When is a riot just a fight with a lot of people? When is a fight with a lot of people a riot? In Chinese factories, where thousands of workers live in close proximity, it can be difficult to tell sometimes — and there is ample risk, from a journalistic standpoint, in using the “R”... Read more »
You know, it's not that we don't sympathize with chengguan, China's street-level urban management officers. We get that they have a tough job, and encounter scoundrels and freeloaders on a weekly, if not daily, basis. But every single week, we see a video of chengguan somewhere behaving as poorly as the people they're supposed to police. And what are supposed to do about that?
Another day, another French daredevil does something in a central China province. We saw rollerman Jean-Yves Blondeau zoom down Hunan province's Mt. Tianmen in July, now it's Alain Robert scaling the world's tallest steel structure, the Central Plains Fortaleza tower in Zhengzhou, Henan province. According to reports, yesterday Robert climbed to a platform 268 meters up on the 388-meter structure, taking about two hours.
What does it mean to live in a guanxi society, where so much depends on interpersonal relationships? Part of it is honing an ability to talk your way into or out of a wide range of situations. It could mean getting an official to accept a hongbao -- a bribe, as the more righteous among us call it -- but it can also be simpler, like getting a vegetable seller to round down, or (here's a common one) a parking attendant to knock a few kuai off the parking price in exchange for keeping the receipt (in which case, he could pocket the money instead of reporting it to his bosses).
In Spain, people watch bullfights for the pageantry and the matador’s distinctive flair, and, perhaps for some, the climactic coup de grace. In Guizhou, on this August 11 day, at least, people watch for the comedy of poor rural handlers scampering at and away from a charging beast. (Kind of like this, actually.) How many... Read more »
This episode's old, but it's still relevant, isn't it? "Lu Kim, the owner of City Sushi invited City sushi owner, Junichi Takayama to a school meeting claiming it to be about the diversity of Asian people," reads the YouTube description. "Little does Takayama know is that the meeting would be a trap to embarrass him."
Found in a Nanjing hospital, this device is very much used for what you might think. That is to say, it is not a fleshlight masquerading as a mushroom; it is an artificial vagina that serves the purpose of actual vaginas: to extract sperm from male genitalia. Hard stop. And the best part is that it... Read more »
In Jinhua, Zhejiang province on Saturday, a bull was loosed on the streets, and it was none too happy.
Also not happy, we imagine: the man just minding his own business when the bull knocks him off his bike. A bit of hilarious hopscotching follows. Alas, it ends all too soon. Run, man, run!
On Tuesday, while most protesters were gathering around the Japanese embassy, about 50 people splintered off toward the US embassy, where they happened to catch Ambassador Gary Locke in his official black embassy car. Police very quickly came streaming in from two directions and walked the car down the street, where it took the next left and disappeared. The vehicle sustained minor damages. All else was peaceful.
Though China's modern-day Maoists may advocate larger government, wealth redistribution, and a return to a backward agrarian society, they strike me, by and large, as Bible Belt conservatives in their longing for past glories and comforts, their love for a transcendent leader, and their fondness of ideology. They also have this annoying habit of cherry-picking only the best parts from Mao's rule and forgetting that millions were purged, starved to death, and slandered/slaughtered by their coworkers, students, neighbors, friends.
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