|
Front Page of the Day
White House, Dark HorsePosted by Eric Mu, January 21, 2009 1:17 PM
 Xiamen Economic Daily January 21, 2009 Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony that took place yesterday is all over today's Chinese newspaper front pages. Among them, Xiamen Economic Daily announced the news with the headline "White House, Dark Horse" (白宫黑马). The headline puns on new president's last name and race: the last syllable of the Chinese transliteration of Obama is which means horse, and the "black" obviously refers to his skin color. "黑马" ("literally black horse") means the same as the English expression "dark horse". It may be coincidence, but the "dark horse" headline is quite telling about the general response of the Chinese public to Obama's seemingly surprising ascendancy. Links and Sources
|
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
dikaios on
The case of the missing Obama front page
affordabe on
Blogspot unblocked, but Blogger is blocked
Adam J. Sc on
Snow in Beijing
Peter Kauf on
Bound feet in China
lost in tr on
Shanzhai National Day parade
Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
 Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
 Xujun Eberlein's Apologies Forthcoming: Hong Kong's Blacksmith Books has published a short story collection by Xujun Eberlein.
Princess Der Ling: Two Years in the Forbidden City: Two years in the Forbidden City is largely a reminiscence of the minutiae of life for one of history's most powerful women, by one of her court attendants, a Manchu noble's daughter by the name of Der Ling.
Carl Crow's The Long Road Back to China: In 1939 Carl Crow - an American journalist, advertising executive and author who had lived in Shanghai for 25 years until forced out by the Japanese - travelled up the Burma Road from Rangoon to Chongqing on assignment for Liberty magazine － 'the most interesting assignment I have ever been given'.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ The 'national' in National Day (2006.10): Xiao Feng writes about China's national flavor, national curse, national bird, national car, and so forth, Dongfang Yu writes on the true meaning of China's National Day in the age of angry youth. + Don't ask so laowai don't have to tell (2008.07): An essay was written by Geremie Barmé, scholar, filmmaker and author of the new book The Forbidden City. + Religion and government in an uneasy mix (2008.03): Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊) article from October, 2007, on government influence on religious practice in Tibet.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
 (on the mainland)or Feedburner  (blocked in China) Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links) Top Links: Links from the top bar Danwei Jobs: Want ads Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30 |
 |
Chinese media, advertising, and urban life. |
|
tweet
facebook
bookmark
HaoHao
digg
Comments on White House, Dark Horse
The first aobama/heima slippage I have seen actually was buried in a Beijing News year-end wrap article sometime in mid-December, which in recounting the big events of 2008 first talked about the black horse president and then moved on to the Somali pirates with the connecting clause "同样是‘黑’ ，索马里海岛。。。“ I took it as off-color Beijing humor but it looks like this nickname might be taking root.
It's a shame that you didn't talk about The Beijing News, as you often do. If I am not mistaken, and I might be, they quite seriously misinterpreted Obama's speech. I would have been interested to hear your thoughts. I have tried to explain myself a bit better over on my blog.
The best was the headline that the Global Times put up right away on their website, that Obama said America was ready to "be the leader of the world again." Out of the whole speech they picked one line and twisted it to sound more arrogant, basically offering him up for a public verbal stoning, which the GT's idiot readers promptly obliged with. But to their credit, only a handful used racial slurs!