BJC Redux: The PRC’s “Human Rights Record Of The United States,” Explained

Human Rights Record of the United States
Ed’s note: On April 19, the US Department of State published its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which included a section on China. It was typical, mundane, and features nothing you don’t already know, including restriction of Uighur and Tibetan movement, harassment of journalists and dissidents, prison labor, discrimination, extrajudicial killings, etc. On... Read more » Read more »

This Elderly Couple, Holding Hands While Leaving Their Earthquake-Stricken Neighborhood, Will Melt Your Heart

Old couple walking while holding hands
If you'll allow yourself a quick moment of unabashedly sentimental feel-goodness, please turn your attention to this story out of Longmen Township in Sichuan province. A Youku citizen journalist encountered an old couple walking down a mountain road in this earthquake-striken part of town on Monday at 9 am. The woman, hard of hearing, is 90 years old this year, while her husband is 88. The couple has no home to return to -- "just a tent," says the husband. Read more »

Watch As A Demolition Team, As Part Of Post-Earthquake Efforts, Blows Up A Boulder Blocking A Road

Boulder blown up after Ya'an earthquake
The earth's convulsion along the Longmenshan front on Saturday jiggered a few rocks loose from the mountains of Sichuan, among other things, and on a narrow road connecting Longmentong and Baosheng Township, a boulder rested squarely in the middle, blocking everything. Two days later, the bulldozers were out, along with a demolition team. Uniformed young men, looking like China's version of the national guard, ushered villagers from the area. Experts drilled a hole into the boulder, then packed it with gunpowder. Then, beginning at the 2:40 mark, a silent countdown... toward... KABLOOEY. Read more »

Man Loses Bag Containing HK$74,000 Cash, Miraculously Recovers It At Police Station

Chan Chung-lam, Good Samaritan
What separates losing 10,000 dollars from not losing it? The honesty of the person who finds the money, nothing more. In Hong Kong, 23-year-old pub manager Lin Ho-kit fell asleep on a bus and dropped a small bag containing HK$74,000, or about 59,000 yuan ($9,500). Other passengers, probably not knowing there was a small fortune inside, kicked the bag off the bus, where it was scooped up by 60-year-old Chan Chung-lam. Read more »

Voices: Chinese In America React To Boston Bombings As Lu Lingzi Is Memorialized

Lu Lingzi in memoriam
A week after a pair of bombs placed near the finish line at the Boston Marathon killed three, wounded 183 (including 13 with lost or maimed limbs) and ignited a weeklong manhunt that culminated in a violent standoff with a pair of ethnic Chechens, Lu Lingzi, the 23-year-old Boston University graduate student from Shenyang who was killed in the... Read more » Read more »