September 10 – September 16
Xi Jinping’s disappearance was huge news. We poked fun at the media freakout over his absence with a crowd-sourced post. Torval Lokison then came back with a lost ad for the chap (linked to by James Fallows). No fear, though: China’s future leader has been found, and appears healthy. The other big news from the week is escalating tension over Japan’s purchase of the Diaoyu Islands, namely in the form of a massive demonstration in front of the Japanese embassy on Saturday. We have video here.
The rest of the week was pretty much about fights, disputes, and abuse. A Party official kicked a woman with a child watching nearby. A Good Samaritan was viciously beaten after he was confused for a child kidnapper. An old man was beaten for being an anti-Mao rightist. Chinese passengers fought on another flight. This horror film shows a woman being dragged away by traffic cops. And Party officials (again) were caught on tape doing something distasteful: beating up journalists.
Drake’s back — with a review of Wu Club. Jim Fields wrote about the three immortals of Dongzhimen. The Good Doctor filmed you, Beijing, at The Creators Project featuring James Murphy. This drummer-busker is terrific. And our second episode of Saturday Morning Cartoon was even more ridiculous than the first.
Comment of the Week:
Mike Daisey of Foxconn fame comments on this post about Leslie T. Chang’s TEDTalk:
Leslie did write something for the New Yorker during the scandal.
And while I think she does great work, she’s startlingly naive about coporatism. My quick response is here:
http://mikedaisey.blogspot.com/2012/09/leslie-chang-does-important-work-but.html
Don’t let the government pull the wool over your eyes. Xi Jinping is as dead as Paul McCartney. This is just his double.
If heard you play the CCTV news broadcast backward it says, “Xi is dead.”