Look at Xi Jinping eating lunch. When the story broke yesterday that the president of China was spotted in Beijing ordering steamed buns at a local restaurant called Qing-Feng, I noted that we'd be seeing more pictures, since if you can't take pictures of the president of China on your camera phone, you might as well never take another camera phone picture again. Well, here's a video, which surfaced on Youku about nine hours ago. It is wonderful in the following ways:
The champs of Asia lost to the champs of South America on Saturday in the 3/4 game at the FIFA Club World Cup. It was fantastic from the get-go. Both Atletico Mineiro and Guangzhou Evergrande scored early (Atletico's Diego Tardelli, 2'; Guangzhou's Muriqui, 9') before Guangzhou took the lead on a 15th minute penalty. But then, in first-half extra time, Atletico's Ronaldinho -- the Ronaldinho, known as "Small Lo" in China (not to be confused with "Big Lo," i.e. [now-fat] Ronaldo, or "C Lo," who is Cristiano Ronaldo) -- did this:
Donnie has a music video. He worked on it for three months. It features pandas and handjobs, and if you didn't think of the Oriental Pearl Tower as phallic before, well:
Just as the monthly nationwide freakout over Chinese air was winding down, Chinese Central Television had to go ahead and publish an article, since deleted, that lauded the "Five Surprising Benefits From China’s Haze." I really have nothing to add to a topic already covered by Tea Leaf Nation ("Although it may be satirical, the article reads more as a tin-eared attempt to wring an Upworthy.com-style listicle from a genuine environmental menace"), Time, etc., but I do want to share the below video, from The Onion, posted three years ago.
Thought Singles Day last month was a bit random? It seems that December 2 is now, perhaps unofficially, Traffic Police Day. The date, 12/2, coincides with China’s emergency traffic number: 1-2-2. In celebration of themselves, the Huizhou traffic police in Guandong released a professional music video showcasing traffic rules, as found by Eric Jou of Kotaku, set to the Korean band Crayon Pop’s song "Bar Bar Bar."
Holland Got Talent judge Gordon Heuckeroth made several racist remarks at a Chinese competitor, singer Xiao Wang, last week. You might have already seen it, but if not, check the above. What's interesting, however, is the tepid, almost indifferent response from netizens in China, a study in contrast to the outrage expressed after the now-infamous and actually inoffensive skit by Jimmy Kimmel.
For the second time three days, a pipeline ruptured in a Chinese city. On Sunday, it was a gas pipeline in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province that injured three people.
If you haven't been following the story of Bloomberg vs. the New York Times, start here. That's NYT's article, built around an anonymous source within Bloomberg, claiming that Bloomberg editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler spiked a sensitive China story due to pressure.
