UK Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Beijing yesterday to boost China-UK relations -- to "appease" Beijing, as Western media types would put it -- and to back a new EU-China free trade agreement. A few days before, on November 29, Cameron opened a Sina Weibo account, with the first message reading: "Hello my friends in China. I'm pleased to have joined Weibo and look forward to visiting China very soon."
Today, barbarians of the unruly and unruled Internet are less dangerous. Today, your sleep will be sounder, your dreams more colorful, your future freer. For today, Britain, you are one step closer to achieving China's harmony-promoting, children-protecting Net filtration system, which we lovingly refer to as the Great Firewall. And how great it is: no porn, because it can be eradicated like rats; no discussion of historical events, so as not to offend the sensibilities of certain mothers who would prefer to forget those things ever happened; no YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, New York Times, or Bloomberg, because screw 'em; and no dissent (and why would there be dissent?). Hadrian's Firewall, we'll call it. You'll love it, as we do.
Xuanyu Zhong, the son of a Chinese government official, stood before a British court recently on charges of sexually assaulting a girl at Northumbria University in December 2011. Daily Mail reports that Zhong, 25, spurred by an obsession with rape porn, spiked a girl's drink with a date-rape drug one evening. At the court hearing, Daily Mail reports that he expressed his intent "to copy the videos" -- the many rape videos he watched -- "by raping his drugged victim." Instead, he "changed his mind at the last minute and sexually assaulted her instead."
Pictured above is Yang Li (Li is apparently his surname; he appears to have a LinkedIn account under the name Jiao Yang Li). We don't know much about him, but he made the news recently after allegedly trying to bribe a University of Bath professor -- and carrying an "imitation firearm" into the meeting.
Just about anyone not holding a select diplomatic or South Korean passport can travel to North Korea. All it takes is money, which you give to a tour agency. They’ll even take you to the countryside if that’s what you’re after. It’s only the hucksters who try to dress up their North Korean trip as... Read more »
We know porn's a no-no in China, but did you know that in its "extreme" form it's also illegal in Britain? One former CCTV presenter does -- now that he's facing up to three years in prison.
"Sen Luo, 40, had more than 800 videos on his laptop and hard-drives and claimed he needed them to 'research' a Sex and the City-style book," according to The Sun. "But jurors found him guilty of two counts of possessing extreme pornography."
Manchester United recently announced sponsorship deals with two Chinese companies, Wahaha and China Construction Bank (CCB), the latter of which will produce Man U-branded credit cards. Considering China is one of the largest growth markets for any business, it’s no a surprise that the 134-year-old club is looking to strengthen its presence here. There are... Read more »
In a 3,600-word piece, Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy of Britain’s The Sunday Times lay bare the myth of Neil Heywood. They argue that far from being an intrepid power broker living astutely within the inner circles of China’s elite, the murdered Briton was a “failed businessman,” a “chancer,” an “irritant,” and a liar who... Read more »
Earlier in the day at Henley-on-Thames, a naked man holding a fake Olympic torch ran ahead of the real Olympic torch route, basically in front of the whole town. A streaker in England? How is that possible?
According to the London Evening Standard, the man had "Free Tibet" written on his back. He was quickly tackled by police, as you see in the above. There's another video after the jump, from a different angle, in high definition. Both are borderline NSFW, but the HD one probably slightly more so.
This is an Olympics Countdown post. Sporadically, we’ll post England-related content ahead of this summer’s London Olympics. If you’re British, we want to hear from you: tips@beijingcream.com. Remember the magic that makes Chinese traffic flow? It exists in England, too, but in circular form. The above image comes from Mike G of Real DuPont. I... Read more »
