It was May 5, when Weibo user @HBG林舟 posted his medical examination report which said he had abnormal menstruation after a full physical exam in hospital of traditional Chinese medicine in Hainan Province.

Next morning, the hospital’s Safety Service Department Dean Tang explained that one of the doctors on duty made a mistake because he was too busy. Many patients went to hospital to have CT that day. Especially, the patient before Lin was also a female named Lin, who [...]]]>

From Yahoo:

It was May 5, when Weibo user @HBG林舟 posted his medical examination report which said he had abnormal menstruation after a full physical exam in hospital of traditional Chinese medicine in Hainan Province.

Next morning, the hospital’s Safety Service Department Dean Tang explained that one of the doctors on duty made a mistake because he was too busy. Many patients went to hospital to have CT that day. Especially, the patient before Lin was also a female named Lin, who was diagnosed with abnormal menstruation. The doctor hurried to draw the conclusion without noticing the item of clinical diagnosis. But the result of CT was not affected.

“We admit this mistake and apologize to Lin. We’ve suspended the doctor from his duty and deducted his bonuses.”

On May 8, 2012, around 11:20 pm a drunken bald foreigner was sexually assaulting a woman in public near Xuanwumen subway station across street from Sogo Department Store in Beijing. A video captured him being questioned and stopped by a couple of pedestrians passing by. In rage, Beijing pedestrians hit him and he passed out in the street until the police arrived to the sense. This video quickly spread on the Internet especially on Weibo and received much attention from [...]]]>

On May 8, 2012, around 11:20 pm a drunken bald foreigner was sexually assaulting a woman in public near Xuanwumen subway station across street from Sogo Department Store in Beijing. A video captured him being questioned and stopped by a couple of pedestrians passing by. In rage, Beijing pedestrians hit him and he passed out in the street until the police arrived to the sense. This video quickly spread on the Internet especially on Weibo and received much attention from the Netizens.

Netizen @烧完美好青春 also exposed photos of this same foreigner sexually harassing women on the Beijing subway many times.
He wrote:

I am at the subway station, fuck, this society is totally messed up.  These foreign bitches sexually harass women on the subway; pushing his erection against them, totally disregard others.  He just harassed 5 women, finally, he just directly stood in front of that little girl.

Beijing Public Security Bureau @平安北京 posted an announcement on Weibo,

Last night, a video on Sina Weibo showed a drunken man sexually assaulting a woman near Xuanwumen subway station, was stopped by pedestrians which attracted many attentions. People also have asked us for more information.

After investigation, on May 8, 2012, 11pm, a foreign man was sexually assaulting a woman in public after alcohol consumption.  Pedestrians reported it to the police, and the police arrived to the sense in time to capture the man.  The police detained the man until he was sober, and he is now in custody and under investigation. This man is British citizen with travel visa to China.  This case is currently under preceding in accordance to the law.

As the national college entrance examination is approaching, there are a bunch of students who seem to be the hardest working ones to prepare for it because they get intravenous (IV) drips while studying in class.

The pictures on internet are all from Hubei Xiaogan No. 1 Middle School. The school is saying that students received the amino acids for energy. One of the netizen “边云锦witHu” said the students are willing to do this. This happens every [...]]]>

From Wenxue City:

As the national college entrance examination is approaching, there are a bunch of students who seem to be the hardest working ones to prepare for it because they get intravenous (IV) drips while studying in class.

The pictures on internet are all from Hubei Xiaogan No. 1 Middle School. The school is saying that students received the amino acids for energy. One of the netizen “边云锦witHu” said the students are willing to do this. This happens every year and just for the sake of receiving energy.

In the pictures, the classroom is bright and desks are piled with books. Below the ceiling are many iron wires where hangs at least thirty bottles.

The dean of the middle school, Xia said that every year each student receives 10 RMB stipends for the preparation of the national college entrance examination. The stipend can be used in the clinic room in school in the means of receiving amino acids. “Recently the weather is not good here, so some students felt uncomfortable” said Xia.

According to her, school organized voluntary students to receive amino acids in the clinic room. But the students are so busy there that they used this method, saving them the energy and time to travel between the clinic rooms and classroom.

In the recent survey by Sina, 11163 votes were against this while 1248 supported. Majority of the netizens doubted the effect of receiving amino acids, saying that eating a piece of meat is more useful than that. But some netizens also think it is normal to do that.

Mr. Gao from Xiaogan No. 1 Middle School said students receiving amino acids has been its history for the school. Last month, lots of parents wanted school to have amino acids injection for their kids to strengthen their body and gain energy. At first school did not allow for this. But later they found that it usually took more than half a day for students to go out to receive this on their own. So finally they approved this in class.

The school also ruled that to inject for a 500 ml amino acids, students just pay 10 RMB and school pay for the difference in price. He also added that there are twenty classes in the third grade and nearly half of each class with fifty to sixty students received the injection.

He thinks that it is quite useful for students to inject amino acids because it gives them a hint effect. Students are all very nervous and under great pressure, so in a degree it can relief their pain. And the school is not going to stop this as long as students still need it.

Ministry of Education: never heard of injecting amino acids before

According to Ministry of Education of Hubei, they never heard of this before and government never gave any stipends to student to receive amino acids before. They learned about it and would pay much attention to investigate this incident.

Doubts

An expert from Beijing Li Jingren said that it is a trick to inject amino acids to receive energy. Improper use of amino acids can be very harmful to human body, causing imbalances of Negative nitrogen. The government cannot have stipend on this. He mentioned one bottle of 500 ml amino acids can be as expensive as hundreds of RMB. The school must have some profit relationship with some interest groups.
Experts

Injection in class is prone to infections

Professor Sun from State Food and Drug Administration said this injection is not only risky but also outrageous. He said the risk is in the process of injection in class, students are easily to get infections of diseases. Moreover, each student has his own health condition; some may be allergic to injection such as dizzy or nausea.

The best way to receive amino acids is through mouth and daily diet. And there is no certain results showing that amino acids can benefit people when taking examinations.

April 26, Sina Weibo verified account named “Second Artillery Liu Yuanyuan” exposed herself of drunk driving on micro-blog which attracted many Chinese netizens’ attention.  Claimed a member of Second Artillery Corps Art and Cultural Troupe she also “flaunted wealth” by sharing her personal photos.   People’s Liberation Army Second Artillery Corps Political Department and Propaganda Department News Director Chen Shoufu made a public statement that the Second Artillery Corps did not have such person named Liu Yuanyuan.  so-called “Second Artillery [...]]]>

From Netease:

April 26, Sina Weibo verified account named “Second Artillery Liu Yuanyuan” exposed herself of drunk driving on micro-blog which attracted many Chinese netizens’ attention.  Claimed a member of Second Artillery Corps Art and Cultural Troupe she also “flaunted wealth” by sharing her personal photos.   People’s Liberation Army Second Artillery Corps Political Department and Propaganda Department News Director Chen Shoufu made a public statement that the Second Artillery Corps did not have such person named Liu Yuanyuan.  so-called “Second Artillery Art and Cultural Troupe member Liu Yuanyan” flaunting wealth, exposing drunk driving were all publicity stunts.

On evening of April 29, Chen Shoufu stated on Weibo, this person Liu Yuanyuan has been located. She deeply regret that using fake identity registering micro-blog account and also published information that are damaging military’s image and social morality.  She realized the netizens’ criticisms are punishments she deserves; she is willing to cooperate with the investigation and accept any punishment.

On April 30, Chen Shoufu said, Second Artillery Corps Political Department, in accordance with the legal procedure is going to pursue legal action and punishment of the person(s) planning and abetting Liu Yuanyuan’s action of “flaunting wealth” on the Internet.

Tell everyone a secret! I am drunk driving!

Report on Wednesday said, the ambitious Starbucks is continuously expanding in China, but customers staying in Starbucks not leaving is a major obstacle of expanding in China – “Customers love these shops too much, they sit there for hour after hour, and sometimes without buying any coffee at all.”  In fact, although these multinational companies have amazing rate of expanding in China, looking at the sales numbers comparing with total global sales, China is still relatively a small market, [...]]]>

From Netease:

Report on Wednesday said, the ambitious Starbucks is continuously expanding in China, but customers staying in Starbucks not leaving is a major obstacle of expanding in China – “Customers love these shops too much, they sit there for hour after hour, and sometimes without buying any coffee at all.”  In fact, although these multinational companies have amazing rate of expanding in China, looking at the sales numbers comparing with total global sales, China is still relatively a small market, this probably has little to do with customers staying in the shop for too long.

As of 2010, Starbucks has 459 stores in China, but the average Chinese consumer drink coffee three times a year.  To buy a cup of 12 ounce caramel macchiato, consumers in Easter China need to work 1.3 hours, consumers in Western China and central parts of China need to work 1.6 and 1.9 hours.  Starbucks has 10.71 billion dollars in total revenues in 2010, but revenue in China is only 358 million, only 3.3% of the global revenues.

Just how dependent are multinational companies on the Chinese market?  Would they be brought to their knees without the Chinese market? We found many companies’ annual reports, the data may disappoint many people – in fact, Chinese market isn’t very important to the majority of multinational companies.   Carrefour supermarket which are now everywhere in China still has main revenue in France.  In 2011 the Chinese market revenue of 8.169 billion euros is less than 10 percent of its global revenue.  Even Coca-Cola can be seen almost anywhere in the world, it’s revenue in China only accounted for about 7% of its total revenue.  Amongst the most common multinational companies, perhaps only KFC under Yum! Brands would have a hard time leaving Chinese market – KFC’s revenue in China is 49.8% of its total, almost half of its share.

The Economist Intelligence Unite (EIU) released at the end of the investigation report also supports this conclusion.  The Economist’s report shows that the global financial crisis in multinational companies, especially large multinational companies are more dependent on the Chinese market in order to bring in more revenue.  But for most of the multinationals China is still a relatively small market.  This report is based on a survey of 328 non-Chinese multinational senior management, and in-depth interviews with large foreign multinational executives, business academics and market analysts.  In this survey, only 8% of respondents believe that China is their biggest market, 17 percent of companies expect China to become its biggest market within five years, and another 21% of the companies believe that this situation will occur within 5-10 years.

70 multinational companies surveyed, only 10 companies have more than 20 percent of its global revenue from China last year, including Mead Johnson, Cartier, BHP Billiton, Yum, Advanced Micro Devices, etc. and half of the above companies have less than 10% income coming from China.

The survey also shows that, although multinational companies are still optimistic about China, there are signs of global distribution of their investments, in order to balance their overall strategic layout.  Among all respondents, 37% think China is essential to their global strategy, however the 2004 survey showed 53%.  Another 33% of respondents believed that the Chinese market, though not to have crucial role, but also has important strategic significance.  This number also declined from 2004 survey’s 41%.

Recently, Taobao is setting up a delivery/logistics company with their “Tao Girls” (淘女郎) to delivery goods purchased off the Internet.  Currently hiring “Tao girls” all over the country whoever is interested in participating.  Choosing a Tao girl to delivery your purchase will cost ten yuan extra.  According to sources, Taobao had the idea of Tao Girls delivering goods for long time, consumers purchasing goods on Taobao have the option of choosing a Tao Girl in the same city personally [...]]]>

From QQ:

Recently, Taobao is setting up a delivery/logistics company with their “Tao Girls” (淘女郎) to delivery goods purchased off the Internet.  Currently hiring “Tao girls” all over the country whoever is interested in participating.  Choosing a Tao girl to delivery your purchase will cost ten yuan extra.  According to sources, Taobao had the idea of Tao Girls delivering goods for long time, consumers purchasing goods on Taobao have the option of choosing a Tao Girl in the same city personally delivering the goods.

Actually, as early as beginning of April, on April fools day, Alibaba Group vice president Tao Ran said in his Weibo, “Taobao department is working with a logistics company, to allow customers to choose Tao girls in the same city to deliver goods, delivery cost will be slightly higher.”   One day later, Tao Ran announced on Weibo, “Choose Tao girls to be the beautiful couriers, since everyone’s voices are so high, “Tao girl” has been taken into consideration.”

Tao Girls (淘女郎) platform under Taobo (mm.taobao.com) officially went online on March 23rd, 2010.  Tao Girls are girls who are active on Taobao since the yearly Tao Girl Competition started in 2007 to today’s Tao Girls Platform.  Tao Girls today has developed into a platform of Internet models where beautiful girls show off their beauty and outfits as well as posting their prices of Internet modeling and waiting to be hired. While creating stylish and influential Internet popular figures and talented people, it also let major brands on Taobao and media find their shops’ suitable spokesperson.

Currently “Tao Girl” platform has over 40,000 members, scattered in various cities across the country.  Large number of them is in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen etc. where e-commerce is highly developed, as a lot of Taobao merchants are also in these cities.

Interesting comment on Weibo:

@互联网的那点事
You all think too simply, Tao Girls, it is completely impossible for this service to make money.  The most profitable is the added service of the Tao girls.  After singing the order, “Dear, we do offer other services, don’t know if mister needs any?”

“Brother English”, by the name of Zhang Xu or Nick (weibo: @nickinthehouse) recently became popular on the Chinese Internet for his funny videos of imitating people of nine countries including India, South Korea, Japan etc. speaking English.  The video went viral and people are especially impressed by his foreign language skills and his ability to mimic accents.

Now Brother English has a new release, this time he speaks English with 10 different dialects in various parts of China, using different flavors [...]]]>

“Brother English”, by the name of Zhang Xu or Nick (weibo: @nickinthehouse) recently became popular on the Chinese Internet for his funny videos of imitating people of nine countries including India, South Korea, Japan etc. speaking English.  The video went viral and people are especially impressed by his foreign language skills and his ability to mimic accents.

Now Brother English has a new release, this time he speaks English with 10 different dialects in various parts of China, using different flavors of Chinglish to introduce characteristics of different regions of China.

Here is his earlier viral video of imitating 9 English Accents.

When hear the words “lose weight”, you probably never have thought of using cameras to monitor and record the entire weight loss process. From March 18 to April 18, sponsored by Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc., hosted by Yitel and Yi Hotel management Co., artist Wang Jun’s project “Keep Fit Deal – 15” is on display at the Yitel 798 Art Project in Beijing.

Performance art work “Keep Fit Deal – 15” by artist Wang Jun is based on [...]]]>

From IFeng:

When hear the words “lose weight”, you probably never have thought of using cameras to monitor and record the entire weight loss process. From March 18 to April 18, sponsored by Home Inns & Hotels Management Inc., hosted by Yitel and Yi Hotel management Co., artist Wang Jun’s project “Keep Fit Deal – 15” is on display at the Yitel 798 Art Project in Beijing.

Performance art work “Keep Fit Deal – 15” by artist Wang Jun is based on a electronic scale, and 24 hour camera monitoring and recording the whole weight loss process. He will record details of everyday weight loss as well as time, temperature, feelings and detailed data on his meals. He will never get off the electronic scale before he loses 15 jin. He will be available 24 hours a day on display and to communicate to the audiences. Project will end after the successful 15 jin weight loss.

“Keep Fit Deal -15” continued Wang Jun’s artistic creation style, using his body as media outlet, experiencing physical and psychological limits, connecting personal feelings with public space, in order to create sociological thinking and aesthetic perception between individual and society, between inherited concept and so called popular (trendy).

Wang Jun planned to lose 15 jin in one month on this electronic scale in the hotel. During this period he would not leave the scale for anything including eating, drinking and even going to the restroom. The reason he wanted to lose 15 jin is because his current weight is 15 jin over his previous standard weight. During this period, he will be tracked in full live video and broadcasting onto micro blog.

Wang Jun moved his private daily life into the hotel in public, displaying personal life to a large crowd, using artistic approach making the familiar daily life into something unfamiliar to the public. The psychological feelings of the audiences will play a key role in his performance art piece.

On one hand, artist’s “ascetic monk” like weight loss for anyone would be kind of a tough test; on the other hand, this kind of “self-destruction” will help artists to enter a kind of introspection state, maybe what the audiences see is just the “crazy” side, but the artist’s introspection is more real.

Wang Jun’s weight loss program is closely linked to the social reality, “In this materialistic age, in the era of pleasure-seeking and greed, all things are inflated infinitely, slowly lose the beautiful and clear origins.” Wang Jun told the reporter, his weight loss is also a metaphor of the current inflated era which should lose some weight.

Wang Jun’s weight loss program is a powerful sarcasm and criticism to this vulgar sociology. Then it rises to an unique so-called popular perception and understanding of self. Popular is not scary, what is scary is to lose yourself when blindly pursuit the “so-called popular”.

There is a huge gap between the post-80s generation and their parents’ generation in terms of what makes good occupation. Usually, the parents like it safe and prefer their precious only child to work for the government at best or state-owned enterprises at least they are considered as unbreakable iron bowl with good pay and well-above-average welfare program. Whereas the post-80s tend to want to get out there and pursuit their own life. Days ago Chongqing Morning Paper featured a [...]]]>

There is a huge gap between the post-80s generation and their parents’ generation in terms of what makes good occupation. Usually, the parents like it safe and prefer their precious only child to work for the government at best or state-owned enterprises at least they are considered as unbreakable iron bowl with good pay and well-above-average welfare program. Whereas the post-80s tend to want to get out there and pursuit their own life. Days ago Chongqing Morning Paper featured a story of the struggle between a mother and son that is exactly the living prove of the aforesaid perception gap.

Early in the morning on March 10, 57 years old Liu Xuemei woke up in her less than 7 sqm hotel room. She sat woodenly at the bedside and started to repeat the one motion she’s been doing for the past 18 days: took out her phone and dialed a number starting with 158xxx. It was connected, she could hear the “doo doo” ring tone, yet there was still no answer. That number belongs to her 27 years old son Ran Jiexi.

She used to enjoy a good mother and son relationship with Ran until 2009 when Ran Jiexi graduated from Xinan Normal University. There had been 3 years of war between them. In order to persuade Ran to come back to hometown Hebei Province to work in a state-owned enterprise, Liu has come out to Chongqing 10 times during the past 3 years looking for her son. At first, she tried to advise him to no avail, then she went through scolding, beating and making a fuss with no result other than driving her son further away. To avoid his mother, Ran has moved 3 times, lost his girlfriend, quit his job. And now he didn’t even want to see his mother.

Feb 23, Liu Ximei reappeared in Chongqing North Station carrying her big black suitcase. This is the 10th time Liu came all the way to Chongqing with one single purpose – to find her son and bring him back to work in a state-owned enterprise. “I won’t go home without him.” She also wanted to solve her son’s issue inside if possible. “It is stable to work in a state-owned enterprise, why can’t my son just understand my intention?”

She has been living in the hotel for 18 days without hearing a thing from her son after over 100 calls. She started to panic when she realized that after several rounds of fights she may never see her son again. Yesterday morning, Liu gathered herself after crying straight and destructively. She decided to write him a text with the thought that her son will see the text even if he refuses to pick up the phone. However, she gave up in a seconds, “he hates me so much now, nothing I say will work.”

“He has moved, quit his job. I have tried everything I can’t find him.” Liu covered her forehead in pain, “Now my only wish is that I can untie the knot between us and go back to where we used to be as normal mother and son.” She has been doing some self reflecting in the past 18 days.

Liu is from Hebei Province and gave birth to her son in 1985. “When I was young, I carried my 3 children everywhere following their father. The kids are very clingy to me.” Ran as her second child was her favorite.

“He did well in school and got into a prestigious university in Chongqing at the age of 18. When he was still in college, his bigger brother got into the same railway construction company as their father which is a state-owned enterprise.” Liu was very happy about her oldest son’s job with its stability and good welfare system. She was very confident that her second son will follow his brother’s footstep into the state-owned company too. After all, entering state-owned enterprise and enjoying the iron bowl are the ideal plan she and her husband had in mind for their 3 children. Yet much to her surprise, the ideal became the fuse of her troubles with the second son.

“Look at me, do I look like a woman at 50 years old only?” Liu asked reporter while pointing at the wrinkles on the forehead. “It felt like I have aged 10 years in the past 3 years.” She remembered one thing her son said to her during a fierce fight – “You are pathetic, I hate you.”

“I am really pathetic, my good intention was misunderstood by my son. But do I worth that much of hatred?” There was a fight going on inside Liu’s head, she kept asking herself what has gone wrong. She has thought about giving up because she began to realize that if not she may lose her son forever. However, another thought always followed closely “If I give up now, what about my son’s future?”

Liu said she was tired of the fighting in the past 3 years. “In our hometown, people my age are enjoying simple happiness with their grandchild. But I can’t give up, one day I will convince him to go back home and work for state-owned enterprise.”

In the night of March 12, her husband also arrived at the hotel with the wish to settle the war between wife and son. He said: “3 whole years of fighting has ruined our family life.”

When Ran was graduating in 2009, his phone became the hotline for his parents. Liu recalled: “We constantly remind him to find a formal, stable job. And it is easy to get into the railway construction enterprise because his father was working there. However there was no vacancy at the time.” That is when Ran started to resent his parents’ value in occupation. Ran decided to stay in Chongqing and worked for a foreign trade company, despite parents’ concern about stability. “We have been asking around and building relationship with the mere hope that our kid can settle down soon.”

Not long after graduation Ran’s father found him a post in a China Railway division in Chongqing. Ran went to interview and actually passed. However he ran away when he heard that the post required rotation first in rural area. Liu immediately rushed to Chongqing to reason with Ran: “It is ok to start from lower level, it is a state-owned enterprise after all, you don’t need to worry about earning a living for the rest of your life.” But Ran wouldn’t listen.

In September 2010, another chance came around. Employees in state-owned enterprise can recommend their children for working in the same enterprise. Liu was very grateful about this second chance. “Though my son graduated a year ago, his dad and I managed to lobby the enterprise into taking him back with the condition that he needs to study in the railway training school for two years before going onboard.” Liu was overjoyed at the good news only to find her son not in the slightest bit of interest. Her effort was not appreciated but she swallowed it in and went on nagging Ran to take the offer. Ran stopped answering their calls. So Liu and husband went to Chongqing for the second time to drag him back.

This time, Liu couldn’t hold it anymore. “I scolded at him using all kinds of words, I just want to shake him up to look at the good opportunity.” Liu told reporter. After half month of quarrel, Ran finally agreed to go back home in October. Liu succeed yet with the feeling that her son wasn’t willing to talk to her anymore.

At the day before paying the enrollment fee, Ran called his father: “Can we not pay for this?” His father asserted “No”. Ran then gave the 5000 yuan enrollment fee to the training school, only to drop out a few days later.

The reporter got in touch with Ran to hear his side of the story.

He said it was hard on him as well to not answering his mother’s calls for the past 18 days, but he was fed up with the fighting. “I only want to live my own life, why can’t she just let go?” Ran was aware of his mother’s arrival in Chongqing but he dared not to meet her.

Ran used to be close to his mother, “I had long distance call with her every week asking about her and my father. She wanted me to go to state-owned enterprise, but I want to live the life I like instead of holding an iron bowl for a boring life.”

At first, the two were able to discuss the matter with each other, but Ran gave up after his mother sold his stuffs in Chongqing trying to force him back home. “Every time she came to Chongqing, she started a fight and even made a scene at my workplace. I couldn’t stand it but she is my mother, what I can do is to avoid.” Ran was working for a magazine at that time receiving 5000 yuan per month pay check. He planned to start mortgage on housing and settle down step by step. But none of these were sign of stable life to his mother simply because it was not with a state-owned enterprise. Another factor holding her son back, Liu thought, was his girlfriend. So Liu went to his girlfriend’s workplace and begged for release of her son. Liu realized that she crossed the line, but she was convinced that one day her son will thank her for this, “he was just too young to realize the importance of a stable job.”

Ran quit the job and soon broke up with his girlfriend too, as Ran put it: “I couldn’t lead a normal life anymore but I want her to have one.”

Liu came to Chongqing even more often, almost every second month with a clear goal – to bring her son back to Hebei Province. However, they could never reach an agreement. Liu then sold her son’s computer, clothes and beddings to force him home. 20 days later, Ran went back home for cousin’s wedding without knowing that he would be ambushed by the talking, lobbying, blaming and educating from all relatives. He even got into a fight with his elder brother.

Ran left Hebei Province soon after this. This time, he moved and turned off his phone. Liu tried many times to contact Ran in vain, then she called his girlfriend only to find out that they have already split.

Born in the 1960s, the mother Liu Ximei couldn’t understand her son’s career aspiration while her son didn’t manage to get her appreciation, resulting in escalating contradiction. “I was forced to quit my job, I moved, I broke up with my girlfriend, yet none of these can stop the fighting.” Ran said he appreciated Liu’s love, but it was too much to bear. Ran felt sorry about not going to see mother or picking up the phone, “It is not that I don’t want to see her, I dare not to see her because every meeting with her ends in fighting. I don’t want to repeat, I don’t want to upset her any more than I already have.”

Ran said the last time he saw Liu off, Liu bit him on the arm. “I know she hated me.”

In the morning on March 9, Xiao Liu, accompanied by a friend got ready to participate in a job fair interview in Zhanjiang city.  When they got off the bus, suddenly a man riding a motorcycle snatched her handbag.  She tried to catch up to him, but only to see the robber riding an unlicensed motorcycle and disappearing in the rain.

Frightened, Liu had tears in her eyes.  After graduated from college, she traveled alone to Zhanjiang looking a job.  [...]]]>

From Netease:

In the morning on March 9, Xiao Liu, accompanied by a friend got ready to participate in a job fair interview in Zhanjiang city.  When they got off the bus, suddenly a man riding a motorcycle snatched her handbag.  She tried to catch up to him, but only to see the robber riding an unlicensed motorcycle and disappearing in the rain.

Frightened, Liu had tears in her eyes.  After graduated from college, she traveled alone to Zhanjiang looking a job.  Her cell phone and wallet were in her handbag, but more importantly, her and several other students’ diplomas were in there too.

Xiao Liu borrowed a cell phone from a friend and called her own phone over and over again, but always heard the message, “your call can not be completed.”  In despair, she unexpectedly received a text message from her own cell phone, “I placed your diploma over here, come and get it, I do not want to affect your future.”  She replied in a hurry, “Thank you! I am a student came out to look for a job, diploma is really important to me.”  Soon she received another message, “Do not report to the police, I will message you when I place it.  Please forgive a person without a home.”

The robber communicated with her via text message and agreed to place the handbag in a trash can in front of Zhanjiang Eighteen middle school and let Xiao Liu to take back her and her classmates’ diplomas.  With doubts, Xiao Liu went to the address accordingly and found her handbag behind a transformer box near the middle school.  Robber had taken her cellphone and cash in the wallet, the rest of things were returned back to her.

After Xiao Liu got her bag back the robber even called her and ask, “Do you want your cell phone back?”  Xiao Liu was surprised to see all diplomas back and intact and felt fortunate even though the whole thing was unfortunate, so she told the robber generously, “forget about the cell phone, its yours now.”

After Liu hang up the phone, the persistent robber called again and asked her location, “I feel bad for you, college student looking for a job, I will give the phone back to you!”  Not long after Xiao Liu and her friend gave away their location, she heard a “Hello” from behind; a man riding a motorcycle dropped her phone on the floor.  Before they could even react, the man stepped on gas and quickly drove away.

In the vicinity, a company manager Wang said the local police had arrested a group of gang called “flying motorcycle party”, but did not know they are back again.

Xiao Liu hopes that “man without a home” can turn over a new leaf, find a job and live a normal life.

“I thought it’s called iPad 3, we always call it that before.”  Li Qi (not his real name) looked at the news about release of the new iPad on the Internet, felt proud and somewhat worried.  As a Shenzhen Longhua Foxconn factory worker, he was involved in the production of the iPad 2 and the new iPad.

He is worried about the iPad sales, if sales do not increase, he might be sent to help the iPhone production.  He said [...]]]>

From Sina:

“I thought it’s called iPad 3, we always call it that before.”  Li Qi (not his real name) looked at the news about release of the new iPad on the Internet, felt proud and somewhat worried.  As a Shenzhen Longhua Foxconn factory worker, he was involved in the production of the iPad 2 and the new iPad.

He is worried about the iPad sales, if sales do not increase, he might be sent to help the iPhone production.  He said in an interview with First Financial Daily, right before announcement of the new release, their production line can produce 150 units of the new iPad in an hour.  Currently, he takes one day off per week.  When he worked on iPhone 4S, he only took 1 to 2 days off in a month and often worked overtime until 8 pm.  Ever since March he and his workmates already took three days off.  Which he felt a little uneasy about it.

In Foxconn, Longhua site, where Li Qi worked at has the iPad assembly section and test section.  His daily job is to assemble the keys and cables into the new iPad. “Other than this level, there are several other buildings are also in production of the new iPad, workers on each level have somewhat different jobs. Some are responsible for assembling, packaging and some are responsible for the warehouse.”

“The new iPad” was in mass production starting the beginning of this year.  Initially, each assembly line took one class (of workers), that is, production of 1000 units within every 10 hours.  However after the Spring Festival production gradually increased to 150 units per hour.  Li Qi works 6 days a week and takes only one day off.  Recently he worked 80 hours of overtime each month.  His base monthly salary was already adjusted from 900 yuan to 2350 yuan, plus the overtime money, now he can get 3500 yuan after tax.

From Li Qi’s point of view, the new iPad is similar to iPad 2 which he worked on before, at least the outside look similar, but the new iPad has more powerful features and functions.  “Comparing these two generation products’ pipeline work station setup, now there are over 30 of them.  There were not that many for iPad 2.”  Typically, in each workstation one given action is performed – for example assembling particular connectors or gears.

He told the reporter, iPad production lines are strictly managed.  He has to wear anti-static clothing, and walk through security doors. Inspection procedures are more than any other division.  They are not allowed to talk during work, and definitely no slacking off.  “But compare to iPhone 4S production, it is much easier.”

In May last year, Li Qi and his workmates participated in the Conference to support iDPBG held by the Office of Human Resources.  iDPBG is the place of Apple iPhone production.  They were told, from September 13 to December 31 to help support the latest generation of Apple iPhone, which was the iPhone 4S production.  Foxconn Technology Group Vice President Zhao Shanping said on behalf of CEO Terry Guo, “Due to mass production of mobile phones, the company need to drawn from iPad production line to support it.”

Before going, Li Qi was very excited to enjoy the benefits of free accommodation and salary increase etc.  and also get to see the Apple iPhone.  “Apple iPhone was already very well-known at that time.”  This is his first time in contact with other cell phone production line other than Nokia.  He wrote in his dairy, “First time work closely on iPhone 4S, it is really the best smart phone of the world, both hardware and software are great.”

“We basically worked on Apple’s Tablet PC but never on iPhone before.  As a newbie, we learned by doing.  Already afternoon, the production line I worked at only made over 100 phones.”  After a week, Li Qi fond that the production of cell phones is much more tiring than production of Tablet PCs, the dormitory environment was also worse than before.

“Start working at 7 am, have to get up before 6 am everyday.  Not even 10 minutes of break during a day’s work, 3 hours in the morning and 4-6 hours afternoon.”  Li Qi said, at the iPad production line, there are 2 to 3 10 minute breaks other than lunch time.

Another factory worker Wang Hua (not his real name) at Guanlan district working long term on assembling iPhones told the reporter, each production line will produce more than 3500 phones in a day.  No days off at the factory plant is already the norm.

Transferred back to Longhua iPad production line, Li Qi still recalled in his memory of that period (working on iPhone 4S) as “extremely hard.”  However, he also made the highest wage ever since he worked at Foxconn in the past two years – 5000 yuan after tax.  Considering Li had just bought a house in his hometown in Hubei, it is actually quite a gratifying thing.

Li Qi does not want his life to change too much.  According to his observation, in recent weeks, another 100 workers left the Shenzhen iPad production line, going to Chengdu factory district.  “This is a signal, if we continue to take days off, our division will for sure be transferred to other departments or leave Shenzhen.”  This is obviously not something he can control.

Are you ready for thousand yuan bills? Member of CPPCC National Committee, vice chairman of the Shangdong Federation of Industry and Commerce Zong Licheng suggested in a proposal, issuing 500 yuan or 1000 yuan denomination bills, in order to meet the economic and social development needs and to reduce the cost of currency in circulation. This message immediately triggered heated debate once appeared on the Internet.

As early as 2004 Lianghui (Two Meetings – National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s [...]]]>

From CNR.CN:

Are you ready for thousand yuan bills? Member of CPPCC National Committee, vice chairman of the Shangdong Federation of Industry and Commerce Zong Licheng suggested in a proposal, issuing 500 yuan or 1000 yuan denomination bills, in order to meet the economic and social development needs and to reduce the cost of currency in circulation. This message immediately triggered heated debate once appeared on the Internet.

As early as 2004 Lianghui (Two Meetings – National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), member Zong Licheng has made recommendations to issue the 500 yuan and 1000 yuan denomination bills. However the reply given by the central bank officials was “still premature to issue large bills.”

During this year’s Lianghui, member Zong Licheng believes that time is right for issuing 500 yuan or 1000 yuan large bills, large-denomination RMB has a variety of advantages and benefits. Easy to carry, reduces the circulation time, increases efficiency and saves paper. Currently the largest denomination of RMB is too small, can no longer meet the rapid growth of total economic output.

“Credit card payment has become increasingly common, no need to issue large bills”, Zong Licheng believes this view lacks of real world experience and practice. His home town sells vegetables, a car load is more than hundred thousand yuan, “how do you use credit card when going to farmer’s home?” He also used the bank ATM as an example, “Each machine can only hold hundreds of largest denomination banknotes, there are on average 50 – 60 withdrawals a day, the money in an ATM can only supply half a day. If the bank has to refill the machine twice in a day, that essentially increases human and material resources.

Zong’s recommendations were supported by many netizens, “save paper, easy to use, it’s a good idea.”

@卑鄙的谁的谁: “So many years, we did not develop personal checks but pushing for 1000 yuan RMB. HK has it, why can’t RMB? Couple tens of thousands, you can just stuff it into your butt so you don’t have to worry about it being stolen.”

@缘来有机866: “miserable! Many people work hard for a month, to only get one bill.”

There are also netizens pointing out that the large banknotes are not safe.

@EJ矿工阿呆: “This is more convenient for the rich, but for those of us migrant workers, it is really a tragedy. One day, you go to the bank to withdraw 10,000 yuan, ATM spits out 10 1000 yuan bills. If two of them are counterfeits then you are doomed.”

@韬SIR：”People want money in their wallet to improve their quality of life, nominal value of the money is not important. What is more important are common people can become rich and happy!”

Netizens also commented on Zong’s example of farmers selling vegetables.

@名字常变: “According to the example, I feel he should promote to popularize POS terminals instead, let the farmers in the fields can use them, if not able to afford them then rent them. One counterfeit banknote less can earn back the cost. After all digital money is the future trend of development. In addition he should also mention the protection of personal bank accounts, there are too many “clone card” cases, even the bank card is not safe.”

@头大: “The issue of large bills only facilitates those who do not want the money in the bank, such as underground banking, corrupt officials, and tax evaders. Ordinary people really do not need it.”

(From Jinghua.cn) 20 years old porter Ma Jingku chopped his boss’s daughter-in-law and her 2-year-old son to death with an axe after being asked by the woman to help look after the kid. Ma’s case open for trial on Mar 1st. When confronted by his victims’ devastated family, Ma shrugged his shoulders and even worn a smile on his face. He bowed to the court and pleaded for immediate death penalty.

Born 1991 in Heilongjiang Province, Ma is a porter [...]]]>

(From Jinghua.cn) 20 years old porter Ma Jingku chopped his boss’s daughter-in-law and her 2-year-old son to death with an axe after being asked by the woman to help look after the kid. Ma’s case open for trial on Mar 1st. When confronted by his victims’ devastated family, Ma shrugged his shoulders and even worn a smile on his face. He bowed to the court and pleaded for immediate death penalty.

Born 1991 in Heilongjiang Province, Ma is a porter for a trading company in Beijing. Ms Yun is the accountant as well as daughter-in-law for the head of company. According to Ma, they don’t any hold grudge against each whatsoever. It was May 22nd last year, a Sunday when he planned to sleep yet was woken up to unload goods at 6am.

“I am not an angry person usually, but that day out of nowhere I was a little grumpy.” Ma said. 2 hours later he finished unloading and went into the kitchen of the company, dropped 20-some sleeping pills into the porridge pot, thinking there would be no more work if everybody wants to sleep. An hour later, the boss and a few other employees showed symptoms of dizziness and nausea and went to the hospital.

When the night fell, Ma wanted to go to bed when Ms Yun who was busy doing her laundry asked Ma to fix the light bulb and look after her son. “I was pissed at that time and refused it. She then commanded that as an employee I should do whatever she said.” Ma recalled. The two then got into a fight during which Ma picked up an axe in the corner and smashed it into Ms Yun’s head. “I just wanted to give her a lesson, but she screamed ‘help, somebody’s killing’ when holding her crying son. I panicked, and finished them.”

According to Ma, it was dark inside the room. He smashed the two for about 20 times with his eyes closed until there was no more sound and the axe was broken. Scared of getting caught by colleagues, he dragged Ms Yun to another yard during which he heard the woman repeating “why”. Ma said on the court: “How should I know why? My legs are trembling, my life is over.”

Ma put Ms Yun under a truck and planned to start the truck to run over her body. He gave up since he didn’t know how to drive a truck. On his way back to the dorm, he noticed that Ms Yun’s son was still there. He picked it up and threw the body into a warehouse. Afterwards, Ma got changed and went to the office as well as his boss and Ms Yun’s room to steal 3000 yuan, mobile and some bank cards before fleeing the scene driving his boss’s car.

“I don’t know how to drive, but I figured it out right there.” Ma drove in the direction of his hometown and tried to race other cars on the highway. “I didn’t know how to do it, so the car hit the guardrail.” Ma abandoned the car and spent 2000 yuan to hire an illegal car back to Wuchang City, Heilongjiang Province. He planned to visit some friends and relatives before committing suicide, never expected to be arrested by the police  next day.

In the  courtroom, the victims’ husband and her parents filed for civil claims of 1.39 m yuan and 870,000 yuan respectively. Ms Yun’s husband kneeled at the judge and requested an immediate death penalty on Ma.

Ma’s defense lawyer explained that Ma’s parents divorced when he was still young, he lived with his father who was sentenced to death for murder when he was 4 years old, after which he was abused by step mother. It was all these difficult experience in his childhood that resulted in Ma’s extreme and defective personality as well as twisted view of life. Ma’s lawyer pleaded for light sentence for the young man. However, Ma gave up self defense and was reluctant to talk more about his childhood other than the fact that his early experience had resulted in frequent insomnia. He said that he has the thought of committing suicide since little.

Throughout the trial, Ma didn’t show any sign of regret or apology towards the victims and their family. At his closing statement, he bowed to the judge and said: “I hope the judge can grant me death penalty as soon as possible, and execute it immediately, thanks.”

The trial closed without judgment announcement in court.

February 28, at noon, a murder happened near the 27 Plaza in Zhengzhou city.  Two hours later, the police arrested the suspect Mr. Feng.  Reporter learned from the police station, 29-year-old Feng had bought a fake Apple IPhone from a dealer in the street.  When he found out that the IPhone was fake he carried a kitchen knife with him to the plaza, and was looking for the crook seller in the 27 Plaza for several days. In the [...]]]>

From QQ:

February 28, at noon, a murder happened near the 27 Plaza in Zhengzhou city.  Two hours later, the police arrested the suspect Mr. Feng.  Reporter learned from the police station, 29-year-old Feng had bought a fake Apple IPhone from a dealer in the street.  When he found out that the IPhone was fake he carried a kitchen knife with him to the plaza, and was looking for the crook seller in the 27 Plaza for several days. In the process of looking for the person sold him the phone, he bumped into another group of fake cellphone dealers and started a dispute with them.  In rage, Feng stabbed one of them to death with his kitchen knife.

Netizen first posted an entry on Weibo, “12:50 pm, murder near the 27 Plaza” and a picture, one man lying on the floor covered with blood. At 1:07 another entry “Life is too fragile and short, when 120 and the police came it was too late.”

Reporter learned from the police station, major artery was cut on victim Li’s right leg, Li died of excessive bleeding.  Another victim named Zhang Guofeng was sent to the hospital. 

On February 25, when Feng was looking at cell phones at a mobile phone shop in the 27 Plaza, a man approached him with an Apple IPhone.  He said it was a genuine Apple IPhone, he could take it too the Apple retailer for verification if Feng doubted him.  Feng took a look at the phone; it looked exactly the same as the IPhone.  After some bargaining, the two agreed on the price of 2000 yuan.

The man then asked Feng to wait there and he would go get a new phone for him. A few minutes later, the man handed over Feng a “new Apple iPhone” to Feng with a cell phone cover on it.  Feng was very satisfied that the seller even gave him a sell phone cover for free.  The seller took the money and left in a hurry.

After the man was gone, Feng opened his new phone and noticed it was very different from a real IPhone, and then he realized that he was deceived, but that man had disappeared without a trace.

In the police station interrogation room, the reporter met with the suspect Feng, he did not yet know that the guy he stabbed on the right leg was already dead.

Feng said, he was very upset after being cheated and became more and more raged, so he decided to take justice into his own hands.   On the same day, he took the fake IPhone with him and went back to the place where the man sold him the phone.  When he walked in front of a Tianran mall the saw a group of people surrounding a young man and they appeared to be doing a business transaction.  He walked closer and saw this young man was sold of an Apple IPhone and he also paid 2000 yuan.  The group people swiftly disappeared after the transaction.

Feng saw the young man’s cell phone had the same color and style as the fake cell phone he bought.  So he determined that this group was the associates of the same guy who sold him the fake phone.  Feng then went look for this group of people together with this young man

Finally, Feng found the group of dealers, but the man who sold him the fake phone was not in this group. Feng took out the kitchen knife and yelled to one of them, “Give us back the money, or else I will stab you to death!”  The man saw the knife so he gave back the 2000 yuan to the young man. The young man got the money and left.

Ever since he was sold the fake phone, Feng would go to the 27 Plaza everyday, hoping to find that one crook. 

February 28, Feng came near Tianran Mall again and bumped into the same group of people who sold the phone to the young man on the 25th.  This group of people said provokingly “Man, still haven’t found your phone yet?”.  “I must find (him)!”  Feng answered stubbornly.  However the answer angered this group of people.  They surrounded Feng and began to beat him up.  Angry Feng took out his kitchen knife and waved at these people.  He stabbed one of them (Zhang Guofeng) in the chest and abdomen in panic, then the others started to run away.  Infuriated Feng caught up to one of them (Li) and stabbed him in the legs several times then fled the scene.

According to Feng, he has never seen the man that he stabbed in the leg before that day but he was sure that he also attacked him. Due to so many people were beating him, he could not remember the situation clearly at the time.

The police said the case is under further investigation.

Fake IPhone that lead to murder and the murder weapon kitchen knife

There is an oil well on the west side of Yellow River 12 Road in Binzhou City, Shandong Province.  Many villagers of nearby villages often come here to take gas home by filling a giant plastic bag with nature gas, which really make people sweat for them.  On February 20, oil field staff said, what villagers are doing are really dangerous, however the villagers never stopped when discouraged many times.

February 20 morning, reporter came here. The oil extraction machines [...]]]>

From Mop:

There is an oil well on the west side of Yellow River 12 Road in Binzhou City, Shandong Province.  Many villagers of nearby villages often come here to take gas home by filling a giant plastic bag with nature gas, which really make people sweat for them.  On February 20, oil field staff said, what villagers are doing are really dangerous, however the villagers never stopped when discouraged many times.

February 20 morning, reporter came here. The oil extraction machines were under normal operation; an oil tank and a large gas furnace were placed on both sides of the oil extraction machine, and there was no one guarding.   10 am in the morning, a middle-aged woman came to the extraction machine with a large plastic bag.  This woman skillfully unscrewed the gas valve, and then she connected it to her bag she was carrying.  The plastic bag quickly expanded, and soon formed into a huge air balloon, 6 meters long and 1 meter in diameter.  About after 4 minutes, the air bag was full. 

There is more than just this one oil well in Binzhou, all the other wells near village are all extracted by other villagers as well.  “Some villages even connected a natural gas pipeline directly from the well to the villages.  Each household then connects to it to use as a power source.  Once there was an electricity outage with the gas pipeline, villagers unknowingly still had the natural gas stove turned on, when the electricity came again, huge among of the natural gas came in contact with the open flame, resulted in an explosion.”  One oil production plant staff said.

(From Jinghua.com) On Feb 24th, an weibo entry accusing son of an official set a girl on fire with lighter fluid after being turned down went viral in the Internet. According to  “安徽呱蛋合肥” who made the post, the accident happened on Sept 17th, 2011. 17-year-old boy Tao Rukun (陶汝坤), whose father is a government official in the Audit Office of Hefei City, forced into 16-year-old girl Zhou Yan’s(周岩) house, and poured lighter fluid over Zhou Yan’s head then lit it [...]]]>

(From Jinghua.com) On Feb 24th, an weibo entry accusing son of an official set a girl on fire with lighter fluid after being turned down went viral in the Internet. According to  “安徽呱蛋合肥” who made the post, the accident happened on Sept 17th, 2011. 17-year-old boy Tao Rukun (陶汝坤), whose father is a government official in the Audit Office of Hefei City, forced into 16-year-old girl Zhou Yan’s(周岩) house, and poured lighter fluid over Zhou Yan’s head then lit it on fire, resulting in over 30% burned area and disfigured face, neck and chest. Almost 6 months later, the boy’s father apologized for the first time on his verified weibo, only to trigger more fierce condemnation from the netizens.

Tao Rukun’s father wrote on his weibo on Feb 25th –

I am an employee of the Audit Office of Hefei City. Due to my inadequate educational methods, my son Tao Rukun has resulted in an irreversible damage and tragedy to Zhou Yan and her family, I am deeply sorry about this and my apology to all netizens. I will try my best to support Zhou Yan’s recovery treatment. Tao Rukun has been under detention, the case is in law procedure, I will accept lawful judgment and never avoid my due responsibility.

According to the girl’s mother Ms Li, Zhou Yan has just passed her 16 birthday when it happened. She said: “Tao Rukun and my daughter are from the same middle school but in different class. He was chasing after my daughter. To avoid his harassment, I transferred my daughter to another school but he just wouldn’t leave her alone. At last my daughter had discontinue her study and stayed at home.” In September 2011, Zhou Yan returned to school, and the tragedy happened on Sept 17th.

“At that day, only my daughter and her aunt were at home. Tao Rukun ran into our house, poured lighter fluid onto my daughter’s head and set her on fire.”

The aunt recalled: “I came running after I heard a scream, only to find the kid in fire and Tao Rukun was yelling  ‘die die die’ on the side. I quickly use sheet to put out the fire and dialed 120. Tao stood there and did nothing during the whole time.

Zhou Yan was sent into the hospital and went through 7 days and nights of surgery to get out of danger. However, her head, face, neck and chest were severely burned, one of the ears was destroyed and the overall burnt area up to 30%. She was disfigured.

In October last year when Zhou Yan was still in ICU, Tao Rukun’s parent presented a document to Ms Li and threatened to cut the payment for Zhou’s recovery unless they signed the paper. The document stated that Tao Rukun was actively helping to rescue Zhou Yan and he turned himself in to the police. “We refused to sign, and they stopped paying for the treatment.”

Ms Li said: “The medical cost and treatment for my daughter has amounted to over 400,000 yuan, they paid 330,000 of it, we still owed the hospital over 100,000 yuan. And there is more than 300 yuan medicine cost everyday.” Without choice, Ms Li has to discharge her daughter from the hospital.

“We are from working class. I work in the supermarket, earning 1000 yuan each month. I don’t know how to continue her treatment. We don’t have money for a plastic surgery for her, nor can we pay for lawsuit. The whole family is in despair.” Ms Li hoped that relative department can speed up the procedure and do her daughter justice.

As to why the case was taking so long, Ms Li’s lawyer said: “the wound evaluation department explained that the girl’s neck is severely damage, they have to wait until after skin grafting to do the evaluation. In that case, it won’t happen until 3 months later, which is unacceptable for our victim. While in the procedure point of view, the court won’t step in without a wound evaluation.”

According to the police department of Hefei City, the victim was receiving treatment for a long time and her condition is not stable enough to conduct a wound evaluation. Pressured by the public outcry over the Internet, the police has carried out the wound evaluation and promised to publicize it when it finishes.

“Before the accident, we have contacted Tao’s family many times, asking them to keep an eye on their son and stop harassing my daughter. I even kneeled to Tao Rukun to beg him leave my daughter alone, but nothing worked.” Ms Li said the half year long draw of the case has given her daughter more pressure both physically and psychologically. "Now my daughter is suffering from mental disorder too.”

Photos from ifeng.com

Zhou Yan, before the accident.

Bride and groom born in 1980s are facing astoundingly high bill for their wedding.

Recently, an investigation report on Chinese marriage in 2011 caused a lively debate in society. In the report, nearly 80 percent of single women considered that a man was not suitable for having a relationship or getting married unless he could earn at least ￥4000 per month.

Mrs. Luo from Wuhan complained that her son’s wedding used up all her savings and the cost of the wedding [...]]]>

Source: MSN

Bride and groom born in 1980s are facing astoundingly high bill for their wedding.

Recently, an investigation report on Chinese marriage in 2011 caused a lively debate in society. In the report, nearly 80 percent of single women considered that a man was not suitable for having a relationship or getting married unless he could earn at least ￥4000 per month.

Mrs. Luo from Wuhan complained that her son’s wedding used up all her savings and the cost of the wedding was ten thousand times higher than her own wedding in 1970s. “At that time, we only bought a bicycle and took a picture in the Department of Civil Affairs. My husband was born in a relatively prosperous family, so we invited some relatives to have dinner. We had three tables and it cost us less than ￥100. ”

In 1980s, wedding photography and wedding banquet became popular. New couples also need to buy new set of furniture. All these caused a higher wedding budget, about ￥3000. “One of my colleagues got married in 1983.” Mrs. Luo recalled, “They rented cars to welcome the bride, ￥30 for each car. But in order to rent a good car, they sent about ￥100 to the rent-a-car company because too many people wanted to rent good cars. They spent ￥500 on appliances. But they made the furniture themselves to save money. Overall, their wedding cost around￥3000. ”

At the beginning of the new century, Mrs. Luo’s elder son got married. “It was in 2000 and we spent ￥50,000 for the wedding. We didn’t need to buy a new apartment at that time and just decorated our old house, which cost ￥20,000. ” Then it took them ￥10,000 to buy furniture and appliance, ￥15,000 for wedding banquet and ￥5000 for wedding photography. Mrs. Luo thought this was within their “power”.

Next month, Mrs. Luo’s younger son will get married. This time, Mrs. Luo has a big headache. The girl’s family asked for ￥2000 as presentation, then ￥3000 for wedding photography,￥5000 for wedding banquet,￥10,000 for honeymoon (the bride has chosen Bali Island as the destination), and￥20,000 for diamond ring. But compared to the cost of buying a new apartment, all the above was just a trifling amount. “It took us ￥700，000 to buy the new apartment and ￥200，000 to decorate. My daughter-in-law said she also wanted a car, which would cost around ￥200,000.”

In sum, Mrs. Luo will spend ￥1,000,000 on her younger son’s wedding in 2012. It is as ten thousand times high as her weddings forty years ago.

On Feb. 17th, a Japanese young man lost his bicycle in Wuhan, China. He has a dream to travel around the world on his bicycle and has been to more than dozen countries. Two days ago, he came to Wuhan, China. But, unexpected thing happened. His bicycle got stolen.  He felt very depressed and then asked for help on Weibo.com. He posted：“This bicycle is like my girlfriend. I’m so sad for losing her. Hope Chinese friends here could help me [...]]]>

On Feb. 17th, a Japanese young man lost his bicycle in Wuhan, China. He has a dream to travel around the world on his bicycle and has been to more than dozen countries. Two days ago, he came to Wuhan, China. But, unexpected thing happened. His bicycle got stolen.  He felt very depressed and then asked for help on Weibo.com. He posted：“This bicycle is like my girlfriend. I’m so sad for losing her. Hope Chinese friends here could help me to find her back.”

His post made a big splash on Sina Weibo. Tens of thousands of Chinese netizens forwarded his story and tried to help him find back his bicycle. Meanwhile, most people made serious self-blame, like “why such things only happen in China”, and “One Japanese lost a bicycle, but we Chinese lost out faces”. A netizens in Wuhan commented：“I feel really bad. After such thing happened, what would people think of Wuhan? What would international people think of my hometown? I feel shameful.”

Luckily, two days after, with help from thousands of common people, Wuhan policemen found the bicycle on black market and returned it back to its owner. The local media put this news on headline.

Thief A: “Did you find out owner’s information?”

Thief B: “No yet, but this bicycle is so awesome, let’s steal it first, don’t think too much!”

Thief A: “Are you crazy?!! What is it belongs to a foreigner, we will be caught very soon!”

However, this accident didn’t thus have a happy ending. Fiercer arguments have arisen on the Internet. People began to ask why Chinese need to feel ashamed about it. One post on Weibo claimed: “Every country has thieves. It’s just a minor accident which could happen everywhere in the world. Why should we Chinese look down on ourselves? We are always afraid of others to think less of us. When can we overcome our inferiority? We really need to be more confident!”

But more people swung their fury to Chinese government. Many netizens questioned：“why the policemen became so efficient when an international friend lost his bicycle? What were they doing when so many Chinese people lost their bicycles?” A netizen named “absolutely anonymous” posted on Tianya, “I lost three bicycles, a motorcycle and a scooter in last four years. The surveillance camera even caught the thief stealing my scooter. I went to the police station, reported the crime and went back home waiting for news. But, news never came.” This post attracted more attentions and was soon put on the front page.

Some Other condemnations were even harsher, such as this cartoon. They compared Japanese bicycle with Chinese life and their implication was very clear. This cartoon was forwarded widely on Sina Weibo. In order to avoid being deleted, netizens made no comments on it but only a label: “an automatic forwarding by the system”.

The Japanese young man will never expect his minor accident to cause such a storm in China.

Title: In China

First picture: “After a foreigner lost his bicycle…”

Second picture: “After a group of Chinese people lost their lives….”

Pictures of Jeremy Lin shirtless in bed have been leaked online, and the story made the front page of the influential discussion board Mop. Since they were posted to Mop.com on February 18, the thread has been viewed over 610,000 times, and the pictures have spread to many other Chinese news websites. The original post includes no text and two pictures of Lin in bed and pictures of women holding “val-Lin-tines”-related signs.

Some selected comments:

#12 – The media is once [...]]]>

Pictures of Jeremy Lin shirtless in bed have been leaked online, and the story made the front page of the influential discussion board Mop. Since they were posted to Mop.com on February 18, the thread has been viewed over 610,000 times, and the pictures have spread to many other Chinese news websites. The original post includes no text and two pictures of Lin in bed and pictures of women holding “val-Lin-tines”-related signs.

Some selected comments:

#12 – The media is once again creating a focus. First it was Yao Ming. At a minimum, it is a Chinese person. … From dawn to dusk, foreigners are laughing at us.

#39 – Feng Jie, (Sister Feng) your husband!!!

Some of the most interesting comments were deleted or “harmonized.”

Kun Kun Yu writes for Bloomberg Businessweek China and is the author of “Not Polite, Not Vulgar.” Her work has appeared in GQ China and Sanlian Life Week. She blogs at http://www.bullock.cn/blogs/catnapkun/

Last December I stood with Yao Ming on the balcony of the Roosevelt Hotel in Shanghai. Located on the seat of the Bund, we had a sweeping view of the city. Across from [...]]]>

This article originally appeared on Kun Kun’s blog. Written by Kun Kun Yu Translated by Cathy Song

Kun Kun Yu writes for Bloomberg Businessweek China and is the author of “Not Polite, Not Vulgar.” Her work has appeared in GQ China and Sanlian Life Week. She blogs at http://www.bullock.cn/blogs/catnapkun/

Last December I stood with Yao Ming on the balcony of the Roosevelt Hotel in Shanghai. Located on the seat of the Bund, we had a sweeping view of the city. Across from us stood traditional houses packed together in narrow alleyways, and across from them stood a tall and imposing building, its walls a blue mottled stone. I discovered later that the building had been owned by Jardine Matheson in the 1880s, and back then was considered an architectural crown jewel. The building that stood in front of us, however, was a skeleton. Its expression was dark and somber. White paper covered its broken windows.

For a while, Yao Ming did nothing but watch. “When I was a kid, back when I could still walk around these streets undisturbed, I’d run around this area. The moment I’d run across one of these blue houses, I’d know that I was near the Bund.” Yao Ming talks about missing his childhood, about hanging around old neighborhoods, eating fried bread. He misses not being disturbed. “A lot of people come here because they want to see the two sides of the Oriental Pearl Tower, or the Union Church, but I come to look at these old houses. They’re the real Shanghai. The wind here feels as if it came from a hundred years ago.”

From Shanghai he departs and to Shanghai he returns. Already retired, Yao Ming’s journey hasn’t been about just the physical displacement. He crosses two kinds of sport institutions, two kinds of cultures, two kinds of faiths and imaginations.

After retiring in July 2011, Yao Ming did not immediately announce his plans for the future. The Yao Ming in front of us is the owner of the Shanghai Sharks, the city team he’d once played for. He’s the face of multi-million endorsement deals. He heads “Team Yao,” a six person group started in 2000 that helps him manage his investments. He has invested in a music downloading website called top100, and he leads the Yao Ming Foundation。In November 2011, Yao Ming appeared at an Economics and Management class at Jiaotong University. From a scale point of view, Yao Ming is a business man. But his agent Zhang Mingji chooses not to talk about Yao’s investments, his business model, or that commercialization is Yao’s biggest focus right now.

In November 2011, Yao bought a winery in Napa Valley, naming his company ‘Yao Family Wines.’ It’s the first winery in Napa Valley that’s owned by a Chinese person. His first contact with the press after retiring was in fact in the capacity of brand ambassador and winery owner.

“Things began to change after I turned 25. That was in 2005. I’d been in the NBA for 3 years and was on the rise. But looking from hindsight, the biggest change that occurred to me at that time was internal. During NBA season, the everyday pressure is great no matter if you’re playing games or just traveling. We were always in the middle of a battle. I traveled to so many cities, and left each of them with blank impressions. Apart from work, my life was empty. I started taking daily breaks, even if it was only 20 minutes, to sit, clear my mind, and to organize my feelings.”

“I started to feel that my career wasn’t realistic. The higher the level of competition, the more unrealistic. I’m not saying that competition isn’t realistic, but that the life it creates isn’t realistic. There aren’t many careers that can give you that great of a salary, that many benefits, that high of a social platform, but sports gave me all of that. The nature of sports is aggressive, and conceited, and this creates a lot of discrepancies with real life.”

After I turned 25, my state of mind began to change. Before 25, I felt that nothing was fast enough, but after 25 I started to wish that life would slow down. The Yao that pursued speed as a rule missed a lot on the way, including the joy of success, the pain of failure, folks who came and went. After 25, I wanted to savor life, to sip on it. That is my relationship with red wine.”

As expected, Yao doesn’t act like a real wine merchant. “Yao Ming Family Wines” is run by a professional team, the winery’s president and director Tom Hinde, and his consulting viticulturalist Larry Bradley. They are two red faced Americans, and they have worked in the industry for 20 years. They are baby boomers. “So you think that basketball’s a highly technical sport. Wine is even more stringently technical. You have to record everything, the weather, the rain, etc. That’s the only way you can know what a bottle will taste like.”

Red wine isn’t a bad metaphor—the athlete who once chased after speed and victory now returns to peace. But this isn’t Yao Ming’s whole story. The fast growing Shanghai boy goes on to become China’s most watched Basketball player. The athlete who begins his career in an austere government culture heads into glitz and glam of the NBA. The man goes from being an international celebrity to finishing his career in a mere 7 years. Yao Ming has always carried a burden to succeed, to succeed not for himself, but for his family, his team, his country. It’s difficult for any of us to imagine the type of pressure he’s had to face. What Yao Ming has experienced is too big, and the words “return to peace after retirement” cannot fully capture his life now.

I ask, “A lot of people say, Yao Ming, Virgo, perfectionist. What do you think of this?”

“There’s a bit of truth, but I’ve changed. Take wine as an example. A huge part of my feeling towards red wine is that there is no such thing as the perfect wine. Everyone’s taste is different. Some people like bitter wines, others dislike it. Does a $10 wines have to be better than a $1 dollar wine? How do you create the perfect wine? I’ve slowly started to understand that what “fits” is the most important thing.”

I ask a question that marks a turning point in our two hour conversation. “Do you always live for others?” People wait to be asked certain questions but questions like this stop them and push them into the fringes of memory. Yao Ming is a giant. His face is broad and his hands are larger than those of ordinary people. He’s used to bowing his head, stooping his back. The first thing he does when he enters a room is to look for a seat. His voice is thick and low, and this gives people the impression of humility and calmness. One listens to him speak and sees how witty he is and how much thought he puts into his responses. He’s quick to capture the gist of a conversation, and has a habit of saying “Let me tell you a story, this will answer your question.”

But this question “Are you always living for others?” stumps him. He pauses, and his agent starts talking. Bill Sanderson says that when Yao Ming first arrived in America, he spent a lot of time learning to say ‘No.’ “Because of the environment in which he grew up, Yao was taught to always sacrifice his own desires, his own ideas for others. But a mature human being knows how to say “no.” There were opportunities being passed in front of Yao everyday, people asking him to choose between two shiny apples. We helped Yao narrow his options down so that he could say ‘Yes’ more often.”

Sounds like another story about an agent playing bad cop. But what Yao needs to learn to say “no” to isn’t just his agent, or to endorsement deals or to investment opportunities. Yao starts telling me a story.

“When we came home from the 2004 Athens game, the prevailing feeling amongst the Chinese team wasn’t regret or shame. We’d made the final eight. Everyone was pretty happy. But now that I look back, I find that I’d acted in a manner that was completely wrong.”

“Back then everything about me had to be quick, had to have momentum, had to have results. Just like what the Americans say, “It’s my way or the highway.” In 2004, I was team captain and needed to have a degree of boldness. I also needed to understand how to communicate strategically.”

“Effective communication requires patience and strategy, and once you start to think about these two things, you naturally start to slow down.”

“When we lost Athens, I was furious. At the press conference I commented that “Mr. Lu Xun once said that those who don’t die in silence erupt in silence.” In 2006, we lost again at the World Championships. The scene after the game and on the way to the press conference was exactly the same as 2004: we’d lost, it was just after the game, everyone was on edge. This time, a journalist who’d known me for a while, asked “Is Mr. Lu Xun coming today?” I replied “Let Mr. Lu Xun rest in peace.” [Need explanation]

“What I want to say is that the person I was in 2004 and the person I was in 2006 are not the same. I can’t say that I’ve improved, but at least I’ve changed. Of course, I don’t mean any disrespect to Mr. Lu Xun.”

In this story, Yao Ming wasn’t saying that he’d learned to say “no” to a particular thing. He was learning to reject something much bigger…

2.

“If there was no Wang Zhizhi, I would probably have never written this book. Wang Zhizhi and Yao Ming are two sides of the same moon. They are darkness and light.”

Newsweek journalist Brook Lamer spent 6 years writing “Operation Yaoming.” His book, published in 2005, is considered the best non-authorized Yao Ming biography on the market. Financial Times wrote that Larmer has written a riveting account “On how one man’s life had been transformed by opportunities that would have been unimaginable a couple of decades ago. This is a tale of social engineering bordering on quackery as much as sport. Larmer’s narrative of China’s sporting aspirations – and the sports industry’s ambitions in China – features Yao Ming as an occasionally hapless Hamlet in a drama scripted by other people.”

Brook Lamer sees Yao Ming as a “Hamlet,” but Yao is more of a Macbeth—a chosen son who becomes king, even temporarily, by conquering his own nightmares, his own curse. Lamer says “In the world of sports, no one can repeat Yao Ming’s story. There are few instances in sports history where an athlete has so urgently needed to represent a country. He’s neither a politician, nor a hero. He’s just an athlete. China needed a face, one bearing both strength and humility, and Yao Ming appeared at just the right moment. No one can repeat him. Wang Zhizhi was Yao Ming’s “pioneer.” He was a guinea pig. We’re shaky on Wang Zhizhi, but we have no doubt that Yao Ming has turned out a ‘guaranteed success.’”

At 13, Yao Ming was training full time at the Shanghai Sports technical institute in Meilong. He was already 6’5. The Shanghai sports commission decided to invest in him a more rigorous, scientific training to help him play at his highest level, and to reach his greatest height potential. ‘Operation Yao Ming’ describes in depth the “Genius creation office.” Yao Ming’s special training included frequent bone density testing. Yao was urged to drink milk like water. He was prescribed nutritional supplements. He underwent test after test to make sure that he could withstand the harsh training.

Did Yao Ming receive the right medical treatment? Larmer says that every country has its system of shaping an athlete’s physical potential, whether it’s medical or social. China is no exception except that China has Chinese medicine and that complicates things. As a kid, Yao Ming received “special training.” What does this have to do with his early retirement? Yao retires at 31. His NBA career only lasts 7 years. Shaquille O’Neil also retired in 2011 but he entered the NBA in 1992, ten years earlier than Yao. Sports Journalist Suqun says, “Yao Ming’s career in the NBA ended before it was half over. His career is incomplete.”

“I don’t play basketball because I love it,” said Yao Ming to me. “But one thing is certain: I’m very proud that my parents are Shanghai athletes. They contributed to this country’s team. I have a lot of pride in this. What I ended up playing for, was honor. I felt like basketball was something I inherited from my father. There was a sense of heritage.”

He says that none of his heroes come from the NBA. He worships Li Ning and Lang Ping and basketball players Hu Weidong, and Gong Xiaobin, even Wang Zhizhi.

At the time when Yao Ming was receiving special training in Meilong, Wang Zhizhi had already been accepted into the National Sports Training Commission. The compound was located in Jinsong, Beijing. It was surrounded by old yellow and grey houses. In the middle of the compound lay the Chinese basketball training ground. The Men’s and Women’s courts were separated by a strip of cloth. Adjacent to the court stood the natatorium where Xiong Ni practiced. Prior to 1988, sports journalist Yang Yi lived in the staff quarters in Jingsong. He saw Wang Zhizhi walk to training every morning. Wang was tall, skinny and baby faced. He could run as fast as the shorter kids, except that he could shoot a three pointer too. Yang Yi says, “Beijing kids worshipped Wang Zhizhi. They nicknamed him “Chase the Wind.” All the kids on the streets who were playing basketball were shouting amongst themselves, “Wang Zhizhi three-pointer!”

In 1999, the barely 22 year old Wang Zhizhi was drafted by Dallas, becoming the first Asian player in the NBA. In 2002, Wang Zhizhi refused to come home to represent China in the World Basketball Championships and the Asian Games, choosing instead to attend Summer League. Seen as a betrayal to his country, Wang Zhizhi was fired from the Chinese basketball team. It wasn’t until 2006, after five years of waiting, that Wang Zhizhi finally came home, and returned to the Chinese basketball team.

Wang Zhizhi’s existence has had a radiating influence on Yao Ming. In 1999, Yao Ming’s family signed a contract with America’s Evergreen Sports Management Company. Evergreen was going to represent Yao as he went into the 1999 NBA draft. A week later, the contract was overthrown. Yao Ming never made it to the 1999 NBA draft. A year passed. Shanghai’s Sports Bureau announced that Yao would not attend the NBA’s 2001 draft either. Shanghai Oriental Club said that they were keeping Yao because the CBA was in the middle of development. They’d already lost Wang Zhizhi, and they couldn’t lose Yao. Yao was still too young to play in the NBA. Most importantly, the Shanghai Sharks had never won a national championship, and there were high hopes that Yao Ming could deliver.

Yang Yi says that this was only an excuse used by sports officials. “At the CBA tournament that year, you could see blonde hair blue eyed scouts and GMs everywhere. They’d already opened talks with Shanghai. But to take an athlete away from China wasn’t easy, especially one who’d been carefully groomed by the government. Shanghai came up with all sorts of stipulations: financial compensation, player exchange, they even talked about building a stadium in Shanghai. But the Americans found that no one could take Yao Ming away before the CBA finals.”

In 2002, Yao Ming was drafted by the Houston Rockets. The Wang Zhizhi controversy created a shadow over Yao Ming’s NBA negotiations. Yao Ming promised to fulfill his CBA obligations during the NBA off season, and according to rumor, promised to give 5-8% of his NBA salary to the Chinese Basketball Association. He also bought out his own contract which took around $8-15 million dollars. His contact with the Rockets was worth $17.8 million, with a $76 million signing bonus after five years.

“Compared to Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhis splash in the NBA was tiny,” says Yang Yi. The context of their teams in China also foreshadowed the difference of their fates.” Shanghai is an outward looking city, a city that welcomes the foreign and the exotic. It is a city whose central concern is making money. Shanghai considers its commercial interests first. As long as negotiations went smoothly, the Shanghainese had no problem letting Yao Ming go. But Wang Zhizhi’s team, the Bayi Rockets, belongs to that stalwart governmental school. Bayi is a team that talks politics and national honor. Going into the NBA is a huge national honor. So the thing with Bayi was that it was easy as long as the officials said it was easy, hard if they said it was hard. The only thing was that there wasn’t a single word about money. What money? An army of three million isn’t short on money.

The difference between Wang Zhizhi and Yao’s personality also materialized the paths they took in the NBA. Wang Zhizhi is an introvert, he never came out on court as a draft champion, and he was never much in the public eye. He was “the tall guy from China.” Yao Ming, on the other hand, was “Yao.” His first NBA game wasn’t successful. Yao Ming didn’t score a single basket in the game against Indiana, but off the court he never seemed awkward. Then there was that famous incident with Shaq. Shaq ridiculed Yao (link) on television by mimicking Chinese, but Yao was quick to quell the fire. “It’s difficult for two kinds of cultures to understand each other. Chinese is very hard. When I was a kid, I had trouble learning it too.” Yao even sent Shaq a Christmas card that year. Even if American media interpreted the event as evidence of Yao’s naiveté and inexperience with racism, there were still many who felt that he was a breath of fresh air. His popularity in the U.S owes to his off-court charisma. He’s always treated fans with grace and humor. People see Yao as an unthreatening person, a gentle giant.

Yao Ming was once called ‘The Other Michael Jordan.’ In his heyday, Jordan’s Nike ads were tagged “Be like Mike,” but Yao Ming’s Nike ads don’t say “Be Like Yao.” Brook Lamer says “Yao Ming is old school. He’s just like an old brother. After him appeared Li Na. She’s even more laid back, fresh, a bit of a rebel. But Yao Ming is a conservative rebel. He does his best in the system, and then tries to change that system. People love Yao Ming, but no one wants to be him.”

3.

On the wall of Shanghai’s Luwan Qu Athletic School hangs a quote: “Our dream is to become a Shanghai Shark.” The quote is outdated. Those ‘little giants’ now talk more about becoming Yao Ming and about getting into the NBA.

In 2009, Yao Ming bought the Sharks, the team he’d once played on. According to rumor, Team Yao had strongly opposed it. In 2010, Shanghai basketball’s press officer Zhang Ye said that the Sharks lost 3.2 million dollars between 2009 and 2010. Out of all of Yao’s investments, the Sharks are by far Yao’s most talked about and the one closest to his heart.

There are a total of 17 teams in the CBA. The annual investment in each team amounts to around $25-$30 million RMB per team, with an average loss of approximately 10 million-15 million RMB per team. “Even if individual teams are privatizing, they are still managed by the Chinese Basketball Association, which is owned by the Government’s general sport’s administration. For me, CBA is a national team and its goal is to strive for national glory.”

“The NBA is an entertainment business whose first priority is to make money. That’s a huge difference” says sports journalist Yang Yi. To him, CBA teams work for national government first and second as a city’s brand and cardholder.

The team as a business and as a city’s brand has helped create entertainment for the city. This has allowed the government to form relationships with local businesses and to work with them to create better tax policies. The Sharks may have lost 15 million RMB, but they may have very well earned 1 billion RMB through other avenues. For Yao Ming, the biggest problem is that he doesn’t have industry experience, though this hasn’t shifted his ambition.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s CBA or the NBA. They can’t remove themselves from their environment. There are two ideas here. No matter what team they’re on, NBA players are still in the NBA. They might belong to independent sports teams but they can’t remove themselves from the league, not if they want to be successful. NBA’s success is built on every single team’s performance, and their influence on each other. This is the relationship between the team and the league. You can’t have a strong league if the teams are weak. I mean the CBA isn’t the railway industry or the mining industry.”

He hopes that the Shanghai Sharks can be the face of the city. He hopes that it can promote sports as a kind of character education as opposed to solely chasing after championships and wins.

“My greatest issue with basketball is that it earns its place in society only through competition and championship. In China right now, everything is focused on the outcome of a game. But for athletes, their goal isn’t just the scoreboard at the end of the night. Athletes try to develop holistically. The most important training is character training. You can say that the Sharks bring you a team of athlete educators. The education isn’t just a technical one, but an education on social attitudes, how one acquires universal truths through sports.”

Before Yao entered the NBA, China’s sports market was still consolidating. China’s most popular sports merchandising brand, Li Ning, made no more than 130 million dollars a year. The world’s biggest sports merchandising company, Nike, didn’t make much of a dent in the China market either.

But after Yao Ming entered the NBA, Nike, Adidas, Puma “Internationalized” themselves, and flaunted their own Chinese brands. Nike’s revenue rose 20 times, and Li Ning’s rose 10. The fact that Team Yao Ming didn’t create its own sports licensing company at the peak of Yao’s career is considered one of the biggest industry mistakes. However, under the behest of Yao Ming, Team Yao’s investments aren’t only aimed at making money. In addition to Yao’s idealistic investment in the Shanghai Sharks, he’s also invested 3 million dollars in top100.cn, a music broadcasting website that supports legal downloading.

He is studying Economics and Management at Jiaotong University. He reads popular business books like Li Kaifu’s biography and Feng Lun’s “Barbaric Growth.” His path has started to intersect more with business men.

I ask him how he’s handling his new identity.

“I like competition. This probably has to do with an athlete’s personality. But at the same time…how to do I say this? I always want to learn more. I’ve entered a new arena. I must understand that making mistakes are an essential part of the process. I have the courage to make these mistakes, but of course, I make caution a rule. I want to be cautious with every step, and not surprised with every step.”

“A few days ago I ran into Chen Nanpeng. He’s also Shanghainese. He said to me, “Us Shanghainese, the best thing going for us is that we take things slow and steady. But the biggest downside is that we never take risks.” I replied, “That’s strange. Aren’t you a venture capitalist?” He answered, “Perhaps if I took risks, I could be making more…” The Shanghainese prepare for everything. We don’t like risk, we like things steady. But that doesn’t mean we’d pass up a good opportunity.

What kind of businessman will Yao Ming be? When he was younger, being tall never turned him into an aggressive person. The nation’s sports system gave him a sense of mission that’s never left him. In a country where Confucian values are still the guiding force behind its sports education, from national teams to the hundreds of thousands of kids at the base of the pyramid, Yao Ming has exemplified those Confucian values. Meanwhile his 9 years in the NBA has taught him the spirit of fair competition.

Yao’s life now follows two threads, a nation wide sports organization and the free market. Collectivism and individualism, Confucian values and capitalism. Yao Ming draws the advantages on both ends. His public image is perfect. He’s almost too good. And it’s because he’s too good that he may not be able to achieve that Chinese definition of “success” in the business world.

Yao Ming stands. He is about to toast his guests at his “Yao Ming Winery” dinner. They are the generation’s richest, most beautiful, most powerful people. They stare at him, and scramble to take out their cell phone cameras. Even a picture of his back is good enough. One can feel, that this is kind of disturbance for Yao. When he played ball, people would disturb his game; off the court, people would disturb his life. To be sure, he isn’t bad in front of the camera. He knows how to give a performance. But the feeling he gives is this: that if the camera and the microphone were off, and the audience were gone, he would compete and live his life more attentively.

Yao Ming’s 7 investments

1. YAO Restaurant and Bar; Texas

YAO Restaurant and Bar opened in 2005 on 9755 Westheimer street in Houston. It is said that Yao holds no shares, and that the main shareholders are his parents, teammates and various American businessmen. The restaurant’s financial statement has not been publicized.

2. top100.cn

top100.cn is a legal downloading site that was launched in March 2006. Yao Ming and Zhang Ming invested $3 million into the site. According to Forbes, Team Yao Ming invested another $1 million in June 2006. In 2010, top100’s revenues from ads reached around $1.6 million.

3. Sun Flower Hotel; Beijing

Yao Ming’s father’s name, Yao Zhiyuan, appears as the shareholder at Sun Flower Hotel. He invested 2 Million RMB, which accounts for 100% of the registered capital. Sun Flower has not made its financial statement public.

4. Yao Ming Gym; Beijing

In the summer of 2007, Yao Ming paired up with the biggest gym in America, “California Gyms,” to create “California, Yao Ming Gym” in Beijing. His total investment was 32 million RMB. A 2010 report revealed that Yao had only been the gym’s spokesperson and their partnership ended in 2008.

5. UniCom; Beijing

In April, 2010, Yao Ming became the spokesperson for UniStrong’s Navigation GPS, using his ad campaign as his initial investment. He is the fifth largest share holder. On April 2^nd, 2010, UniStrong’s A-shares were released to the public. It is said that Yao holds 35 million RMB in shares.

6. Shanghai Sharks; Shanghai

In 2009, Yao Ming took over the Sharks’ debts, a total of 96 million RMB. He has invested 30 million RMB each year since 2009. In the 2009- 2010 CBA season, Yao Ming lost 20 million RMB. This past season has been filled with losses, so the expected financial losses won’t be lower than the previous season.

7. Yao Family Wines; California

Yao Family Wines went public in November 2011. His first launch was his 2009 vintage Cabernet Sauvignon, sold through Pernod Ricard, SA. The first 5000 cases of wine were labeled “Yao Ming,” and were priced at 1775RMB. Yao Ming and his team hasn’t publicized how much they have invested, but experts estimate that a winery needs $200 to $500 million to achieve full production.

Cathy Song is a recent graduate and intern at Time Out Shanghai. You can email her translation suggestions and–if you fancy—job offers, at xiaosongbird@gmail.com. She tweets here.