Cover art is by the renowned satirist Badiucao

If you transcribed every twisted, bitter, sick thought you ever had about China, tied it to a brick, then repeatedly smashed it into someone’s skull, you might give them an experience akin to reading Arthur Meursault’s debut novel Party Members (Camphor Press). There is no more unrelentingly savage satire of modern China ever written, and perhaps deserves more attention than it received.

The book traces the journey of Yang Wei, an unremarkable junior official (“one of a billion, not in a billion”) in a third-tier city, destined for the unheralded heights of utter mediocrity — until his penis gains consciousness, and starts telling him exactly what he needs to do to get ahead.

Less a phallic nod to Kafka than a Sino-cidal literary replay of the (largely forgotten) Richard E. Grant movie How to Get Ahead in Advertising, a satire about an ad man with a vicious boil that tell him what to do, it would be far too easy to dismiss Party Members  as a crude schoolboy ode to the adage that men think with their dicks. That would miss the point.

Such is Meursault’s anger with Chinese society that he has intentionally deployed the most vulgar metaphor he can find to prod at its leaders: He thinks Party members are a bunch of dicks and says so, occasionally to devastating effect.

Not for the easily offended or those who lean toward hugging pandas, Meursault’s China flows with faeces, saliva and urine. A man gets clubbed to death by a giant penis. There is a vigorous anal rape. The lust for luxury car-ownership sees men furiously getting off in showroom Audis. Those with a taste for the grotesque will revel in any number of set pieces, many of which are masturbatory: “When they were not talking or playing with their phones, Rainy would lie next to Yang Wei, playing with his penis, letting her hands glide up and down the thick, meaty sausage like an Amazon warrior polishing her spear.”

The venomous sneering takes aim at almost every conceivable headline issue: Food scandals, greed, corruption, pollution, inequality, urban management, civic values, public defecation, GDP obsession, education, parenting, marriage, government and, of course, the Party. In lesser hands, this might be nothing more than the race-tinged rantings of a long-term expat, expanding (condensing?) his every negative thought about China into a flimsy fictional pretext. But Party Members’ dark humour, technical prowess, and outlandish exuberance save it from such a fate — though it sails dangerously close to the wind at times.

A typical members-only party

What mostly saves the book is that it is often very funny (sometimes laugh-out-loud so), not to mention savagely accurate, despite its obvious excesses. It is that rare more than half a dozen pages pass without some pithy caricature or barb, whether it’s aimed at the nation’s terrible television (“…his aging wife falling asleep in front of part 63 of a 745 episode of a Korean soap opera…”) or obsession with Japanese militarism. Often both are merged to comic effect: “Three minutes later, Yang Wei walked over from his chair, swiped the remote from her, and changed the channel back to the local TV channel’s premiere of Let’s Nuke Tokyo 3.”

China’s often ham-fisted attempts at propaganda are easily satirized, and the description of Yang Wei’s third-tier as  “THE FOREST OF PROGRESS” and “THE PARIS OF ASIA” are less satire than stenography (compare the shithole concrete reality of Dongguan, a textiles hub, with its National Foreign City status). So too, the surreal effect of the cuddly, yet sinister sloganeering: “The smiley faces, dancing cats, and knock-off copies of Japanese anime characters that she normally chose to decorate the Party’s contemporary slogans gave off the air of a benevolent dictatorship controlled by a schizophrenic four year old.”

Dongguan (above) as it imagines itself

Dongguan (above) as it is

Sometimes it is difficult to tell if China’s development is more inspired by Charlie Chaplin or Joseph Stalin, a point made in the book by channeling that other totalitarian satirist, George Orwell: “It was a bright, cold day in April, and the large clock atop the Ministry building was striking thirteen. Actually, it was supposed to strike twelve, but there had been a mix-up during the clock’s manufacture and nobody could be bothered to change it.”

For all its searing rage, and certainly because of it, the book has its faults. It does not have any gears: going from neutral observation to China-is-completely-and-utterly-fucked up within a few pages, never really slowing down or changing direction. For those that like their narratives to have a natural rhythm and flow, to gently undulate with plot twists and emotional highs and lows… this is not the book. Aside from the plot-device of an unwieldy and absurdist talking penis, the novel is a bit one-track, like a hammer brutally smashing rusty nails into one’s head, page after page after page.

There’s also a sense that this merciless savagery damages the fiction itself. In the absence of any characters to care about, with Chinese cities given no color other than the bleakest grey, the effect is brutally numbing, making it easy to switch off. If the aim of satire is to affect some type of change, then Party Members misses the mark. The book’s monotonous ferocity drains the book of the emotional impact it might have delivered, enticing the reader to think China is getting exactly what it deserves — and nothing can be done about. That bleakness—nihilism, really — might be too much for some readers to bear. For others, it might be just the tonic.

The author, Carlos Ottery, is on Twitter @CharlesOutre

Yellow River Xiaolangdi Waterfall-Watching Festival, via That’s Online

The Global Floating Dance Party is coming to Beijing links.

Why they marched. “An overwhelming 91 per cent of marchers polled by the South China Morning Post yesterday stood firm on the public’s right to nominate candidates to run in the next chief executive election. // A fifth also said they were prepared to join Occupy Central, while 36 per cent rejected the civil disobedience movement that will be launched if the government’s proposals for electoral reform fall short of ‘international standards’ for universal suffrage. Another 43 per cent were unsure.” (SCMP)

As expected… “For its part, the English-language China Daily buried reference to the protest, and instead emphasized that ‘hundreds of thousands’ attended various pro-China celebrations held throughout Hong Kong to celebrate the anniversary of the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule. Such celebrations involved everything from cheerleaders to lion dances, though a number were sparsely attended.” (WSJ)

Political intrigue. “A former aide to China’s embattled retired domestic security boss, Zhou Yongkang, has been expelled from the Communist Party after taking ‘huge bribes’ and committing adultery, China’s top anti-corruption body said on Wednesday. // The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said the case of Ji Wenlin would be handed over to prosecutors.” (Reuters)

Searching for JG Ballard in modern Shanghai … his childhood home (from Empire of the Sun) is now a restaurant http://t.co/enlLPT5Oam

— Alec Ash (@alecash) July 1, 2014

“Guy Shows You How To Put On Pants Without Using Your Hands” interlude, via That’s Online:

Finally…

“Shuanggui.” (Tea Leaf Nation)

“Facebook unblocked in China… ever-so-slightly.” (That’s Online)

“Old woman becomes hero after rescuing 130 dogs from dog meat Festival.” (Shanghaiist)

“Watch: Pregnant woman passes out in front of Beijing train, crawls out alive.” (The Nanfang)

“37th Asian American International Film Festival.” (Angry Asian Man)

“City of Reinvention: A Review of Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement.” (LA Review of Books)

“3-year-old girl slips into coma after being shot by mysterious dart.” (Shanghaiist)

“Fujian woman severs stepdaughter’s arm, throws it in cesspit.” (Shanghaiist)

“Nominate your favourite Cha story published in 2013.” (Asian Cha)

“The Pipa and Wu Man Wu.” (iLook China)

Finally, finally…

Via SCMP: “Confusion surrounds how a SWAT car came to be suspended in mid-air, stuck between a building and a concrete ledge, some three storeys above ground in Shandong province”:

Full-bodied facekini, via The Nanfang

Happy Hong Kong handover anniversary day links.

Developing news — a name you’ll see again. “Xu Caihou, former vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, was expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and his case was handed over to prosecutors, announced the CPC Central Committee Monday. // The decision was made at a meeting of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, presided over by President Xi Jinping.” (Xinhua)

What “60 Minutes” got wrong in its Zhengzhou story, other than everything. “The area that 60 Minutes shot in surely looked ‘ghost-like’ on film, but when I arrived there I found an entirely different scene. I found a sparkling new financial district that was full of sparkling new cars, well-dressed pedestrians, corporate offices of major businesses, skyscrapers full of occupied offices, expensive coffee houses, laundry hanging in the windows of luxury condos, there were cars parked in nearly every available parking space, and signs of life everywhere. There was nothing desolate about the Zhengdong CBD, it appears to be functioning as planned.” (Wade Shepard, Vagabond Journey)

More bad journalism: “The BBC, NPR and Washington Post all carried headlines announcing that North Korea had threatened war over the movie. Not to be outdone, the New York Post ran a headline proclaiming North Korea ‘threatens “merciless” war’ over the movie, while the Huffington Post announced ‘North Korea Threatens… “All Out War.”’ ABC News contented itself with a headline that simply asked ‘Could Seth Rogen and James Franco’s New Film Start a War?’ // The only problem with this is that North Korea most definitely did not threaten war over the film.” (The Diplomat)

GSK intrigue: “The Chinese corruption scandal at GlaxoSmithKline was sparked by a sex tape involving Mark Reilly, the former manager at the centre of the company’s ongoing bribery investigation, it has emerged. // In an extraordinary twist on the scandal that has engulfed the pharmaceutical giant since early last year, GSK has confirmed the existence of footage showing Mr Reilly, who is separated from his wife, having sex with his Chinese girlfriend in his Shanghai flat.” (The Telegraph)

A small victory for China’s animal rights activists. “Starting Monday, the China Food and Drug Administration will stop requiring animal tests on so-called ordinary cosmetics, including shampoos and certain skin-care products. Instead, manufacturers can opt for alternative methods using existing data on ingredient toxicology or tissue culture when they conduct risk assessments.” (Sinosphere)

Some people have all the time. “A man has set two ‘Chinness’ Chinese Records by carving 7,665 circular holes and 2,865 triangular holes on two eggs, respectively, Xi’an Evening News reported.” (Ecns.cn)

Sad. “A wild panda found dead at a nature reserve in southwest China’s Sichuan province last Friday died of an intracranial hemorrhage after a fall about a week ago, an autopsy confirmed on Monday. // Staff at Wolong National Nature Reserve Administration said rainstorms, which have battered the area recently, possibly caused the panda to fall as it tried to go down a hill to a river. // Days of rainstorms had triggered a mudslide at the reserve.” (Xinhua http://www.ecns.cn/2014/06-30/121602.shtml)

Xinhua concludes Chen Guangbiao is not helping China’s image abroad: http://t.co/A9Wonjp54R pic.twitter.com/p9JBpRts9q

— Chris Buckley 储百亮 (@ChuBailiang) June 28, 2014

#WorldCup: #Robben, to #dive or not? That’s a question. http://t.co/78poszUdvS pic.twitter.com/ITR64J2PrQ — China.org.cn (@chinaorgcn) June 30, 2014

Pic of Joachim Löw doing the rounds on Chinese social net. Ironically nose-picking a common sight in China itself. pic.twitter.com/YG7dnCnqJN

— Cameron Wilson (@CameronWEF) June 30, 2014

Dude sets his wife mistress on fire interlude, via The Nanfang:

Finally…

“Divas, devotees at 25th Golden Melody Awards.” (The China Post)

“On The Ethics Of China Red Envelopes.” (China Law Blog)

“Night Vision: China Enlists Drones in Fight Against Pollution.” (WSJ)

Mega city with Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei. (The World of Chinese)

Finally, finally…

“‘Urban Asia’: A Photographer’s Lens Captures Cities in Constant Flux,” via Asia Society (photo by Kirk Pedersen):

“One ton of live crayfish worth of RMB50,000″ in Anhui, via That’s Online

Weekend links.

Prepare for Edward Snowden Drive near Liangmaqiao. “The street holding the Chinese embassy in Washington DC could be renamed after a noted Chinese dissident. // An amendment attached to a state department budget bill would make the embassy’s address 1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza.” (BBC)

A new map of China: “China is standing tall over its expansive claims to territory in the South China Sea. This week, Hunan Map Publishing House unveiled a new map of China — a vertical representation of the country that includes the vast body of water south of Hainan Island. China’s assertions of ownership in the South China Sea have put it at odds with at least four Southeast Asian nations, which have competing claims, and with the United States, which has said that China’s actions in the region — including having a state-owned oil company place an exploratory oil rig near the Vietnamese coast in May — are creating instability.” (Sinosphere)

Hong Kong vote. “Johnny Lam, a 76-year-old Hong Kong resident, defied China’s leadership in Beijing by casting a vote on June 22. Lam is one of hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents who have taken part in an unofficial referendum on how to choose the territory’s next leader. China asserts it has the right to vet the candidates for Hong Kong’s chief executive and has denounced the poll, which was organized by Occupy Central with Love and Peace, a group of pro-democracy activists. The ire of the People’s Republic doesn’t faze Lam. ‘We must fight to voice our opinions,’ says the retiree. ‘China promised us autonomy when it took over Hong Kong, but we are feeling fooled.’” (Businessweek)

See which ones you’ve read. “The Anthill occasionally loans its soul to the devil and does listicles. So far we’ve done China books and China blogs. Now we turn our eye to that richest of terrains – bad articles about China – in the form of a top ten hall of infamy. // These are mostly bad articles of the harmless variety – i.e. fresh off the boat and clueless, or smarmy and self-aggrandising, rather than nasty propaganda or misleadingly ignorant journalism – although there’s also some casual racism and no. 6 is just horrible.” (the Anthill)

Some activists have all the fun. “As top Communist leaders gathered in Beijing the veteran Chinese political activist He Depu was obliged to leave town – on an all-expenses-paid holiday to the tropical island of Hainan, complete with police escorts. // It is an unusual method of muzzling dissent, but He is one of dozens of campaigners who rights groups say have been forced to take vacations – sometimes featuring luxurious hotels beside sun-drenched beaches, trips to tourist sites and lavish dinners – courtesy of the authorities.” (AFP)

Speaking of… “A leading figure of a small citizen’s movement in southern China was released on bail nearly a month after being taken into police custody, his lawyers said Thursday. // Wang Aizhong has been a key figure in the amorphous Southern Street Movement that seeks an end to China’s one-party rule and urges its followers to take to the street to make their appeals public.” (AP)

Bad year to bet on football. “A college student in China leaped to his death after losing more than $3,000 gambling on the World Cup, according to state media reports on Tuesday.” (Sina)

China education ministry officials look relaxed in traditional ‘Hanfu’ at graduation ceremony http://t.co/k3imc65TOZ pic.twitter.com/GO8rDkG9q4

— Tom Hancock (@hancocktom) June 25, 2014

Dancing Beijing aunties surround “play Japanese devil” with toy AK-47s in street performance pic.twitter.com/nFcziPFe5j — Eric Fish (@ericfish85) June 27, 2014

Chinese university students sleep on a school roof bc there’s no A/C in the dorms http://t.co/TFO2ZICx2t pic.twitter.com/Zo81k48EJT — Lily Kuo (@lilkuo) June 26, 2014

Russell Peters about Mandarin/Cantonese interlude:

Finally…

“China Official Makes Rare Cross-Strait Trip in Effort to Forge Ties With Taiwan.” (WSJ)

“Web Preaches Jihad to China’s Muslim Uighurs.” (WSJ, paywalled)

“China’s Pixar? A Sneak Peek From New Animation Studio Light Chaser.” (Global Voices)

“Endurance Athlete prepares for solo Great Wall of China run.” (Dallas Morning News)

“Writing China: Mara Hvistendahl, ‘And the City Swallowed Them.’” (WSJ)

“Chinese millions tracked to French vineyards.” (The Telegraph)

“German exchange student exclaims that ‘Chinese math is too hard’ on test, gains netizen love.” (Shanghaiist)

“What Photos Are Most Appealing to Weibo Users?” (China Internet Watch)

“Gang of traffickers jailed in Shanghai for selling 10 baby boys.” (Shanghai Daily)

“Lineup Leak: 2014 Zhangbei Inmusic Festival – Lorde to headline?” (China Music Radar)

Finally, finally…

“Rare photographs of early Shanghai, some dating back more than a century, have gone on display at the Shanghai Municipal Archives,” via ECNS.cn:

Great Leap is opening a third location at No. 45-1 Xinyuan Jie, that street just inside Third Ring near Liangmaqiao. Segue: we’re still taking submissions for Flash Fiction for Charity, and of course, reservations. Come for a fun afternoon and great cause.

Violence in Xinjiang. “Chinese police shot dead 13 attackers in the restive far-western region of Xinjiang on Saturday after they rammed a car into a police station and detonated explosives, Xinhua news agency said, in the latest of a series of attacks to worry Beijing.” (Reuters)

Traditions die hard. “The protest has been going on for several years but the festival has never stopped. Last year, activities in protest of the festival included open letters to the Yulin government, recruitment of celebrities to condemn the practice and even a petition to the president of the United States. // Local residents are not happy, either. // ‘It is our tradition and our right to eat dog meat. If we are cruel and brutal, what about those who eat pork, beef and chicken?’ said Wei Zhengde, a 28-year-old Yulin resident.” (Xinhua)

Squinch. “19-year-old Pan got one of his testicles fall out after hitting on a tree while riding his bike down a slope, the local television Guangdong TV reported.” (Sina)

Lawyer Pu Zhiqiang. “Police in China have arrested one of the country’s most celebrated human rights lawyers as leaders of the ruling Communist party renew their push to punish government critics. // Pu Zhiqiang, a prominent campaigner who has represented the dissident artist Ai Weiwei, was arrested on suspicion of ‘creating disturbances and illegally obtaining personal information,’ said the Beijing Public Security Bureau.” (AFP)

Goddamn SAPPRFT: ” Reporters in China are forbidden from publishing critical reports without the approval of their employer, one of China’s top media regulators said on Wednesday. // The rule comes as the government intensifies a crackdown on freedom of expression, both online and in traditional media.” (Reuters)

“The challenges of making original content in China.” “The problem of script applies less to an assisted production, where the film is made in China but intended for release elsewhere. But if a film is intended to be shown in the Chinese market the script has to be passed by SAPPRFT. This applies to all films but in the case of co-productions it can mean the project going off the rails. If the partner is a leading Chinese entity the script will be first examined by the China Film Coproduction Corporation (CFCC). // There is also another question: what are the challenges for Chinese producers in making original content within the co-production model? This is equally as problematic.” (Asian Creative Transformations)

Look who has friends! This is a headline: “Our friends in the West.” (Global Times)

Corruption. “It’s no secret that graft is an essential part of climbing the Chinese Communist Party ranks. Now, according to Chinese state media, ambitious female cadres are increasingly being caught taking bribes and trading favors. On June 16, the state-controlled (but liberal) Beijing News named and shamed 12 female officials targeted by anti-corruption investigators in the first half of 2014. The report said most offenders were city officials in key posts. Four have already been charged; eight remain under investigation, although in the Chinese justice system the ultimate conviction rate of defendants is exceedingly high.” (ChinaFile)

Politics. “The brother of politician Ling Jihua, once a presidential ally whose son was killed in a scandalous Ferrari crash in 2012, has been sacked from his post, the Communist Party’s official news website said on Monday.” (SCMP)

Look who’s running SCMP’s new blog. “Social scientists believe that any event in China where there is a stage and a microphone is liable to experience the Chinese ritual known as the ‘Two Sentence Speech.’ // The ritual has two requirements. First, there must be an esteemed, preferably elderly audience member present. Second, nobody present really wants to hear this person talk. // When these two conditions are met, the host must extol this guest’s accomplishments, expound their virtues, and lastly, invite them to 说两句话：Say two sentences.” (Jesse Appell, SCMP)

Beijingers not living prosperously. “What accounts for the numbers? Pathetically, the Beijing CDC doesn’t even try to speculate.” (Bloomberg)

From Xinhua: “Chinese police have increased armed patrols after terrorist attacks killed dozens. But gun misuse can also happen. // The solution? 10,000 trainers will teach qualified officers to shoot correctly.” (Facebook)

Almost certainly, unofficially speaking, there are more people than this in Beijing. “The population of permanent residents in Beijing exceeded 21 million by the end of 2013, the municipal bureau of statistics said Wednesday. // The figure is based on a sample survey of population last year. It showed that the population of Beijing’s permanent residents reached 21.15 million, 455,000 more than that of 2012.” (Xinhua)

The empire attacks New York. #Japanese propaganda image from #WW2 pic.twitter.com/s7c5RrQZmx

— China in WW2 (@chinaww2) June 21, 2014

It absolutely infuriates me that I can’t find a media job in the UK. 5 years experience in China doesn’t seem to count for shit.

— Mike Cormack (@bucketoftongues) June 23, 2014

Very cool online Chinese character information resource! It’s been out a while, I just discovered it. http://t.co/Xu3g5Eljv2

— David Moser (@david__moser) June 22, 2014

Chongqing man has second thoughts about keeping pet crocodile in apartment: http://t.co/8nH27enSSn pic.twitter.com/k54916jPKp

— Chris Buckley 储百亮 (@ChuBailiang) June 23, 2014

“Beijing From Above, Aka The Story Of How I Was Detained By The Police Because Of My DJI Quadcopter” interlude, via Stuck in Customs:

Finally…

“Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is ‘infiltrated by foreign forces’: anti-graft official.” (SCMP)

“An Exclusive Essay By Ai Weiwei: ‘On Self-Censorship.’” (Ai Weiwei, Huffington Post)

“A Most Rare Vision: Shakespeare in China.” (NY Times)

Kim Jong Un’s Instagram. (Foreign Policy)

Chinese journalism school. (LA Review of Books)

“Peking University Blasted for ‘Brothel-Like’ Ads to Recruit New Students.” (The Nanfang)

“The Chengdu Panda Center and How to Take Photos at a Zoo.” (Brendan’s Adventures)

“Chinese firemen stop suicidal man jumping out of fifth floor window… by firing a water cannon at him,” via Daily Mail

Apologies for the sparse posts. We have something fun planned for tomorrow though. Links for now.

Money to be won! “In the spirit of a smaller, more plasticky and wrist-driven World Cup, Heineken are challenging foosball fans to strut their stuff in their 2014 Heineken Foosball Competition over the coming weeks, all the way to the national finals on July 12 in Shanghai. // The 60 preliminary matches will be staged in Beijing, Tianjin and seven cities across the North China Region and prizes include limited edition Heineken Adidas football kits as well as RMB 10,000 prize money for the one lucky tournament winner.” (the Beijinger)

This again. “Animal rights advocates say they have seen signs that the southern city of Yulin is trying to lower the profile of its much-criticized dog-eating festival. The feasting is expected to go ahead as scheduled this weekend, but local officials have taken steps to deflect outside attention from the annual event, at which thousands of dogs are consumed.” (Sinosphere)

Reminds me of when US politicians were pointing at the show 24 to support torture. “The inspection arm of China’s Communist Party this week took a break from its historic investigation into the country’s corruption problems to highlight abuse of power from a fresh angle: the fictionalized depiction of crooked Washington shown in the television program ‘House of Cards.’” (WSJ)

This guy knows how to work a crowd. “Chen posted a full page advertisement in the New York Times on Monday, and a half page ad in the Wall Street Journal, inviting 1,000 poor Americans to lunch. He also promised to give them each a red packet containing US$300, and even included his email address in the ad. The lunch will be held from 11:30am to 1:30pm on Wednesday June 25.” (The Nanfang)

Scary attack. “Check out this shocking security footage of the axe attack at a Xinjiang chess hall this past Sunday (previously reported as a knife attack). [Warning: Viewer Discretion Advised]” (Shanghaiist)

Death sentences for Tiananmen attack: “A Chinese court sentenced three men to death on Monday for their roles in carrying out an attack near the entrance to Beijing’s Forbidden City in October that left six people dead and 39 injured, in what the police said was a terrorist act carried out by Islamic jihadists belonging to the Uighur ethnic minority.” (Sinosphere)

Tiananmen, different context: “The Beijing authorities have detained a woman linked with a Twitter posting suggesting that a method for sending spam text messages might also be used to rally public awareness of the 25th anniversary of the deadly crackdown on the Tiananmen protest movement.” (Sinosphere)

English Momo? “Momo, the popular Chinese flirting app valued at $2 billion, is making a retreat from the international market after it announced plans to discontinue the English version of its service on July.” (The Next Web)

Film festival. “The curtain rose on the 17th Shanghai International Film Festival last night with a star-studded red carpet event at the Shanghai Grand Theater. // Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, British actor Hugh Grant, French director Jean-Jacques Annaud, South Korean actress Song Hye-kyo and Hong Kong actor Nicolas Tse were just some of the 400 celebrities who attended the gala.” (Shanghai Daily)

Confronting the infamous “pick-up artist” interlude, via Hong Wrong:

Finally…

“Arrested Chinese Lawyer Pu Zhiqiang Speaks from Prison.” (ChinaFile)

“An afternoon with a Chinese Pick Up Artist.” (Alec Ash, the Anthill)

Chinese sports anchor supports all the losing teams. (Shanghaiist)

Op-ed: “Let North Korea collapse.” (NY Times)

“The assassination of Kim Jong-un is now the subject of an upcoming American comedy.” (SCMP)

“Xinhua Insight: Top secret assignment: writing the gaokao.” (Xinhua)

“Jeremy Lin talks to the guy who wrote ‘The Linsanity Sham.’” (Angry Asian Man)

“Ten thousand people gather to support Hong Kong’s first Pink Dot pride festival.” (Shanghaiist)

“The Murky World of International Modeling (Excerpt: And the City Swallowed Them).” (Shanghaiist)

Reminder that gaokao sucks. (Global Voices)

Pandas land in Hong Kong airport, via Shanghaiist

Apologies for missing mid-week links. Here’s the Brazil-Croatia game (spoiler alert, obviously) for those who missed it.

Only Tokyo and Seoul more expensive; Shanghai is more expensive than Beijing, for the record. “Shanghai and Beijing were ranked the world’s 3rd and 4th most expensive cities for expatriates in a March survey, outstripping even notoriously pricey destinations for expats such as Hong Kong and Singapore.” (WSJ)

Why doesn’t FIFA have an official social media account in China? “As the World Cup draws closer, a huge buzz is developing around what will be the biggest sporting event of the year on Chinese social medias most frequented channels, namely Sina Weibo. With the World Cup having no official account, and only two national teams, England and Germany, having an official Weibo presence, verified information about the event is sparse on Chinese social media.” (Kawo Blog)

Travesty! “A team of giant panda cubs that was lined up to predict World Cup scores has been given a red card by authorities just hours before kick-off, the animals’ keepers said yesterday. // The bears were billed by the media as China’s answer to Paul the Octopus — the surprise star of the 2010 tournament — after finding out they would predict match results by picking food from a choice of baskets and by climbing trees. // But representatives at the bears’ breeding base in the southwestern Sichuan Province said the pandas will not now get the chance to show off their predicting skills.” (Shanghai Daily)

An interactive look at China’s territorial disputes. “The East and South China Seas are the scene of escalating territorial disputes between China and its neighbors, including Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The tensions, shaped by China’s growing assertiveness, have fueled concerns over armed conflict and raised questions about Washington’s security commitments in its strategic rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region.” (Council on Foreign Relations)

Is it too heartless of me to say she deserved it? “Lili said she had found a person online who claimed to have official access to the answers on the math portion to the national university entrance exam. Lili admitted she was infatuated with this online person, and agreed to send him the requested RMB 4,000 payment. // Lili had memorized all the answers provided for her, but was completely shocked when she discovered while taking the test that none of the answers matched up. Lili didn’t tell anyone at first of her personal tragedy for fear of getting caught.” (The Nanfang)

No jaywalking will be inconvenient. “Beijing on Tuesday launched a new effort to ‘civilise’ its residents by clamping down on queue-jumping and smoking ahead of a summit for Asian leaders later this year. // The campaign, labelled ‘Embracing Apec Wonderful Pekingese-Citizen Civilised Behaviour Promotion,’ also promises to crack down on jaywalking, drink driving and drivers refusing to stop at zebra crossings.” (AFP)

If Asians Said The Stuff White People Say interlude:

Finally…

“Chinese leaders’ most important (and most sacred) promises are made to their family networks.” (The Diplomat)

“10 out of 10 for ingenuity at least: The incredible lengths Chinese students will go to cheat at high-pressure exams that will decide their whole lives.” (Daily Mail)

“Eddie Huang defends title for new ABC sitcom ‘Fresh Off the Boat.’” (Shanghaiist)

“Henan Man Robbed, Molested, and Raped Empty Nest Seniors.” (chinaSMACK)

“Beijing’s worst Buddhist retreat.” (Nona Tepper, the Anthill)

“Baidu Turns to Big Data to Forecast Flu Outbreaks.” (WSJ)

“Watch as Baidu Implements Censorship of ‘Tiananmen 25th Anniversary.’” (Fei Chang Dao)

“How the World Sees China.” (The World of Chinese)

“How Eating Broccoli Can Help Your Body Cope With Air Pollution.” (WSJ)

Or how about French rabbit heads? (WSJ)

Finally, finally…

“Spoofed Google page calls on Chinese people to fight the GFW,” via The Nanfang:

Beijing after a rainstorm, via Sina

Belated, but so it is. Hail storm links.

Availability cascade and suicide spates in China. “Caixin actually appeared to draw the most compelling evidence that something was amiss when it said that official suicides more than doubled from 21 in 2012 to 48 in 2013. But then you notice a big flaw in the reasoning. Those numbers are based on media reports of suicides, not any actual empirical data. The article said, ‘An increasing number of officials are committing suicide, if media reports on the topic are any indication.’ They are not. // This is the great flaw in all these supposed ‘suicide spates,’ because it’s really only once a spate narrative has been established that people start paying attention, counting suicides and reporting them.” (Sinostand)

Two great Tech in Asia profiles:

A look inside Zhihu, China’s answer to Quora. (Tech in Asia)

“High school dropout, factory worker, ordinary woman: How Gong Haiyan founded China’s biggest dating site.” (Tech in Asia)

Congrats. “Top-seeded Peng Shuai of China and Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan won their second Grand Slam title together by defeating Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the French Open women’s doubles on Sunday.” (Xinhua)

Chinese feelings hurt. “Asked by the Associated Press to name her favorite Chinese director, the Hollywood A-lister named ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and  ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ director Ang Lee. // ‘I am not sure if you consider Ang Lee Chinese, he’s Taiwanese but he does many Chinese-language films with many Chinese artists and actors, and I think his works and the actors in his films are the ones I am most familiar with and very fond of,’ she said.” (WSJ)

That’s a lot of burning drugs. “A commemoration of Qing commissioner Lin Zexu’s 1839 burning of Opium at Humen was conducted by modern helmeted policemen burning 120kg of drugs in an act of  remembrance, in Loudia, Hunan, June 3. The event was reportedly attended by 5,000 people.” (The World of Chinese)

This age-old debate. “Was football invented in China? Claims backed by FIFA have sparked anger from English fans and derision from pundits who say the suggestion is driven by financial reasons rather than historical fact.” (SCMP)

Ai Weiwei Kickstarter movie campaign back online – with groveling apology https://t.co/W0vM90MRUF @beijingcream

— Mark Dreyer (@DreyerChina) June 6, 2014

Final June 4 link:

Jianying Zha, Paul French, Linda Jaivin interlude:

Finally…

“Putin’s Collected Works published in China.” (The China Story)

“Dumb arguments about human rights in China.” (Donald Clarke, Chinese Law Prof Blog)

“Watch: ‘Naked building climber’ arouses suspicions of cheating from netizens.” (Shanghaiist)

“Watch: Wenzhou threesome inside car ends in horrific accident.” (Shanghaiist)

“Creepy Foreigner Touches Chinese Woman Inappropriately on Subway.” (the Beijinger)

“Braille gaokao papers fail to pass the test for blind man.” (Xinhua)

“China Now Has More Millionaires Than Any Country but the U.S.” (WSJ)

“Elementary school attacker in Hubei shot dead by police.” (The Nanfang)

“Young Chinese Twitter User Arrested for Proposing Method to Spread Truth about June 4th Massacre.” (China Change)

Finally, finally…

“An 11-year-old girl of Chinese descent has won the national 2014 Doodle 4 Google contest with a drawing titled ‘Back to Mother Nature’ that was displayed Monday on Google’s homepage, according to people.com.cn,” via ECNS.cn:

One more…

Via Bridgers’ Finds: “Dragon Burn. Like Burning Man, but in China. (Sanshan Island in Suzhou, to be exact). A Dragon Egg effigy was burned”:

This isn’t Xi Jinping. Via SCMP

Enjoy the Craft Beer Festival this weekend links.

Going undercover in the Church of the Almighty God. “The man, who was not named, said church followers were considered holy, while people who had not converted were impure. Those who opposed the group were considered evil. // The man said he met some kind people in the lower ranks. ‘But they’d been brainwashed as they hoped the church would help give them and their families immortality,’ he said.” (SCMP)

Harmless photo not so harmless when Mao is linked with the Church of the Almighty God. “A Beijing-based web editor has been detained by the authorities on suspicion of posting a doctored photo that linked Mao Zedong with a fringe religious group accused in a high-profile murder, a lawyer said.” (Sinosphere)

Profile Chan Tat Ching. “These days, Mr. Chan, 70, collects rent from several properties and helps friends in the trading business. But a quarter of a century ago, he helped create a secret lifeline to freedom for Chinese political fugitives fleeing mass arrests after the armed suppression of protests centered on Tiananmen Square.” (NY Times)

Guo Jian to be detained. “A Chinese-born Australian artist who was detained shortly after publicizing images of a replica of Tiananmen Square he made out of groundpork will be deported from China, Australian officials said on Friday.” (NY Times)

Terrorism. “Chinese state media issued details Friday on 81 people sentenced on terror-related charges — nine of them to death — saying the bulk had belonged to terrorist organizations and committed murder and other violent crimes.” (AP)

Not terrorism. “A rush-hour disturbance at a crowded Beijing subway interchange on Thursday sparked “confusion” among passengers that left two people with ‘minor abrasions,’ the system operator said. // But it sparked rumors online that highlight new jumpiness about terrorism in Chinese cities. // Beijing Metro’s brief statement provided scant details about what happened. It said the unexplained disturbance took place at an underground intersection at Guomao Station, where crowds from the city’s Line 1 meet passengers from Line 10.” (WSJ)

Oh dear. “Two people died and three were injured after wading into a cesspool’s knee-deep filth in an attempt to retrieve a woman’s mobile phone and rescue those who fainted. // The two fatalities were the woman’s husband and mother-in-law, a local newspaper reported.” (SCMP)

The Asian champions! “In a speedy deal hatched over a few drinks, China’s biggest e-commerce company Alibaba is buying half of the country’s most successful soccer club Guangzhou Evergrande for $192 million. // For Jack Ma, Alibaba Group Holding’s billionaire founder and confessed soccer agnostic, it may seem a fanciful move, the latest in a string of recent acquisitions beyond Alibaba’s traditional e-commerce businesses.” (Reuters)

Fat? “A country that only a few decades ago didn’t even bother to keep statistics on the weight of its citizens, China has lately become obsessed with fatness. // The most recent evidence comes from Weibo, where #definitionoffat gobbled up enough attention to become the top-trending hashtag Thursday afternoon, with hundreds of thousands of posts.” (WSJ)

Not fat. “Tangshan’s city market and its customers were shocked and excited (very excited I’m guessing) when a young saleswoman found a new approach in her marketing. To increase sales in the underwear she is selling,  she simply decided strip down and show customers the goods.” (The World of Chinese)

And he returned it. “A sanitation worker from Nanchong, Sichuan Province, searched for over six hours in two tons of garbage to find a red plastic bag containing 3,500 yuan ($560) that belonged to an 89-year-old man.” (Global Times)

Literature. “As a translator of Chinese fiction and books about traditional Chinese culture, I’d like to add my two cents worth here. My suggestions for ‘maximizing exports’ of Chinese literature in translation in 2014 and beyond.” (Bruce Humes)

“A Bite of China” parody interlude, via WSJ:

Finally…

“Taxi driver violently attacked by foreigner in Shanghai.” (The Nanfang)

“All that glitters: businessman ‘who bought HK$270m of gold’ ends up with metal bars.” (SCMP)

Great Wall Music Festival pictures. (Smart Beijing)

“Six weeks interning in Shanghai showed me a different side to China.” (The Independent)

Finally, finally…

A competition held in Chunxi Lu in Chengdu got lots of attention today. pic.twitter.com/ifK87UPr9W

— XQ (@MissXQ) June 5, 2014

Record crowd for Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigil, via SCMP

We put most of the Tiananmen stories in its separate links post, so here are the rest.

Africans marrying in a Guangzhou district dubbed “Chocolate City.” “The relationship with Africa that China has so aggressively courted for economic gain – 2012 saw a record US$198 billion of trade between the pair – is producing an unexpected return: the mainland’s first mixed-race generation with blood from a distant continent and the right to be Chinese.” (SCMP)

China comes to LA. “China’s Huading Film Awards, a People’s Choice-type prize voted on annually by an estimated 80 million Chinese moviegoers, held its 12th ceremony in Hollywood’s Ricardo Montalbán Theatre, bringing a major Chinese movie awards show to the U.S. for what is believed to be the first time.” (WSJ)

Gaokao. “A secondary school teacher from Shaanxi province brutally beaten by a group of senior students agreed not to report the incident to the police so they could sit the upcoming gaokao or national university entrance exam, a local newspaper reported.” (SCMP)

That’s nice. “A Shanghai woman who was freed last Friday – two months after she was abducted from a Malaysian diving resort – returned to Shanghai yesterday. // Gao Huayun, 29, took a China Eastern Airlines flight yesterday morning, accompanied by workers from the China Embassy in Malaysia. She has reunited with her family and was reported staying in a hotel room with her parents, according to xinmin.cn.” (Shanghai Daily)

North Korean child performers, very creepy and very, very sad: http://t.co/8gvLCAfav3 pic.twitter.com/acuB3xj8ed

— Chris Buckley 储百亮 (@ChuBailiang) June 3, 2014

#ThisDayInHistory June 4th, 1789: The American constitution, which counted each slave as 3/5th of a person, takes effect. #Remember #History

— The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) June 4, 2014

Wide shot of the famous, unforgettable “tank man” shot from #TiananmenSquare 1989 via @MiaFarrow pic.twitter.com/cOw2o4RvpG

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) June 4, 2014

“Successful laowai” interlude, via Shanghaiist:

Finally…

“Naked models at Foshan restaurant opening confuse, delight [NSFW].” (Shanghaiist)

“That Chinese Passport Story Sure Looks Like a Hoax.” (Kotaku)

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in Shanghai. (Hollywood Reporter)

“She’ll Be Right Mate: Survey Says Australians Warming to China.” (WSJ)

“Ultra Rich Asian Girls of Vancouver: The Latest Vancouver Reality Show.” (Vancity Buzz)

“How Japanese AV Idol Sora Aoi Sells on China Social Media.” (China Internet Watch)

“You Know That You’ve Been Living in China Too Long When…” (Linda Living in China)

Finally, finally…

Pig leaps to freedom, via Shanghaiist:

“June 4, 1989, 10:45am – People on West Chang’an Ave watch smoke rise from entire column on army vehicles set ablaze,” via @prchovanec

A special links edition.

A young Chinese’s path to understanding Tiananmen — and why it’s curbed by the Internet. “The immense interest among those jiulinghou who are in the know has not translated into active discussion, let alone action. Not all of us think it was wrong to use force against the protesters. And we certainly do not all think China should adopt Western-style democracy. But whatever our views are, we dare not openly discuss them online, in public forums, or even in private chats. And since the Internet is where my generation goes to communicate, we are essentially deprived of the chance to engage in civil discourse. // The Internet has chilled an honest reckoning with Tiananmen, not enabled it…. Everything becomes part of our permanent record.” (Foreign Policy)

Same idea… “In a recent conversation with a high school friend, who is now an editor at People’s Daily, the flagship of the state-run media, he brought up the subject of Tiananmen. An avid follower of Western news and user of Facebook, he shrugs off the urgency for Chinese society to revisit the event. ‘What do you think it can bring us, to resurrect liu si?’ he asked. ‘Nothing is going to change. We have to move forward.’” (Helen Gao, NY Times)

Global Times: “Amanda Yang, 23, a student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has the chance to see events that mainland students cannot, such as the annual commemoration of the Tiananmen incident in 1989, but she said she has no intention of going to any of them. // ‘I am not interested in discussing politics in that way,’ Yang told the Global Times. ‘I am more interested in finding a job in Hong Kong.’” (Global Times)

Corollary: “English-Language Chinese Newspaper Breaks Silence on Tiananmen Crackdown.” (NY Times)

You know it’s that time of year when Gmail stops working. “In an apparent sign of government nervousness, connections to the global Internet appeared to have been disrupted, with Google’s mail and other services mostly inaccessible. China already routinely blocks popular overseas social media sites such as Twitter and YouTube and heavily censors Chinese sites for politically sensitive content.” (AP)

Corollary: “At the height of China’s domestic internet crackdown, LinkedIn censors politically sensitive content from its pages.” (Tech in Asia)

Digging deep. “Twenty-five years after China’s Tiananmen massacre, at least two soldiers who were in Beijing on the fateful day have now risen to the very top of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). // The PLA continues to feel such shame over the blood spilt on the streets of Beijing that decades of service have been carefully wiped from the official biographies of General Zhang Yang and Major General Qin Shengxiang.” (The Telegraph)

Checking in with Chai Ling. “An exiled leader of the Tiananmen Square protests deplored Friday the US stance 25 years ago, saying the ambassador confided to her that Washington didn’t ‘care’ about the crackdown. // Chai Ling, who was commander-in-chief of the students agitating for democracy in Beijing, said that she had hoped the United States would intervene as Chinese troops crushed the uprising on the night of June 3-4, 1989.” (AFP)

#Tiananmen: 11 cables from the US embassy Beijing at the time https://t.co/ArOMmxmVux

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 4, 2014

Of all #TAM25 retrospectives being shared, this is one of the very best (and written in 1990) http://t.co/DolIbQUwVl — Robert Foyle Hunwick (@MrRFH) June 3, 2014

Beijing subway Chienmen Station Northeast exit closed from 13:30 Jun 3, till informed otherwise RT@beidaijin — Valentina Luo (@valentinaluo) June 3, 2014

The 21 most wanted student leaders during #Tiananmen. Where are they now? http://t.co/sNdNUJMvBq pic.twitter.com/8juBBqD3P7 — SCMP News (@SCMP_News) June 3, 2014

Still a good read after all these years: A collection of NYT coverage of the protests and crackdown in Tiananmen http://t.co/dVuaA6NPsJ

— Philip Pan (@panphil) June 4, 2014

HK cabbie on Tiananmen: “That’s a problem for Chinese people.” Love how he satisfies and offends Chinese government goals in six words. — Benjamin Haas 本雅明 (@haasbenjamin) June 4, 2014

@limlouisa Baidu Photo translate remembers Tiananmen Square, but just a little differently pic.twitter.com/wr1XUXOcfD — Patrick Lozada (@patrick_lozada) June 4, 2014

BBC’s Kate Adie reporting from Tiananmen interlude:

Finally…

“Live Blogging the Tiananmen Square Anniversary.” (Sinosphere)

Looking back. (China Digital Times)

“This 1989 speech is one of the most important in China’s history — and only eight people have heard it.” (VOX)

“What China Loses By Forgetting.” (Ai Weiwei, Bloomberg)

“The Godfather of Chinese Rock ’n’ Roll Talks Tiananmen.” (WSJ)

“’Everything A-OK in the Square,’ report 4,000 undercover police and journalists.” (China Daily Show)

Get Political Prisoners of China playing cards for $6.40, shipped anywhere in the US. (World Freedom Products)

“Once Marked by Sadness, Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Vigil Now Stirs Anger.” (WSJ)

“The 25th Anniversary of Tiananmen and the Chinese Dream.” (The Durian)

“A Shanghai worker imprisoned following the Tiananmen events remains haunted by her experience.” (Open Democracy)

“Q. and A.: Liu Heung Shing on Photographing Tiananmen.” (Sinosphere)

Finally, finally…

“Voices of Tiananmen,” via SCMP

Happy Dragon Boat Festival links.

A horrible, horrible story. “The beating death of a woman in a McDonald’s restaurant in eastern China has triggered widespread anger over the slow response of witnesses and condemnation of a fringe religious group that the police say influenced the attackers. // The authorities in Zhaoyuan, a city in Shandong Province known for its gold mines, arrested six people in the killing of the woman. The police said the six were members of a religious group known as the Church of Almighty God. They had been soliciting new members at the restaurant on Wednesday evening. One of the members, a man named Zhang Lidong, is accused of beating the victim after she refused to give her phone number when asked by his daughter.” (Sinosphere)

Corollary: Graphic pictures of the woman are in the following link. Discretion advised. (The Nanfang)

One more on this subject: “The sheer cruelty of the story stunned Chinese netizens, Many were horrified, considering it even scarier than recent news of Uighur terrorist attacks. After all, terrorist attacks still sound like rare happenings in the ears of most Chinese. Eating at a McDonald’s alone, on the other hand, is an everyday activity. People, especially the country’s millions of single women, need to feel safe about it.  More were deeply concerned, about why no one in the McDonald’s at the time came to the woman’s help, and about why a guy would dare to beat a woman to death with an iron club in public.” (Offbeat China)

Standing ovation for this: 

We’ve just unblocked Google search in China https://t.co/wJH5dLfhzA

— GreatFire.org (@GreatFireChina) June 2, 2014

“To do so, GreatFire created a mirror site of Google similar to what the group did for The Wall Street Journal and Reuters Chinese sites when they were temporarily blocked. The site is hosted on Amazon Web Services and uses a subpath of Amazon and Google’s domains that both support HTTPS access. That means China would need to block both hosting domains – which thousands of other Chinese websites rely on – to block the mirror site.” (Tech in Asia)

Tiananmen:

Never remember. “They peered at the photo blankly, leaning to take in the details. // ‘Is it from South Korea?’ asked a student studying for a doctorate in marketing, with no flicker of recognition. // ‘Is it Kosovo?’ a young astronomy major guessed. // The photo they were staring at so intently was the iconic image of China’s 1989 pro-democracy movement — Tank Man — which showed a lone Chinese protester blocking a column of tanks rolling down the wide boulevard toward Tiananmen Square in Beijing.” (Louisa Lim, NPR)

New details. “In a stunning rebuke to his superiors, Maj. Gen. Xu Qinxian, leader of the mighty 38th Group Army, said the protests were a political problem, and should be settled through negotiations, not force, according to new accounts of his actions from researchers who interviewed him. // ‘I’d rather be beheaded than be a criminal in the eyes of history,’ he told Yang Jisheng, a historian. // Although General Xu was soon arrested, his defiance sent shudders through the party establishment, fueling speculation of a military revolt and heightening the leadership’s belief that the student-led protests were nothing less than an existential threat to the Communist Party.” (NY Times)

Looking back. “In June 1989, the novelist Ma Jian was among the million freedom protesters who gathered in Tiananmen Square. The brutal response shocked the world and crushed the Democracy Movement. But, he says, its spirit and aspirations live on.” (Ma Jian, The Guardian)

“It was 1989: The Tank Man in Beijing’s Military History Museum.” (David Moser, the Anthill)

‘Tank Man revisited’ at a rally on the hottest day of the year in Hong Kong. Photo via SCMP’s Dickson Lee pic.twitter.com/4y5USpis2E

— Tom Grundy (@tomgrundy) June 2, 2014

In working so hard to impose historical forgetting, PRC leaders create incentives for historical remembrance…. pic.twitter.com/lccNN5awzU

— Sam Crane (@UselessTree) June 2, 2014

Another detention: “Prominent Australian artist Guo Jian has been detained in China amid a heightened security operation in central Beijing aimed at preventing the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.” (The Age)

Han Han’s movie preview interlude (see: WSJ article):

Finally…

“Nobel Laureate’s Release from Prison May Hinge on His ‘Regret.’” (Sinosphere)

“U.S. Politicians Want to Name a Street After Liu Xiaobo, China Not Pleased.” (WSJ)

“Ai Weiwei accuses UCCA of self-censorship, tells director not to ‘ruin’ himself with ‘Chineseness.’” (Shanghaiist)

“Chinese soccer fans buying ‘fake’ doctors’ notes to skip work for World Cup.” (SCMP)

“Chinese General Says U.S. Foreign Policy Has ‘Erectile Dysfunction’ Problems.” (WSJ)

“Mining Tycoon Sentenced to Death for Not Being Powerful Enough to Avoid Death Penalty” (satire). (Ministry of Harm)

“Police officer’s gun fires accidentally during safety lesson at kindergarten, slightly injuring 5.” (Shanghai Daily)

Wen Jiabao at a Hebei high school, via That’s Online

Start of fifth lunar month links.

Via former the Beijinger editor Jonathan White, interviewed by Morgan Short: “Well, the reason I wanted to start the magazine [The Cleaver Quarterly], at the outset, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t want the last magazine I’d ever make to be The Beijinger. I just didn’t want to do service journalism anymore. I mean, service journalism is great, to a point. There’s a reason why they exist. There’s a market for it and they serve a purpose, but you don’t feel like a journalist when you’re working at it.” (Smart Beijing)

UGH. “Li Pingping, a former marketing consultant in Huizhou in the southern province of Guangdong, bought the kitten earlier this month and decapitated it in her bathroom last week, China Daily reported on Thursday. // She then posted photos of the kitten’s body and its severed head on Weibo, setting off outraged reactions. // Li deleted the posts but after the online criticism continued for days, she penned an open letter apologising and explaining that she had been drunk and acted out of anger after suspecting her father had been involved in an extramarital affair, China Daily said.” (SCMP)

Another detained. “Wang Aizhong, a founder of the Southern Street Movement, which calls for an end to one-party rule, was detained in the southern city of Guangzhou on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking troubles, according to his lawyers Zhang Xuezhong and Wu Kuiming.” (AP)

The “If you see something, say something” campaign comes to China. Only, you know, a lot more eyes here. “As reported on Sina News, a total of 100,000 people in Beijing are collecting information and writing reports on any activities they suspect might be terrorist-related. Included in this group are streetside cobblers and newsstand vendors who are ordered to report any suspicious activity at any time.” (The Nanfang)

Oh Global Times. “Hundreds of people on social media have called on a state-run newspaper to apologise after it called a county in Xinjiang the ‘hometown of terrorists.’ // The Global Times on Monday ran a feature on Pishan, which was the home area of the four assailants blamed for an attack on an open air market in Urumqi last week that killed 39 people.” (SCMP)

Yunnan earthquake. “Twenty-nine people were injured, including five in serious condition, after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake jolted a county in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, local authorities said Friday.” (Xinhua)

An original video. “In ‘Staying Afloat: Life on a Disappearing Lake,’ Chinese filmmakers Lynn Zhang and Shirley Han Ying train their camera on the people who have been both perpetrators and victims of Baiyangdian’s decline.” (ChinaFile)

The downside of rumors. “Mass panic, complete bedlam: video surveillance of Dongmen Pedestrian Walkway in Shenzhen this past Sunday shows a scene of utter chaos. The vicious knife attack that was rumored to have happened turned out not to be true, and neither was the actual cause of this panic.” (The Nanfang)

Are Chinese women ready to cheat more? Because there’s a service that hopes so. “It’s difficult to know what to make of Noel Biderman, CEO of the infidelity-promoting, match-making website AshleyMadison.com, as he breaks down his business and plans for the future.” (The Atlantic)

Amnesty International statement. “The deplorable mass sentencing of 55 people at a stadium in China’s north-western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region [XUAR] is no solution to addressing public security fears, said Amnesty International.” (Paul Mooney’s Facebook)

This new book could be good. “In Liu Cixin’s Three Body trilogy, the entire solar system is flattened into a two-dimensional image in an apocalyptic battle between earthlings and aliens. // The masterpiece by Liu, an engineer by trade, has been hailed for its extraordinary artistic vision. Three specially selected translators, Ken Liu, Joel Martinsen, and Eric Abrahamsen, have been working on the English version of the trilogy.” (Xinhua)

And this: “Chinese prose writer Yan Lianke, whose strongly satirical and parody-tinged novels and short stories are based on Chinese history from the 1960s on, will receive the Czech Franz Kafka Prize in Prague in October.” (Prague Post)

With violence rising in Xinjiang, China leader Xi Jinping calls for assimilating ethnic Uighurs. http://t.co/ovDJOZmyVN

— Edward Wong (@comradewong) May 30, 2014

Student: “Foreigners talking about poverty in China are like us talking about guns in America. Why only focus on negative things?”

— Matthew Stinson (@stinson) May 30, 2014

“the government will be paying close attention to those who keep a coffin at home.” http://t.co/q2RrZT1j4X

— jamie k (@jkbloodtreasure) May 30, 2014

@mauracunningham That conforms with current trends but hard to imagine it won’t be bigger for the big 2-5 pic.twitter.com/7yAfRmjxzP

— Robert Foyle Hunwick (@MrRFH) May 30, 2014

Beijing police prep for “terrorist attack” involving mobs of people w/ wooden sticks as their instruments of terror pic.twitter.com/kCdNSdXvhM

— Eric Fish (@ericfish85) May 30, 2014

Wolf Totem the movie looks like it’s gonna be pretty good interlude, via WSJ:

Finally…

“Tiananmen Square: 25 years later, unrecognized by today’s youth.” (The Globe and Mail)

Surprise! Chengguan are hated. (Sinosphere)

“Sailing around the world for 497 days: A Chinese woman’s adventure.” (SCMP)

“113-year-old lady marries 70-year-old ‘boy toy’ after rejecting his first proposal.” (Shanghaiist)

“After Paul the Octopus, panda to predict World Cup winners.” (Ecns.cn)

“The best books on North Korea.” (The Guardian)

Finally, finally…

Largest Chinese tour group ever, via The World of Chinese:

Holy hell it’s hot links.

Going after news assistants now. Xin Jian detained: “A Chinese employee of a Japanese newspaper was detained by police ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, the newspaper and family members said.” (AP)

Arresting news assistant is “gross violation of Chinese government rules governing foreign correspondents”, says FCCC.

— Kim Rathcke Jensen (@kinablog) May 28, 2014

The FCCC calls on China “to present evidence that Xin Jiang has broken the law or, in the absence of evidence, to release her immediately”.

— Kim Rathcke Jensen (@kinablog) May 28, 2014

Confessions. “Three youths seen beating up a teenager and then urinating on him in online footage that has shocked China, have admitted their guilt, police said on Monday. // There had been claims online that the victim of the attack in Beijing had died, but it emerged yesterday that he survived his ordeal.” (Shanghai Daily)

Chances that this film is any good? “The fake sphinx is just part of a “simple set for television and film,” a hassled-sounding employee said on Monday. The man, who declined to give his name, said that the structure would be demolished ‘in the near future.’ Photographs from the state-run news agency China News in early May show a film crew working inside the sphinx, which appears to have been hollowed out as a film set.” (Sinosphere)

All the ways to cheat. “The gaokao is a nerve-wracking time for both candidates and their families. In Beijing alone, 70,500 students have registered for this year’s gaokao while over 750,000 have already signed up for the exam in South China’s Guangdong Province. // With so much at stake, some students are tempted to cheat, especially since invigilation is not strong enough in many school and university exams in China. Despite tough measures, the temptation persists.” (Global Times)

Government report targets Tencent’s WeChat. “The crackdown would focus on accounts sending information with the ability to ‘communicate [widely] and mobilise society,’ the report said. // Accounts accused of spreading rumours and ideas about violence, terrorism, cheating and sex would be targeted, said the report.” (SCMP)

Cue the “New York Times runs positive China story!” comments. “Days after a deadly blast in Xinjiang killed scores of people in a busy market, China’s ruling Communist Party vowed to increase employment and educational opportunities in the region, in a sign that it recognizes that it must improve living standards for the region’s ethnic Uighur minority to combat an increasingly violent separatist movement.” (Sinosphere)

Corollary: “Violence Leads Xinjiang to Propose Paying Tourists to Visit.” (Sinosphere)

Terrorism response. “China has announced the arrest of more than 200 terrorism suspects in the launch of a year-long nationwide anti-terrorism blitz, as it grapples with a deadly wave of violence stemming from its troubled far-western Xinjiang region.” (The Age)

Seems like the great firewall is heavily blocking https connections in recent days, really interfering with normal internet use

— Tom Hancock (@hancocktom) May 28, 2014

Not everyone likes dancing grandmas. “Conflicts between retirees dancing in public areas and surrounding residents complaining about the loud music turned violent Sunday after three dancers were stabbed at a square in Beihai, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. // Surnamed Li, the 19-year-old assailant reportedly flew into a rage over the music, grabbed a knife at a nearby store and randomly slashed three members of the group.” (Global Times)

Shanghai moves to ban gas scooters. “Gas-powered scooters will be banned from 2016, Shanghai government said yesterday. // Anyone in possession of such a bike should take it to a recycling center — which open from Monday — where they will receive a 200 yuan (US$32) refund and a discount voucher for an electric moped, it said.” (Shanghai Daily)

Drugs. “More than 30 foreigners have been arrested and over 790 grams of different drugs have been seized by the Beijing Police Department over the last three months. From May 15 to 25 alone, police officers captured more than 10 foreign drug dealers and more than 630 grams of drugs.” (The World of Chinese)

Watch MacGyver craftily overcome Chinese embassy officials so world can learn of Tiananmen, in this classic episode: http://t.co/vF2tdLnM1l — Eric Fish (@ericfish85) May 28, 2014

A subway passenger was caught by cops in #Beijing Mon for trying to avoid going through long wait of security check pic.twitter.com/M3MTJrPCa7 — People’s Daily,China (@PDChina) May 27, 2014

Hunting tigers: over 20 high-ranking officials down in #China #antigraft drive http://t.co/NsLr1PCyoU pic.twitter.com/ftUYJX24wo — China Xinhua News (@XHNews) May 28, 2014

“First giant panda cub of the year born in China” interlude, via ITN:

Finally…

“Anti-Asian Hate Was One of Killer Elliot Rodger’s Motivations.” (8 Asians)

“Li Na lost her first Grand Slam match since winning the title in Melbourne, falling to Kristina Mladenovic of France 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 on Tuesday.” (ESPN)

Beijing comes in at No. 8 (No. 1 in China) on list of “Global Cities.” (ATKearney)

Interview with Tank Man photographer. (WSJ)

Zongzi “World Cup” in Guangzhou. (CRI)

“23 countries limit entry of Zongzi.” (China Daily)

“Vietnam Mulling New Strategies to Deter China.” (The Diplomat)

“A Weibo Fable: Shenzhen driver taunts police online, police post his arrest online.” (The Nanfang)

“Are China’s Online Military Fanboys Accidentally Aiding Foreign Spies?” (Tea Leaf Nation)

Where to swim in Beijing. (The World of Chinese)

Finally, finally…

World Skin Health Day in Chongqing, via Shanghaiist:

Inaugural Chongqing Color Run, via CRI English

Summer is here links.

Chengguan. “The man, who asked to remain anonymous, was walking his dog early in the morning on Saturday (May 24) near his Sihui residential compound when he was approached by the officials who initially demanded to see his registration papers for the dog. The man, who has a firm grasp of Mandarin, explained that he had only recently acquired the dog and that he was still in the process of registering the animal after having it vaccinated. At that point, the officials told him he was ‘out of order,’ before holding him back, beating his dog four times with sticks, and scooping the dog’s body into a bag.” (the Beijinger)

Human beaten to death. “Police and security officials are investigating a shocking video that appears to show youths beating a teenager unconscious, then urinating on him as he lies on the ground. // According to unconfirmed claims online, the victim of the assault died. // Xinhua news agency reported last night that the attack had taken place in the Chaoyang District of Beijing.” (Shanghai Daily)

He’s 26. He’ll be all right. “A Chinese blogger says he was fired from his job at one of China’s leading Internet companies for his comments during a February meeting in Beijing with the American secretary of state, John Kerry. // Zhang Jialong, who worked for Tencent Financial, said he was notified last week that he was being dismissed for ‘leaking business secrets and other confidential and sensitive information.’” (Sinosphere)

Interesting way to reward good deeds. “Students in some regions of China will be awarded extra points for good morality or Samaritan acts in the upcoming gaokao, or national college entrance examinations. // Thirty-one provincial level regions in China announced new policies in 2014 for gaokao, and 13 of them will give bonus points for student good behavior.” (Global Times)

Thursday’s incident. “Five suicide bombers carried out the attack which killed 31 people in the capital of China’s troubled Xinjiang region, state media reported a day after the deadliest terrorist attack to date in the region.” (Reuters)

He’d make a fine owner. “The Los Angeles Clippers are not yet for sale, but two former NBA All-Stars are among the various parties assembling ownership groups to potentially buy the franchise, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. // Once competitors on the court, Grant Hill and Yao Ming now will be among those vying to purchase the Clippers, sources told ESPN.com. // Sources told ESPN.com on Friday that Grant Hill and Yao Ming are working separately to line up investors to lodge bids for the Clippers when the team is ultimately made available.” (ESPN)

Roads. “Ten people died and 32 others were injured after a large truck hit a small lorry carrying 41 workers in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local authorities said.” (Xinhua)

Anti-terrorism. “Northeast China’s Liaoning province has opened an anti-terror hotline, 96110, and promised to give rewards of up to 500,000 yuan ($80,170) for useful information, a local newspaper said.” (ECNS.cn)

Vain or not? “Hong Kong women spend an average 36 minutes a day looking at themselves in the mirror but apparently they don’t like what they see. // …YWCA spokeswoman Tammy So Yim-fong said the time spent by locals looking at themselves in the mirror was less than the daily global average of 6.1 times and 50 minutes.” (The Standard)

Another running death. “A college student died during a half marathon yesterday morning in Kunming City of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, yunnan.cn reported. // The 20-year-old boy, a freshman in a local college, fell into a coma some 16 km behind the starting line and died in a hospital later.” (China.org)

Not enough left-ear cartilage. “A six-year-old boy whose ears were alleged hacked off by his aunt in central China’s Hubei Province, has had his surgery postponed, his father said today.” (Shanghai Daily)

For those who want to eat their noodles like an asshole: http://t.co/d6kXizKM7L pic.twitter.com/demHxEDE2A

— Angry Asian Man (@angryasianman) May 23, 2014

Xi Jinping on Xinjiang interlude:

Finally…

“Beijing Fast Forwards to the Future.” (Gary Shteyngart, Travel and Leisure)

“Cairo Says China’s Fake Sphinx Harms Egypt’s ‘Cultural Heritage.’” (WSJ)

“Man falls to his death at Beijing airport in apparent suicide.” (That’s Online)

Tsering Woeser poem. (Paul Mooney, Facebook)

“‘Follow Me’ couple returns to Hong Kong.” (Shanghaiist)

“Exploring Hong Kong’s Creepy Abandoned Abattoir.” (Hong Wrong)

Finally, finally…

Via Shanghai Daily: “A bride wore nearly 80 gold bracelets during her wedding Friday in the city of Zhongshan in southern China’s Guangdong Province, astonishing the online community with her wealth, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported”: