On Friday, the opening night of Cirque du Soleil's three-night performance of Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour in Beijing, a highly sensitive image was displayed on the giant big-screens above the stage in Wukesong MasterCard Arena: the Tiananmen Tank Man. As first reported by a local magazine, then excerpted by Shanghaiist:
In Shantou, Guangdong province, security cameras appeared to capture a kidnapping this morning while passersby watched on. Authorities are on the case and there are no further details at the moment -- we don't know, for instance, whether the woman forced into the white van (she's pulled in by a man, who's abetted by a woman wearing pink) knew her kidnappers -- but it's a startling scene. The Youku video description notes that people stood around and watched, but no one took action.
"I'm 90 years old," the young lady in this video begins by saying. "My grandson, @木头宅, is gay. He is very dutiful and sensible. I love him dearly. I hope he finds a good boyfriend and lives a happy life, and I hope that the government supports him."
In the above picture, a doctor is about to administer a lethal injection to the woman being strapped to the bed. It's a stark and somber scene, only more shocking because a cameraman was allowed to document, close-up, the stages of a real-life execution.
At least, that's what Xinhua, the official press agency of the People's Republic of China, thought when it published a slideshow titled, “Actual Record of Female Inmate’s Execution – Exposing the World’s Darkest Side.”
Last month, Conde Nast readers chose Shenzhen and Guangzhou as among the world's unfriendliest cities. You know who disagrees? State-owned Shenzhen Evening News, which published a rather incredible article on August 6.
On the famous Duan (Broken) Bridge near West Lake in Hangzhou, a guy went around asking questions about kisisng (is the upper or lower lip more sensitive?), and then tried to get couples to smooch on camera. The latter, I assure is, is not the weirdest part about this video. Skip ahead to the lip sensitivity test starting at the 2:30 mark.
The good folks of Sherpa's -- a delivery service that brings food to your doorstep from select restaurants in Beijing, Shanghai, and Suzhou -- are joining us to help make Chug-Off for Charity memorable. All contestants -- and there are still slots available, just email tao@beijingcream.com to register -- will receive a 100 RMB Sherpa's voucher, which is, like, two free burgers, or a giant plate of chicken wings and salad, or a Pad Thai plus chicken curry. The combinations are endless.
Jimmy Wales, who was in Hong Kong over the weekend for the annual Wikimania conference, said some impolite things about Chinese Internet censorship. As reported by WSJ's Digits:
“We don’t approve of filtering, but there is nothing we can do to stop it,” he said.
Kobe Bryant recently wrapped up his 8th China tour -- another successful one, judging by the response -- and as part of Nike's Mamba Mentality campaign, this ad was recently released exclusively in China.
