The South China Sea is pretty boring to most people, normal people. But China’s reaction to politics in the region is priceless, a full-on charm/punching offensive in Southeast Asia.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations held a summit last week, during which we learned China has territorial disputes with, well, just about every member with a coastline.
Chinese auto shows are special, able to launch a model’s career in much the same way that American Idol launches pop careers, but when scantily-clad adults are too passe and scantily-clad five-year-olds are too controversial, what does an organizer do? In Guangdong province, where the 10th Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition opened on Friday (extended from seven to 10 days),... Read more »
They're already blocked, so fuck it, right? The New York Times has continued to delve into Wen Jiabao's "hidden family fortunes," following up on its original blockbuster that got the website blocked on the mainland. In "Lobbying, a Windfall and a Leader’s Family," David Barbosa and co. report that Wen Jiabao was directly responsible for keeping the company from breaking up. In 1999...
The Chongqing sex scandal is getting very, very interesting. Whatever intrigue was already inherent in a scandal involving a high-ranking Party official and his mistress, raise it to the power of Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai. Let’s start here: The femme fatale has been identified as Zhao Hongxi, who was 18 years old in February 2007... Read more »
A little more than six months ago, Chen Guangcheng was lost. Maybe not literally — though there’s a chance that’s true as well, a blind lawyer-activist fleeing through the woods of Linyi in Shandong province, then chased via car — but his whereabouts, for a week, was utterly unknown except to a circle of close... Read more »
We just warned about the dangers of hotpot: last week, a man caught on fire when a waiter allegedly mishandled an alcohol-fueled hotpot stove in Beijing. An accident yesterday in Shouyang County of Jinzhong City, Shanxi province was much worse. At 7:52 pm, according to Xinhua, a large blast came from inside the hotpot chain Xiyangyang (Happy Sheep),... Read more »
Hold your saddles everyone, your favorite horse dancer is coming to China! Unfortunately, his first mainland performance will be in Changsha, as part of Hunan Satellite TV’s “Carnival Week” to ring in the new year. Amanda, I kid. Changsha is a fine city. Unfortunately, it’s in the middle of nowhere. Ah, I kid again. It’s not... Read more »
Devin Silloway, who says he coined the term “guy tai” on the front page of China Daily 10 years ago, has just been featured by Reuters TV’s Decoder as the poster boy for a purportedly growing trend of stay-at-home expat dads in China. Guy tai, of course, plays off the term tai tai, which That’s magazine... Read more »
First, I’m not sure what makes this boat something that can survive the apocalypse; is it the railing up there? Second, I’m not sure this boat can float. But in defense of Lu Zhenghai, a man in Urumqi, Xinjiang who spent his life savings of 1 million yuan building this vessel, it’s not exactly done.... Read more »
