million in 10 English-language movies, one of which will star a Chinese superhero being dubbed Ming: The Annihilator, the creation of iconic Spider-Man and Incredible Hulk creator Stan Lee. Sinopec, the Chinese oil and gas group, is considering bidding for billions of dollars worth of assets owned by Chesapeake Energy, the US gas producer. CCTV: a quick recovery in housing prices will be a lost opportunity to bring property prices back to a reasonable level President Barack Obama "bows" and "scrapes" to America's Chinese "enemy," House Science Committee Chairman Ralph Hall said Wednesday. China on Wednesday said there was no truth to an Iranian media report about a joint military drill involving China, Russia, Syria and Iran. is Zhang Weiying a party member? is this one of the reasons he was replaced as dean of peking u guanghua school of management?// The Yellow River has been plagued by an increasing amount of mud and sand. Each year, the river bed rises as silt deposits build up, slowing the water flow in the lower reaches. The Xiaolangdi Reservoir in the middle reach of the Yellow River has experienced sand-washing operation for 13 times since 2002 and succeeded in clearing out the silt deposits at the dam and washing 762 million metric tons of mud and sand into the sea. Mengniu admits web reports of contamination and chaos at one of its ice cream factories are true. Part of a nearly completed bridge collapsed in the northeast province of Liaoning late on Monday afternoon, and the local government said worker negligence was to blame, as construction procedures had not been properly followed A Russian court on Wednesday convicted two professors of a St.Petersburg university of handing over missile secrets to China, the latest in a string of espionage cases that reflected underlying tensions between Moscow and Beijing despite declarations of cooperation and friendship. Cambodia has warned it will not extradite a French architect, who is linked to the alleged killer of Neil Heywood, without evidence from China. If Greece goes, almost everyone will suffer. But as China slows, the impact is likely to be more mixed. Only for some will it spell the end of their magic moment. "The Prince of Wales and the Dalai Lama greeted each other like old friends when the two men met for the first time in four years, although the Tibetan spiritual leader did insist on holding hands." wage increase expectations in China are high and getting higher. Not a good sign for inflation fighters, but good sign for consumption Because of the unpaid debt to Chinese suppliers, and citing Fleischli's status as NorthPole's legal representative in China, a court in Xiamen ordered Fleischli detained, Margo said. Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said on Wednesday resuming talks with China on his homeland's future was futile unless it adopted a "realistic" stance, adding it was useless trying to convince Beijing he was not seeking full independence… real republicans don't join brookings china could use a summer of love Slower growth in China and tough markets in Europe and the United States prompted Procter & Gamble (PG.N), the world's largest household product maker, to cut its growth forecasts on Wednesday in the midst of a $10 billion cost-cutting program. It's the law of the jungle in the food safety industry – with hidden poisons now including new growth hormones Chinese demand for gold isn't letting up following a strong first quarter that saw demand reach record levels from Asia's biggest economy, offsetting weakening appetite in India. Ai Weiwei, the Chinese dissident artist, accused authorities Wednesday of blocking him from attending a hearing on his lawsuit against the Beijing tax bureau. He also said that police had detained his legal adviser. 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 This ambitious effort to gain friends and influence – building its so-called soft power – has targeted students first and foremost, in partnerships with universities and colleges to open language and culture schools called Confucius Institutes. Since 2004, more than 300 Beijing-financed institutes have popped up all over the world, including a dozen in Canada. qiao shi appears in beijing at launch of his new book "on democracy and rule of law" 《论民主与法制》 June 20 — The average home transaction price in Beijing for the first half of June rose five percent from a month ago, while transaction volume increased nine percent, reports cnstock.com. The US State Department released their annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report today (June 19th 2012) and once again Japan was ranked as a 2nd tier nation. It barely escaped being placed on the watch-list for a 2nd time, according to some sources. "Restrictions on purchases should be relaxed for high-end residential properties in first-tier cities," the newspaper cited the proposal as saying. n this, the latest entry in a semi-regular series on China, we find images of tremendous variety, including astronauts, nomadic herders, replica European villages, pole dancers, RV enthusiasts, traditional farmers, and inventors. This collection is only a small view of the people and places in China over the past several weeks. [47 photos] China's vast reserves near Inner Mongolia can be mined for $25 a ton. But by the time it travels by rail across North China, then by sea to southern coastal cities, the cost rises to more than $125 a ton…. China is allowing more companies to trade bonds and increasing scrutiny over issuers as the government seeks to ensure that the expansion of its nascent debt market isn't derailed by defaults. censorship load to increase exponentially// big corruption investigation in guangdong. caixin has reported 2, duowei has more. bad 4 wang yang? or is wang yang running the corruption investigation,getting ahead of what some think is big anti-corruption campaign about 2 come from beijing?// can't imagine boxun has the resources to fight this.// Today's guest speaker is Admiral Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations. Below are his opening remarks at the Brookings Institution Air-Sea Battle Doctrine on May 16, 2012 China has upgraded electronic satellite receptors at a site in southeastern Fujian province which lies across the strait from Taiwan, according to images taken by new commercial satellites, a US weekly reported Monday. The professor's synthesis, or conclusion, was that "an imminent correction to China's economy will create promising opportunities in dynamic new sectors," including agriculture, logistics, retail, consumer brands, and health care… The best way to read this blog is to subscribe by email, especially if you are in China, as Sinocism is still blocked here. The email signup page is here, outside the GFW. You can also follow me on @niubi or Sina Weibo @billbishop. Comments/tips/suggestions/donations are welcome, and feel free to forward to recommend to friends. Thanks for reading. No related posts. |
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