There Was A Level 10 Typhoon In Hong Kong Yesterday

HK typhoon
Update after the jump. While Typhoon Vicente, which hit last night with winds exceeding 140 km/h (87 mph), has since been downgraded, it was the first time in 13 years that a typhoon maxed out the scale. Reportedly more than 100 people have sought hospital treatment due to the storm, but so far there have been... Read more »

17th-Century China As Depicted In European Engravings

Dapper's engravings
Can a European who never leaves Europe ever have the slightest clue what China is like? It turns out the answer is maybe. Olfert Dapper (1635-1689) was an Amsterdam clergyman and doctor who never traveled abroad but nonetheless produced literature and art about places far, far away. Yesterday, the website BiblioOdyssey – linked to by io9 –... Read more »

Man Who Gets Mercilessly Bullied By BMW Driver Offers Some Levelheaded Advice

Man is mercilessly bullied by BMW driver featured image
First, the video: watch as the driver with the dashboard cam futilely tries to pass the red BMW 4S, whose license plate reads BMW X6 (we understand this car was from a dealership, and the man inside was going for a test-drive). Something obviously happened between these two guys before the recording began, and the road rage must have festered. The BMW driver engages in a bit of street gamesmanship for nearly two minutes, then stops, and that's when the dashboard cam driver sprints out of his car and chases after the BMW.

Remember Du Chuanwang, The Boy Who Inspired A Public Outpouring Of Goodwill? This Latest Update Is Sickening

Du Chuanwang
On June 30, two adults at an auto repair shop in Xiajin county, Shandong province pressed a mechanical air pump agains the anus of a 13-year-old boy and nearly inflated him to popping. Literally. The crime was almost too ghastly to comprehend. But comprehend we did, and in the successive days, it was as if... Read more »

Jean-Yves Blondeau Becomes Latest Daredevil To Conquer Hunan’s Mt. Tianmen

Jean-Yves Blondeau Becomes Latest Daredevil To Conquer Hunan’s Mt. Tianmen featured image
Frenchman Jean-Yves Blondeau is known as "Rollerman" because of his custom-designed suit equipped with 31 skateboard wheels, ensuring he always rolls -- standing, crouching, prostrate -- wherever there's a hill. But why roll down hills when the world offers mountains? Specifically, Mt. Tianmen, one of the most scenic places in China, featuring a stretch of road -- which Alicia wrote about in April -- with 99 turns to symbolize Heaven's nine palaces.

You’ll Never Eat Chuan’r Again (Sober) After Reading This Story

Chuanr
By RFH Recently a doctor on Weibo recalled the story of a patient – a kabob (chuanr, in Beijing patois) seller – who came in with stab wounds in the 1980s after getting into a ruckus with a customer. Upon surgery, his problems were found to be far worse than previously assumed. His stomach was riddled... Read more »

What We Can Learn From City Weekend Shanghai’s Incredible Uffie Review [UPDATE]

Uffie fiasco
Paris-based electronic musician Uffie (Anna-Catherine Hartle) played in Shanghai’s Mao Livehouse last Saturday, and by all accounts put on one of the most embarrassing shows ever. For 300 yuan, people got to watch her get drunk and stand around, possibly wave her arms, while other DJs played pop and dance music, e.g., Rihanna. It was... Read more »