On Tuesday, 134 Nobel laureates wrote to Xi Jinping asking him to release 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, currently serving an 11-year sentence for subversion (etc.) after he coauthored “Charter 08,” a manifesto calling for greater freedoms in China. His wife is also currently under house arrest. The decision is probably not Xi Jinping’s... Read more »
A minor traffic scrape yesterday at 10:40 am in Shanghai led to vehicular homicide. Around the intersection of Keji and Yuanmen Road, after a van and a cab bumped into one another, the cabbie exited his car to confront the other driver. The guy in the van, who wanted none of it, stepped on the gas pedal. The van's front wheel ran over the cabbie, who was then dragged 10 meters under the carriage.
Albert Kahn is the best philanthropist you’ve likely never heard of. I hadn’t, anyway, until I was pointed to the Russian website History and Present via Reddit user Hanfresco a little earlier. The top post, published Tuesday, features a sampling of color photos taken in China by French photographer Stephane Passy in 1912, commissioned by — who else? — Albert Kahn.... Read more »
The students who protested on Tiananmen Square in June 1989 have gone on to lead lives as writers, teachers, businessmen, doctors, artists. Some have continued being activists. Some have spent most of their time in prison, before dying.
Chen Weiming became a gun-toting member of the Mujahideen army in Syria.
Via Tea Leaf Nation: “Chinese Hospital ‘Warmly Congratulates’ Itself on Number of Sick People.” If you haven’t already, a reminder to register your trivia team for the Beijinger’s annual Super Quiz this Sunday. I’ll be one of the question presenters, so we’ll be talking more about this soon. For now, links.
A man named Liu Shuangyun was arrested yesterday for starting a fire at an underwear factory in Shantou, Guangdong province that left 14 dead and one injured, according to Xinhua. The blaze lasted about half an hour, from 3:30 to 4 pm yesterday. AP reports that Liu, a 26-year-old migrant worker from Hunan province, was... Read more »
Let’s get right to it. Shanghai Daily: A single mother bit off the penis of her 9-year-old son in a state of delirium on Sunday in Yibin, a city in southwestern Sichuan Province, local media reported. In my wildest fever dream, I will never again describe myself as being “in a state of delirium. The... Read more »
CPC top dog Xi Jinping wants to lead by example. “The style of officials, particularly top officials, has an important impact upon the style of the Party and the style of the government and even on the whole of society,” according to a recently released statement. “Such a way of doing things must first start with the Standing Committee.”... Read more »
Yao Defen, who grew to be 7-foot-8 (2.34 meters) due to a tumor in her pituitary gland, died on November 13 in her hometown of Zhucheng, Anhui province. We’re not sure why it’s taken three weeks for reporters to get around to this story, but here it is on Daily Mail, etc.: A neighbour recalled how... Read more »
Fred Winters (left) and Steve Brinkman are among the first foreigners to come to China for professional volleyball. That they were former Canadian national team players makes them a big deal, not completely dissimilar, we imagine, to Gilbert Arenas and Tracy McGrady as far as the impact their presence has had on club and fan... Read more »
