In last year's Australian Open Final, Li Na repeatedly halted play for the eager crowd of tennis aficionados. Not that they minded. Alongside her game, she endeared herself to the tennis public following a couple of ankle rolls, a clutzy head bang, and her comical approach to a concussion test.
China, your girl is the crowd favourite. Read more »
A self proclaimed "Fullbright welfare queen", Jessie Appell has been in China studying the Chinese art of "crosstalk" or Xiangsheng since 2012. He's since branched out, doing stand-up comedy in Chinese full-time making appearances like this (old, but freshly sub-titled) one on BTV Read more »
The above was tweeted by Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim a couple of days ago. Take a look at that Rolex ad on the official website of the Australian Open, which reads, "Rolex congratulates Li Na on winning her first Australian Open and second Grand Slam title."
We hope Li Na doesn't believe in jinxes, because she plays this afternoon against Dominika Cibulkova for a chance to win her first Australian Open and second Grand Slam title. The game is at 4:30 pm local (China) time. Read more »
Australia Day is Sunday. Happy Australia Day weekend links. By the way, the Li Na finals is tomorrow at 4:30 pm, and you should probably watch. Read more »
No one can doubt Ma Haifang’s Beijing credentials.
Born in the city in 1956, Ma studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and graduated in 1981 with a degree in traditional painting. Like many masters in his field, he has spent the years since working at People’s Art Publishing House as a supervisor.
Ma obsesses about Beijing life. Each of his works capture daily life in Old Beijing and festival celebrations. Read more »
Predictably, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is now blocked in China. Unfortunately for the Chinese Communist Party, this story just isn’t going away. Read more »