Until this week, the social critic Sima Nan was best known for getting his head stuck in an escalator at Dulles Airport. That moment was particularly precious because Nan, a devoted neo-Maoist, had just posted another of his anti-America screeds on Sina Weibo before flying to DC.
But China’s most famous wumao is now back in the news for a more impressive reason: as an impassioned defender of free speech.
It's 2.6 GB, but if you have the disk space and five hours to spare, go here to download Glorious Mission Online, a first-person shooter you'll be hearing a lot more about in the coming hours and days.
The Wall Street Journal has a follow-up to a Chinese state media article we linked to yesterday, in which a South Korean broadcaster, while trying to express relief that the two girls who died on Asiana flight 214 from Shanghai to San Francisco via Seoul were not Korean (as if nationality matters in these tragedies), used utterly regretful phrasing.
Its most controversial days are likely behind it, but we have one more update on Beijing Snacks, which some have taken to calling “the most racist restaurant in Beijing” thanks to its owner pasting a “no dog… no Japanese et al.” sign on the front window. RFH recently visited with friends, including a Japanese man... Read more »
The Beijing restaurant manager, a man surnamed Wang, who doesn’t want to serve customers from countries engaged in maritime disputes with China has removed this fairly racist sign from his Houhai establishment. He took it down Thursday by his own volition, according to AFP, but has “refused to apologise.”
So, it seems that some people have yet to fully understand why racism is a bad thing. With tensions in the South China Sea remaining high, we’re still being treated to bizarre examples of unhealthy nationalism. The latest can be found here in Beijing: the proprietors of a snack shop in Houhai called Beijing Snacks... Read more »
According to AFP, more than 20 people in Hanoi have been arrested today for anti-China protests. About 200 protesters waved banners and chanted, “Down with China’s aggression!” A similar demonstration was broken up in Ho Chi Minh City. AFP: Vietnam, which has begun exploring for oil in what it claims as its territorial waters, last week... Read more »
Back on August 24, weeks before people would double down on Diaoyu Islands senselessness, four protesters took to the streets in Shenzhen to urge "civilized patriotism, rational Japanese resistance." Three of them wore swimwear -- bikinis for the two girls, briefs for the man -- and attracted attention as much for their message as their appearance. We posted about it here, with a video.
Chinese pundit Sima Nan, known for, among other things, spewing anti-America rhetoric despite having no qualms about visiting America and getting his head stuck in a Dulles Airport escalator, was giving a lecture at Hainan University yesterday when he ran into a proverbial buzz saw A student took the microphone, stood up, and began coolly rebuking the man on stage, who grew increasingly agitated as it became clear that many of the cheering students in the auditorium weren't on his side. At the 2:30 mark, the student hurls his shoe onto the stage -- a good 20-yard throw, it seems -- drawing more applause.
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 »
