Chinese Netizens Have Found Another Way Around The Great Firewall

Great Firewall on fire
In the cat-and-mouse game of Internet censorship in China, the mice will always be ahead. As Wall Street Journal reports, some savvy web users are using a rather simple method for viewing restricted content: Most computers, running both Windows and OS X (and smartphones running Android), contain a host file, which is a document with... Read more » Read more »

You Think The Onion Is Wacky? People’s Daily Really, Truly Loves Kim Jong-Un

TAR Kim Jong-Un
The flagship CPC newspaper People’s Daily is, well, it’s a bit, you know. It’s rubbish. The design is terrible, the editorials are as pleasant as a shirt of broken glass and Captain Crunch, they have military equipment on their flash home page every day and their non-CPC related stories have the detached insouciance of a disabled child petting a kitten too hard. Read more »

Should Bo Xilai Be Time’s Person Of The Year? (More Than 90 Percent So Far Say No)

Bo Xilai as Time's Person of the Year
There’s no question Bo Xilai has had an eventful year, directly responsible for outrage, consternation, confusion, exhilaration, and joy (he was manna from heaven for China’s foreign correspondents). As Time’s Austin Ramzy writes, “Bo was favored to win a seat on China’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee this fall after having boosted his popularity by reviving Mao-era... Read more » Read more »

Vintage Footage Of A Smiley Hu Jintao In 1984 Provides A Rare Glimpse Of Him As A Young Charmer

Chinese leaders smiling
We — you, me, the world — might see outgoing president Hu Jintao as a wan robot less charismatic than a cardboard box, but there was a time during this man’s life when he was sprightly, good-humored, and jovial. Let this video — of a speech he gave in 1984, in front of colorful balloons —... Read more » Read more »

Mid-Week Links: Cabbie returns wallet containing 20,000 cash, Chen Guangcheng is No. 9 on Foreign Policy’s Global Thinkers link, and Shanghai time-lapse

Beijing Marathon runner
Via Washington Post, a map in the new Chinese passport that “shows a version of China that includes disputed territory claimed by India, a vast stretch of the South China Sea, including islands claimed by several other countries, and the entirety of Taiwan.” The Beijing Ducks are 2-0 after their 110-102 win in Jilin yesterday.... Read more » Read more »

Taiwan Only Won Four Golden Horse Awards, So Some Local Lawmakers Now Want To Nix The Whole Film Festival

Golden Horse Awards
The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, inaugurated in 1962, is the oldest and arguably most prestigious of China’s four major film awards (the mainland’s Hundred Flowers Award was also founded in 1962, but it was suspended from 1964 to 1979, for obvious reasons). On Saturday, in its 49th annual show, director Gao Qunshu’s Beijing Blues... Read more » Read more »

Let Us Recall That Chinese Satire Has Fooled Western Media Outlets (And James Cameron) As Well

Kim Jong-Un and the Onion
Earlier this year, I gave a lecture to high school journalism students in China about the importance of citation, spending a good 10 minutes on the how and why of it. This may or may not surprise you, depending on whether you read Chinese publications and/or crappy blogs, but sourcing is often optional here; what’s... Read more » Read more »

People’s Daily Admits It Fell For The Onion Spoof, Editor Hopes It “Wouldn’t Draw Too Much Attention”

Kim Jong Un on a horse
The Associated Press succeeded in getting People’s Daily on the line to answer for its slideshow, “North Korea’s top leader named The Onion’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2012.” An online editor said the 55-pic spread would be taken offline (note: it already has been), and also: “We have realized it is satirical,” said the editor who... Read more » Read more »

Yao Ming Is Either Getting A Diploma In This Picture Or Being Ordained By The Catholic Church

Yao Ming getting diploma... or being ordained
All-around good guy Yao Ming was at the University of Hong Kong on Tuesday to receive an honorary doctor’s degree for his work in promoting HIV/AIDS awareness. We don’t want to take anything away from Yao’s accomplishments or scoff at HKU, but Jesus, what’s up with the gold Roman Catholic scepter? Yao, meanwhile, was recently interviewed by... Read more » Read more »