Here, For Some Reason, Is A Chinese Rap Video About Cleveland [UPDATE]

Cleveland rap video
Here's a laowai who loves his hometown of Cleveland so much that he raps about its charms to a Chinese audience. Cleveland, the city whose football team has had more staph infection lawsuits than playoff appearances since 1999, the city with a sulphuric I-71 cutting through it, the city consistently ranked one of the worst in the US, the city... Read more »

Friday Links: Tom Rhodes stand-up tonight and tomorrow in Beijing, ugly sperm, and the Carnegie-Tsinghua podcast

Electric Castle party
Greetings, folks. Des Bishop's monthly Humor Section -- a night of stand-up comedy at the Bookworm -- is tonight, featuring Tom Rhodes. "Tom is by far the most accomplished act we will have had at the Humor Section to date," Bishop says. 8 pm tonght at the Bookworm. Encore performance tomorrow night. And now for links. Read more »

Watch: Independent Director’s Debut Film About China’s “Parasite Singles”

Critical film tackles the topic of China’s parasite singles
Our friends at Beijing Today will be swinging by every now and then to introduce art and culture around the city. This week, please meet independent filmmaker Lei Yong, whose debut The Young Play Games, The Old Play Tai Chi tells the life of China's "parasite singles," young people who have enjoyed education and opportunity but remain unemployed and hapless. Read more »

Dispatches From Xinjiang: Minor Transnationalisms And A Kazakh Singer On “The Voice Of China”

Dispatch from Xinjiang Voice of China
The first time Tasken competed on the TV show The Voice of China, the Chinese version of America’s Got Talent, he didn’t get through to the second round. But the second time, he sang the song “A Lovely Rose” in Chinese. The judges were so impressed, they asked him to sing it in his native language – Kazakh. Read more »