Friday Links: “Spark” for Tibetans who set themselves on fire, doomsday stories, and penguin eats its (holy crap!) own young

Spelling with People’s Daily characteristics

Sigh. The headline reads: “‘Spark’ for Tibetan self-immolation unwilling to do the same.” “Lorang Konchok smiled and greeted a police officer he met in a detention house in Aba, a Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture of southwest China’s Sichuan Province. // It’s hard to imagine that such a humble monk is a murderer.” (Xinhua)

Doomsday cult stories:

What’s with the Chinese Mayan-Doomsday Cult? (Evan Osnos, The New Yorker)

Cadres and Evangelists. (Sinostand)

“UN denies selling China apocalypse ark tickets.” (AFP)

Corruption does not discriminate by gender. “A dozen women cadres have expanded the envelope for official corruption on the mainland, becoming entangled in a scandal that involved accepting prepaid cards for spa treatments and hairdressing.” (SCMP)

Penguin eats its own young in Heilongjiang zoo interlude, via Guardian via Shanghaiist:

Finally…

Lots of parties tonight and this weekend, Beijingers. (the Beijinger)

Infographic comparing China’s and America’s rich. (Tea Leaf Nation)

“Teenage abortion in China.” (Ministry of Tofu)

China’s obsession with cars. (The Guardian)

Finally, finally…

"Do you have a gun?" is the new China taxi driver "Are you scared of black people?" question when you say "I'm American." #progress

— Abe Sauer (@abesauer) December 17, 2012

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