At the Exit-Entry Bureau this afternoon, one of the officers behind the table almost got into a fight with another officer. They moved to the back, where there was audible shouting behind a closed door, and the sound of a slap. Anger does weird things to people, divesting them of shame. Links time.
Why is China threatening to expel foreign correspondents? Old-fashioned intimidation, says the New Yorker's Evan Osnos, still writing incisively in absentia. (A lesson for you, China: journalists can churn even when they don't live here.) His latest analysis of China's ongoing crackdown on media is worth a complete read, but let us highlight this paragraph:
European champs Bayern Munich made easy work of Guangzhou Evergrande yesterday in the semifinals of the FIFA Club World Cup, played in Morocco. Three goals within a seven-minute window (Franck Ribéry 40′, Mario Mandzukic 44′, Mario Götze 47) provided the final 3-0 margin.
Jon Stewart tackled China again on a recent episode of The Daily Show -- more specifically, the belief harbored among some (who are you people?) that China's recent rover moon-landing somehow threatens American national security or identity or dominance or something. He squeezes in a joke about Chinese voting.
A study to be released this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that cats first lived alongside humans as early as 5,300 years ago in the Chinese village of Quanhucun in modern-day Shaanxi province.
The above is only marginally China/Chinese related, but there is so much genius here that you'll excuse me. Every parent should assign grades to his of her kid's work that supplements the teacher's grade, and so many of these deserve A's.
