Mid-Week Links: China’s abused prostitutes, Osaka mayor says WWII comfort women were “necessary,” hutong project seeks funding

At the Qingdao International Auto Show, via CRI.

Cankersores are the worst. The worst. The bane of conversation when it falls on the tongue. The only upside is it keeps you from saying something stupid, perhaps about links.

Pitiable. The cops, that is. “Police raids on brothels in China have a pattern, sex workers say, often occurring a few days ahead of politically sensitive events or whenever someone in government orders an anti-pornography campaign to please the leadership. // It’s during these times, the workers say, that their already miserable jobs grow more perilous with some police officers demanding steep bribes or sex, beating them, or locking them up for as long as two years without trial.” (Washington Post)

Corollary: The report. (Human Rights Watch)

Uh… “The mayor of one of Japan’s largest cities, who is seen by some as a possible future prime minister, drew an outcry on Monday after he said women forced into wartime brothels for the Japanese Army during World War II had served a necessary role in providing relief for war-crazed soldiers.” (NY Times)

“China Dream,” not “Chinese Dream.” “To a certain extent, this awkward comparison can be attributed to the misleading translation of ‘中国梦’ (Zhong Guo Meng) into ‘Chinese Dream.’ The word “Chinese” is somewhat ambiguous: it implies “China’s” or ‘the Chinese people’s.’ To posit that the revival of the Chinese nation is the ‘greatest common factor’ in the dreams of the Chinese is the result of a top-down political summation by the CCP. This so-called ‘Chinese Dream’ has nothing to do with what the average Chinese person wants on daily basis. A more accurate translation of the buzzword might be ‘China Dream’ or the ‘National Dream of China.’” (Tea Leaf Nation)

Wha–? “Yang Shihai, a 35-year-old father of five from Guizhou province in southwest China, was reportedly arrested after a villager found his badly injured daughter ambling by a roadside on May 8. // As well as having had her mouth sewn up, the 11-year-old girl, who was named as Xiao Li, reportedly suffered ‘scalp burns, needle jabs and extreme malnutrition.’” (The Telegraph)

But street kabobs are delicous. “Beijing is stepping up efforts to reduce illegal barbeques, to cut down on roadside air and noise pollution. // May is the peak time for outdoor grill cooking, which takes a heavy toll on air quality, traffic and residents, said Dang Xuefeng, spokesman for the capital’s bureau of city administration and law enforcement.” (China Daily)

Activist’s daughter speaks. “Liao Minyue last saw her mother, the rights activist Liu Ping, in mid-April, when she returned home from college to help after Ms. Liu had an operation to remove gallstones. // Now the third-year student at Anhui University of Finance and Economics says she hopes most of all that her mother is not being beaten in detention. Ms. Liu was taken away by security officials in their hometown of Xinyu in Jiangxi Province on April 27, apparently to face subversion charges, said Zheng Jianwei, one of Ms. Liu’s two lawyers.” (Rendezvous, IHT)

History! “China’s first ever helicopter hijacking has taken place in Shandong province. A crop spraying aircraft was hijacked by 20 men on Tuesday afternoon, one suspect is in custody, the pilot remains missing, according to the Southern Metro Daily.” (Shanghaiist)

Lovely. “Last week, an argument between some patrons at a Chinese internet cafe ended in violence when one man smashed another in the face with an empty beer bottle. The victim was hospitalized; the aggressor arrested. The sum they were arguing over? 1 RMB ($0.15).” (Tech in Asia)

Another. “A coal mine explosion in China’s southwestern Sichuan province killed 28 miners, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.” (CNN)

The Final Jeopardy question for tonight. None of the three contestants got it right. twitter.com/yu_miles/statu…

— Miles M. Yuさん (@yu_miles) 2013年5月14日

(Above via Shanghaiist)

Trending on Weibo: netizens from different part of China spotted “UFO” last night and shared the pics on Weibo. twitter.com/MissXQ/status/…

— XQさん (@MissXQ) 2013年5月14日

Sex doll factory in Dalian interlude:

Finally…

Hutong project seeks funding. (Joe Olsson … Updated link here)

Human breast milk bank. (CRI)

The Shenzhen visa run. (Phoebe Storm, Smart Beijing)

“Collateral Freedom: A Snapshot of Chinese Users Circumventing Censorship.” (Open ITP)

FC Guoan so close to advancing to final 16, one hurdle remains. (China Daily)

Kim Jong-il’s cook speaks. (SCMP)

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe does strange thing. (Sina)

“The Changing Face of America’s Chinatowns.” (Philadelphia News)

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