The US will have a new ambassador to China in early 2014. Gary Locke, who has served in that role since July 27, 2011, said this morning that he will step down "to rejoin my family in Seattle." SCMP has the full text of Locke's statement.
A 700-year-old tree in Shifang, Sichuan province withstood the efforts of a crane trying to secretly knock it down. Check it out. That's what happens when an immovable object is actually immovable: 30 meters tall, 2.4 meters in diameter, apparently.
If you haven't been following the story of Bloomberg vs. the New York Times, start here. That's NYT's article, built around an anonymous source within Bloomberg, claiming that Bloomberg editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler spiked a sensitive China story due to pressure.
Overheard in the international departures line at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila: "What do you suppose 'wang-wang' means?"
"Don't do what the Chinese do in lines."
Via Hug China:
A middle aged woman stripped herself nude and tore at male cop's trousers when fined for riding her scooter in the wrong direction in Shanghai.
The CBA is back, and thank goodness. As featured on Deadspin, here's Ivan Johnson, 29, doing a celebratory dance that in the NBA would have set him back 15 grand, because no one in corporate appreciates the Big Balls Dance.
