One of O. Henry's most famous stories is "The Last Leaf," a tale of hope, perseverance, and sacrifice. In it, a young girl dying in a New York hospital believes that once the last leaf falls from a vine outside her window, it'll be time for her to go. "Oh, I never heard of such nonsense," her friend, Sue, tells her, but she believes it, and so, lying in bed, she counts down the leaves. Five. Four. Three. Two...
The biggest building in the world recently opened in Chengdu, China. The New Century Global Center's colossal undulating roof, which I'd been eyeing from my apartment window these past few months, is visible from any high point in the city. I hadn't known what it was until last week, when relatives informed me through a flurry of news articles that it was part of a 1.7 million square-meter complex that is nearly the size of Monaco, and has an artificial sun.
Last Monday, a curious new Chinese law called the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly went into effect, forcing the country's healthy adults to visit their parents on a semi-regular basis. “Family members who live apart from their parents should visit often or send their regards to their parents," the law stated. (That same day, a court in Wuxi, Jiangsu province cited the law in an actual court case.) But most people say the law is more symbolic than anything, a piece of regulation designed to remind the cosmopolitan, rapidly modernizing citizens of China of their traditional Chinaness, which includes filial piety.
Reader James Weir noticed something peculiar when he image searched "China" on Google.ca, i.e. Canadian Google: "People Eating Babies" and "People Eating Dogs" were among the top results.
Here's a great idea for a souvenir. Counterfeit ID cards of world leaders -- Barack Obama, Vladmir Putin, Kim Jung-un, and (of course) Osama Bin Laden (who I suppose doesn't fall into this "world leader" category, but bear with me) -- have recently appeared on the streets of Guangzhou, according to Sina. Counterfeiting, kitsch, and absurdity: a perfect memento of China. Go buy one now, Guangzhou folks.
China Daily has published one heck of a lede sure to make journalists cover their mouths and titter. Go read this five times:
Beijing, Shanghai and the eastern province of Jiangsu were found to be the three happiest places in China in 2012, chinanews.com reported, citing research.
It's mysterious. It came up, then went down. "Sentient," said Gawker.
So far, no one has been able to provide locals with a straight answer — so they've taken to social networking sites to make up their own.
Immediately following the ooze's mysterious arrival, authorities arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area, ordering evacuations of nearby homes.
If your truck carries a commodity and it flips over, it will be raided. This we have seen again and again and again, and now we know -- thanks to the latest incident -- that villagers are perfectly willing to risk death to collect what they can. In Huanggang, Hubei province on Saturday at 7 am, a 35-ton oil tanker lost control and overturned, spilling petroleum over the pavement.
![Officials In Lankao, Where A Deadly Fire Destroyed A Private Orphanage, Might Be Blaming The Adoptive Mother [UPDATE]](http://beijingcream.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Yuan-Lihai-150x150.jpg "Officials In Lankao, Where A Deadly Fire Destroyed A Private Orphanage, Might Be Blaming The Adoptive Mother [UPDATE]")
