China’s 2014 was a year of protests, tigers and flies, tilted fruit trucks, pandas, and censorship. Come to think of it, so was 2013. But not everything about last year was the same. Take these 10 longreads that first appeared on this site, well worth revisiting, among our favorite posts of 2014.
1. One Beijing Summer: A Tale Of Status, Sex, And A Chinese Pop Star
By Hannah Lincoln | Read full post
On a crisp September 1st morning in Beijing, I stood before a locked iron door. On the other side was a hutong that led to the streets and eventually my university dorm. On my side was a scruffy courtyard home, a room with no couch and only one big bed – on which slept my Chinese boyfriend. It was dawn, and the hutong roofs were limned by a light morning mist, releasing the heat of the night into a new day. Inside, I was trapped, faced with an undesirable decision: to take a hammer to the door, or to return to the bed and have sex with a person I no longer respected.
2. China’s Bill O’Reilly, Sima Nan, Is Now Pro-Free Speech, Anti-Moron
By Valentina Luo | Read full post
From left to right: Sima Nan, Zhou Xiaoping, and Fang Zhouzi
The talk of the Chinese Internet has been the overnight elevation of a new leader to the wumao ranks, “online writer” Zhou Xiaoping. Zhou reportedly was invited to attend a Forum on Art and Literature on October 15 held by “Uncle” Xi Jinping, where he posted a rather blurry selfie that featured the chairman in the background. That he wasn’t wrestled to the ground indicated Zhou’s star was in the ascendancy.
3. Did Ken Livingstone Crony and Anti-Occupy Spokesman John Ross “Censor” the Global Times?
By RFH | Read full post
Ross, meanwhile, is a loyal toady of the new world order. The Marxist economist is so committed to serving the people that, back in 2004, he gracefully accepted a massive salary of £110,000 – more than the then-Mayor of New York – as one of “Red” Ken Livingstone’s closest crony-advisors. (The post was not advertised, which might have struck even Tony Blair as rather non-egalitarian.)
4. Hong Kong Protests Surge Amid Growing Tension, Falling And Rising Barricades
By Anthony Tao | Read full post
Above on the overpasses, pedestrians peered at the action below, snapping pictures as if at a zoo. Underneath Pacific Place, in the Admiralty subway station, a poster extolled “New rail lines for a better Hong Kong” while advertisements cycled between Calvin Klein models and McDonald’s burgers. All the way home via public transport, we heard no chatter about the protests, which seemed to exist in a different realm altogether, a small but significant part of the city that created its own vortex while everyone else went about their day, now night, undisturbed by visions of democracy or the prospect of economic disenfranchisement.
5. I Nearly Lost A Testicle In A Beijing Hospital
By Bryce Lewis | Read full post
Die? How do balls just die? I refused to believe it. This wasn’t serious, nothing a little ice couldn’t solve. These Chinese doctors just wanted to rob the clueless foreigner. I called my sole Beijing friend, Lisi, to get a second opinion. She listened to me choke through tears, then told me she was too busy to come right away but would make some calls.
6. Deep Trouble: On The Set Of China’s Most Expensive, Possibly Worst Film (Part 1)
By Dale Irons | Read full post
After a brief reading, we were asked if we had any “fighting or action experience.” Yes: tons. For my friend — built like a tank with a voice so deep he was actually able to bass you out of a conversation — this wasn’t actually so far from the truth, although the acting was mostly of the “fucking and fighting” variety, in assorted bars and clubs. With my shoulder-length hair and somewhat effete manner, I cringed at the thought of a demonstration of such skills. Luckily, they took my word for it.
7. Chinese Version Of “The Wolf Of Wall Street” Is The Blockbuster That Will Never Be Made
By Warner Brown | Read full post
I was watching the movie for a second time – still puzzling as to why my initial viewing so enthralled me – when a random manager (or someone claiming to be such) added me on WeChat, China’s red-hot mobile messaging app. As I gazed upon Leonardo DiCaprio’s character enjoying a three-way, I fended off the manager’s requests for explicit photos to prove I was man enough to do the same. Finally, I made the connection: in spirit, if not quite in the details, The Wolf of Wall Street embodies the hidden, hedonistic thrill that drives so much of China’s official corruption.
8. Watching The Hong Kong Protests Inside China Central Television
By J. Stevens | Read full post
A CNN reporter stood live from Central Square in Hong Kong amid a sea of students wearing plastic coverings over their eyes and mouths. I had kept up with the story, having seen pictures like this on my Facebook newsfeed for the past several days, mostly from Hong Kong friends who were proud of the protesters and shocked at the sudden intensity of the police response. But I realized this must have been the first time many of my colleagues had seen these images.
9. Dispatches From Xinjiang: Shiralijan’s Fist And The Xinjiang Spirit
By Beige Wind | Read full post
He punched the air with his right hand while his left hand grabbed his bicep. Relating the gesture to the semiotics on the Uyghur countryside where he’s from, most Uyghur onlookers immediately interpreted the gesture as a “fuck you” to the crowd that had been chanting “East Turkistan stupid cunt,” or “DongTu shabi,” for the past three days. According to some Uyghur observers, Shiralijan was reacting as any self-respecting minority might to targeted ethnic slurs.
10. The Great Wall Of China As Sunken Treasure
By Christina Lauritsen | Read full post
The Wall pokes out of the water to form small islands, giving us a couple of reference points. However, they’d be useless once our masks slipped below the surface. The first five meters was entirely particulate matter and there was no visibility — this is apparently consistent for any time of year. Once below the silt, we were hit by the abrupt cold and absolute blackness. The only light came from our torches. Not a drop of sunlight penetrated the silt and algae above us. It was like entering another world, with all our senses altered — nothing came into focus until we spotted the Wall.
Here’s to a great 2015.
Getting a bit pissed off with Beijing Cream posting how great it is when it’s owner, Anthony Tao, isn’t paying his fucking bills to people he owes money too. Sort it Toe or we’ll send some Uyghurs round to see you, you cunt.
Fuucckkk…really? Mehbe Tao has problems he failed to repay me RMB2500 for about a month I lent him as skank munny…betta get that cash back methinks. Freaking dope smoking yes boy he’s turning outta be and getting folk fund his habits da bros don’t like dis.
Anthony, it seems you’ve left a few bills hanging around a few individuals and bars around Beijing. I’m another, the Black Sun Bar near Chaoyang Park. You came in with your buddies just before Christmas and left a bill of RMB5,680 you said you’d settle and that you signed for. I haven’t seen you since. Can you go visit all those people you appeared to have been getting drinking and other credit from as Beijing Cream and go settle up your outstanding bills you’ve left around town please. It is bad joss to be leaving debts around in the New Year. Thank you.
Wow, who knew that every bar in Beijing is using the same fucking asshat to do their internet collections? Quite surprising, that!
Welcome back, “Baron” Chris. It’s been a while since you were last here trolling, but now it’s 2015 and I see you’re back, making threats once more with your trademark “cunt-y” charm. This “NN” drug dealer alter-ego of yours, complete with fake patois, is a particularly loathsome addition.
Note to readers – it’s almost impossible to rack up a bill of nearly RMB6K at the Black Sun Bar, unless of course, you’re CDE. Sigh. (We have the pictures.)
And its even harder to get them to take an IOU for a bill that large haha…beggers belief, really.
Have you seen the pics of CDE mostly naked in Maggie’s, sticking his ass out, begging to be pegged by one of the Mongolian whores? Oof, scary sight.
I heard he waited til sunup and then licked them all nice and clean, like a good sissy boy.
Hmm. Blaming your drinking debts on someone who left China awhile back seems a bit TOO convenient. Wonder what is really going on with Beijing Cream, calling out old China expats like that?
You mean the guy who lied to his clients about his (lack of) access to government officials? The guy who lied about his name, his credentials, his education?
The guy who lied about leaving China? That fuckwit?
If CDE ran up a RMB6k bill in Black Sun at Chaoyang he sounds like a guy I’d like to hang out with LOL
@RhZ: There’s no photos permitted to be taken in Maggie’s. So don’t tell lies about other people.
The man you love to hate, CDE, moved to Singapore about three years ago and has a house in Sri Lanka. It’s all on his Facebook and Linked In pages if you look. I haven’t seen him in China for yonks and certainly not Beijing. You’ll have to find another expat candidate for all your China smut hatred and blaming other people for your messy PRC gossip shit. He’s a top guy btw. You on the other hand, are nasty innuendo spewing jealous fuckers.
Chris used to hang out at Aria at the China World, not Maggies. His offices were nearby and we used to meet up, read the new arrived international newspapers over a glass or two of good wine. I’m sure he’d had his hell-raising days in China but what’s wrong with that? You guys sound like party poopers in comparison. And he lived near Chaoyang Park with his family so I don’t think the Maggies stories are very true. He is missed in China and you people have no idea who or what you are talking about. I’d rather hang out with CDE anytime that your sourfaces. Chris would buy you a drink. You can’t pay your bills. There’s a big difference.
And, typically, 3 different sockpuppet accounts all rise to defend the honor of Chris Ellis (let’s just dispense with the conceit of the fake Devonshire, only a prat would choose such a wanker name).
Oh Chris, never change. Yes, you are in Mongolia/Singapore/India, not in China. We know. Pls keep it that way
Thank you Beijing Cream for finally sending (a friend of yours, you didn’t show your actual faces) around to settle the piss up bar bill you at Black Sun left three weeks ago.
Better late than never ‘eh? Next time though please don’t ask for credit – other people need to have Christmas and suppliers to pay as well. But you did (finally) settle. Happy New Year.
There’s something well weird about all this comments. I think BC left some drinking debts around Beijing, then blamed the comments here on an expat who left China three years ago. You may not like this person (whoever the fuck he is, I’m a newbie) but I HAVE hear elsewhere Anthony Tao and Beijing Cream has a reputation for not paying bills and being stingy. I heard you like hanging around folk and mentioning how kwell your website is until they buy you a Heineken to shut you the fuck up. And one of your “parties” you charged RMB150 for you ran out of stubbies of lager after two just cases (24 tinnies). Fuck!
By slagging off other expats – especially well known ones – all Beijing Cream has done and continues to do is alienate its readers. You’ve attacked several expats here. Now no-one trusts you, your reader views are falling off a cliff and you don’t even rank on Alexa. You get what you deserve.
Dudes I just checked your Alexa rankings. You don’t compute, your readership is too small. Anyone can check just go to http://www.alexa.com
No-one reads Beijing Cream anymore. You are soooo 2012. Sorry to break it to ya but it’s true. Same as Peking Duck. You’re fucked guys. Bye.
Freedom of speech is great. We all love a good hog roll in the pits of BC’s commenting system. I understand BC wants to keep comments open. But open things get jacked. You aren’t going to leave your car or house open. So why leave your website open.
There shouldn’t be any links to porn anywhere on your site. This is like code red, time to respond and react.
The morons and scum are out in force of late.
That aside, a clarification.
CDE has been the subject of numerous outings over the years: faux hyphen, dodgy quals, wears boxers rather that jocks and a host of other sins. etc. All misdirection, children.
He is in fact a highly regarded operative working for British Intelligence. (No oxymoron jokes, please.)
His usefulness in China being exhausted – thanks FOARP – he has simply been relocated to Scri Lanka to report on China’s implantation of its “string of pearls” grand strategy. ie the Hambantota port project.
No mental illness here, nope nope.
It’s the end of an era for these personalized blogs written by expats in China. This website isn’t as active as previous and its owners don’t seem to care much about it. It’s unmoderated and full of gsrbage. Lost Laowai is the same nothing new there recently and Peking Duck one post since October. I guess those of us who like scandal and gossip and seeing other expats roasted should look elsewhere. Or maybe expats are just leaving and have lost interest in China. If the economy tanks I guess all these blogs will be a thing of the past.
A lot of expat sites make a first splash by writing a “scandal” or nasty piece about a well known expat to gain attention. The better known and longer term that individual is the better as it guarantees views. This happens to Shaun Rein as well as CDE. CDE spoilt things by leaving China but Rein still gets attacked (and CDE still a bit here). But reality is both are successful expats in China who developed large companies. They are still going. But the websites that feed their hatred/jealousy of successful folk in China run out of steam. It’s Ironic really. Maybe it’s not a good idea as a model to be slagging other expats off, inevitably you’ll automatically alienate part of your readership. Beijing Cream has never been that popular because other expats were wary of how it can behave and what it says about folk online. If this is the end for Beijing Cream I dont think many people will be very sorry about it.
I used to write here. But shocked to see Twitter feeds say Anthony Tao has left China and isn’t coming back. Lots of debts in Beijing and Tianjin and at least one very pregnant girl left in the suburbs. Those leaving bar bills behind it seems it was true, He’s in CA apparently and cannot be contacted. I guess he forgot and left the moderation on his shitty blog open when he ran away. Anthony Taos real China legacy seems to be leaving Debts, and babies yet to be born with no Father or income. WTG you Chinese-American cunt. No wonder people never really trusted you you’ve shown your real face now you cunt. You also never paid me when I wrote a couple reviews here. Anthony Tao You’re the biggest fucking China Expat fraud ever.
Sadly it appears true – Anthony has run off leaving a bunch of debts owing. So long, Beijing Cream.
Man I’m hearing all sorts of stories coming out of the woodwork this morning like how Anthony has trashed his apartment, debts left all over, some girl is pregnant, and that he had some problems with the Gong An about content here and hasn’t been paying his taxes either and he owes some heavy people some money. Apparently he just upped and left and even his cat wasn’t fed until the landlord entered and found the place a total wreck. Seems he’s had a melt down and has run away back to the States. What a mess. It seems you live by the sword you die by the sword but Anthony Tao is finished in China.
I know he used to do some blow sometimes. Supplier in Sanlitun. Guess that’s why he kept on getting colds recently and looked like total shit before Christmas.
I don’t think many people mourn the death of Beijing Cream. It was never a well loved website I suspect because of its habit of slagging off certain expats online. People were always wary of it they didn’t want to be roasted in the same way. The certainly did a number on a few people here. Probably best it just dies and goes away.
Oh the wicked web we weave. Now Beijing Cream bites the dust. Just as well really. I never did get their harassment of expats like CDE or Shaun Rein whose only real crime appeared to be their influence and China success, despite the best attempts by Anthony Tao et al to throw enough mud hoping some would stick. I guess those articles certainly helped bump up their page views and gain some notice. Alas no more, but The Rein and CDE are still making in happen in China and are still successful. What an irony. At the end of the day, no matter how hard Beijing Cream tried, it ultimately failed to achieve anything. Except perhaps make a few expats even more famous. But who will remember Anthony Tao except as being a sour faced, jealous troll? LOL I don’t think that was the original intention
Agreed, roasting prominent expats in China wasn’t the best strategy.
Beijing Cream RIP