Chinese Valentine's Day, i.e. the Magpie Festival and Double Seventh Festival, is today, and to celebrate, Google.com.hk has animated a doodle game featuring the cowherd and the weaver girl from the famous tale of love and loss, The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd.
Zhang Xiaoyu, who has been described as "China's first nude model" and is the self-proclaimed “China’s top nude model,” is apparently also a savvy businesswoman with a firm understanding of the importance of branding. We didn't know this until Danwei reported it just now, but apparently on May 15, she "announced to her 450,000 Weibo followers the launch of her branded simulation sex toy."
As a result of domestic strife, a 20-something woman in a residential compound in the Daoli district of Harbin, Heilongjiang province went to the balcony on the 5th story of a building and threatened to jump. She crawled out of the window and onto a wire clothesline, where she remained, distraught, according to a witness on the ground, as reported by Xinhua.
With each day that we still wait for the trial of Bo Xilai to begin, it becomes a little easier to forget what this is all about. Politics, economics, how it affects Xi Jinping's reforms, and shuanggui, yes, all very interesting, but at the heart of the matter is a murder -- the poisoning of British businessman Neil Heywood -- and a high-level cover-up that has already resulted in two people -- former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai consort Gu Kailai -- being given (essentially) 15-year sentences.
North Korea scholar Andray Abrahamian was rudely informed recently that his Barclays bank account, which he's held for 20 years, had been cancelled. And all because he works for a Singaporean non-profit that dares to engage North Korean citizens.
While the central government technically owns all land in China, it's standard practice to issue long-term leases of up to 70 years to would-be residential property owners. Certain restrictions apply, but land grant contracts are usually 70 years, and that's that.
One particular land and resources bureau, however, apparently missed that memo about "70 years." Either that or it felt properly high and mighty as to openly flaunt a purposefully wrong interpretation of Chinese property law.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, shame on... you, I guess. Fool me four times, shame all around. Fool me five times, does your mother know you're doing this? Fool me... I've lost count. Stop fooling me!
A smart person once told me that the feeling she gets when certain people enter the room is the same feeling she gets when she encounters the dank scent of mildew on damp, bath towels. It’s a livable smell, that palpable acrid taste in the air, but for her it also brings with it a constant grating and discomfort. Even worse, people who project this feeling on others with condescending smiles and cheerful helping hands are often “true believers” with the very best of intentions. They move and talk as though under an ideological spell. Their hope is that when they enter the atmosphere of a situation the positive vibes, the affect, or “wisdom of the body,” they emit will radiate like an emotional contagion.
