On this, the day after the government turned off central heating in Beijing to ensure that it will be miserable indoors for the next two weeks, links.
Stephen Marbury: “Best feeling I’ve ever had playing basketball.” “Chinese basketball has come a long way. Even in the three years I’ve been closely following it, the overall level of play and the individual play have all improved dramatically. But one thing that still needs work: Finishing lay-ups at the rim.” [Jon Pastuszek, NiuBBall]
Jonathan Campbell, author of Red Rock: The Long, Strange March of Chinese Rock & Roll: “There’s a reason that in this book I use the word yaogun to describe the subject. I want this word introduced into the English lexicon because of its significant difference from rock and roll. Yaogun is a product of the journey that China has taken over the last four-ish decades, and because of that there’s no way it could be like rock and roll: It’s not just a version of rock and roll that is created in China, it’s a different thing altogether.” [Asia Society]
Those goddamn pandas. “China’s national treasure, the giant panda, will become even more precious if one businessman succeeds in using their dung to grow organic green tea he intends to sell for over $200 a cup.” [Reuters via Yahoo]
A glimpse at the life of a Beijing nightlife blogger: Beijing Boyce on the restaurant/bar Mao Mao Chong:
January 27: “Look for it to reopen on March 2.”
March 1: “Mao Mao Chong are taking a bit longer than expected thus the re-launch date for this cocktail and pizza joint has been pushed to March 16…”
March 13: “Mao Mao Chong is looking at officially relaunching at 3 PM on Sunday.”
March 19: “Word is Mao Mao Chong will open on Friday. Yes, I know, I have already passed on several opening dates but this time I am really, really, really pretty much certain.”
What reading the People’s Daily can reveal: “What many people are not aware of is that within the paper there is a great deal of latitude given to each author and each department. It is not uncommon for there to be contradictory headlines appearing within a day of each other. For example: ‘China to reduce rare earth export quotas’ published Oct. 19, 2010 followed by ‘China denies reports of rare earth export quota cut’ on Oct. 20, 2010. Both used quotes from the Ministry of Commerce and appeared prominently on the front page of the People’s Daily’s website. These contradictions show a clear lack of gov’t oversight, and that the editors are sometimes left guessing where the Party line is.” [Seeing Red in China]
You over-acted movie interlude:
Finally…
Adam Minter writes about carp. [Bloomberg]
Director Jia Zhangke (he’s a good one) to start an art house. [Jing Daily]
Inmates hunched over needlework: [Ministry of Tofu]
Chinese treats hurting American dogs? [ABC News]
