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).

Get out of my head (cover of Ansuan)

Brainwashing in China, then and now: The Mutant Palm looks at the term "brainwash" (洗脑):

In contemporary China, "xinao" is a bit of a curious word. It is often used precisely as we would use it in the West, right now across the Internet in reference to CNN, or more loosely when author Wang Shuo called the 80s generation brainwashed by Hong Kong and Taiwan pop culture. Numerous stories appear talking about pyramid schemes "brainwashing" people into scams. But then there are the political campaigns mentioned online, such as "City and Rural Party Branches Hand in Hand", which says that in tackling rural poverty, material donations are not enough but city and rural party members must go to each others areas to "brainwash" and "liberate their thinking".

C-N-N: ESWN has translated a Wang Xiaofeng blog post about the anti-Western media movement, which also refers to the controversial intentional closure of his Massage Milk (see this Rebecca MacKinnon post) which was reported by Danwei, as well as Reuters and other Western media as censorship.

Zimbabwe arms ship leaves South Africa: The New York Times: has a full report on the Chinese ship An Yue Jiang that was carrying a cargo of arms bound for Zimbabwe.

After the South African government said it could not interfere with the shipment, the local union refused to unpack or move the cargo, and the ship left South African waters, possibly bound for Mozambique.

There is more information about the case on Africa Files.

China Returns to Africa - book review: The Times has published a book review of a 'hefty volume ... [of] essays by 24 academics of a dozen nationalities, who possess exceptional knowledge of China's operations in Africa.'

Successive chapters address such diverse subjects as the social influence of the 750,000-strong Chinese diaspora in the continent; Chinese medicine; the history of the disastrous Tanzanian railway; and, most important, the progress of Beijing's drive to buy into oil and mineral resources the length and breadth of the continent.

Seeking China law blogs: The Black China Hand, a lawyer - blogger himself, is looking for other blogs by lawyers and about law and China.

Richard Quest on speed: Richard Quest, the bellowing CNN presenter, was arrested in Central Park, New York last week with amphetamines in his pocket, and, according to the New York Post, 'a rope around his neck that was tied to his genitals, and a sex toy in his boot'.

Patriotic merchandise: Love China? Wear it on your T-shirt: Shanghaiist has trawled auction site Taobao.com for the best in nationalist T-shirt fashion.