Trends and Buzz

Western ignorance and the Chinese entrepreneurial spirit

friendlies_s.jpg
The sinister Olympic mascots

From The Guardian's News Blog:
What are they? Have the Pokemon been spawning the love children of Astroboy? Have five boddhisatvas turned up in Beijing as strange little manga aliens?

No, they’re Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying and Ni Ni – the five official mascots of the 2008 Olympics, unveiled earlier today in a grand ceremony in Beijing...

The post goes on to review Olympic mascots from previous Games, noting that they are all prettty lame. A frivolous post about a frivolous subject.

But then in the comments section, a slightly deranged fellow who identifies himself as Feargal Mooney writes the following:

Tat and grot from the corrupt state that shoots men and women in the back of the head for crimes, forces women to have abortions, leaves daughters to die, and holds its citizens in serfdom and ignorance. The East is scarlet with shame. Boycott Beijing 2008...

...I have seen a package from a shop with a message in Chinese written inside the wrapping paper, "Tell the world, we are slave labourers!"

While Feargal fulminates, an enterprising person from a Chinese design firm —who has somehow managed to avoid being aborted, executed or enslaved — is using the Guardian News Blog to raise his company website's Google ranking. The design firm guy copied the text of someone else's comment and posted it with the author name as '画册设计' (brochure design). Another comment, simply "Oh gosh" is posted by '标志设计' (logo design). These author names are linked to different pages of the company's website.

Links and Sources
Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
laomo2008fpA.jpg
Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
AXL091030storiesforthcoming.jpg
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 rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30