Torrential rains in Linyi, Shandong province have caused massive flooding, but not everyone's mood has been dampened. In the above video, while others slog through knee-deep water or try their damnedest to plow through it in cars, a father and son row an inflatable boat, content to go nowhere at all. More than a few onlookers have smiles on their faces as they take pictures with their camera phones. I don't want to venture all the way down Corny Alley, but as Weibo user Xieyin notes, "The most fortunate thing a person can have in life can't beat having an optimistic father; this scene makes me think of [the movie] 'Life is Beautiful.'"
Yesterday, on a hot and windy day at Shiniuzhai Scenic Resort in Pingjiang, Hunan province, Aisikaier, a sixth-generation Xinjiang tightrope walker of the "Dawa Zi" (Uyghur-style high wire) attempted to break a world record by walking 700 meters on a tightrope strung 250 meters above ground at its highest point. Because doing this like a normal acrobat would have been too easy -- he's a Dawa Zi, remember -- Aisikaier chose to do it backwards, blindfolded, and without a harness.
At one point in this preview, 100-year-old Aussie Dorothy DeLow is interviewed in English by someone who sounds Chinese. "Why are you participating in this competition?" comes the question. DeLow grunts. “You're so old!" the questioner adds.
Without missing a beat, Dot replies, "I'm not that old."
Yesterday, we posted about a pair of security guards who died while fighting off a mentally unstable man who charged into Guizhou Normal University brandishing a 70-centimeter knife. In our embedded video, a newscast via Sina, there was a clip taken by someone in a car showing a security guard getting stabbed. That part prompted someone to reply on Twitter, "How can a human being sit in a car and film w/o helping? Especially while he watched three people get stabbed. Unbelievable."
Your incredible story of the day comes from Guiyang, Guizhou province, where on Monday a mentally ill man surnamed Xu, brandishing a long knife, tried to enter Guizhou Normal University. The guard on duty — unarmed, as all security guards and almost all cops here are — picked up the nearest weapon-like thing he could... Read more »
I’ll tell you straight up that pandas on slides are nothing new. But look, it’s International Panda Awareness Week, and pandas are wrecking havoc in London, and pandas are, after all, pandas, so I’m sure you can spare a couple minutes to watch Sina’s newest videos of pandas. Four pandas. Babies. On a slide. One... Read more »
On Monday, according to this Jiangxi news show, a chengguan (street enforcement officer) riding against traffic (this bit of info is filled in by China News) in Chengdu bumped into or scraped against a store owner, precipitating an argument. This happened off-camera. When the store owner (or someone related) begins filming -- which is completely within his right -- the chengguan loses his temper. Pushing and shoving ensues. And then, strangely -- because chengguan are just kind of boorish sometimes -- the chengguan removes his shirt, the most alpha of alpha signals that OH IT'S ON BRO, IT'S ON!
The Good Doctor was biking through Wangjing recently (that's a district in Beijing, the city's de facto K-Town) when he saw this. Just a slice of urban life for you. Nothing to see, really.
Continuing our Olympics Countdown series in which we post about anything borderline related to London or the Olympics, here’s an oldie but goodie, from 2010, featuring a 110-meter hurdler who will simply let nothing, including hurdles, get between him and the finish line. This happened at a University Games in China, exact location unknown. No other... Read more »