Top-of-the-Week Links: Hong Kong Rugby Sevens ends, a suicide remembered, and here’s Kim Jong-un firing a gun

At Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, via Shenzhen Occassionally

Hope you enjoyed Rugby Sevens, Hong Kongers. Happy Passover, everyone. Seder links?

A suicide remembered. “One year ago, a young college student in Nanjing named Ma Jie killed herself after a prolonged struggle with depression. Before she took her own life, she posted this on Sina Weibo, a Chinese social media site: // ‘I have depression, so I think I’ll go ‘die die’ now. No particular reason. No one needs to care about my leaving. Bye bye!’ // Ma’s message was all the more chilling for its colloquial repetition of the verb ‘die,’ a way that Chinese language refers to a quick, trivial action.” (Tea Leaf Nation)

Internet “Red Army.” “Students at the university call the team the ‘Internet Red Army.’ The army is led by over 50 student counselors who monitor students’ activities and conversations on Weibo (China’s Twitter), Baidu Tieba (online communities), and QQ (IM service). According to a report by Nandu, the army’s primary responsibility is to control negative sentiment, monitor online conversation, repel wrong opinions and protect the university’s image.” (Offbeat China)

Well, they have to work somewhere. “As vague as Xi’s ‘dream’ might be, it has led to mass public speculation, expectation and has even become the butt of political jokes. It has also made China’s obsession for excess more difficult to defend. // ‘We’re 100 years early in realising the Chinese dream! We now have the biggest, most beautiful and luxurious government offices in the world! Right now, what else could the Chinese people be dreaming of?’ said blogger, Longyi Sky Master 945. // The blogger compiled a series of photos crowdsourced from netizens this week showcasing the country’s palatial government office complexes.” (SCMP)

Kind of crazy. “A middle-aged woman stood on a street in Shenzhen’s Chegongmiao area stripping naked before pulling out a knife and threatening to kill herself on March 21. As she held the knife to her own throat, she threatened to kill herself unless repaid money she claimed to have been cheated out of, Guangdong Morning reports.” (The Nanfang)

Lost in Thailand director Xu Zheng meets Thailand prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. “Xu was invited to the meeting last week after a low-budget blockbuster Lost in Thailand he directed and starrted in, successfully attracted tens of thousands of Chinese tourists to Thailand, especially the historic and culturally rich northern city, Chiang Mai. // The meeting itself went well, according to media reports. But when it came to comments about his clothes, Xu was not as lucky as Elvis. // In fact, blunt criticism was directed at Xu after photos of the meeting were posted on China’s social media.” (SCMP)

Chinese swear words and profanity you need to know for March Madness. bit.ly/Ywyo5q #3yfk

— Ray Kwongさん (@raykwong) 2013年3月24日

How you know this is a big deal: the shanghai floaters team gets all the attentions at Rugby Sevens. twitter.com/MissXQ/status/…

— XQさん (@MissXQ) 2013年3月23日