दो पैरों वाला सूअर अपनी इच्छाशक्ति से बना कौतुहल

चीन में दो पैरों वाला सूअर कौतुहल का विषय बना हुआ है। इस सूअर के सिर्फ> दो पैर हैं। लेकिन यह किसी भी सामान्य सूअर से कम नहीं है।
यह दो पैर होने के बाद भी सामान्य सूअर की तरह ही काम करता है। इस सूअर के जन्म से ही दो पैर नहीं है। यह सूअर दस महीने का है और इसका वजन 50 किलोग्राम है। इसके मालिक ने इसका नाम झू जिआंगचिआंग रखा है।
इसका हिंदी अर्थ है दृढ इच्छाशक्ति। यह सूअर जनवरी 2010 पैदा हुआ। इसके मालिक को सर्कस वालों ने बडी रकम देकर इसे खरीदना चाहा लेकिन वह इसे इतना प्यार करता है कि वह किसी भी कीमत पर इसे बेचने को तैयार नहीं है। चीन के लोगों के लिए यह कोतुहल का विषय बना हुआ है। रोज सैंकडों लोग इसे देखने के लिए आते हैं।

Shanghai Expo in under 3 Minutes

expo shanghai 世博会（tr. 5.6.7.8's-Jane In The Jungle) from fil on Vimeo.

Fast paced look at many of the building exteriors, plus super fast tour of a few exhibits at the Shanghai Expo.

1,033 Kg of Heroin Bust

Junkies all over the world are crying in their needles, as Shanghaiist reports on this amazing bust.

In the biggest drug bust in China's history, police arrested 20 suspects and seized 1,033 kg (2,277 pounds) of heroin. That's enough to reenact the adrenaline needle scene from Pulp Fiction about a million times, give or take.

Huangpu Customs in Guangdong Province disclosed the information as they were getting ready to destroy drugs from a raid last year (a meager 545 kilos of heroin). The drugs from this bust are scheduled to be destroyed on the 25th.

When we first heard about this latest bust, we'll confess, we were hoping for pictures of police officers standing next to mountains of loose heroin (that's how drug dealers store it, right?). Instead we get what looks like all the smack packages in the world spread out in a neat grid spanning a football field, which is really the only way to keep track of your China White: meticulously. (Also, is that a velvet sheet in picture two?)

The Chinese Yuan Travel Guide

CNNGo today has a very clever post about the new set of Chinese Yuan which depict various tourist places in China. Great idea! They then describe the attraction and tell you why you should visit these places.

That isn't a Chinese note, I know. Do you know the country?

China is finally making some moves with the yuan. Heck, even United States President Barack Obama is happy. But the yuan isn't just good for purchasing things; the current fifth series Renminbi notes are also an awesome ready-made travel itinerary.

Depicted on the notes are six destinations Chinese authorities have deemed worthy of mass circulation, ranging from UNESCO-inscribed iconic architecture to the most stunning natural landscapes. Visit them all on a quirky, once-in-a-lifetime quest, literally following the money through the Middle Kingdom.

1 yuan
“Three Ponds Mirroring the Moon,” West Lake, Hangzhou..

What’s depicted on the yuan: One of the famous “Ten Scenes of West Lake” (西湖十景) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Referred to as the “Three Ponds Mirroring the Moon” (三潭印月), these two-meter high stone pagodas are located in the water on the south side of Xiaoying Island.

Why go: Summer is always a great time to go boating on the lake, but autumn is magical. A candle is lit inside each pagoda on the night of the mid-Autumn festival, allowing shafts of light to shine through five round holes on the bottom levels of each one. They cast reflections on the water’s surface that resemble little moons. It’s an absolutely stunning effect, especially with the moon glowing overhead.

Getting there: On a West Lake boat trip. Cruise boats shuttle frequently around the main spots on the lake, including Xiaoying Island. A more expensive option is to get onboard a six-person boat rowed by boatmen; look for them along the causeways.

The UK Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo

The UK Pavilion from Shanghai Expo Timelapse Machine on Vimeo.

Shanghai in Time Lapse 2

In order to commemorate the unblocking of Vimeo, here's a video from the site about Shanghai - see how you can see it now even if you don't have a VPN? Yay! Anyhow, it's a time lapse by Joe Nafis called Shanghai-ed | Shanghai In a Minute. Enjoy!

Dust Storm in China

Yikes! Daily Mail has the details.

Like a scene from a Hollywood disaster movie, a towering cloud of sand dwarfs the rows of uniform houses as it descends on a small village in central China.
Residents hid inside their homes with their windows and doors locked shut as the dust storm swept through the region advancing 70ft a minute.

The region is near the edge of the Gobi desert. Day turned to night as tons of dust temporarily blocked out the sun and reduced visibility to around 600ft. But suddenly the storm calmed and the mile-high cloud settled back to Earth again, leaving villagers with a major clean-up operation.

Golmud is home to 200,000 people with 140,000 living in the city centre. The new industrial city is built on a flat expanse close to the borders of the Gobi desert, which is the largest desert in Asia. Although not an ideal place to live, tens of thousands of people have relocated there to work at the salt lakes in the region.

But the prospect of a good job and lots of living space comes at a price. Every spring strong winds blow across the Gobi creating huge columns of dust and sand, which are then dumped nearby. The dust can cause frequent power blackouts, transport delays and respiratory illness.

These buildings didn't need their camouflage paint as the sand quickly hid the village from view in mid May. The massive sand storm swept along at 70ft a minute
The Gobi sand even travels as far as Beijing, with nearly a million tons of desert blown into the city each year. In March this year China's capital turned orange during a particularly ferocious dust storm.

More than a quarter of China - around one million square miles - is covered in sand with the Gobi covering northern parts of the country. The bad news for the government is that the desert is growing despite their best efforts to contain it. The process of desertification has been worsened by over-grazing, deforestation, urban sprawl and an increasingly erratic climate.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences estimates that the number of sandstorms has jumped six-fold in the past 50 years to two dozen a year. Around 80 per cent of them occur between March and May.

अवतार ने चीन में सफलता का रिकार्ड तोडा

हॉलीवुड की साइस फिक्शन आधारित ब्लाकबस्टर फिल्म अवतार ने चीन के बाक्स आफिस इतिहास में सर्वाधिक कमाई करने वाली फिल्म के रूप में अपना नाम दर्ज करा दिया है। फिल्म को चीन में रिलीज हुए दो सप्ताह का ही समय हुआ है और यह छह करोड 30 लाख डालर की कमाई कर पिछले दिनों प्रदर्शित 2012 को पीछे छोड चुकी है। उत्तरी चीन में हाड कंपाने वाली ठंड के बावजूद सप्तांहात में लोगों ने अवतार देखने के लिए दस डालर में टिकट खरीदा।
हालाकि इस फिल्म की टिकट ब्लैक में 35 डालर तक में बिकी लेकिन उनके भी खरीददार कम नही थे। चीनी सरकार द्वारा निर्धारित समय से पूर्व इस फिल्म को सिनेमाघरों से हटाने की खबरों की इंटरनेट पर तीखी प्रतिक्रिया हुई है और लोागों ने आरोप लगाए है कि देशभक्तिपूर्ण जीवन चरित कंफ्यूशियस के लिए अवतार को हटाने जा रही है।

What the Chinese Think of Avatar

China Smack has a few early comments on Avatar, which might add a billion or two to the gross.

James Cameron’s latest film, Avatar, was released in China on 2010 January 2. Many Chinese are familiar with and loved James Cameron’s previous famous film, Titanic, which is still the number one most successful movie in history. Although Avatar or 《阿凡达》 (“ā fán dá”, in Chinese) has premier two weeks later in China than the rest of the world, it has become very popular and successful as many Chinese are waiting in lines every day to buy tickets to watch the movie.

The Chinese people who have watched Avatar have praised the amazing computer special effects, but this is expected. What is more interesting is how many Chinese people feel the story of Avatar is very similar to a controversial social issue in China.

In the movie, humans use violence to take the land of the Na’vi alien residents on the alien world of Pandora. In China, there are news reports and internet postings about local Chinese governments using violence to forcefully evict residents from their homes (to demolish the buildings and redevelop the land). chinaSMACK translated and reported some of these stories in recent months, such as Woman Sets Self On Fire To Protest Demolition Of Home and Kunming Residents Believe In Brother Chun To Save Homes.

Now that you are aware of that background, you can understand the sarcastic reactions that many Chinese netizens have posted on BBS forums after watching Avatar…

Building Demolition Gone Bad in China

Building Demolition Fail. Funny video of a building demolition gone bad.

The Daily Mail has still photos and more background.

China Smack has the most important post and comments of the year, about China.

TreeSpotter on the year 2009 in Indonesia. Great writer. Wonder what he does for a living in real life?

Liquor for the Muslims in Gaza?

The Boston Globe Big Picture looks at everything.

China's Best Sex Scandals of Years Near

Shanghaiist posts a list of the top 6 sex scandal stories of 2005-2009, including the usual suspects such as Zhang Ziyi and Edison. Nothing to match what goes on here in the U.S. on a daily basis, but not bad for an emerging country. Just imagine what would happen if they had open internet, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and all the other social networking sites.

3. Zhang Ziyi and her butt-sniffing fiance

This was the first sex scandal to hit China in the year 2009 but there is technically no "sex" in it, just lots of butt-sniffing. In January, 81 pictures were released by a paparazzi photographer from X71online.com of Zhang Ziyi and her Israeli multimillionaire boyfriend Vivi Nevo canoodling on St Barth's island in the French Caribbean.

Since then, Zhang hasn't had that much of a great year. Latest rumours have it that she's involved in a dispute with a businesswoman friend who now claims she's cheated her of 200 million yuan. Her wedding plans with Nevo have also been called off and he's been seen with other women. Despite all this, Zhang can rest in the knowledge that she's been immortalised on t-shirts and remains Taiwan's most googled person in the year 2009.

Goodbye Detriot. Hello China

It's over. China Car Times

China as 9 Distinct Nations

I'm no China expert, but the sheer size of the country makes it intimidating, to say the least. Better approach it as a collection of various states with distinct topography, history and cultural appeal. That's exactly what Atlantic Monthly did, and it makes sense. The labels are poorly chosen and really don't help with overall navigation, but China as seen as a series of distinct regional entities makes great sense, as described recently in
Shanghaiist.

Anyone who’s been trawling through the China-related web this week will surely have stumbled across the ‘Nine Nations of China’ map that surfaced on Atlantic Monthly. Patrick Chovanec, from Tsinghua University, posted his map amidst the inescapable excitement of Obama’s visit to China, reminding the US President that China is "a mosaic of several distinct regions, each with its own resources, dynamics, and historical character."

The regions Chovanec feels China could be divided into:

■The Frontier, made up of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Tibet represented the mysterious desert-filled and mountainous bulk China’s land, inhabited by only 6% of its population.

■South of that lies the Shangri-La region of Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, a so-called paradise on earth consisting of kaleidoscopic forests, diverse ethnicities and, sadly, a front-door for illicit drugs, as it borders Burma’s Golden Triangle.

■China's Back Door, meanwhile, holds on to Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong, and Hainan for its lush jungles and economic successes

■... whilst the neatly tucked-away Refuge on Sichuan, Chongqing remains an area with little investment but substantial brain drain.

■The Crossroads, covering Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan, remain China’s transport and communications hub, neighbored by

■The Straits of Fujian and Taiwan.

■Up along the eastern coast is the likely Metropolis of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, followed by...

■The Yellow Land, or China’s political heart (Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi),

■And finally, the elusive northeastern wilderness of Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang. A.k.a. The Rust Belt.

As blogger Jeremiah Jenne pointed out, the idea is hardly earth shattering; not only due to the wonderful Wikipedia age of enlightenment, but also thanks to the efforts of an anthropologist by the name of Skinner, who produced a similar map in 1977, and whom Chovanec failed to cite. Jenne shows here just how similar the ‘Nine Nations’ and ‘Nine Subregions’ of China are. Danwei’s Jeremy Goldkorn and Shanghai Scrap’s Adam Minter also responded with a gentle reminder that Chovanec could have cited his predecessor. Chovanec responded later to note that the regional descriptions were his own and that he had cited Skinner, but the citations were edited out by The Atlantic under space considerations.

The Sad Panda of Wall Street

Shanghaiist has the summary.

Since around March this year, a sad-looking panda has been spotted roaming the streets of New York City — on the subway, in Times Square, at various parks and around Wall Street's bull statue. Over the next few months, the Sad Panda has intrigued and fascinated New Yorkers — his short disappearance on Wall Street led a few concerned individuals to put up a missing notice, and his great makeover as Spongebob Squarepants did not go unnoticed.

Turns out this Sad Panda is a 62 year old man from Guangzhou, Chen Jialing, who has now lived in the United States for many years. He confides in journalism student Michelle Tay the story of how he became Sad Panda after being forced to leave his former restaurant job.

How 2012 Became a Hit in China

Shanghaiist has an interesting take on why 2012 has become such a huge hit in China.

2012, the new apocalyptic movie by director Roland Emmerich, opened this weekend in Shanghai to smashing box office records, showing that Hollywood's discovered at least one way its blockbusters can make a killing in China - by pandering to the Chinese.

The movie depicts fictional events tied to a Mayan prophecy predicting the world's end on December 12, 2012. We haven't seen it, but many critics have complained that it's little more than a string of ridiculous special effects, lasting a daunting 2 hours and 40 minutes. On popular review congregator site Rotten Tomatoes, it scored a measly 39%.

However, here in the Middle Kingdom, the movie has been a smashing success, grossing 9 million RMB just this weekend. Why?

Most likely because it depicts China as savior to the world, prying it from the edge of impending doom. In the movie, the Americans turn to China to build the 'ark' that will save the population because 'the task would be impossible if given to any other nation.' In one theater, the entire audience erupted into applause after the PLA saluted American refugees arriving in China.

Though the movie seems to have gotten the majority of China to fawn over it, some have been hypercritical of Hollywood's being-pro-China-for-a-quick-buck stance.

They pointed out that 2012 was one of the few international movies that made it completely past the Chinese censors without having anything cut. Other China portraying movies, like Mission Impossible III, had crucial minutes cut out for daring to portray Chinese people as uncaring or thug-like. And last year's Dark Knight, arguably one of the biggest Hollywood pictures of the year, wasn't allowed into the country because of... "cultural sensitivities."

FHM Magazine in China

China Smack provides much needed coverage (and photos) from the Chinese version of FHM magazine. Properly called "For Him Magazine" and not the vulgur abbreviation.

Pollution in China by Lu Guang

More at China Hush

October 14, 2009, the 30th annual awards ceremony of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund took place at the Asia Society in New York City. Lu Guang (卢广) from People’s Republic of China won the $30,000 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his documentary project “Pollution in China.”

Chinese Cars are Direct Copies of Western Models

Creative Advertising World has a look at the copyright free cars now being produced in China, including even the logos. The site includes a bus and several SUV models. You'd think they would offer more creatively or at least make an attempt to hide their blatant design theft.

The Longest Way

The Longest Way 1.0 - one year walk/beard grow time lapse from Christoph Rehage on Vimeo.

More wonderful timelapse photography. The Longest Way is the official website of Christoph.

German national Christoph Rehage shaved his head in the fall of 2007, walked from Beijing to Urumqi on foot (all 4,500 km of it!), taking pictures of himself wherever he went, and this awesome video is what he ended up with.

Shanghai in Time Lapse

Since everyone in the world loves time lapse, here's the treatment on Shanghai:

Miniature City Shanghai - Tilt Shift Time Lapse from Joe Nafis on Vimeo.