This video is a month old, but I’m posting it anyway because it’s just so rich. Watch as a bunch of goons ransack street vendors just because they can – because they’re “chengguan,” China’s street-level thugs in uniforms who are officially known as “urban management officers.” Paraphrasing something I wrote earlier on this site, you create a... Read more »
I don't know that this is strictly a public relations stunt, but I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that at least one of the scenes in the above newscast is staged. In case you missed this story, which I linked to in Monday's links post, an urban management bureau in Hefei, Anhui province has taken to hiring foreigners to do street enforcement. There are three of them, from Central African Republic, Afghanistan and South Africa, and you can check them out "in action" via Global Times.
On Monday evening in Changsha, Hunan province, a snacks and drinks factory belonging to Want Want Foods ("Wang Wang" in Chinese [旺旺食品], best known for its rice crackers) turned into a giant fireball that belched great big balls of black smoke into the air.
We're not sure how or why this video was played 613,000 times in its first six hours, but who are we to judge? Perhaps it's the crystal-clear picture that has attracted the viewers, who are more accustomed to grainy, soundless closed-circuit surveillance footage. Or the fact that the patient swings, of all things, a "Caution: Slipper Floor" sign?
Yesterday evening, residents and landlords of Jiezuo Dasha apartment complex on Xingfucun Zhonglu, which is close to the popular bar district Sanlitun, staged a peaceful — though justifiably angry — street protest after water and electricity were cut off to many of the homes and businesses in the area in the morning. A Beijing Cream reader... Read more »
After four years, Leona Lewis returned to Beijing to perform at the Bird’s Nest on Saturday as part of something called the BMW Olympic Joy Festival. The last time this singer-songwriter was in the city, she was sharing the spotlight with Jimmy Page (and David Beckham) at the 2008 Olympics closing ceremony — I think... Read more »
Why is it always the good ones who suffer the misfortune? Last Monday evening at Changli Station in Hebei province, 20-year-old Li Boya, just a railway marshal trainee, saw a man jump onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train. Li went in after the man, but it was too late: both got hit, and severely injured.
If you're dying with anticipation for Dark Knight Rises, the above video's not going to help. It's a preview of a short by Wolf Smoke Studio, unveiled at Comic-Con for Cartoon Network's DC Nation, and it features Catwoman in 1930s Shanghai, with a cameo by Bane.
I should mention that the ubiquity of the "shabi" (or "SB" on the Internets) chant in China probably means the real translation should be "asshole," as "cunt" seems to be on a different tier of offensiveness in American English. But I've chosen to go with the literal translation, just because. (In the interest of fairness, we should point out that if a star player arrived in Beijing, Guo'an fans here would chant "Shenhua SB" as well.)
Liquor makes people do strange things: jump off rooftops, get hitched to strangers... play real-life Grand Theft Auto. On Monday in Luliang, Shanxi province, a security guard at a restaurant who had too much to drink decided he'd try to hijack a car, because why the hell not. He was successful! But when that vehicle crashed into a flower bin/arrangement at a nearby plaza, he scrambled out and decided to take a second car. This was not a good idea. We're told it did not take long for police to apprehend him.
![Chinese Ship Locks Weapons Radar On Japanese Vessel, Because It Can [UPDATE]](http://beijingcream.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Japan-vessel-featured-image-150x150.png "Chinese Ship Locks Weapons Radar On Japanese Vessel, Because It Can [UPDATE]")
