A mere two days after 21 were killed in violent attacks in Bachu county, Kashgar, including six police and six ethnic Uighurs, Beijing has politicized the incident, using it to call out the United States for failing to condemn the attacks as "terrorism." Reuters:
But the U.S. State Department on Wednesday merely expressed regret at the loss of life and urged China to "provide all Chinese citizens, including Uighurs, the due process protections to which they're entitled." Read more »
The Stand-up Showcase portion of the Beijing Improv Festival took place this past Friday. Here's my takeaway after watching the five finalists:
It turns out that there's an honest-to-goodness, thriving stand-up scene in Beijing. If you're a closeted comedy nerd who'll only risk coming out to see live shows in Beijing when big name comics fly in from the States, I hate to break it to you, but Louis CK isn't walking back onto that stage anytime soon. Why not try to get a laugh on at one of the many local venues in Beijing that host regular stand-up nights? Read more »
On April 20, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck Lushan in Sichuan, 160 km southwest of the provincial capital of Chengdu. While much smaller than the 8.0-magnitude (125 times more severe) quake that hit the region in 2008, Xinhua reports that there are 192 dead and more than 11,000 injured. Sichuan is no stranger to earthquakes. Since records began there... Read more »Read more »
A collision between three vehicles on Linglong Road in Beijing on Monday evening resulted in rolling fireballs that consumed four cars, resulting in five injuries.
According to eyewitnesses, two Audis -- an A5 and A6 -- were "dueling" with one another on the road (or driving with a grudge, as it were). That might not mean street racing per se, but a degree of recklessness is implied. The A6 lost control first and rammed into another car, and the ensuing flames would engulf a fourth vehicle. Read more »
We haven't done one of these in a while. Watch alongside this friendly police officer in Tongxiang, Zhejiang province as cars ram into motorcycles and scooters. Don't drive like this, people. Read more »
These links posts are getting longer, but not for lack of selectivity on our part. Five New York Times stories are featured in tonight's edition, led by Ed Wong's much-bandied piece on pollution's effects on tots. Read more »
Neil Robinson is wanted by the Surrey police “in connection with the distribution of indecent images of children and the rape of a child,” according to BBC’s Crimewatch. This bit of info was posted to Reddit China by user gaiushe yesterday, who claims he has known Robinson for the past five years and is certain that he... Read more »Read more »
According to Chinese media, violence that broke out in Bachu county, Kashgar yesterday, leaving 15 dead; among those, 10 are Uighurs, 3 Han and 2 Mongols. Two other Uighurs were reportedly injured. Eight people have been arrested. The incident reportedly began when three community workers stumbled upon a shack of knives, and were subsequently held... Read more »Read more »
We know our friend Andray Abrahamian to be both a beer and coffee snob, so who better than he to discover an unnamed cafe in Pyongyang, next to the Pyongyang Hotel View Restaurant, that might well be North Korea’s first “third-wave coffeeshop.” (As Dray describes it: “For those of you unfamiliar with the term, ‘third wave’... Read more »Read more »
