At one point early in this video, there's a case to be made that these two men are not fighting but engaged in ballet, thus is the symmetry of their kicks. Then the fists fly, swinging roundhouses, a phone is kicked out from under one of their feet, and yeah, you realize they probably hate each other. But then they come together in a hug of sorts, the avuncular headlock, and when they finally part, standing toe to toe, you think: humanity has a chance. Read more »
Late in the game on Wednesday in Ningbo, Bayi was clinging to a three-point lead and had the ball against Qingdao in a hard-fought, physical game in which the teams combined to take 81 free throws (43 for Bayi, 38 for Qingdao). Then, in the final minute, the refs botched a call so horribly that no one who was watching could have avoided the obvious question: "Is the fix on?" Read more »
Brawl on the Bund charity boxing, via Shanghaiist; compare: Brawl on the Wall in Beijing. They keep on accumulating. Big-story links today. Read more »
The Central Propaganda Department can force papers to run their government-line editorials, but even with the power vested in them by the Party, it can't determine where those op-eds appear.
Like, say, next to a humongous ad for pesticide control. Read more »
China may finally be reforming its frightening system of “re-education through labor” (RTL), according to state news agencies -- but to what extent? While state media initially reported Monday that the CPC Central Committee would be pushing through a proposal to end the system by 2013, officials quickly backpedaled and settled on “reforming” the system, according to China Digital Times. Read more »
More than a few journalists and observers have averred the significance of the Southern Weekly "incident," but the actual story has appeared to fall short of their expectations. As I wrote two days ago, "But is this really a watershed moment for media rights in China, as some hope... or will we return to our jobs soon and let the more vested parties enter negotiations on the future of both Tuo Zhen and Southern Weekly?" There's nothing wrong with hoping, but as Zhongnanhai points out, sometimes we would do well to step back to view the story in its proper context. Read more »
Two big Southern Weekly updates this morning. First, it appears the ripples have spread to Beijing News, a sibling publication to Southern Weekly under the ownership of Nanfang Media Group, where the top publisher has resigned instead of publishing a pro-government editorial. Read more »
Out of the way, Google and Apple Maps. Here’s a 3-dimensional, interactive, painstakingly rendered map of Beijing that, on top of all its pretty amazing features, looks like the ultimate Lego world. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like you can zoom out all the way, but you can go far enough out to realize that the... Read more »Read more »
A remarkable message was published recently on Sina Weibo, supposedly written by a company manager who goes by @geniune_Yu_Yang — an account that has since been deleted. Prompted by perceived public misunderstanding of Sina Weibo’s handling of the Southern Weekly story, the writer posted a screenshot of text that illustrated the how and why of its... Read more »Read more »
Brad Pitt, who is technically still banned from China, opened a verified Sina Weibo account yesterday, @Brad_Pitt. His first message, published at exactly noon, was simple and to the point: "It is the truth. Yup, I'm coming..." In two hours, according to Tech in Asia, that post had amassed more than 8,000 comments and 20,000 forwards. And now it's been deleted. Read more »
