|
Front Page of the Day
Alpacas come to YangzhouPosted by Joel Martinsen on Monday, January 25, 2010 at 4:09 PM
Today's award for "most out of touch newspaper" goes to the Yangzhou Times, which has finally discovered the Grass Mud Horse more than a year after it exploded onto the Chinese Internet. The Grass Mud Horse (), an alpaca repurposed for use as a juvenile pun on a common curse (), appeared in online games, hoax dictionary entries, and online forums, and then made the leap to the real world in the form of plush toys. But it's been many months since netizens have gotten worked up about the animal's antics. The Zhuyuwan Zoo in Yangzhou has just acquired a pair of three-year-old alpacas from Hangzhou, and the Yangzhou Times anticipates the animals receiving more attention in the upcoming Year of the Tiger than the zoo's tigers. The article inside follows the same basic model as a report aired on Beijing TV last March: a description of the weird creature, an amused reference to its popularity among Internet users, and a brief explanation of how it came to China. Naturally, there's no mention of the dirty pun that made it all possible. Links and Sources
|
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
Henry on
The Eurasian Face
Caroline W on
Big in China
Michael on
Julia Lovell on translating Lu Xun's complete fiction: "His is an angry, searing vision of China"
Brandon K. on
Clueless academic takes on popular fantasy novels
Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
The latest recommended blogs and new media
 From 2008
Books on China
 The Eurasian Face : Blacksmith Books, a publishing house in Hong Kong, is behind The Eurasian Face, a collection of photographs by Kirsteen Zimmern. Below is an excerpt from the series:
Big in China: An adapted excerpt from Big In China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising A Family, Playing The Blues and Becoming A Star in China, just published this month. Author Alan Paul tells the story of arriving in Beijing as a trailing spouse, starting a blues band, raising kids and trying to make sense of China.
Pallavi Aiyar's Chinese Whiskers: Pallavi Aiyar's first novel, Chinese Whiskers, a modern fable set in contemporary Beijing, will be published in January 2011. Aiyar currently lives in Brussels where she writes about Europe for the Business Standard. Below she gives permissions for an excerpt.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Korean history doesn't fly on Chinese TV screens (2007.09): SARFT puts the kibbosh on Korean historical dramas. + 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. + David Moser on Mao impersonators (2004.10): I first became aware of this phenomenon in 1992 when I turned on a Beijing TV variety show and was jolted by the sight of "Mao Zedong" and "Zhou Enlai" playing a game of ping pong. They both gave short, rousing speeches, and then were reverently interviewed by the emcee, who thanked them profusely for taking time off from their governmental duties to appear on the show.
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