We’ll have to wait until July before the results of the gaokao – national university entrance exams – are announced. When they are, state media’s response will be as predictable and reflexive as British media et alia sticking an attractive blonde celebrating her A-levels on the front page (and pages 2,3,5,8 and 9). The top scorers... Read more »
Just as we were talking about chengguan, the Twitter feed of That’s Mandarin tipped us to a video “going viral right now” of more than a dozen middle school students in Zaozhuang, Shandong province beating up a chengguan, who are unofficially this country’s “city management officers” and more unofficially this country’s street thugs disguised as people with... Read more »
I don’t know Josh Garcia, 23, nor do I know the city of Cleveland, Tennessee, the place from which he hails. Short of any other information, it’s probably unfair for me to judge him for “[leaving] Zhuzhou in Central China’s Hunan province next week, with a uniform of chengguan, a urban management officer, a gift from... Read more »
The jokes (and groans) are out today after Danny Boyle, artistic director of this summer’s Olympics opening ceremony, unveiled his vision, “inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest,” the Guardian tells us, and “ideas from Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein,” according to the Huffington Post. With a fair amount of Jane Austen’s countryside, I might add. Reports the Telegraph:... Read more »
Last week, a bus driver in Hangzhou, Wu Bin, made national headlines when he continued to steer his bus to a safe stop on the highway after he himself was fatally wounded by a piece of debris. His family was rewarded 300,000 yuan after his death. Recently, on the same stretch of highway (Hang-Jin Expressway),... Read more »
Jesus. It was only six hours ago that I wrote, regarding balcony railings, “When until — heavens forbid — a young child actually falls through?” At 2:41 pm today, China News posted a video from a Shenzhen TV station (embedded) reporting that yesterday, a three-year-old girl died after falling off a fourth-story balcony. According to... Read more »
Does anyone have more information about this?
This email was sent by the US Embassy in Beijing 10 minutes ago, with the subject, "Message for U.S. Citizens: Precautions Advised in Beijing Nightclubs":
