The other day, a major state-owned media outlet published an opinion piece that basically was just a gleeful trashing of Ambassador Gary Locke as he departed China and his posting here. The article focused on the fact that Locke, a Chinese-American who arrived in China in 2011 to great fanfare and admiration, actually turned out […]
Every so often, a new music video for Beijing — from Shin’s One Night in Beijing, to the 2008 Olympics anthem Beijing Welcomes You, to last year’s Beijing State of Mind — crops up to showcase the culture and various lifestyles in our fair city. This latest one, by Stephy Chung, is by far my […]
So I figure by now, everyone has seen the second season of “House of Cards,” or at least enough that you know that China plays a big part in the season’s storyline (definitely more than Kate Mara did). And by big, I mean that Kevin Spacey had to deal with basically all of the issues […]
Benjamin Carlson recently made a list of five Communist Party catchphrases commonly used in writings on China. They are: Referring to China’s “century of humiliation” Crediting the government with “lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty” Needlessly referring to China’s “5,000 years of history” Calling China’s supreme leader “the president” Referring to free thinkers as […]
2014 is otherwise known as the Year of the Horse. Horses are remarkable creatures, full of symbolism and stuff, so why not act like a horse in the Year of the Horse? Edward Snowden, who “used to have a good job in the security business,”* is not like a horse. It would have been better […]
You may remember the Great Smog that kicked off 2013, an entire month of days that looked like the above picture. It was dubbed the airpocalypse after a giant cloud of smog blanketed much of northeast China and sent Beijing’s air quality index soaring to almost 800 (just a few years ago, the air monitor […]
Remember that time back in 2010 when Norway — I mean, the Nobel Committee — awarded Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese human rights activist, the Nobel Peace Prize? And China reacted by canceling high-level meetings, calling off a Norwegian musical, and denying visas to visiting dignitaries. It stopped buying Norwegian salmon. It excluded Norwegians from their […]
Now that it’s a new year, we can look back on the old year! The main question is, of course, how many blue sky days did we have? According to statistics for the year released by the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, which ranks each day from 1 to 6 (highest level of pollution), 176 days […]
A normal rape case has become a social and entertainment event in 2013. A normal rape case has become a social and entertainment event in 2013. A normal rape case has become a social and entertainment event in 2013. More info here: NYT, WSJ, and for good measure, Daily Mail. (Obviously the writer did not […]
Was your Thanksgiving missing a little something this year? Was that something a pecan pie? Well, apparently you can blame it on China! According to the New York Times, it’s a bit difficult and more expensive to get your hands on pecans this year in the U.S., not least of all because of the Chinese […]