What exactly is the price of life? What’s the price of life if one has no money? And what’s life actually worth if it’ll just be filled with pain and suffering? These are all questions that have haunted philosophers for millennia, and everyday citizens since the start of the modern medical era. In China, one... Read more »
At the third and final presidential debate on Monday, Governor Mitt Romney backed off claims he made in the previous debate to go hard on China. But as New Yorker's Evan Osnos notes, "But in China, to be frank, nobody takes it all that seriously. Romney’s tack toward the middle in his final debate (a theme that my colleague John Cassidy explores in his post today) seemed to foreshadow to a Chinese audience the kind of softening that is consistent with a pattern that has run through three decades of American foreign policy: candidates who rail against China on the stump rarely follow through if they win, because China stops being a convenient foil and becomes instead a complicated reality."
China’s fascination with the pole dance extends to competitive pole dancing as well: three females and one male are traveling to Zurich, Switzerland to compete in the World Pole Dance competition on November 10. The Chinese contestants are listed on World Pole Dance’s website as Cao Haijing, Meng Yifan, Song Xuemei, and Yan Shaoxuan, all of... Read more »
Much hubbub surrounded 19-year-old weightlifter Zulfiya Chinshanlo’s gold-medal win in London this summer, as it wasn’t exactly clear which country she was actually from, Kazakhstan or China. Both nations claimed her — “Chinshanlo’s Olympic page cites her birthplace as Almaty, Kazakhstan, and claims she speaks both Russian and Kazakh,” according to The Atlantic, while Xinhua stated (paraphrased by CNN)... Read more »
Ultimate Surrender is a website featuring “competitive female sexual wrestling,” and in bold font on its frontpage, it notes that it is “for adults only.” NSFW, if you need it spelled out for you. Not safe for an ostensible news organization, then. Xinhua either does not know this or does not care, because on the... Read more »
Via China Daily: “Garbage fills the street at the Baishixia community in Bao’an district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Wednesday. Because a landfill was blocked by nearby residents out of environmental concerns, a lot of trash cannot be sent to the landfill and has accumulated on the street since Monday. The district is trying to clean... Read more »
Who doesn’t hate congested subways, right? But who would be shameless enough to wear a backpack full of red spikes that poke anyone who dares get close? On Sunday on Beijing Subway Line 5, according to Beijing Morning Post, a man was spotted wearing the above. The journalist says judging by the picture, even though... Read more »
Jeremy Lin, you've truly made it. Following in the footsteps of Shaquille O'Neal, Tracy McGrady, et al., Lin is the latest NBA player to film a Chinese commercial. How'd he do in his one-minute spot for KFC, featuring a lot of smiles, more than one spin move, and several dunks? Judge for yourself. I'm pretty upset they didn't fully recreate his game-winning three-pointer vs. the Raptors (he actually shot from the top of the arc!).
I'm pretty sure I've never seen anything quite like this produced in China. The video, a "Kung Fu FAQ" created by the digital marketing agency Flow Creative Studios follows a Walter Mitty-type martial artist who fields questions such as "Can you break bricks?" and "Can you fly?" while repulsing unruly diners, a scornful girlfriend, and a band of thieving strongmen in the hutongs of Beijing.
World’s smallest egg? Via CRI: “The chicken egg, which is about two centimeters long and weighs 2.58 grams, was laid on Monday by a Malaysian bantam owned by He Daiyou, a 55-year-old hairdresser from Shapingba District, Chongqing.” Here comes another five-day workweek, unless you’re in Hong Kong, in which case, enjoy your day off tomorrow.... Read more »
