The more I think about it, the more I want to believe these anti-Japan protests are just an excuse for people to catch some fresh air and blow off steam. The genuine anger in some parts isn't reflected in the above video, taken today by Jacob of BeijingShenghuo (who you'll remember took this video of Saturday's more volatile protests). The chants of "Little Japan, fuck your mother" are said so nonchalantly that a spectator who doesn't know Chinese could confuse this gathering for a high school prep rally. Look at all the people recording with cell phones: they're not angry; they're curious. Read more »
The “open trial” of Wang Lijun, on charges of bribe-taking and “bending the law for selfish ends,” according to Xinhua, began this morning. It is now over, having taken place “under tight security before a carefully selected audience,” according to the Guardian, from which the above picture is taken. “Foreign journalists were not permitted to... Read more »Read more »
While significant things happen outside the offices of People’s Daily, and other people do real work (like censoring videos — Youku, looking at you), People’s Daily Online has teamed up with Xinhua to bring you important, possibly life-saving tips on dangerous bathing, in a not-at-all tongue-in-cheek article called, “Danger: Don’t bathe under the following conditions.”... Read more »Read more »
Via John Kennedy Apologies for the delay. Along with no free water, Air Asia also does not offer Wi-Fi on its international flights. But here, on the anniversary of the Mukden Incident, is a special Diaoyu Islands links edition. Read more »
Global Voices reports that according to the Chinese NGO Canyu, “three human rights activists were arrested in September 16, 2012, during the anti-Japan protest.” Quoting a translated Canyu post: (Canyu’s news brief on 16 September 2012) This morning, the grand anti-Japan rally took place in the Shenzhen downtown area, around Huaqiang North and Citizen Center. Shenzhen... Read more »Read more »
No two protests are ever the same, as the above video will show. In Changsha, people flip cars. In Dali, they sing the national anthem. In Qingdao, they chant. (Actually, they sing and chant everywhere, but you know what I mean.) There are a lot of banners that read “Japanese Devils,” a term that originates... Read more »Read more »
Tea Leaf Nation has this amusing story of former Japanese AV star Sola Aoi, who has more than 13 million followers on Sina Weibo, trying to placate fans on both sides of the sea: Ms. Aoi recently tweeted two images via iPhone from her account (@苍井空)… the first reads “Japanese-Chinese Friendship,” with Ms. Aoi commenting... Read more »Read more »
We’ve gone way beyond civil disobedience. Who are the Chinese attacking? Chinese-owned Japanese restaurants, and Japanese people who may call China home, and now journalists. It is, as the proverb goes, shitting on your carpet to spite the neighbor. We’ve seen this line of indiscriminate violence in this country before — it was called the... Read more »Read more »
Please help us caption this image, screen-grabbed from BJC contributor Jim Fields’s latest video project, who notes: “One-third of the world’s smokers are Chinese men. The other two-third are Chinese babies.” The first part is true. Read more »
