The Many Ways To Market Chinese Firecrackers

Firecrackers 1
They don’t package Chinese firecrackers like they used to, that’s for sure. Mike McHenry, aka Mr. Brick Label on Flickr, has been collecting fireworks labels since 1968, when he was five years old. He’s posted 360 of them, divided into seven time periods, some of which are sampled after the jump. It’s a gift for... Read more »

When A Road Swallows A Vehicle And Kills Someone, That Sucks

Road cave-in 2
Terrifying. Xinhua reports that “a section of Xiangjiang Road running near Xiangjiang River in Changsha caved in early Thursday, engulfing a passing vehicle and killing at least one person aboard. The cave-in, near the Poly International Plaza, created a 30-square-meter pit on the road.” I have nothing to add. Update, 7/6, 11:51 am: The vehicle had... Read more »

Chengguan Does Ultra Bro Thing, Removes Uniform Before Fighting Civilian

Chengguan take off shirts before fighting featured image
On Monday, according to this Jiangxi news show, a chengguan (street enforcement officer) riding against traffic (this bit of info is filled in by China News) in Chengdu bumped into or scraped against a store owner, precipitating an argument. This happened off-camera. When the store owner (or someone related) begins filming -- which is completely within his right -- the chengguan loses his temper. Pushing and shoving ensues. And then, strangely -- because chengguan are just kind of boorish sometimes -- the chengguan removes his shirt, the most alpha of alpha signals that OH IT'S ON BRO, IT'S ON!

The Saddest Stories Are In Rural China: A Parable

Job
There was a man in the village of Ningling, Henan Province, whose name was Zheng Chuangying; and that man was obedient and harmonious, and one that feared Mao, and eschewed capitalism. And there were born unto him one son and one daughter. His substance also was several thousand renminbi, and a bunch of crops and animals, including she... Read more »

The Night Is Dark And Full Of Bonfires

Bonfire
The Good Doctor was biking through Wangjing recently (that's a district in Beijing, the city's de facto K-Town) when he saw this. Just a slice of urban life for you. Nothing to see, really.

Olympics Countdown: Chinese Hurdler Does Not Care

Chinese hurdler does not care featured image
Continuing our Olympics Countdown series in which we post about anything borderline related to London or the Olympics, here’s an oldie but goodie, from 2010, featuring a 110-meter hurdler who will simply let nothing, including hurdles, get between him and the finish line. This happened at a University Games in China, exact location unknown. No other... Read more »

Mid-Week Links: Hong Kong is apparently world’s best city, gaokao superstars, and the Beijinger’s music competition

Hong Kong riots, 1967
Daily Mail caption: Bizarre: As two boozed-up men were waiting outside the Mayho Chinese Takeaway in Sunderland they noticed that peeling paint and dirt on the door appeared to form the face of Jesus. Try not to be too stereotypically American tonight, you Americans in China, okay? Ah who am I kidding, go booze your... Read more »

Today In Terribly Unfortunate STD Contractions [UPDATE]

Genital warts
Want China Times is not what we’d call a reliable news sources, and I haven’t found this story yet on Chinese Internet (UPDATE, 4:20 pm: commenter Joel Martinsen points us to an article by Strait Herald reporter Hu Qian with intern Chen Qiuji; Xinhua’s on the story too, with a slightly different take [see bottom]),... Read more »