Chinese media, advertising, and urban life.

The Beijing Times, March 17, 2010

Although today is St. Patrick's Day, the Beijing Times went with a story about the passing of He Pingping (何平平), who, at 74.61cm, was the shortest man on earth. This Beijing Times report comes several days later than the global media, which reported on He's death on March 15. The picture shows his meeting with the tallest man on earth, Bao Xishun (鲍喜顺), also Mongolian, in Baotou, Inner Mongolia.

However, the bottom right of the front page was taken up by a story about the latest case of "accidental" death, of Chen Xujin (陈绪金), in a detention center. The incident occurred in the Xiushui county (修水县) of the city of Jiujiang (九江市), Jiangxi province. Beijing Times reports:

Danwei Jobs: Real jobs in China's media, communications and creative industries.

Instructor for Doing Business in China course

Employer: IES Abroad Beijing Center
Location: Beijing
Date posted: Today
Contract: Temporary
Hours: Part-time
Categories: Education

《FT睿》杂志行政助理 Administrative Assistant for FT Rui magazine

Employer: FT Rui 睿
Location: Beijing
Date posted: Wednesday, 24th February 2010
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full-time
Categories: Marketing

Web Editor

Location: Hong Kong
Date posted: Wednesday, 24th February 2010
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Part-time
Categories: Editing, Web Design, Web Development

In 2008, Danwei published a clip from a documentary called The Last Breadbox by Sam Voutas showing city-wide spontaneous celebrations on the streets of Beijing after the city won the hosting rights for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Shot in summer 2001, the film follows three taxi drivers in Beijing as the city gears up for the Olympic bid. The three drivers are: a retrenched man in his 50s who grew up during the Cultural Revolution, a mother of an 8 year old daughter who dreams of opening a restaurant, and a carefree man in his 30s obsessed with tropical fish.

There are scenes of street celebrations and flag waving when Beijing wins the bid. Beijing rock band Shazi's (沙子) song "Our Current Healthy Little Aspirations" features prominently on the soundtrack. The film was released in 2002.

Fast forward to last weekend. A film called Beijing Taxi by Miao Wang premiered at the SXSW festival in Austin Texas yesterday.

It's a documentary that follows three taxi drivers in Beijing as the city gears up for the Olympics. One driver is in his mid 50s and came of age during the Cultural Revolution. The second, a mother of a young daughter, dreams of opening a clothing store. The
third driver is an optimistic man in his late thirties who goes fishing.

There are scenes of street celebrations and flag waving on the night of the opening ceremony. Beijing rock band Shazi's song "Our Current Healthy Little Aspirations" features prominently on the soundtrack.

Co-incidence?

TV presenter Al Roker studying Chinese at WLE in happier times

When Danwei started in 2003, our mission was to fill in the gaps in English language coverage of China by extensively translating and commenting on Chinese writings in the media and Internet. Back then, the only other website that was doing something similar was ESWN.

But now, those gaps are far fewer: blogs and websites as different as China Digital Times and China Smack focus on many topics that were once invisible on the English Internet, and every day seems to bring a new translation blog, or a comprehensive China section of a large news website, as diverse as the Wall Street Journal's China Real Time or the English language Global Times.

At Danwei, we are not going to stop our translations: there remains a deficit of information in English about China and Chinese people, and especially information about China as seen from a Chinese point of view.

But we are also going to start publishing stories that concern other information gaps about China. One such lacuna in traditional media coverage is news that is of great concern to people who live in China but which is neglected by the English mainstream media because it does not fit a broader narrative about China that suits the news agenda of the Western press.

We commissioned our first such story from Tessa Thorniley, a freelance business and travel writer based in Shanghai. She writes for newspapers, magazines and websites including The Daily Mail, the South China Morning Post, the Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and Wallpaper.

We asked her to answer the question: Why are so many foreigners fleeing China in the wake of language school bankruptcies?

Learning English has never been more popular in China, so why are so many English language schools going out of business?

In the last six months, four of the longest-running schools have suddenly collapsed, one day signing up new students and outlining expansion plans and the next day bolting their doors.

They have left chaos in their wake: students have been evicted from their digs and lost their course fees while teachers have been left unpaid and unemployed.

Joint venture partners and joint licensees are furious and in some cases being pursued by the authorities. Landlords are disgruntled and debt collectors are beginning to circle ominously.

In Shanghai, Kai En went under in December, shutting its five schools. In Beijing, World Link Education's Real Life English closed in October. The China franchisee of the UK group Linguaphone closed its six branches one-by-one last year and Genowledge, founded a decade ago, failed last Christmas.

In almost every case the founders and owners of the schools were foreigners who had been in China for over a decade, building up their businesses. They were not cowboy operators, but entrepreneurs who had based their lives in the country, owning property and sending their children to local schools. Now they have had to flee China abruptly, never to return.

Ken Carroll, Steve Williams and Brian McCloskey of Kai En left behind millions of renminbi of unpaid wages and unreimbursed tuition fees, as did Anders and Amy Johnson of World Link. Just one of Linguaphone's six training centres had 4 million yuan of outstanding tuition on its books.

New Express, March 16, 2010

When do interpreters become top headlines instead of the bigwigs they serve? One answer: when the interpreter is a pretty lady who can flawlessly translate a line of Chinese ancient poetry quoted by Primer Wen Jiabao.

Premier Wen is renowned for his stage management, and display of his erudition by frequently quoting classical poetry. At yesterday's news conference, Wen once again quoted a line from the revered third-century BC statesman Qu Yuan (屈原), regarded by many as the father of Chinese poetry.

The line "亦余心之所善兮，虽九死其犹未悔" from Qu Yuan's Li Sao (离骚), or Words of Departure was translated by some foreign press as, "My heart will always belong to my noble hopes, and for this I would have no regrets even if I died nine times over." But people who are more versed in Chinese ancient literature will point out that the number nine is more likely used in a non-specific way, which means "quite a lot".

A more precise translation is from Wen's interpreter Zhang Lu (张璐): "For the ideal that I hold dear to my heart, I'd not regret a thousand times to die." And a job well-done ascended the interpreter from obscurity to online stardom.

According to the Guangzhou-based New Express:

The People's Congress concluded yesterday. Premier Wen Jiabao's media conference became the focus of the media. With his wisdom and learning, as well as his literary answers to the questions, Wen charmed journalists from all over the world.

The beautiful interpreter Zhang Lu who was sitting beside Wen also won much applause from the billions of audience members and netizens. Yesterday, we found that the ranking of Zhang Lu on many microblogs was higher than Liu Xiang, who placed seventh in the recent world championships of the 100-meter hurdle.

Meeting manager Zhang, a Xingtai business woman

During the Spring Festival, I took a trip across a large part of China, with short stays in three prefecture-level cities: Xingtai in Hebei, Mianyang in Sichuan, and
Rizhao in Shandong. This article is the first of a series depicting my firsthand observations of these lesser known Chinese cities.

See also Part I and Part II of The true story of a soy sauce man, and the companion video.

Li invited me to live with him in his office. I asked if that would be too much hassle. He assured me that I should save the money that I would otherwise spend on a hotel to do something else. "Here on my turf, I will take care of you".

We went up several flights of stairs to the top floor of an apartment complex and we were at Li's office which doubled as his home. Local property prices are fairly low, so with a modest rent of 580 yuan per month paid by the company, Li lived in a spacious apartment with two bedrooms. There was once another senior colleague lived with Li, but a few days before I arrived, he received orders to work in another city and the company hadn't yet sent anyone else to replace him.

"This is not my own house; had my boss been here, I would perhaps not be able to let you live here because the company has rules. But now he is gone. I am taking charge."

With no time to catch my breath from climbing the stairs, Li picked up an advertising flier from the floor which had been slid through the door and started to read it. Part of Li's job was to make sure that his company's brand was present on such fliers printed by supermarkets.

But Li couldn't find his brand among the promotional items on the flier. He called up the distributor who was apparently responsible. The man on the other end of the phone promised that Li's soy sauce would definitely be there on the next issue and a photo copy would be sent to Li as a proof.

After lunch, Li was to meet another distributor at their office. After zigzagging through some decrepit residential alleys, we arrived at a yellowish two-story building. At an office overlooking a cluster of warehouses, Mrs. Zhang, the "big stores and supermarkets" manager of the local distribution company, received us.

Asides from Li's soy sauce, Zhang's company also distributes a brand of tea-flavored diary drink. Li's company bans distributors from selling other condiment brands, but take a hands-off attitude towards the other categories of products.

The warehouses under manager Zhang's office

The top issue of the meeting was a contract dispute. The distributor had previously signed a contract with Li's company including a provision stipulating that the distributor would buy one "strategic display position" at each of eight local stores for product display, and Li's company would cover part of the cost.

It has become a common practice in the Chinese retail business that suppliers pay extra to display their merchandise in more visually attractive ways. Specially designed stacks of products, often decorated by loud, eye-catching banners and posters and placed in areas with high customer concentration have a better chance than regular shelves to grab people's attention.

Li was tasked with checking compliance of such contracts. One big shopping mall that the distributor promised would start operating in March, turned out to still be a construction site. For the rest, Li found that his brand had only one such "strategic display position". Apparently, the distributor failed to fulfill their obligations.

Zhang argued that she misread the contract, misinterpreting "in each of the eight" to "in one of the eight". Li was not going to buy her story; he insisted firmly that her company do exactly what it promised, otherwise it would not get the refunds. Another problem with the contract, Zhang said, was that the local authorities didn't approve the location of the uncompleted shopping center for commercial use, so the planned mall would probably have to be relocated. In the end, Li had to concede a little; they agreed that another store of similar size be found to replace the shopping mall that would not come to be.

Another big issue was supply delay. In China, people tend to defer their consumptive gratification until the Spring Festival. For people of my age, many had fond memories of getting new clothes and other gifts from parents for the festival. It seems that the festival was designed to give people a taste of prosperity in spite of the harsh reality so they know there are better life to expect and the hardship is always more bearable as long as there is hope. I remember that my family used to consume what must be half of the total year's ration of meat during the half month around the Chinese New Year. Despite the improvement of people' living standards, such traditions still persisted.

Walking through alleys in Xingtai

As the festival approached, market demand for almost everything exploded, which stressed the company's supply chain greatly. To make things even worse, the railway, which is still the major form of freight transport, would give its priority to accommodate passengers during the famous Spring Festival exodus. As a result, every year around this time, order delays become common.

Manager Zhang placed an order a week ago, and she still hadn't received it. She was anxious to know where the goods were and how much longer she had to wait. The company has a logistics call center, so it only took a phone call from Li to locate the position of the cargo: it was still in a railway station in the company's home base of Foshan, waiting its turn to be delivered.

The problem, Li later told, was that the factories of his company were too far away in the far south. The longer distance is translated to higher costs and longer delay. In fact, Li's products are generally slightly more expensive than its arch rival in Xingtai, a condiment brand based in Hunan. To solve this problem, Li's company is planning to build a new factory in Anhui to better cover the northern market.

A few other peripheral issues, including some promotional activities during the festival were also discussed but they seemed to be of relative small importance. When Li walked out of the warehouse, there was a triumphant smile on his face.

This is announcement from BON TV, a news station broadcast in parts of the U.S. and on the Internet, produced in Beijing.

BON TV is launching a debate show. The debate will be between two people and in English language. Each debate is 30 minutes and will be on air weekly. It is pre-recorded at International Metro Center of Chaoyang District. We've listed topics that we believe will interest our US viewers. Please send email to liuyu@bonlive.com ASAP to let us know which topic you are interested in appearing as a guest debater and which side you'd like to take. It's going to be fun!

You are welcome to also suggest topics for debates. Thanks!

· Revaluing the renminbi; float the yuan or not?
· TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). TCM is superstitious nonsense and should be abolished vs. TCM is a valuable Chinese tradition.
· Should China discontinue the one-child policy?
· Should we resurrect Confucius? Or Can Confucius bring back traditional values to China? Is Confucius appropriate to the 21st century?
· Should China move toward nursing homes for the elderly? Or should the children take care of their parents?
· Should Beijing limit the number of cars? Or encourage the growth of the car market?
· IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) — Is the US being unfair? Should Chinese pay full price for Windows and Hollywood DVDs? Are Western companies being too greedy?
· Is it true that "national capital is expanding and private capital is shrinking？
· Should China allow dual-nationality?
· Should China promote genetically modified food because of its large population; should China import GM food from the US?
·China should become a more active player in world affairs, vs. China should maintain its neutrality in world affairs. Is it time for China to "flex its muscles" with its military etc.?
·Should China raise the minimal wage?

Huashang Morning Post, March 12, 2009

Shenyang's Huashang Morning Post reports the death of 11 Siberian tigers: "The cause for death are mostly heart failure, kidney failure, haemorrhagic enteritis, experts say that main cause of death was malnutrition."

The wildlife park has since stopped operating, the newspaper reports.

The front page lists the deaths and cause of deaths:

11 Siberian tigers

Date of death and cause

November 11, 2009, 1 dead, lung abscess

November 26, 2009, 1 dead, heart failure

December 24, 2009, 1 dead, kidney failure

December 28, 2009, 1 dead, kidney failure

January 5, 2010, 1 dead, haemorrhagic enteritis

January 23, 2010, 1 dead, haemorrhagic enteritis

January 30, 2010, 1 dead, heart failure

January 31, 2010, 1 dead, nephritis and kidney failure

February 8, 2010, 1 dead, myocarditis

February 14, 2010, 1 dead, extreme malnutrition

February 27, 2010, 1 dead, septicaemia

(Note: On November 13, 2009, the two tigers who were killed during their attacks on people were not included)

Nowadays there are still around 30 tigers in the wildlife park, we are worried that...

Beijing Morning Post, March 11, 2010

Today's Beijing Morning Post presents two images that many of the country's newspapers featured on the front page.

A landslide in Shaanxi Province crushed twenty-five homes and buried 44 villagers. Seventeen deaths have been reported, and eleven people are still missing. (See this gallery from Xinhua.)

The bottom of the page shows one artist's rendering of a feathered dinosaur. Scientists announced earlier this year that they had discovered the feathers' actual colors (see the China Daily); this rendering comes from the Beijing Museum of Natural History.

Update (2010.03.12): The New Culture View followed up on the story with two additional feature articles that culminated in the man's reunion with his family.

New Culture View, March 10, 2010

As I was buying books at the Tongren Bookstore on Xikang Road, I saw a homeless man reading. I saw him in the mathematics section, where he was concentrating on a book and writing things down on a piece of paper. Curious, I went over to have a look. It turned out that he was reading Mathematics for Economics and was working out problems. His handwriting was neat and orderly, and some of the problems even I was unable to solve....what a surprise!

The Chinese media continues its infatuation with homeless chic through the profile of a man who spends his nights in a hallway and his days in a bookstore — gasp! — reading books!

Late last month, the rugged features and fashion sense of "Brother Sharp" (犀利哥) captivated the Chinese Internet before catching the attention of the mainstream media last week. His national fame reunited him with his family, where one hopes he'll be protected from the prying eyes of the public.

Now the New Culture View has picked up the story of another astonishing homeless man. Twenty-four-year-old Zhang Yi (张义) of Changchun, Jilin Province, has been visiting a local bookstore for the past few months to read up on math and science, the same as any ordinary patron.

Although the story did not originate online — a student at the Changchun Institute of Technology called in with the eyewitness account translated above — the paper linked Zhang to other cases of Internet-driven celebrity through a headline that echoes a popular online meme: Don't obsess over him; his only love is solving math problems. The Dongguan Times, which used the NCV story on its own front page, took a similar approach: "Shanzhai Brother Sharp" found in Changchun; solves problems in higher mathematics.

The Chinese reading public frequently uses bookstores as reading rooms, and Zhang is no exception:

Information Times, March 9, 2010

After speed skater Zhou Yang won the 1,500 meters short-track at Vancouver, she mentioned her parents but neglected to thank her country for supporting her in her quest for an Olympic gold medal.

Her ingratitude was criticized by Yu Zaiqing, an International Olympic Committee vice-chairman and a deputy director at the National Sports Bureau. Yu said that she ought to thank the country first.

Today's Information Times reports that Zhou has taken the criticism to heart.

The paper's front-page story emphasizes the involuntary nature of her do-over: "Zhou Yang offers a second thanks meeting to the leader's standard" and "Zhou Yang follows orders and does it again" are headlines. Zhou's second statement now thanks the country first and foremost, and puts her parents last, after her supporters, her coach, and other sports staff.

Zhou's initial remarks after winning the gold:

This is my dream. I think that this gold medal will bring lots of changes. First of all, it will definitely give me more confidence, and it will also improve life for my parents.

Yu Zaiqing's criticism:

There's nothing wrong with thanking your parents, but first you should thank your country. You've got to put the country first, and not simply thank your parents alone.

Zhou Yang's mother, Wang Shuying:

What Chinese person does not love their country? We raise our children to bring glory to the country! The leader's quibbles — are they really necessary? After bringing so much honor to the country, what does such a little thing matter?

Zhou Yang's second statement, made yesterday:

What I really want to say is thanks. I thank the country for providing us with excellent conditions, for giving us the excellent conditions for our Olympic campaign. And I thank everyone who supported us, I thank our coaches, I thank the staff, and I thank my mom and dad.

Lei Feng taking down dodgy adverts

Lei Feng's got a microblog!

Lei Feng Diary contains the musings of the Rustless Screw forty-eight years after his death in an unfortunate telephone pole accident.

The tone is earnest, and while much of the very dry humor derives from the incongruity of a national icon commenting on contemporary pop culture and the latest social scandals, the microblog also explores what the real Lei Feng might make of a world that perceives him as both an outdated icon and a brand ripe for exploitation.

Some excerpts:

A couple days ago the company started to study "The Diary of a Bureau Chief," but there's only one computer, so the comrades haven't been able to. The political instructor was at wits' end, which I saw and took to heart. This evening I worked into the night to write it out by hand so that everyone in the company could have a copy. On the flyleaf of each volume I wrote "Lovers are not the exclusive right of the bourgeoisie. We proletarians also have revolutionary partners, and we aren't afraid of a few more (Selected Works of Chairman Mao, vol. 4)."

Posted at 00:52 on March 4

Yesterday the company notified me that I was to go give my regards to a welfare household, and that the media wanted to do a report. This year, the house that pensioner Grandpa Ding had lived in for fifty years was finally deemed to be an "illegal structure." Grandpa Ding gave me a warm reception, but I was awkward in front of the camera and the director kept scrapping the takes, so Grandpa Ding had to give me a warm reception 58 times. He said, "Lei, your 'nail spirit' has always been an encouragement to me!" Later I found out that Grandpa Ding's household was a nail house.

Posted at 00:52 on March 4

Liaoshen Evening News, March 8, 2010

The Anshan (鞍山) edition of the Liaoshen Evening News is celebrating International Women's Day by detailing:

• What to cook for a woman on this day (which has the headline "It's not dinner I'm making, it's affection!" 老公做的不是菜, 是爱心, a parody of the World of Warcraft "brother" and "legend" catchphrase).
• All women need on this day is to feel important: the article begins by talking about women schoolteachers who can't take the day off, and goes on to describe how some women will spend the day － shopping with their boyfriends etc. It ends with a nod to "girls" 女生, who'd rather not celebrate it because of the word for "women" 妇女, used in Women's Day (三八妇女节). "Old women", 老太太 might also think that they don't fall under the category of "women" (妇女), despite that all women over 18 should be included.

The interestingly-designed front page poses many questions: Do you know that you have a half-day holiday today? What to do if you can't enjoy holiday with pay? What are their real feelings? What have men prepared for them during this day? What are men thinking on this day? Are they happy purely because they get a holiday? Where do full-time housewives get their happiness? Presumably some of the answers can be found in the two features mentioned above, on A11 and B13.

Readers can also call in to reflect their views on the topic.

Chongqing Economic Times, March 6, 2010

How to maximize the declining value of newspapers as an advertising medium must be a challenge faced by all advertisers, but the editors at the Chongqing Economic Times seemed to have found one answer.

The big image on the front of the March 6 issue shows the charismatic Premier Wen Jiabao wearing his gold rimmed glasses as he delivers a speech before the National People's Congress. The image is captioned with his inspiring words, "Let people live more happily and with more dignity; make society more just and harmonious."

Underneath, a headline reads: "Presbyopia sufferers, we remind you to wear a pair of next generation adjustable multi-focus reading glasses." Very subtle, indeed.

A video by Janek Zdzarski for See China: HerStory (Nüshu 女书) is a dance piece inspired by the secret women's writing system, choreographed by Helen Lai, recently performed at at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

People's Daily
March 6, 2010

March 5 marked the opening of the Third Session of the 11th National People's Congress.

Opening Day varies little from year to year. The politburo makes its entrance. Wu Bangguo emcees. Wen Jiabao delivers the annual work report while everyone else follows along in their print copies. Then during the break-out sessions, Hu Jintao presents some important remarks to a provincial delegation (Jiangsu these days). Then on March 6, the People's Daily publishes a newspaper that is practically indistinguishable from years previous.

Well, not this year. Today's People's Daily features a front-page that makes some innovative layout choices.

Vertical composition is passé in 2010, so the paper features a horizontal headline over a row of photos. Hu Jintao's remarks have been shifted to the bottom left, leaving the upper right free for news bites from the NPC and CPPCC. And the lead editorial returns to the front page after a two-year absence.

For the past few years, bloggers and forum commenters have ridiculed the People's Daily's unchanging March 6 layout. Has someone been listening?

Who needs variety? Top: 2004, 2005, 2006; Bottom: 2007, 2008, 2009

Chongqing Evening News, March 5, 2010

While most of the nation's newspapers are busy covering the legislative sessions currently underway in the capital, the Chongqing Evening News features a front page with no direct mention of the "two meetings" (两会).

True, the lead headline, in which mayor Huang Qifan describes taking to his cooperation with party secretary Bo Xilai as "a fish to water," is taken from an interview conducted at the sessions, but the rest of the page is a rundown of rougher news items:

• Who's got the guts to dump into the Yangtze?: Dump trucks, at a rate of 40 per hour throughout the night, poured gravel into the Yangtze River. "We're constructing a landing," they said. The Waterway Bureau called the project illegal.
• "If anyone says the Lei Feng story is made-up, I'll fight him like hell!": Hu Rong'ao, who knew Lei Feng back in the army, talks to the newspaper about his experiences with the model soldier. Lei Feng helped him learn to read and taught him "The Clear-The-Fuel-Circuits Song."
• "Beat him! I'll accept responsibility!": A branch party secretary included an overloaded tractor in his niece's wedding procession and got stopped by the traffic cops. He was not pleased: "You dare conduct a traffic stop on my turf?!"
• Man falls 10 stories and only breaks his ankle: Looking for the bathroom, a man stepped into an electrical shaft and fell ten stories. He was discovered six hours later when clanging pans in the kitchen next to him allowed rescuers to pinpoint his location.
• Spicy Chongqing girls get hurt easily: Zhou Xiaoyan, a "marriage expert" and a professor at Chongqing Normal University, says that women in Chongqing share four traits that increase their risk of getting hurt: (1) They're too forthright and unguarded; (2) They're too pretty and stylish; (3) They're too impulsive, a result of Chongqing's spicy cuisine; (4) They're too open and ambitious and want to get rich too quickly.

Trucks lined up to dump their load into the Yangtze River

Pledging to follow the Fengster

Lei Feng Day, March 5, is a time for the mainstream media to stage gimmicky stunts that somehow illustrate the decline of the Lei Feng Spirit of selfless dedication in contemporary society.

The Chongqing Economic Times sent a reporter out to help people at the local train station, where he discovered that people today are suspicious of strangers who offer them unwanted assistance:

Yang Xiaoli piled up her luggage on a spot just outside the entrance and then lifted up her one-year-old son before sitting down on the pile like so many other fellow travelers waiting for the train. Yang's oldest child was just three or four and would not settle down. "Don't run around. Obey!" Yang looked a little haggard as she watched her two rambunctious children. But when the reporter stepped forward and offered to help look after them, Yang brusquely refused: "No, I can look after them myself."

When the reporter then disclosed his identity and intentions, Yang revealed her worries: "There are too many people at the station. A stranger may offer to help, but if his motives aren't good, if he's a trafficker or a swindler, how will I be able to chase him down while carrying two kids?" Yang said that she refuses all help from strangers out of fear of getting cheated.

Xue Yu, who hails from Yunyang, was going to Beijing in search of work with sixteen people from the same town. The lively group had twenty or thirty bags among them, so this reporter went over to help carry them. But the attempt was unanimously rejected. After an explanation, Xue cheerfully agreed.

Later, he said that was a little afraid of a stranger offering to help: "You're not wearing a volunteer uniform, so how do I know you're not a cheat?" Xue said that he would not readily accept help from strangers who weren't dressed in the uniform of Beijing Railway Station volunteers.

Of course, gimmicks aren't restricted to the press. The power of the brand appeals to movers and shakers in the business community, as illustrated by this Guangzhou Daily report on Lei Feng's new use as a totem:

The true story of a soy sauce man, the companion film to Eric Mu's series of articles (see Part I, Part II).

Information Times, March 4, 2010

Today's Information Times runs a widely distributed picture of Liu Xiang, the 110m hurdler, who was being chased by reporters during the start of the CPPCC yesterday. The NPC begins today.

Luzhong Morning Post, March 3, 2010

Today's Luzhong Morning Post from Shandong captions a cartoon of Obama saying: "Under 60 minutes, I can attack wherever I want to!" The article itself is about the "C-PGS systems" described in the latest US Quadrennial Defense Review.