“Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: How nice to see children running on the grass! The second tear says: How nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running on the grass!” – Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being ~
"It's not just children who like it. The core value of the rubber duck is to bring back childlike innocence to all of us, especially weary adults." – Zeng Hui, head of the Beijing Design Week Organizing Committee
Sometime after 9 pm on July 18, Linzhou police officer Guo Zengxi, off-duty and on a night-long bender, stumbled outside a KTV building, snatched a 7-month old infant out of an unfamiliar couple’s hands, raised her over his head, and slammed her into the ground. The young girl, named Yueyue, lost consciousness before being rushed to the hospital, then spent days in intensive care with multiple skull fractures.
BJC contributor Chris Clayman attended the Dali Erhai World Music Festival in Yunnan province from April 29 – May 1. His dispatch follows. A Cop with a Weird Haircut We’re standing near the fortune teller when Lin Dan shows us something. “I’m a cop,” he says. He pulls out his wallet and holds it close to... Read more »
Anybody watch Happy Camp (快乐大本营), Hunan TV's flagship variety show? Turn on the TV because it’s probably airing right now. The show inexplicably has five hosts. There's He Jiong, unarguably the Ryan Seacrest of the show, then the charming Xie Na, and then three others who stand nearby and occasionally say and/or hold something. Every once in awhile, just to remind us he's still there, host Du Haitao steps into the frame and cracks a one-liner.
Found the above on Reddit, posted by Dog22222, titled, “Taobao Seller’s Infographic on Shavin Your Unmentionables.” Eh, why not? We asked our resident pubic hair expert, Chris Clayman (just kidding! Or not… we didn’t run this joke by him), to take a look. He sent translations! Before we get to those, a little background: we... Read more »
China’s air travel bubble is bringing out its fair share of violent characters, many with the burning desire to take out their frustration on airport personnel. January saw riots at Kunming’s new Changshui Airport, and a month later, CPPCC delegate Yan Linkun lost his cool. So what’s new in airport violence? See: Guangzhou gate agent in the fetal position.
While the China blogosphere rolls out the usual news — your local PM 2.5 particulates and brutish chengguan – state media would like to remind you that there’s a gentler side to this country. In the above video, as part of CNS TV’s recent series on “Warming the Zhongyuan“ (Central Plains), the anchorwoman reports: Although these days it isn’t... Read more »
BJC's An Expat Christmas series will roll on through the week. In a place where Christmas is an "event" and not part of the culture, it can be cancelled as easily as it is arranged, as Chris Clayman recently found out at his school in Lincang, Yunnan province.
