flickering pictures

Just a quickie…
For a week now, the world has been Googling Egypt like never before. But not in China, where search engines are blocking search terms like “Egypt” and “Cairo,” keeping people in China from staying up to date on Egypt’s mass revolt. Terms related to the protest are also blocked on Sina, […]

[Read more →]

Go on, find Palau on a map without Googling it — I double dog dare you.
Its 21,000 citizens have only had a country for 15 years, but the Pacific mini-state of Palau is already distinguishing itself by welcoming 17 Chinese Guantanamo inmates with open arms, and inviting them to settle wherever they like on its […]

[Read more →]

Mao would be pissed.
Along with a bar and hair salon, the store offers 38,000 square feet of blonde-haired, big-boobed dolls. Despite its location, only 10 per cent of the store’s dolls will look Asian, apparently because of Mattel research that indicates Chinese girls and young women want American-looking Barbies.
The GlobalPost reports:

The plan is to […]

[Read more →]

Just a little stub of a post today — I’m swamped at the moment, and I my typing fingers need a rest after that little novella the other day on press freedom in Gaza.
A new mall in Nanjing, China will apparently host only stores that sell knockoff brands, such as “McDnoald’s,” “Pizza Huh” and “Bucksstar […]

[Read more →]

If this isn’t the strangest thing you’ll read today, it’s up there.
A woman in China has apparently lost all hearing in her left ear after a session of “passionate” kissing with her boyfriend.
The BBC reports:

The doctor who treated the girl in hospital was quoted in the paper explaining what had happened.
“The kiss reduced the pressure […]

[Read more →]

Surely it had nothing to do with the title of G&R’s new record. And since when do Chinese foreign affairs officials moonlight as music critics?
The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reports:

In a rare comment on rock’n’roll, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang dismissed the creative output of US rock band Guns N’ Roses as […]

[Read more →]

Husain Amer, a photographer, filmmaker, modelling agent, erstwhile English teacher and good friend of mine has been tromping through China for the last year and is recording his exploits as he goes. Recently he documented a trip from Beijing to Xi’an via the ancient trading city of Pingyao, in China’s northeast.
And for all you […]

[Read more →]

Man, you can’t make this stuff up. From the BBC:

An Asian elephant that became addicted to heroin after being fed bananas spiked with the drug is to return home after undergoing a detox programme.
The four-year-old animal, called Xiguang, received methadone injections for a year at five times the human dosage, state media said.
It was […]

[Read more →]

Brazilians, Italians and Brits all claim to be the world’s biggest sports fans, but flag-waving and beer-swilling is lightweight stuff compared to this guy’s latest stunt. Looking to show off his patriotism and his excitement for the upcoming Beijing Olympics, a Chinese man named Wei Sheng did the natural thing and jabbed 2008 pushpins […]

[Read more →]

There are more than 210 million Internet users in China, and according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, nearly all of them want Big Brother watching over their shoulders when they surf.
From the report:

Many Americans assume that China’s internet users are both aware of and unhappy about their government’s oversight and control of […]

[Read more →]