Long-Haired Chinese Gal Issues Sidewalk Beatdown

Chinese girl issues sidewalk beatdown
What always unsettles me about these beatdowns is the moment the person with the upper hand sticks out a finger as if it's the long appendage of Death and holds it above the face of the fallen. How humiliating. How unbefitting a street champion. As if the slaps didn't already acutely communicate all that was necessary. Read more »

Thursday Night Musical Outro: RST + Lenz, ft. Andrew Moon

Andrew Moon and Lenz
Meet Andrew Moon, a participant of a growing trend in mainland China’s increasingly sophisticated independent music community — that of the curious outsider whose interest in the country’s creative culture was piqued by pals within and has since gone on to develop deep ties to domestic musicians during trips back and forth from New Zealand. Read more »

Dispatches From Xinjiang: Chen Zhifeng, Billionaire, Patron of the Arts

Chen Zhifeng featured image
Chen Zhifeng is a “self-made” billionaire, founder of the Western Regions Photography Society, and a major force in Xinjiang’s art scene. He is part of a newly minted cohort of Xinjiang capitalists: the Xinjiang 8 (or 9), who have taken advantage of Chinese-Central Asian market development and the post-Reform oil and gas economy. His Wild Horses Corporation brings in an annual income of $700 million selling Chinese-made women’s underwear and TVs in Russia and Kazakhstan. Yet, unlike some other Xinjiang elites, Chen has reinvested his wealth in Xinjiang. Read more »

Shanghai Cabbie Tries To Charge 2,300 Yuan For 4-Kilometer Ride

Shanghai cab overcharges
If you ever run a scam, please note that overcharging by roughly 8,000 percent will probably get you caught. That's the sort of greed that's plain reckless. In Shanghai last month, as reported on Sunday, a cab driver charged a Japanese passenger 2,300 yuan for a 4-km ride in Pudong. But there's a happy ending here, as Global Times reports: Read more »

Provincial Courts Turn To Social Media To Knock Beijing’s Anti-Rumor Campaign

Zichan of Zheng Kingdom
The relationship between China's central and local governments has never been linear or completely top-down. There are times of harmony, but more often, there's tension. In the recent past, thanks to social media, conflicts and disagreements usually kept behind closed doors have begun leaking into the public domain. Several recent posts on Sina Weibo by legal organs revealed that tensions are as manifest today as they were during historical times. Many netizens have gone as far to call these posts an act of “rebellion.” Read more »