Yesterday, on a hot and windy day at Shiniuzhai Scenic Resort in Pingjiang, Hunan province, Aisikaier, a sixth-generation Xinjiang tightrope walker of the "Dawa Zi" (Uyghur-style high wire) attempted to break a world record by walking 700 meters on a tightrope strung 250 meters above ground at its highest point. Because doing this like a normal acrobat would have been too easy -- he's a Dawa Zi, remember -- Aisikaier chose to do it backwards, blindfolded, and without a harness.
At one point in this preview, 100-year-old Aussie Dorothy DeLow is interviewed in English by someone who sounds Chinese. "Why are you participating in this competition?" comes the question. DeLow grunts. “You're so old!" the questioner adds.
Without missing a beat, Dot replies, "I'm not that old."
Yesterday in northern Taiwan's Hsinchu, a bus carrying 40 people tipped over on a highway, reason unknown, and according to Xinhua injured all but one person. The driver, a local, died when he was crushed underneath the bus. One of the tour guides was Taiwanese, but all others were from Harbin, Heilongjiang province.
What happens when you’re a socialist Chinese blowhard and you get your ass handed to you by a girl after challenging her to fisticuffs in a Beijing park?
You tell everyone you won, of course.
In one of those weird "This is China" moments, while the rest of Beijing came to a grinding halt over some light rain at 1 pm on Friday, a whole bunch of Web users and bloggers – all of whom were carrying at least four or five umbrellas apiece – convened at the south gate of Chaoyang Park for a Grumble in Das Jungle.
Yesterday, we posted about a pair of security guards who died while fighting off a mentally unstable man who charged into Guizhou Normal University brandishing a 70-centimeter knife. In our embedded video, a newscast via Sina, there was a clip taken by someone in a car showing a security guard getting stabbed. That part prompted someone to reply on Twitter, "How can a human being sit in a car and film w/o helping? Especially while he watched three people get stabbed. Unbelievable."
By RFH Reuters’s anonymous sources (reliable, surely) may tell us that the upcoming 18th Party Congress – aka Xi Jingping’s coronation – will be delayed, but our reading of the tea leaves yields a different conclusion. If you can’t afford to visit North Korea this summer (where a long weekend with a tour group can cost a couple-thousand... Read more »
Today (by which I mean Friday) marks the official premiere of director Yung Chang's documentary China Heavyweight in New York. Far be it from me to tell you New Yorkers how to spend your Friday evening, but this movie looks like it's worth your time. (There are two more showings today at IFC Center, at 7:25 pm and 9:40 pm.) It's by the same company that made Last Train Home (though not the same director), a film that I've seen no fewer than four times while writing a 40-page amanuensis
This picture appeared on the forum tt.mop on Wednesday without much information other than “maybe” the setting is Chongqing. Bravo to whoever did this though — identify yourself and collect your praise. For you young’uns who don’t know, this is Zuma. I’m sure you’re able to use your Interneting prowess to find a free version of... Read more »
