Watch: CCTV Tower Tour Spoofed

Central TV Tower
The folks over at the Bespoke Beijing travel agency put together this hilarious spoof promo for the CCTV Tower using a recording of the building's audio tour. Among other things, I learned that romance is worth 298元.

Cobra II And The “Tuskonomics” Of Ivory In China

China Cobra
2014 has been an auspicious year so far for elephants. In January, the Chinese government crushed -- the technical term for destroying -- a whopping 6.15 tons of tusks, equivalent to one-sixth of the illegal ivory seized worldwide in 2012. The following week, Chinese officials worked with Kenyan authorities to apprehend the Chinese kingpin of a Kenya-based ivory ring.

#SochiProblems Are Just China Realities

Sochi toilet
In the run-up to the Sochi Olympics this past week, journalists attending the games tweeted their dissatisfaction with their lodgings using the tag #SochiProblems. Boo frickity hoo.

Flying the Challenger at Ditan Park

DSC_0866
On January 28, 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, tragically killing its heroic crew. On Tuesday, February 4th at the Ditan Park Temple Festival, a Challenger flew again.