Once more into the breach, my friends. It's Friday night and... there's pretty much fuck all to do in Beijing. Pretty quiet weekend for live music, save for a few bits and pieces here and there. Could be worse though. Hey Beijing, at least there is exactly zero Limp Bizkit and Korn concerts happening in the city this weekend. That's alright, eh!
Badr Benjelloun -- Beijing Daze curator, IT captain at True Run media, ESL forum operator, former Tangshan teacher, capoeira practitioner, guy who does business on the side, cook, and owner of the best rum bar / Moroccon eatery in Beijing, Cu Ju -- is... um... sorry, we lost our train of thought. Badr does a lot around Beijing. We're very happy he's here.
I first heard of “Dao Lang” from an economics professor on the way to a fancy dinner at a four-star hotel on the northwest corner of the People’s Square in downtown Urumqi. We had been discussing taste in cars as we slowly careened across three lanes of traffic and walkers. The professor said she found the American Hummer to be the best car, and then turning, as though catalyzed by the brawn and force of a combination of army machine and Michigan muscle, she asked if I had ever heard of Dao Lang. She said he was the best Xinjiang singer.
Jiang Wu had quite the night of drinking in Qingdao, Shandong province. He doesn't remember much of it, but it was weird, see, because he woke up in a completely dark container, and couldn't get out.
A shipping container. Bound for Los Angeles.
On Friday, the opening night of Cirque du Soleil's three-night performance of Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour in Beijing, a highly sensitive image was displayed on the giant big-screens above the stage in Wukesong MasterCard Arena: the Tiananmen Tank Man. As first reported by a local magazine, then excerpted by Shanghaiist:
In the above picture, a doctor is about to administer a lethal injection to the woman being strapped to the bed. It's a stark and somber scene, only more shocking because a cameraman was allowed to document, close-up, the stages of a real-life execution.
At least, that's what Xinhua, the official press agency of the People's Republic of China, thought when it published a slideshow titled, “Actual Record of Female Inmate’s Execution – Exposing the World’s Darkest Side.”
The good folks of Sherpa's -- a delivery service that brings food to your doorstep from select restaurants in Beijing, Shanghai, and Suzhou -- are joining us to help make Chug-Off for Charity memorable. All contestants -- and there are still slots available, just email tao@beijingcream.com to register -- will receive a 100 RMB Sherpa's voucher, which is, like, two free burgers, or a giant plate of chicken wings and salad, or a Pad Thai plus chicken curry. The combinations are endless.
As a result of domestic strife, a 20-something woman in a residential compound in the Daoli district of Harbin, Heilongjiang province went to the balcony on the 5th story of a building and threatened to jump. She crawled out of the window and onto a wire clothesline, where she remained, distraught, according to a witness on the ground, as reported by Xinhua.
North Korea scholar Andray Abrahamian was rudely informed recently that his Barclays bank account, which he's held for 20 years, had been cancelled. And all because he works for a Singaporean non-profit that dares to engage North Korean citizens.
