(Netease) RedNet.cn reported on September 5, “Morning News Weekly” (A Hunan based magazine) hosted the first breast model contest in Hunan Province which lasted nearly 2 months, and the final was held on September 4 in Changsha. According to the design of the organizing committee, the final site was selected to be an outdoor stage with a water view. However the sudden pouring rain not only blurred models’ visions, it even made some of them slip and fall on [...]]]>

(Netease) RedNet.cn reported on September 5, “Morning News Weekly” (A Hunan based magazine) hosted the first breast model contest in Hunan Province which lasted nearly 2 months, and the final was held on September 4 in Changsha. According to the design of the organizing committee, the final site was selected to be an outdoor stage with a water view. However the sudden pouring rain not only blurred models’ visions, it even made some of them slip and fall on stage. This did not affect Changsha citizen viewers’ enthusiasm towards the contest. Many people stood in the rain holding umbrellas for more than an hour, only to witness the elegant “breast models” (胸模).

In fact, this beauty pageant with the slogan of “appreciate female body and self-confidence” did not require any entry fee for the participators. It also offered a 100,000 yuan grand prize and a chance to be on the magazine. But for a full month there were only 84 people applied to enter the contest.

Organizers said, because of the Chinese traditional ideas, competing for the most beautiful breasts is still a topic that makes most people blush. “Breast model” itself is also a sensitive profession. For these reasons, the event was very low-key, in order to create a healthy completion atmosphere for the contestants.

The final lineup of judges included the male model winner of the 2007 China Professional Model Contest He Liang, the World Supermodel Contest China area runner-up Zhou Xingling, AIST Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Clinic Director Liu Kai and also well-known media person, writer Liu Yuan.

During the preliminary rounds the constants were shy at first but now everyone acted bold and confident in the finals.

During the final, 10 contestants showed up covered in pink ribbons in front of the Changsha citizens. They ripped off their shirts confidently in the pouring rain, showed off their impressive figures and their elegant dance movements. In the end contestant number 3 Ma Yuan took first place, number 6 Xiao Yuan Yuan and number 5 Viya took second and third.

Lights went off, leaving only shadows of the breast models’ perfect bodies projected on the screen, very seductive.

10 finalists wearing bikinis in the rain

A male viewer came on stage with roses

One contestant slipped and fell on stage, but she got up and continued the show

[Hong Kong “WenWei Po” May 12, 2009]

(Netease) On September 1, 2010, the new Beichuan Middle School is officially open for the [...]]]>

Jackie Chan always seems to be in the center of the controversies. He had just caused uproar with his Twitter statement of “Support for Filipino Police” post the Manila Incident and became the “Disgrace of Hong Kong” (香港之耻). Now he is questioned for his empty promise of a donation to rebuild Beichuan Middle School after the 2008 Wenchun earthquake.

[Hong Kong “WenWei Po” May 12, 2009]

(Netease) On September 1, 2010, the new Beichuan Middle School is officially open for the new school term. Beichuan middle school was destroyed during the 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. Three years later and with the rebuild funding of 200 million yuan entirely donated by various fellow Chinese citizens as well as overseas Chinese, Beichuan Middle School finally hosted the school-opening ceremony on the newly constructed school campus. However the grand opening of Beichuan Middle School again triggered questions towards Hong Kong movie star Jackie Chan’s (promised) donation.

On May 11, 2009, Hong Kong artist Jackie Chan, Li Yuchun, Liu Yuanyan, Peter Kam and others visited Beichuan Middle School. Jackie Chan also pledged to donate part of the box office of his new movie “Little Big Soldier” to the reconstruction of Beichuan Middle School. (Published on Hong Kong “WenWei Po” May 12, 2009)

February 14, 2010 "Little Big Soldier" premieres. A month later, "Little Big Soldier" made 153 million yuan in the mainland box office.

Responsible for the reconstruction of the new Beichuan Middle School, China Overseas Chinese Economic and Cultural Foundation told Shanghai Overseas Chinese Newspaper, “We have not received any donation money which he promised. We also sent a letter to Mr. Chan and asked about his commitment to this charity event, but he has not yet responded.”

The reporter contacted China Overseas Chinese Economic and Cultural Foundation. When the reporter asked “During the may 11, 2009 memorial ceremony, did Jackie Chan ever state that part of the “Little Big Soldier” box office will be donated to the reconstruction of the new Beichuan Middle School?” the other side pondered the question for a moment and answered firmly “Yes.”

Reporter then went on the China Overseas Chinese Economic and Cultural Foundation website and saw the current list of donors to the BeiChuan Middle School project, the contributions are as high as millions and as low as 20 yuan, but Jackie Chan’s name or Chan Kongsheng (his original name) was not found, neither was Beijing Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation.

Not only the students call Jackie Chan “Big Brother”, reporter reviewed the archived video clips, that day (May 11, 2009) on the stage, Beichuan Middle School principal Liu Yachun also politely called Chan “Big brother Jackie Chan”. The reporter phoned Liu Yachun and asked whether Jackie Chan had promised to donate to the school on that day. Liu Yachun muttered for a moment then answered clearly, “Yes, but we never received the money”.

[Beichuan Middle School principal Liu Yachun]

Could it be an anonymous donation? Reporter contacted The Secretary-General of the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation. She thought about it for a moment and told the reporter, “We did not seem to have donated any money to Beichuan Middle School project.”

After Jackie Chang’s statement of “Support for Filipino Police” on Twitter post the Manila Incident which was heavily criticized by international netizens especially people of Hong Kong, General Manager of Jackie Chan Film Group China office, Yuan Nong’s cell phone became not reachable, and soon the number has been deactivated. According to the “Little Big Soldier” official website, Yuan Nong is the producer of the film and is responsible for Jackie Chan’s charity works.

Legend of Hairstyles banned by our school 

(MOP) School has just started! which reminded me of these tragic photos in our school bulletin board.  Reposted from my classmate’s space to share with you all, let’s together danteng the person who posted these, who in his last life was an angel with broken wings, every student must love him.

 (蛋疼 “danteng”: Chinese Internet slang, “danteng” was a saying form northern China, then was excessively used by the WOWERS [...]]]>

Legend of Hairstyles banned by our school 

(MOP) School has just started! which reminded me of these tragic photos in our school bulletin board.  Reposted from my classmate’s space to share with you all, let’s together danteng the person who posted these, who in his last life was an angel with broken wings, every student must love him.

 (蛋疼 “danteng”: Chinese Internet slang, “danteng” was a saying form northern China, then was excessively used by the WOWERS on the Internet, also translated has “Ballache” in respect to “headache”. Originally “danteng” means the strange things people do because of being bored, or the state of boredom, like “so bored that I have a Ballache”.  Now  anything that is abnormal, illogical, makes no sense can be described as “danteng”.  “Danteng” can also be used as helpless or cannot be helped, for example after reading someone’s post you can say this person makes me “denteng”.  In general it also means shocking, crazy. stupefied…)

The hairstyle our school encourages:

Male student standard hairstyle: Not blocking the eyes in the front, not blocking the ears on the sides, not touching the collar at the back.

Female student standard hairstyle: Not passing eyebrows in the front, short hair do not pass the collar at the back, long hair do not drop on the shoulder.

Japanese gangster pirate hairstyle
(Or abnormal style)

Not manly style
(imitating woman’s hairstyle, bang in the front style)

Nervous breakdown style

No money to get a hair cut homeless style
(only applies to male students, front back and sides are too long)

Pretending to be “Buddhist nun” style

Younger kids with this style is naive style, others are called retard style
(A tuft of hair in the front of the head )

“no blade of grass growing on it” shiny style

“Sit behind a screen to receive ministerial reports; hold court from behind a screen”  Sinister style

Migraine style
(No face to see people style)

School abnormal style look

Fraud and trickery style
(painting eyebrows and eyes, lip stick, fake eye lashes)

Adult women ageing style
(premed fair,  dyed hair)

Adult women ageing style 2
(hair in disarray style)

inappropriate integrating unfashionable with modern style

Home made “cross-eye” disfigure style

[Picture: The Public Security Bureau deputy political commissar of Wen County, Henan Province, Comrade Fan Yongxiang who loves the opposite sex meimei very much.]

(Taobao Finance) Recently, an “explosive” news which the Public Security Bureau could not lock away spread through the streets of Wen County in Henan Province. About 10 days ago, on August 17, the Public Security Bureau deputy political commissar of Wen County, Henan Province Fan Yongxiang (范永祥) drove his police car and took 4 escort girls [...]]]>

[Picture: The Public Security Bureau deputy political commissar of Wen County, Henan Province, Comrade Fan Yongxiang who loves the opposite sex meimei very much.]

(Taobao Finance) Recently, an “explosive” news which the Public Security Bureau could not lock away spread through the streets of Wen County in Henan Province. About 10 days ago, on August 17, the Public Security Bureau deputy political commissar of Wen County, Henan Province Fan Yongxiang (范永祥) drove his police car and took 4 escort girls (小姐 Xiaojie: sex workers) to go to Xiuwu for fun. He drank a lot of alcohol during dinner, and was hugging a girl on his left and grabbing another with his right arm while driving. In the end the police car crashed into a tree, Fan Yongxiang was killed instantly, and one of the girls was severely injured and later died after failed rescue attempt.

After this ugly incident broke out, the Public Security Bureau tried to block the news from spreading, however in the end it still did, like an earthquake, made so much noise among the people of Wen County. The news even traveled with many versions of the death of the commissar. People are shocked and all are talking about the following..

1. What does the Public Security Bureau really do? Are they fatheads (slang: rice containers) or whoremongers? Police had 5 rules, one of which was forbidden to drink (on the job), but this guy had a lot of alcohol. And now the whole country is “sweeping the yellow” (cracking down on pornography and prostitution), but this brother dare to take 4 hookers out for fun, isn’t this committing the crime “against the wind”? People say this man only had this “hobby” when alive, visiting prostitutes, doing everything…

2. Can police car be used personally? Police car, the name suggests should be used for policing. If Yongxiang did not drive the police car around for his personal use, he probably would not have had such a tragic death.

3. Whom is the law really made to enforce? What a shame for the Public Security Bureau deputy political commissar to committee the crime of drinking and driving.

4. Who is supervising the corrupted officials? As the Public Security Bureau’s senior leader, he should strictly follow the law and regulations to set a good example for the subordinates. How can scum like him help improving the system?

(MOP) My mother came, stood at the exit of the Beijing train station, waving at me. I took her bag, my father followed in silence. I took them to eat Peking duck, my mother [...]]]>

Beipiao: 北漂, Literally “Beijing vagabond”, referring to the group of people who do not have a Beijing hukou (permanent residence), who migrated to Beijing from other places of China seeking opportunities and better life. Beipiao is also a life style of being a drifter in Beijing.

(MOP) My mother came, stood at the exit of the Beijing train station, waving at me. I took her bag, my father followed in silence. I took them to eat Peking duck, my mother said, “Ay, going to get fat again.” I frowned in anger and said, “You can eat less then.” She picked up the chopsticks and said, “You should have said I am not fat.” Afterwards, she stood in the street of Beijing, looking at me cautiously, and asked, “Where are you taking us?”

How do I know? I was very impatient, why did they come? Ask all the Beijing vagabonds busy running on the streets of Beijing: do you wish your parents to come to see you? Perhaps half of them will have the same answer as me, shaking their hands and say, no, forget it. Because no matter how you “guard and defend” to hide all sorts of unpleasantness, it only takes one look from them, they can see though that you are a low-status Beipiao who is straggling and fighting for the future. No rice in the kitchen, no blanket on the bed, shampoo is all used up in the bathroom, a thick pile of takeout menus on the table, everything is in a mess that displays the gloomy life. We have a precarious life, constantly having to worry about tomorrow and the next meal, but we also want to save some face in front of our parents. You know, the words which has the most “killing power” is: if not living well then hurry up and go home.

A friend of mine maybe was trying to express his dedication to his career at the time, when his parents came to Beijing he just worked and did not even accompany the parents to go out once. He said, “I am really busy”. Now he regretted, “should have treated them better”. But he said that he probably will do the same next time since they come very often. Some people had calculated and came up with an estimate that you (Beipiao) probably can only see your parents 20 times or so, but so what? Anyway, the worst is there will be no next time; no one seems to be thinking about cherishing.

My mother is not even 50 years old. She looked at my room for a while at the door then started cleaning agilely. Dug out all my dirty clothes and shoes, mopped the thick layer of dust on topped my TV, picked up an empty alcohol bottle from the corner and said, “You are incredible, drinking by yourself?”

My mother started to ask me questions, where the comb was, if I have eaten dinner, if the clothes needed to be folded. Deviated from her comfortable environment, she seemed to be confused and bored out of her mind. These were clearly not the words she used to say. I pretended to be busy in order to avoid those more serious topics, for example, She would say, “You are now 25 already, why do you still spend everything you have, what are you going to do later? You still don’t have a boy friend? When are you planning on to get married…”

In fact, after 12 hours, I already felt tired of it. The feeling right after attending a luxurious party at the World Trade, after getting to know all kinds of rich people, getting to see all kinds of luxury items, when the midnight bell sounded, traveled through the entire city to get back to the rental home, suddenly realized that I am only a low-status Beipiao that only makes a few thousand a month. When you saw your mother dressed awfully, that overcautious way of walking, deep down you knew clearly that she was just an ordinary middle-aged woman who has the unique small town rustic style. You once worked so hard to get rid of that look, even now you still carry the great dreams and determined not to compromise with that kind of rustic, but your mother reminded you a thousand times, that is you.

So in the end, we had no choice but to hope them to leave quickly, only to become a worry in the telephone, and continued to dream the success and the fame one day, to pick her up in style, to give her everything.

(Netease) Xiao Xiang Morning Post August 28 reports, holding roses and a diamond ring, standing in front of the a giant heart made of 9999 roses, 24-year-old Liu Hang shouted out the name of his love. Yesterday morning, a massive “offering of [...]]]>

The “Rich Second Generation” (富二代) refers to people who mostly were born after 1980s, Children of early China’s first generation of private entrepreneurs “Rich first Generation” after China’s “opening door policy”. Now they are wealthy because of the inheritance.

(Netease) Xiao Xiang Morning Post August 28 reports, holding roses and a diamond ring, standing in front of the a giant heart made of 9999 roses, 24-year-old Liu Hang shouted out the name of his love. Yesterday morning, a massive “offering of love” action was performed at Changsha Wangfujing Department Store entrance. Liu Hang spent over 30,000 yuan and placed nearly 10,000 roses to express his love. Can he win over the girl’s heart?

The extravagantness attracted a vast number of people to gather around. “It is too romantic!” Miss Ma said when crossing the street, if someone expressed love to her like that, she would certainly accept.

“I am not acting on impulse.” Liu Hang said that he was originally from Henan Province, went to university in Changsha and now back to his home town. The lucky girl’s name is Lie Ying who appeared in a TV show called “Stand Out”. “I like her voice and her qualities”, Liu Hang said. He still remembered a public service commercial Lie Ying performed in – “Please speak mandarin” which left him with a deep impression of her. “Not love at first sight, but I liked her more and more.” Once he found out that Lie Ying already lived in Changsha for 5 years, when participating in the show “Stand Out” she expressed that the reason was to show her creative talent and letting the audiences to get to know her better, also to seek a beautiful love, Liu Hang then decided to pursue Lei Ying.

More than 10 days ago, Liu Hang already was thinking about how to offer his love to Lei Ying. “Give her roses, 999 of them”, a friend suggested. But Liu Hang thought more is better, so 9999 roses it is. Liu Hang said his family is quite wealthy, other people called him the “Rich Second Generation” (富二代) so he never considered about money.

Two days ago, Liu Hang found out Lie Ying was going to record her show in Changsha on August 27, and also found out that she was going to go to Wangfujing Department Store in the morning. So he asked his friend to place 9999 roses in front of the department store entrance and drove to Changsha all the way from Henan province, holding a bokay of roses and stood in front the giant heart of roses.

However, Liu’s action did not immediately win Lie Ying over. Lie chose to leave in silence, but left her cell phone number with Liu Hang. At noon, Liu Hang still stood in front the department store, feeling kind of down. “I will not give up, I will think of ways to pursue, I will give up everything to live an ordinary life with her.”

According to New Zealand’s Chinese website Skykiwi.com reported on August 25, at local time 4pm on August 24, a man of Chinese descent stood at No. 268 Queen Street, Auckland  “protesting” wearing a poster of English writings. Because the content of the “protest” contained many views of racial discrimination violent conflict almost broke out.

This man’s poster started with “Chinese is pig, do you agree it?” (I wish I could read the entire thing from the photo, but apparently his [...]]]>

According to New Zealand’s Chinese website Skykiwi.com reported on August 25, at local time 4pm on August 24, a man of Chinese descent stood at No. 268 Queen Street, Auckland  “protesting” wearing a poster of English writings. Because the content of the “protest” contained many views of racial discrimination violent conflict almost broke out.

This man’s poster started with “Chinese is pig, do you agree it?” (I wish I could read the entire thing from the photo, but apparently his English isn’t that great.)

His writing also included

90% Chinese girl they support global sexual service

90% Chinese don’t know polite ,don’t recognize Chinese nation,ancestor

this is shit & cheap human

This is pig psychology culture, fucking big pig

This man’s action attracted many passers-by to stop and watch, some even took pictures of him.  In addition to the poster he was wearing, there is a small cardboard next to him, it read

if agree, please give some coin for supporting me stay here everyday. if don’t agree,thanks your for your kindly reading .don’t talk,don’t speak.no argument please

The reporter waited about 30 minutes, 3 – 4 westerners donated coins to show support.

Two bystanders called police, but the police never showed and this man’s action was causing some strong dissatisfactions among the passing Chinese people.  Mr. Liu (not his real name) told the reporter that he already call the police 20 minutes ago, but they have not shown up yet.  Then he once again called the police.

One Chinese student went up to talk to him but was stopped by others because the police have not shown up yet.  Another Chinese student came forward, threw his backpack down on the floor and grabbed the man by his collar and pushed him into the wall.  Mr. Liu and the reporter rushed to stop him quickly and advised the student not to fall for (perhaps) this man’s trap.

Afterwards the reporter advised the student to leave the scene to avoid the man from blaming him if the police do show up later.

latest update from SkyKiwi:

The man was captured in a video, saying he is not short of money…

“The Poster Man” was taken away by the police 2 days later

This news reported by SkyKiwi became a hot topic in the New Zealand Chinese Community. Many SkyKiwi internet users expressed great anger towards the “Poster Man’s action.

Today the “poster man” again appeared on Queen Street with the poster and also attracted many Chinese people.  Around 4 pm or so, according to witness accounts, a Chinese man wearing glasses suddenly dashed away his poster.  The “poster man” shouted “Stop him!” and chased after him along the Queen Street.  Two men engaged in a physical fight.

At the time a roadside security guard witnessed the whole thing and thought it was a robbery, so he held the man wearing glasses and told the gathered Chinese people to not take any pictures.

Later someone call the police, the police arrived and took control of the two men at Lorne St. behind Queen St.  The Chinese man wearing glasses was very emotional.  He was questioned by the police at a side.  Witness said the man wearing glasses read the news and actually came here to take such action. 

In the end the police confiscated the poster and finally took the “poster man” away in the police car.

8/23 Manila

The monster cop was irritated after reading a letter from the officials.

Handcuffed tour guide was killed first.

The TV on the bus showed that his brother was arrested, he got even crazier.

SWAT team came, Liang Song might have been injured by the iron hammer used by the special police.

…

But is this really what happened in the bus and during the rescue?

(China news)  BEIJING, Aug. 25 Xinhua [...]]]>

Apple Daily made this animated simulation of what was happening inside of the bus…

8/23 Manila

The monster cop was irritated after reading a letter from the officials.

Handcuffed tour guide was killed first.

The TV on the bus showed that his brother was arrested, he got even crazier.

SWAT team came, Liang Song might have been injured by the iron hammer used by the special police.

…

But is this really what happened in the bus and during the rescue?

(China news)  BEIJING, Aug. 25 Xinhua website reported that according to the Hong Kong Sing Tao Daily,  the incident of Hong Kong tour bus being hijacked by gunmen in Manila, caused the tragedy of eight dead and 7 injured.  In response to the rumor of some of the hostages were shot dead by the police, Manila Police Commander Leocadio Santiago admitted that the some of the hostages may be shot during the exchange of fire between gunmen Mendoza and special forces, some may be killed by stray bullets.

Santiago said that the special police forces who participated in the operation have already turned over their guns to the authorities for ballistics tests. He was referring to the possibility of hostages killed by stray bullets, so the authorities ordered police to surrender firearms for the test. He said the police ballistic tests will be carried out in the police crime lab.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police spokesman, Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz said that they have completed autopsies on five of the killed hostages and found they were all shot dead, but he declined to say whether the bullets were from Mendoza’s M16, or from the special police force’s guns.

(Netease) Philippine Police spokesman Cruz said the police is investigating the hostage rescue operation on the 23rd. 4 commanders of the special police unite participated in the rescue have been suspended from the force.  The reason for the suspension was to prevent them from “negatively influencing the investigation”

(Tianya) According to Hong Kong newspapers reported that after the tragedy of the killing of hostages, Philippine President Aquino III visited the site yesterday. He not only refused to respond to reporters questions, but smiled sarcastically, which was puzzling.  As for responding to the poorly executed rescue effort, Philippine police insisted that the police did not make mistakes during the operation, after being booed internationally, they finally admit the obvious lack of tactics rescuing the hostages, and will conduct further investigation. In memory of the tragedy, the Philippine government sets today (8/25) as a national day of mourning.

(Netease) In addition, the Philippine President Corazon Aquino III made a speech on television said, the killing of Hong Kong hostages in the Philippines will have adverse impacts on the economy and tourism in the short term, but the Philippines Government is going to restore the confidence of tourists. He said the government will strengthen the capacity of the police force. He also apologized for smiling during the news conference on the 24th, he stressed that he is not happy about the incident and hope for Hong Kong people’s understanding.

A letter from a teenage Filipino to the WHOLE WORLD (CNN) has already been translated into Chinese by Yeeyan

As you are reading this letter, I bet that you have seen/heard about what happened earlier in our country.

Tourists were hostages of a policeman here, Rolando Mendoza. After a few hours of the horrible crime, some of the victims were dead including the hostage-taker.

I wrote this letter not just to apologize but also to let everyone know that we Filipinos are not all like Mendoza. We are loving and good-hearted people.

For so many years, our country has been standing tall and surpassing every dilemma; be it small or big. Years ago (back when I wasn’t born yet), you have watched us fight for what we think is right. We fought for the democracy of our nation.. The EDSA revolution. But that’s just one out of many.

Second. We Filipinos have been serving other countries for our families and we treat you as our own as well. With all due respect, I thank you all for giving us the trust through the years. For helping us to become what we are now.

The Philippines is more than just a group of islands. We are a nation of strong and remarkable people. A country of beauty and love known to be hospitable and well-valued. I humbly apologize for what happened tonight. No one in this world would want something like that to happen for life should be valued.

I politely ask the attention of the world. Please do not judge and mistreat us just because of what happened tonight. I have been searching the net and found terrible things. Hong Kong advices to avoid travels here, China and HK bans Filipinos and that Philippines is the worst place to go.

I can’t blame you for what you have decided but I hope that you could understand. Our country is now in a sea of problems. And I know for sure that we helped you in a way or another. Let peace and understanding reign this time.

I know that this letter will just be trash but I wish that you would understand. On behalf of the Philippine population.. WE ARE SORRY.

As a song puts it…

And I believe that in my life I will see an end to hopelessness, giving-up and suffering. And we all stand together this one time then no one will get left behind. Stand up for life. STAND UP FOR LOVE

Sincerely yours,

Reigno Jose Dilao

Many of you probably already heard the shocking news about the Hong Kong tour bus hostage killings in Manila, Philippines.  On August 23, 2010, a former police officer Rolando Mendoza hijacked a tourist bus carrying 25 Hong Kong tourists.  Mendoza was dismissed from the force for involvement in kidnapping, extortion and stealing confiscated drugs.  But Mendoza said he had been set up and he held  the tourists hostage in order to demand restitution.

The incident ended with a police sniper [...]]]>

Many of you probably already heard the shocking news about the Hong Kong tour bus hostage killings in Manila, Philippines.  On August 23, 2010, a former police officer Rolando Mendoza hijacked a tourist bus carrying 25 Hong Kong tourists.  Mendoza was dismissed from the force for involvement in kidnapping, extortion and stealing confiscated drugs.  But Mendoza said he had been set up and he held  the tourists hostage in order to demand restitution.

The incident ended with a police sniper shot and killing Mendoza hours into the  madness. But 10 of the hostages were already shot dead inside of the bus.

See the set of animated pictures of the news updates and mush more here on ESWN.

Netease has an extensive set of live photos of the entire incident.

When the news broke out and when the media provided live coverage of the Philippine SWAT’s “rescue effort”.  Most reactions on the internet were 1. they will never travel to Philippines. 2. How incompetent the Filipino SWAT were, and the authority should have met the kidnapper’s demands instead of letting the hostages die.

But today this picture found on IFeng raised some eyebrows…

August 24 afternoon, a group of Filipino female students went to where the Hong Kong Tour bus was hijacked and posed for photos using it as the background.

Here are some photos form MOP: Police officers were also posing for photos in front the bus… (thanks Neirda)

It is the crayfish season again; the delicious crayfish because popular in China’s hot mid summer nights ever since the late 1990s. However this year over dozens of people in Nanjing were hospitalized with strange symptoms of unbearable muscle pains after eating crayfish since July. The doctor’s diagnosis was rhabdomyolysis (the destruction or degeneration of muscle tissue) serious cases even cause kidney damage. The speculation was that the “shrimp washing powder” (洗虾粉) which was popularly used by the sellers to [...]]]>

It is the crayfish season again; the delicious crayfish because popular in China’s hot mid summer nights ever since the late 1990s. However this year over dozens of people in Nanjing were hospitalized with strange symptoms of unbearable muscle pains after eating crayfish since July. The doctor’s diagnosis was rhabdomyolysis (the destruction or degeneration of muscle tissue) serious cases even cause kidney damage. The speculation was that the “shrimp washing powder” (洗虾粉) which was popularly used by the sellers to make the crayfish look spanky fresh and clean could be the root cause.  Actually the public has already been suspicious about the powder for causing health issues. There has already been reports as early as July, that “shrimp washing powder” is killing the crayfish season and citizens cry for a public “safe list” so they know where to go to enjoy them safely.

(From Sina and everywhere else) Sore back, back pain, looking deathly pale, not being able to stand up – in the afternoon of August 21, when 27-year-old Ms Chen was transferred from Jiangsu Provincial People’s Hospital emergency room into the renal ward, Chief physician thought it was something more serious. But it turned out the culprit was the crayfish (Chinese people call them “small lobsters”). “This is the third patient being admitted to the ward for this in the recent days” Doctor Liu said. Reporter learned that since this week the Provincial People’s hospital already had over 10 people came in with the same problems after eating crayfish.

The patients at People’s Hospital of Jiangsu Province are not alone. Since July of this year, Nanjing Gulou District Hospital emergency room also saw number of patients after they have eaten crayfish. Different from the ordinary food poisoning, patients did not vomit or have diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms, but felt unbearable muscle pain. Doctor diagnosed it as rhabdomyolysis, in serious cases it could impair renal function and have the symptom of “soy sauce urine”.

In Jiangsu Provincial People’s Hospital renal ward, Xiao Gong was playing video games in bed. “He is fine now, doctor said to keep him in the hospital for observation to see if there is any renal dysfunction.” Xiao Gong is 21 years old. She told the reporter that she had some crayfish on August 20 at 1-2am. “Dad and his friend went out for dinner and took some food home for my mom and me. I probably ate over 10 of them, and also drank some beer.” Around 7 in the morning Xiao Gong’s whole body began to feel sore, and even had trouble breathing. Xiao Gong’s mom had the same symptoms even earlier. Two of them were send to the Provincial People’s Hospital emergency room. “Dad was ok, but my dad’s friend also had problem and went to another hospital.”

Because two of them are in serious condition, both were transferred to the renal ward. Test results showed that both had myoglobin level up to 4000μg / L and 6000μg / L in their blood. “Normal value would not exceed 50, such high level of myoglobin means that the mother and daughter’s muscles are dissolving.” (sarcolysis)

Unlike Xiao Gong and her mother, the 27 year old Ms Cheng bought her crayfish home and processed them by herself. In Just a few hours after eating the crayfish, Ms Cheng appeared to be in pain, “very severe back pain, like being pinched by needles.” Miss Cheng also felt difficult to breath, but did not have general food poisoning symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea etc.

After Ms Cheng was sent to the Hospital, the doctor got to know here past medical history and initially determined the symptoms had to do with eating crayfish. Tests revealed that Ms Cheng’s myoglobin level was at 1000μg / L, and already had urinary protein, so her kidney function was affected.

Doctors usually treat patients of rhabdomyolysis with alkaline urine processing and blood transfusion, making patients drink more water to help excreting the myoglobin in their bodies. Some not particularly serious kidney damage is reversible.

According to Provincial people’s hospital emergency room records, they have treated more than 10 people this week that had muscle pain and stiffness symptoms after eating crayfish. These people are mainly young, rather scattered in locations, some had crayfish in a restaurant, some bought crayfish home and processed themselves. Other than Nanjing, some patients are transferred from outside of the city.

"In terms of epidemiological investigation methods, we treated patients with same symptoms all after consuming crayfish, the time period between eating crayfish to being sick are about the same, and all with the same symptoms, so we can determine these rhabdomyolysis patients had to do with eating crayfish" director Liu Jia Said.

The cause for sure was the crayfish, but most crayfish food poisoning over the past had gastrointestinal symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea and so on. This time the symptom was sarcolysis, clearly different from the past. Many cases occurring at the same time is also different from the past. “Crayfish’s living environment was polluted? Crayfish was contaminated during shipping, cleaning or cooking process, all of them are likely to lead to such result.”

A Doctor at Gulou Hospital emergency room where the first “crayfish case” was found has been tracking these cases and found that there are still many question unanswered. The cases at Gulou Hospital are mostly from home made cooking, and mostly braised, so it is unlikely that the cause of illness being bacterial food poisoning. “Residual heavy medal” is also unlikely, because the issues caused by heavy metal resided in human body are accumulated from long periods of time, will not show up immediately. So chemical poisoning, organic poisoning are more likely.

Several patients have described to the doctors that the crayfish they had looked especially clean. So the doctors went to a local crayfish seller after work. The seller admitted that his crayfish are washed with some kind of “shrimp washing powder” (洗虾粉), but he had no idea what was in the powder.

According to reports, the crayfish currently sold on the market have all been washed by “shrimp washing powder”, and the powder is a kind of industrial acid – formed with “oxalic acid”, which is a 10,000 times stronger acid than vinegar. Director of First Affiliated Hospital of Tsinghua University, Lu Fangping believes that Oxalic acid and other chemicals or their metabolites can form crystals in renal tubules, and cause tubular blockage, resulting in symptoms such as acute tubular blockage and even lead to acute renal failure. Meanwhile, Director Lu Fangping also reminded us that rhabdomyolysis can cause by many reasons, long-term use of certain drugs, chronic alcoholism and excessive alcohol intake, may also lead to this situation.

Dormitory Affairs Office (Dormitory Caretaker’s Room)

How many of you realize that each grain in your plate is a result of hard labor.

Living economically, not being fastidious about food and clothing.

To help and to give to each other, unity and love

Learn how to be human, learn how to [...]]]>

(From Renren) The following are signs found in a school in China (Huizhou Boluo Experimental School).  Clearly, English is probably not a subject they teach in this school.

Dormitory Affairs Office (Dormitory Caretaker’s Room)

How many of you realize that each grain in your plate is a result of hard labor.

Living economically, not being fastidious about food and clothing.

To help and to give to each other, unity and love

Learn how to be human, learn how to seek knowledge, learn now to work, learn how to live, learn how to keep fit, learn how to appreciate beauty

Walk softly, do not disturb others

Advocate conservation, oppose wastefulness

Cherish food is a virtue

Elementary school cafeteria

Obey the student rules, be a civilized student

Network (Web) Office

Software Production Room

Middle School Department of Ethics

Keep the campus quiet, do not create disturbance and do not chase each other

One person endures difficulties, everyone comes to help

Be loyal and devoted to the motherland, give love to society, give filial devotion to parents, give care to others, keep the confidence in oneself.

Abide by the public morals, be a civilized student

No Spitting

(Netease) Guangzhou Daily reported on August 19: Getting up at 6 am in the morning every day, cleaning, reading books and newspaper, doing exercises etc. going to bed at 10 pm without any manual labor, after being locked up in the detention center, many high ranked officials who “fell off the horse” became healthier. Due to a regulated life, problems like fatty liver, high blood pressures, hyperglycemia, high blood lipids etc. all went away, some even gained 10 jin. [...]]]>

(Netease) Guangzhou Daily reported on August 19: Getting up at 6 am in the morning every day, cleaning, reading books and newspaper, doing exercises etc. going to bed at 10 pm without any manual labor, after being locked up in the detention center, many high ranked officials who “fell off the horse” became healthier. Due to a regulated life, problems like fatty liver, high blood pressures, hyperglycemia, high blood lipids etc. all went away, some even gained 10 jin. (11 lb.)

Detention center is a mysterious place, what is the life of a detainee like? Yesterday morning, Guangdong Province Detention Center at Tianhe District, Guangzhou had an “Open Day” for the media, and the families of the detainees. More than 30 people visited this national first-class detention center to take a peek at the life inside the walls. It is understood that the “Open Day” is expected to be held regularly for the family members in the future.

The head of the Detention Center Pan Yangyuan said, Guangdong Province Detention Center mainly detains suspects of central government supervised cases, cases that are handled by Provincial Prosecutorial office and Provincial Public Security Department. This place once detained “the king of thieves” Cheung Chi Keung, also once detained “the drug lord” Liu Zhaohua. Currently, Guangdong Province Detention Center mainly detains province level organization suspects of financial or job-related crimes, and also Hong Kong, Macao Taiwan and foreign criminal suspects.

Guangdong Province Detention Center has developed a daily life system for the detainees. The detainees get up at 6 am every day, then daily routine tasks, breakfast, cleaning, reading newspaper and books, doing exercise etc. and they go to bed at 10 pm. The detainees never engage in any form of manual labor. Many high ranked officials “fell off the horse” became healthier. Due to a regulated life, problems like fatty liver, high blood pressures, hyperglycemia, high blood lipids etc. all went away, some even gained 10 jin. (11 lb.)

Yesterday, the reporter found each detection room is installed with a brutality-perversion monitoring alarm and intercom system, in order to ensure the detainees to give feedback timely. Person in charge of the detention center said this helps to prevent prison brutality from happening.

The prisoners are “special”, they also have different hobbies. According to reports, these detainees like reading newspaper, studying English and law, and some even use the daily newspaper to research stocks. These detainees especially like to read, they can borrow up to four books from the library a week. The family will bring two books when visiting twice a month. These books are sent to the detainees after being checked by the monitoring police. However the detainees are not allowed to read reports about their cases, the police will remove these news and reports from the newspaper before handing to the detainees.

Other than news, the detention center will broadcast “Century Forum” or “Lecture Room” TV programs twice a week. Such programs are very popular in the monitoring room.

The detention center has a health center which was approved by the district clinic, including an observation room, emergency room and medical room, equipped with advanced medical devices, full range of essential medicines and 4 qualified medical professionals.

The detainees are usually under tremendous stress because their cases are not yet closed which prone to lead to psychological problems. The detention center also provides personal care, in addition to the routine medical services a psychological consulting room is set up with three psychologists, specifically to provide psychological counseling for the detainees.

The police said, since July of this year, the center will update the weekly food recipes every quarter. Every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the detainees are to have free snacks. During the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and other traditional holidays, the detainees are to be provided with traditional festival food. When the weather is hot, herbal tea is served 2 times a week. For the sick detainees, the center is to provide nutritious meals according to the doctor’s orders. Meanwhile, in order to respect the dietary habits and religious cultural minorities, they also dedicate a separate kitchen to ensure that ethnic minorities can have ethnic and religious meals.

Detainee’ schedule:

6:00 am wake up (postponed 1 hour in the winter)

6:00 – 7:00 washing, daily routine tasks

7:00 – 8:00 breakfast

8:00 – 11:00 studying

11:00 – 12:00 lunch

12:00 – 14:00 afternoon break

14:00 – 17:00 reading and studying

17:00 – 19:00 cleaning, dinner

19:00 – 22:00 watching news and TV shows

22:00 Sleep

Breakfast: boiled egg, pickled cabbage steamed Chencun Fun, porridge, buns, sesame oiled dried radish, rice noodles with meat slices, egg fry noodles…

Lunch: Pork with dried tofu onion, garlic coriander, steamed eggs with shrimp, braised tofu, steamed fish, fried pepper and fresh kidney beans boiled pork with bean sprouts…

Dinner: boiled melon with pickled vegetables, pickled stew braised pork, fried eggplant with ginger, pork rib soup, mixed vegetable dishes…

Evening of August 18, Henan Jian Ye Football Club (Henan Construction F. C.) suffered a 0-2 loss against Jiangsu Sanity Football Club at home. Even in the heavy rain, 20,000 fans showed up to support their team. So far Henan Jian Ye Football Club had the record of 4 losses and 1 draw. Henan Fans believe the terrible record has to do with the club general manager Yang Nan (杨楠) and the head coach Tang Yaodong (唐尧东). After the game, [...]]]>

Evening of August 18, Henan Jian Ye Football Club (Henan Construction F. C.) suffered a 0-2 loss against Jiangsu Sanity Football Club at home. Even in the heavy rain, 20,000 fans showed up to support their team. So far Henan Jian Ye Football Club had the record of 4 losses and 1 draw. Henan Fans believe the terrible record has to do with the club general manager Yang Nan (杨楠) and the head coach Tang Yaodong (唐尧东). After the game, fans did not leave and gathered at the stadium. They rushed to the stadium south hall where the football club was and chanted “Yan Nan finish class!” and “Tang Yaodong finish class!” to express their dissatisfaction. “Finishing class” originally referred to a teacher finishing teaching, in sports it means coach or manger getting fired. But the club security guards and riot police showed up with shields and sticks, violent conflict broke out between the fans and the police.

According to the MOP forum poster, club security guards and riot police beat up the fans including women, children and elders. Blood spilled all over Hanghai stadium. Dozens of ambulances showed up and sent the injured fans to the hospital. This poster also said that the football club then bought off the media and Baidu post bar etc. saying the fans were out of control and acted violently.

Fans chanting to fire general manager Yang Nan

The phenomena of university students being mistresses of wealth men has become a growing social issue in China. Chongqing Normal University and Southwest Normal University are the first two Universities which started to include “being an escort (三陪 sex workers), a mistress (二奶 Ernai) and having one-night stands” into the school rules. Student with such bad behaviors are subject to expulsion. And South China Normal University also listed “messing around with opposite sex and having special relations with a [...]]]>

The phenomena of university students being mistresses of wealth men has become a growing social issue in China. Chongqing Normal University and Southwest Normal University are the first two Universities which started to include “being an escort (三陪 sex workers), a mistress (二奶 Ernai) and having one-night stands” into the school rules. Student with such bad behaviors are subject to expulsion. And South China Normal University also listed “messing around with opposite sex and having special relations with a married person (homewrecking)” into the new school rules as punishable behaviors.

(QQ) Recently the “Chongqing Normal University Student Disciplinary Process Management Regulations” is to be implemented in the school. One of the rules was “student who is found to be working as an escort; or is a mistress, male mistress, or having ‘one-night stands’ will to be expelled” which caused uproar among the students.

Teacher Zhang of the Chongqing Normal University Students Affairs said that the “Regulations” was revised strictly based on the spirit of the City Board of Education’s “Developing and Modifying Colleges and Universities student Management System” article number forty second: “Damaging the image of the university students, undermining social morality”. On May 22, the “regulations” was formally in trial, and was made into a display panel in mid-June. It was placed in a building where more teachers and students can see, hoping students would express their views. However until yesterday, not one student gave feedbacks to the Students Affairs.

“We did not conduct online surveys because the involvement of the students would be smaller.” Teacher Zhang said, the time period for commenting on the “Regulations” ends on the 28^th of this month. If no major changes, it will be formally written into the “Student Handbook”. Zhang also said that this move is to regulate and eliminate students’ bad behaviors.

“No participation does not mean we don’t want to participate” A junior student of the history department said, because we think “there is no use”, so we want to use the power the media to carry out a wide range of discussion and give students a compelling conclusion.

Second year student Cao believes no matter what the students do are their own business, school should follow the rules but there is no need for admissible rules.

A student named Gu thinks school’s approach is very meaningless, because there will be no effect using rules and regulations to restrain moral codes. For example one-night stand is a vague concept, who is going to verify and how to determine such thing?

A graduate student Xie Heping who is just visiting Chongqing said, now university students are allowed to get married, these “regulations” have no practical effect. Expelling students for one-night stand means lack of respect for the students. Ethical issues should not be controlled by administrative rules.

As for the definitions of mistress, male mistress and one-night stand etc. phenomenon, Teacher Zhang said they rely on the public security organs. Once the public security departments clearly determine the situations school will process them accordingly. However, when students are found to have sexual relations, whether it is “one-night stand” or not, Zhang said “is difficult to determine”.

With 30 years experience in Higher Education, Southwest China Normal University Li Dawu thinks there has been decline in moral values of the students due to bad social influences. Schools have every right and are necessary to regulate the behavior of the students.

“This is a moral issue but not in the scope of administration…” lawyer Zheng Jie believes even if putting moral issues into the “Student handbook” will have no good practical use. Moreover, the punishment of expulsion is inappropriate. Depriving the students from leaning is excessively harsh. The Ministry of Education explicitly states the punishment of expulsion is only for someone who committed crimes. He believes that the schools cannot exceed the general rules and regulations of the Ministry of Education.

The views of people who are in favor of the regulation: the purpose of the students is learning, and the “evil trends” should be fought against. The trend of university students becoming mistresses has been more and more serious, if we don’t do anything, it will only harm more students.

The views of the opposed: Expulsion is inappropriate. Depriving the students from leaning is excessively harsh. The Ministry of Education explicitly states the punishment of expulsion is only for someone committed crimes. Plus all of these are students’ personal business, schools will not even be able to properly define them, and also have no right to interfere.

South China Normal University introduced the new school rules. “Messing around with opposite sex and damaging (married) families” etc. are listed as breaking the rules. Illegally cohabit, messing around opposite sex, damaging married families and such behaviors will be subject to be punished by the new sanctions promulgated by South China Normal University.

The school said that the new rules will guide students’ ethics; at the same time it also stated when the students are to be punished with “placing in school under observation”, “expulsion” and so on, they have the right to request a hearing. South China Normal University’s new “Provisional Measures of Student Disciplinary Action” categorized student’s bad behaviors into seven categories, and clearly defined disciplinary actions for each. The school said this reduces subjective judgment when the student is being punished. “Illegally cohabiting with opposite sex, messing around with opposite sex in the name of dating, knowingly keeping a special relationship which is not accepted by the laws or ethics of our country with a married person… students with these serious bad behaviors will be punished with “placing in school under observation”. “Often on the internet, watch DVDs or playing games during late night… which bothers other ‘normal people’ from resting, serious offenders which are also to be given the same punishment”. These are all actions which break the rules and were written into the “Provisional Measures of Student Disciplinary Action”.

South China Normal University Student Affairs Minister, Xi said many regulations may not be possibly to be implemented, because if students really have such behaviors, sanctions would be more difficult for forensic investigation; second, the number of people being punished by disciplinary action is only about twenty to thirty in each year, so these addition to the regulations formulated evidence-based actions, but more importantly is for regulating students’ ethics; using legal education materials in a form of warning to clearly define the danger zone in order to guide the students to restrict their behaviors.

Students of South China Normal University have different views on the new regulations, some agree and some believe that the school is making a mountain out of a molehill. But many students think these regulations will be difficult to enforce.

Survey result form QQ:

Do you agree university student  being a mistress should be expelled from school?

Yes: 4611

No: 1527

Hard to say: 759

When the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided to include the China Danxia Landform in the World Heritage List at its 34th meeting in Brazil, it also gave rise to a wave of “heritage fever” in China. According to Ministry of Construction, China presently have 35 items including the West Lake in Hangzhou on the waiting list for world heritage recognition. There is even a saying that plenty more local intentions have lined up on the agenda for the next century.

[...]]]>

When the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided to include the China Danxia Landform in the World Heritage List at its 34th meeting in Brazil, it also gave rise to a wave of “heritage fever” in China. According to Ministry of Construction, China presently have 35 items including the West Lake in Hangzhou on the waiting list for world heritage recognition. There is even a saying that plenty more local intentions have lined up on the agenda for the next century.

Behind the fever, it was uncovered that applying for world heritage demands surprisingly huge funding as the six geologically-related Danxia Landform areas have spent over 1 billion yuan to win the recognition. Lang Mountain(崀山) in Xinning County as One of the six areas spent over 400 million yuan for the application when its GDP only broke 200 million till 2008. Where has all the money been? Why does Chinese government become so extravagant when it comes to world fame?

GZdaily reported that it is more about economic drive than just fame. Governments take delight in talking about the myth of world heritage boosting GDP by driving tourism. Take Ancient City of Ping Yao(平遥古城) as an example, since its gain of world heritage recognition in 1997, its tour ticket income rose from 1.25 million yuan to 75 million in 2008; overall tourism income jumped from 12.5 million to 670 million in 2008 and the tourism percentage in GDP also increased from 0.96% in 1997 to 13.91% in 2008. However, not all world heritages work out so successful – Lychee County in Guizhou Province is in over 200 million debts because of the chase after the name of world heritage.

It seems that China’s world heritage fever is backed by the norm of “Economic thrives in culture’s name”. In fact, price rise of tour ticket comes almost naturally after world heritage recognition. Many scenic spots such as Zhangjiajie(张家界), Xidi Hongcun(西递宏村), Jiuzhai Valley(九寨沟), Yellow Mountain(黄山) etc. all give their ticket price substantial rise. There is little probability for Danxia Landform to stay cool after spending more than 1 billion yuan to gain the world heritage fame.

On the other hand, Britain as one of the most active applicants for world heritage announced in 2008 that Britain would take a break in the game due to too much maintenance cost with too little tourism benefits.

Europeans take it for granted to protect cultural relics and scenic spot and tie it with protecting history and national honor. Economic benefits to them are more of realistic consideration than the goal of applying for world heritage itself; whereas China almost draws an equal mark between world heritage recognition and tourism development. In some places, protection is only by-product of world heritage recognition, local governments will exert to loan or raising ticket prices to make up the cost.

(Source from GZdaily and Netease.)

It’s that time of the year again, our partner/advertiser Freedur is offering a big promotion and we are giving away free subscriptions again! Hope those of you who won last time have enjoyed the giveaway.

If you are in China right now and need VPN software to access Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc… or for some reason you just want to surf the internet anonymously or want to bypass SOME KIND OF FIREWALL, we are giving away 10 one year subscriptions of [...]]]>

It’s that time of the year again, our partner/advertiser Freedur is offering a big promotion and we are giving away free subscriptions again! Hope those of you who won last time have enjoyed the giveaway.

If you are in China right now and need VPN software to access Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc… or for some reason you just want to surf the internet anonymously or want to bypass SOME KIND OF FIREWALL, we are giving away 10 one year subscriptions of Freedur 2.1 VPN software for free! It will allow you to do all of that. And they are valued at 59.95 USD each!  Check the review we posted for Freedur awhile back.

To Participate in the drawing, all you have to do is retweet this link with #ChinaHush in the message. (Remember #ChinaHush, with #) 10 lucky winners will be randomly selected in one week, at midnight of August 22, 2010. Check back on that day for the list of winners!

Example: tweet the following message on twitter:

#ChinaHush Freedur VPN subscription giveaway! http://bit.ly/9KQOS7

———————

August 22, 2010 Update:

ATTENTION!

Unfortunately due to Twitter being overly used, I am not able to access older tweets.  If you already entered the drawing please write your Twitter user name in the comments below.  This is the only way for me to know if you have entered the drawing. Please do this before August 27th where the 10 winners will be selected.

Sorry for the inconvenience, without Twitter history, this is the only way for me to know if you have entered the drawing. Again Please write your Twitter user name down in comments, so I can verify the tweets and select the winners!

———————-

August 27, 2010 Update:

The drawing is over, And the winners are…

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Congratulations! The next step is to email me chinahush[at]gmail.com with the email address which you want the account to be setup to.  If you DON’T email me in a week, another winner will be selected! Thank you all for participate in the drawing!

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The following article published by Liberation Army Daily was made popular recently with hundreds thousands of comments pouring in.

(From Netease and other major Chinese media) Liberation Army Daily reported on August 13, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense made an announcement at a press conference recently, that the United States would send “George Washington” aircraft carrier to the Korean West Sea (Yellow Sea) in a series of joint military exercises. This was a 180 degree turn comparing [...]]]>

The following article published by Liberation Army Daily was made popular recently with hundreds thousands of comments pouring in.

(From Netease and other major Chinese media) Liberation Army Daily reported on August 13, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense made an announcement at a press conference recently, that the United States would send “George Washington” aircraft carrier to the Korean West Sea (Yellow Sea) in a series of joint military exercises. This was a 180 degree turn comparing with the Pentagon’s official position in mid-July.

Chinese government has repeatedly expressed its strong opposition to foreign military vessels and planes engaging in activities which affect China’s security in the Yellow Sea and other Chinese coastal waters, and urged all relevant parties to treat China’s concerns and positions seriously. However, the tree may crave calm, but the wind will not stop. The U. S. insisted to send aircraft carriers to the Yellow sea to provoke China, what kind of message is it sending? I believe that the U.S. is still pursuing the three “isms”.

First, hegemonism – “I have the final say in the world, I can go anywhere I want, no one has the right to interfere.” The basis of the hegemonic mentality is the the philosophy of “destiny” which deeply rooted in some of the Americans. This theory says that the American nation is the world’s best nation, the United States national leadership of the world is determined by God, which shall not be rebelled against. Therefore, the Americans fight all around the world, wherever something happens, the Americans will appear there. But the result often is that wherever the Americans appear at, it becomes more chaotic. The reason is that they believe the U.S. social system is the world’s most advanced system, and therefore advertise their “democratic values” even in the expense of marketing the use of force; they believe the American nation is the best in the world, so they must “lead the world”, other nations must follow, whoever does not listen shall be taught a lesson by force. In their eyes, other countries and national security is secondary, or even not concerning.

Second, gunboat policy (imperialism) – “If you don’t listen, I will show you my muscles; still do not listen, I will use force, use my fists.” The most classic footnote in May of this year “2010 U.S. Navy building concept”, America’s so-called “maritime interests” was described most vividly, claiming the U.S. Navy to build around the six core competencies: One is the existent of the frontline; second is deterrence; third, safety at the sea; fourth, control of the waters; fifth, power delivery; sixth, humanitarian aid. How high-sounding it is! But so-called “existence of the frontline” is United Sates forces can go to all corners of the world, to push the U.S. borders to be outside of the doors of others. Yellow sea, South China Sea etc. are all borders for the security of the United Sates. So-called “deterrent” is if you don’t listen to me, I will beat you up. So-called “maritime security”, is to ensure the sanctity of the U.S. forces, only if I am safe, who cares if others are unsafe? So-called “control of the waters” is still pursuing “the theory of whoever controls the major choke hold of the sea controls the entire water. So-called “humanitarian aid” is being “humanitarian” to U.S. allies but “hegemony” to others. The behavior of the United States shows that it still holds the Cold War mentality, still pursuing the gunboat policy. This gunboat policy is based on the rules of jungle games as the philosophical foundation, and its basic principle is bullying. Ironically, only relying on forces and weapons, caused the embarrassment of trapping in war of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Third, unilateralism – “No matter how many people will be affected, I only respect myself, go with my own ways, everything moves around the interests of the United Sates.” Philosophical foundation of American unilateralism is a zero-sum game, the basic principle is my gain is always someone else’s loss; the contrary, other’s gain is my loss. Therefore, its style is not willing to communicate with other parties’ concerns, not to mention empathy. Obama came to power, claiming to draw the line from the former president Bush’s unilateralist policies, pursuing a “smart power diplomacy”. But he insisted on the US-Korea Joint military exercises around the waters of Korean peninsula, seems that there is no multilateral security cooperation, but only unilateral confrontation, no clever display of strength and diplomacy, but only the diplomacy of showing off their powers.

Chinese people are peace-loving. China is now taking a different path from the imperialists, rising in power with peaceful development. We do not want enmity with any country, but we do not fear whoever ignores our solemn position, ignore the core interests of China, only think about themselves and going too far. A country should have dignity, an army must have dignity, “We will not attack unless we are attacked; if we are attacked, we will certainly counterattack”. This is not a joke to the Chinese people and Chinese army. Doesn’t the United States advertise itself as the most democratic country? Then it should know that today, in the 21^st century to respect others, learn to listen to the people of other countries, learn to use wisdom to solve problems not by gunboats.

(Written by China Military Science Society Deputy Secretary-General Luo Yuan | 罗援)

Remember her? I posted a funny video of the singer having her microphone backwards, lip syncing a song a couple of months back. It turned out, this singer named Fang Ziyuan was later charged for lip synching by the authority which makes it “the first lip synching case in China”.  

(Netease) Last night, Beijing star agent A-Long told the reporter that the singer from “the first nation lip synching case” attempted suicide by cutting her wrist in her rental [...]]]>

Remember her? I posted a funny video of the singer having her microphone backwards, lip syncing a song a couple of months back. It turned out, this singer named Fang Ziyuan was later charged for lip synching by the authority which makes it “the first lip synching case in China”.  

(Netease) Last night, Beijing star agent A-Long told the reporter that the singer from “the first nation lip synching case” attempted suicide by cutting her wrist in her rental apartment in Beijing. Luckily, her roommate discovered her and sent her to the hospital, currently she is still in a coma. Reporter then tried to confirm the news with Fang’s agent Huang Hong. Huang Hong confirmed that Fang attempted suicide but was unwilling to discuss the reason.

Fang Ziyuan, 21 years old, learning dancing in Chengdu at an early age, graduated from Shanghai Film Academy specializing in performing, in 2009, she went to Beijing. September 19 of last year, during the “I am most popular this year” Huang Shengyi Concert at the Shuangliu International Tennis Center, she was investigated and prosecuted on suspicion of lip synching. Thus she became the first person being prosecuted by the law enforcement for lip synching in Mainland China. April of this year she was fined 50,000 yuan. April 4, CCTV’s “Today Saying” program talked about the case investigation process in details.

A-Long is a famous celebrity star agent in Beijing. “Fang Ziyuan and I are neighbors. At the time I was resting at home. Fang’s roommate suddenly knocked on my door, ‘hurry, help Fang Ziyuan, she attempted suicide!’ I went over immediately and saw Fang Ziyuan lying in the bathroom, blood streaming down from her wrist. I helped her up and wrapped her wrist with a towel, then rushed her into the elevator and sent her to the hospital.” Long said, Fang had 2 cuts on her wrist, one deep and one shallow. Due to excessive blood loss, up till 7pm last night, Fang was still unconscious. A-Long speculated the reasons of suicide maybe because of the brutal competition being a “Beijing vagabond”, plus the lip synching incident also gave her tremendous pressure.

(PConline) Apple not only stands out from the crowd in innovation but also is a trend setter, its products attracted many companies in the world to make accessories for them, and even the well-known Sony could not escape. Recently a heavy-weight apple product accessory was born, when it was announced, which suddenly stirred up some huge waves in the Apple world, hitting everyone who pays close attention to the latest trend, making them to get ready to take out their [...]]]>

(PConline) Apple not only stands out from the crowd in innovation but also is a trend setter, its products attracted many companies in the world to make accessories for them, and even the well-known Sony could not escape. Recently a heavy-weight apple product accessory was born, when it was announced, which suddenly stirred up some huge waves in the Apple world, hitting everyone who pays close attention to the latest trend, making them to get ready to take out their wallets. However, this accessory was not welcomed by Apple, in fact it gave Steve Jobs headaches. It is a product that totally upsets the apple cart, so to speak. That is the “Apple Peel” that will turn iPod touch into iPhone.

Actually, when Apple came out with the iPod touch, people already thought about giving it the ability to communicate because it is extremely similar to iPhone. From outside, the operating platform almost has no difference for both, some people even joke that iPod touch is just a castrated iPhone. Comparing the two, the only thing iPod touch is missing is the communication module. And, only up till now this wish was granted.

The birth of the communication vest, once again the invincible Chinese Shanzhai (Knockoffs) spirit was proven. Some people had tried to add the communication module internally into iPod touch, but this method is only suitable for a few with excellent hands, most people can only watch and salivate but not daring to perform the operation on their beloved gadget. This time, not sure which genius thought of the excellent idea of the external communication module, not only made himself quite a bit of profit but also satisfied people with iPod touch’s iPhone dream, truly a genius.

The Apple Peel made by ZTE

It does not just end here, after the Shanzhai version of the product came out, how can the brand names miss this opportunity? Maybe iPod touch is meant to have the functionalities of a phone, ZTE (Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Company Limited) also came out with a same style of Apple Peel, the model number was U3200, and it already started entering the FCC. However, what makes Chinese people angry was, ZTE’s model was made for Sprint only, it is not going to be sold in China. So it looks like brothers and sisters of China need to wait for the Shanzhai version of Apple Peel 520.

This Apple Peel actually made me think about computers. Once the computer had the USB port, it had the unlimited possibilities to extend its capabilities. Can’t get on the internet wirelessly? It’s ok, just add an external wireless card; Don’t want to use keyboard and mouse to play games? No problem, just add an external video game controller; even in a hot summer, many people already started using the USB fan…  So, having a computer really means having unlimited possibilities. So, imagine, does iPod touch have the possibilities like a computer? This time the Apple Peel was a perfect example.

Maybe it is really possible. You can plug an infrared emitter into iPhone and turn it into a remote control, why can’t iPod touch? Maybe in the near future we can use joysticks to play iPod touch games, using keyboard to chat on QQ…. Even the Apple Peel has a lot of room for improvements, only to add a GPS module then iPod touch can be a navigation device too.

And for the users of China Unicom iPhones, it is also a good news, if iPod touch can be turned into iPhone then why can’t iPhone without wifi to have wireless internet by adding a Peel? (some iPhones in China do not have wifi capabilities) This world is crazy, as long as there is a smart client platform, and provides support then we can expand to it to have any features.

Actually, like a computer with USB, if we have standards everything is possible. iPod can be turned into iPhone, I believe many people will be attracted to this idea, so if the product is really released one day, how many people will actually choose to have this modified iPhone?

The choice is simple. There are advantages of having iPod touch then turn it into iPhone versus buying an iPhone directly. The most obvious and important one is the cost. iPhone 3Gs 32GB costs around 5,000 yuan, and iPod touch 32GB only costs a little over 2,000 yuan, adding the cost of the Apple Peel which is 400 – 500 yuan , total is still under 3,000 yuan, almost half the price of an iPhone. For some people the choice is an obvious one. However the product is probably most attractive to people who already have an iPod touch but do not own an iPhone.

ZTE U3200 user’s manual

ZTE U3200 (back)

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Will the Apple Peel have a market?

The product is not available to general population yet, we do not know whether it will withstand the market or not. However the user base of iPod touch is very large, even only a fraction of the users use this product it can be a quite large market. None of the less, the passion for innovation is still worthy of recognition regardless of whether it succeed or not.

Can iPod touch 4 be turned into iPhone 4?

iPod touch with Apple Peel

After the release of the new iPhone, it soon became the object people are drooling for. Because of its high price, many people can only dream of owning one. But if all goes well, the new iPod touch 4 that is coming out at the end of September should be similar to the new iPhone 4, like before without the communication capabilities. At that time, not sure how many people will be brave enough to turn them into iPhones. If people are passionate about this idea, maybe Steven Jobs will regret every releasing iPod touch as a product. I really like to see the American Apple integrated with Chinese Shanzhai technology everywhere in the world.