Xiong Chaozhong (Zhao Zhong) Captures China’s First Professional Boxing Title

Xiong Chaozhong (Zhao Zhong) featured image
Xiong Chaozhong (his name is rendered as Xiong Chao Zhong in many media outlets) won his country its first pro boxing title on Saturday night when he beat Mexico's Javier Martinez Resendez in a unanimous 12-round decision (119-110, 116-112, 116-114) to capture the vacant WBC minimumweight title (105 lbs/48 kg). A Yunnan native -- ethnic Miao, to be precise -- the 4-foot-10-and-a-half-inch (1.49-meter) Xiong was fighting on his home province in Kunming at the Kunming Municipal Gymnasium.

Was Gilbert Arenas Injured Due To Insufficient Warm-up? (Also, Here’s All 6 Minutes, 10 Seconds He Played)

Was Gilbert Arenas Injured Due To Insufficient Warm-up
Saturday night’s CBA season opener brought out the stars. The world’s best badminton player, Lin Dan, and probably best female diver, Wu Minxia, were in attendance. Li Ning threw the ceremonial jump ball. Shanghai Sharks owner Yao Ming was in the stands. But the biggest attraction was on the floor, in the form of former Dream Teamers Stephon Marbury and Gilbert Arenas — two of only three Team USA Basketball players to compete in the CBA — who were expected to duel deep into the game.

Boobs And Crystal Cars At The Guangzhou Auto Show

Crystal car
Chinese auto shows are special, able to launch a model’s career in much the same way that American Idol launches pop careers, but when scantily-clad adults are too passe and scantily-clad five-year-olds are too controversial, what does an organizer do? In Guangdong province, where the 10th Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition opened on Friday (extended from seven to 10 days),... Read more »

The New York Times On Wen Jiabao’s Family Fortunes, Part Two

Wen Jiabao in NYT, part 2
They're already blocked, so fuck it, right? The New York Times has continued to delve into Wen Jiabao's "hidden family fortunes," following up on its original blockbuster that got the website blocked on the mainland. In "Lobbying, a Windfall and a Leader’s Family," David Barbosa and co. report that Wen Jiabao was directly responsible for keeping the company from breaking up. In 1999...

Here’s The 18-Year-Old Who Got A Party Boss Fired, And Of Course Bo Xilai And Wang Lijun Are Involved, Because Chongqing

Zhao Hongxia 2
The Chongqing sex scandal is getting very, very interesting. Whatever intrigue was already inherent in a scandal involving a high-ranking Party official and his mistress, raise it to the power of Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai. Let’s start here: The femme fatale has been identified as Zhao Hongxi, who was 18 years old in February 2007... Read more »

Elton John Dedicated Tonight’s Concert In Beijing To Ai Weiwei

Elton John and AWW
This picture (and the ones after the jump) is via Gonzalo the 3rd (update: originally posted to Ai Weiwei’s Instagram), and appears to have been taken today. Tipster Mark D writes in: Elton John dedicated this evening’s show to Ai Weiwei. Not exactly on the Bjork-Free Tibet scale of scandal, but still interesting nonetheless. The Bjork... Read more »

Today’s Beijing Marathon Featured Gangnam Style And At Least One Runner In Spider-Man Getup

Beijing Marathon female winner
This year’s Beijing Marathon had its share of hiccups. During registration, Japanese runners were initially barred, leading people to call for the race to lose its “Gold Label” accreditation from the International Association of Athletics Federations. Then, just this week, anxiety loomed over air quality, which hovered between “very unhealthy” and “hazardous.” But when the race... Read more »