Welcome back one and all to the February edition of Fact or Fiction. Those of you who read either of the last two will know, every edition I will have a guest and we will discuss a few of the big issues in China of the day. Every answer will have a "Fact" or a "Fiction" and some justification to go along with it.
Today my guest is fellow Laowai blogger Ericka. She is currently living in Qingdao, and writes a gr…
China has called up its first black athlete in the form of 19-year-old Ding Hui, who is in fact mixed-race. The ace volleyball player (pictured, below right) has a Chinese mother and a South African father, and speaks only Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) and Hangzhouhua (the dialect of his home city, Hangzhou).
It will be good to see Ding Hui (丁慧) in action on TV, when he is actually brought out to the public later t…
The Story
Pastor/Professor Eddie Romero came to Beijing to "speak for those who can't speak for themselves," i.e. imprisoned dissidents Hu Jia or Shi Tao and others. He did some guerilla mural painting in a few Beijing hotel rooms, which is pretty ballsy for sure. Check out one of his videos below. Lets be thankful that he's Christian, otherwise he might have had dynamite strapped to his chest.
A Somewhat A…
Well, they're over. With the barbarian hordes headed home and 1.3 billion Chinese looking around asking "what now?" - here are a couple links to some amazing moments captured on film during the course of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The first is a slick collection from the New York Times complete with a bit of audio commentary, the second is a random collection of Olympic images (warning butts and boobies abound) …
If ever an argument needed to be made for watching less TV, the groups of Western "Free Tibet" protesters that have snuck in to China are it.
There's a four-page article running on the Washington Post's site which explains in detail the mission of a group funded by Students for a Free Tibet (cue Mission Impossible music - or that 24 countdown tone).
I mean, I respect that these folks want to stand up for a caus…
To the jaw-dropping disappointment of all 1.3 billion Chinese watching the Olympics - Liu Xiang pulled out of the 110m hurdles just minutes ago. An injury to his hamstring has been plaguing Liu for weeks, but he was hopeful he would be able to compete. It would be little surprise if he or his couch calculated it was better to not compete at all than to compete and fail in front of an entire nation that had pinned the…
The streets are clean, the people are smiling, the transportation is free and the staff is able and willing to answer any and all questions. Is this Beijing or Disneyland?
The city cannot be compared to any other city in Mainland China. All construction has stopped for the games which not only helps eliminate some dust in the air but more importantly cleans up the noise pollution of drills and jack hammers that …
Only two days until the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics and with all the cynicism floating around - we here at Lost Laowai needed a little somethin' somethin' to ... ahem... raise our Olympic spirits. Thanks to ChineseTools.eu for helping us out. Observant readers will remember we featured these girls previously as well.
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Every week(ish) we'll feature an interesting, funny, be…
Three days to go, the country is primed, factories temporarily closed, cars off the roads, the algea invasion temporarily stymied, battalions of garbage collectors pulled back from the urban front-line, peddlers of counterfeit goods pushed further underground, city streets beautified, foreign media covering China like they just found out it's there, the delegations of diplomats and leaders on their way to pay tribute…
It was announced recently that three Beijing parks, miles away from the Olympic events, will be reserved as areas where people can "protest" during the Olympics.
Of course, to protest, you'll have to apply five days in advance and hope your cause isn't considered, the rather ubiquitous, "against national interests" (anyone wishing to raise a sign against the domestic policies of Azerbaijan are welcome).
The dec…
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