Danwei Picks is a daily digest of the "From the Web" links found on the Danwei homepage. A feed for the links as they are posted throughout the day is available at Feedsky (in China) or Feedburner (outside China).

He's not supposed to be there!

CCTV doesn't like the Super Girls: As it's done in the past, CCTV once again shoots around the Super Girls and Happy Boys in its broadcast of a song and dance spectacular. ESWN translates:

On a program built upon the concept of "one dream, one Olympics" and in front of the Grand Temple where 2,000 young people were assembled to pay tribute to their ancestors, I implemented out a specific order: No close-ups of Happy Boy Su Xing or Super Girls Zhou Bichang, Li Yuchun, Zhang Liangying and Ji Minjia. You can hear their voices, but they are invisible!

What is more shameful than this public boycott in the name of the harmonious spirit of the Olympics? Do they want to become an even bigger laughing stock in the world?

A Chinese student's interview with the Dalai Lama: CDT translates a write-up by a Chinese exchange student in the US who interviewed the Dalai Lama:

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a press conference on April 8: "The Dalai Lama is the head representative of the serf system, which integrated religion with politics in old Tibet. The 'middle way' approach that the Dalai Lama is pursuing is aimed at restoring his own 'paradise in the past', which will throw millions of liberated serfs back into a dark cage." So do you seek theocratic serfdom? He answered, smiling: "I think since many years, as everybody knows, that we never aim to restore the old system, and even the Dalai Lama institution, as early as 69, I made clear that this institution should continue or not is up to people."

China, Dalai Lama envoys in talks: Reuters reports on the long-anticipated talks:

The Dalai Lama's special envoy, Lodi Gyari, a veteran of previous talks with the Chinese government, travelled with his assistant to Shenzhen in south China on Saturday.

He will meet senior officials from the ruling Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department, which has a vague but wide-ranging remit to "contain separatist forces".

"This is an informal meeting," said Mr Chhoekyapa [a spokesman for the Dalai Lama]. "The main thing is to calm down the situation in Tibet and Tibetan areas and to release those arrested, or give them a fair trial or fair treatment."

Hong Kong media on the torch relay: At the Zhongnanhai, Cam comments on an IHT piece describing the reaction in Hong Kong to the Olympic torch relay:

Reviewing Hong Kong's torch relay coverage should also lay to rest the hollow conflict that has been created in the minds of China's restless fenqing: that it's the world vs. China, and the Chinese people need to rally together to protect their pride and fend off the hypocritical foreign barbarians. The fact that Chinese people on Chinese territory in the Chinese media also have problems with Beijing's policies speaks volumes. At the very least, one hopes this will make the patriotic Carrefour-boycotting masses wonder if they're getting the full story in the mainland press.

The Sacred Flame has scorched two cultures: Commentator Huangfu Ping discusses the Olympics and East-West dialogue, ESWN translates:

Even as we protest against the western cultural hegemony and resist the possible political plots, we need to examine ourselves humbly. The Olympics is like the WTO. It helps the Chinese people to share in the universal culture and it also expresses what the international community wants from China. This does not reflect solely the will of China. There is no free ride in the international system of relationships. The Olympic spirit emphasizes the tolerance and surpassing of cultural divides. Everybody is supposed to act as world citizens to see and understand different cultural backgrounds and values, and learn to live harmoniously together in a diversified environment.

Battle of the Beijing boycotts: At the Nation, Jeffrey Wasserstrom looks at boycotts over the past century:

There are connections between all of the boycott debates currently in play. But it is a mistake to treat the boycott of Carrefour and the criticism of CNN as simply a tit-for-tat phenomenon, a case of angry Chinese taking a purely reactive "if you take aim at our games, we'll take aim at your profits" attitude. China has a long tradition of using anti-foreign boycotts to counter everything from invasions to perceived insults to the nation's honor.

More at The China Beat.

Ditch the tatty flag of nationalism: In April, Isabel Hilton published an opinion piece in The Guardian:

When it took on the games, China promised heroic efforts for change. But the torch debacle has left it snarling in a corner.

China's pop fiction: Aventurina King talks to Guo Jingming.


The New York Times Book Review also contains reviews of Serve the People, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out, Wolf Totem, and Song of Everlasting Sorrow.

World's longest sea bridge opens: The Hangzhou Bay bridge connecting Shangai and Ningbo opened just before midnight on April 30. At 36 kilometers long, it is the world's longest sea bridge, edging out former record holder Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, USA.

Ningboguide.com has pictures.

Mickey Mouse operation: At Slate, Daniel Brook writes about an underwear ad billboard in Xinjiekou, Beijing.