Is it the start of the Spring Festival madness, or is it the unusual string of blue-sky days in the capital?

Something seems to be causing people driving cars around Jianguomen in Beijing to behave oddly. First comes this eye-witness report of a car exploding, emailed to Danwei last week by Comrade Jodi Xu:

A black Buick Regal exploded two hours ago near the "rainbow" of Chang'an Street in front of the Social Science Academy building. The driver was burnt to death with only bones left. The cause of the explosion is unknown.

At twenty past eleven this morning, a sound of explosion was heard, swiftly followed by heavy smoke darkening the sky and muffling the Social Science Academy building in the incident's vicinity. The car was caught on fire and the police stopped pedestrians from approaching. In 15 minutes after the explosion, there was still honking coming from inside of the flamed car.

Various versions of the explosion spread among the bystanders. A Mr. Gao who was 10 meters away from the car when the explosion set off said: "The car was slowly turning right onto Chang'an Street when it hit the base of the second ring road bridge. It bounced back." He continued: "though it is a little strange that usually car got on fire then an explosion was induced, but I heard the explosion first." A Mr. Zhao said: "I saw the driver was lighting up a cigarette when it exploded."

And then there is the person who decided to park his car inside the Starbucks in the front of the Jianguo hotel, only a few hundred meters away from the exploding Buick. Thanks to Michael McDermott of Gung Ho Films for the photos.

In other news from the last week, ESWN is on top of the shootings and riots in Guangdong, while the Times of London has a long article about the cops shutting down a planned gay and lesbian festival that was supposed to happen at 798 Art Factory this past weekend.