Feeling the earth tremble
YINCHUAN, Ningxia: I was placing my recorder on the desk of deputy mayor Li Weidong when I heard the woman behind me murmuring "I feel dizzy". Another one joined her: "Me too." Then they both said: "It's an earthquake!"
Blurred lines of influence in world of letters
Earlier this month, I was in Guangzhou for a forum on modern literature. The participants hailed mostly from academic institutions and media organizations, but you wouldn't know that if you had only heard their self-introductions. They sounded like freelancers.
Tiger, tiger! faking bright
Before the smoke and dust surrounding the South China tiger photos taken in Shaanxi province settled, someone claimed to have successfully photographed the big cat - widely believed to be extinct in China - in Hunan province. This time, unlike the still images from Shaanxi, it was a 20-second video clip with a very mobile animal.
Soothed feet, clean conscience
In 1995, the Reichstag building in Berlin was wrapped in white sheets by the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude as an art project.
Too much TV not a good thing
Call me snobbish but I have never hidden my disappointment with Chinese television. In general, that is. I am not ruling out the occasional decent show.
Between the law and morality
There are many ways to interpret the sex photo scandal of Hong Kong pop stars. But the core of the matter, as I see it, is the wrangling between the law and morality.
Chunyun provides a glimpse of China's reality
Eleven years ago, I took a train from Shanghai to Beijing during the Spring Festival rush, known as chunyun. I got a ticket in a hard-seat car, no other seats were available. As a result, I was squeezed into a space so small I could not turn left or right.
Cutting out the waffle in speeches
At a recent meeting in Chongqing municipality, deputy mayor Huang Qifan cut short a lower official who was reading from a prepared document: "There's no need to use these bureaucratic clichs on this occasion. It's totally unnecessary." After that, the others skipped at least half of their speeches.
Do we really know what is good?
The coming Oscars ceremony may be threatened by the ongoing writers' strike, but Chinese entertainment reporters and cineastes have one less reason to worry about it. This week, it was announced that all three Chinese language movies submitted for Best Foreign Language Picture consideration - from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan - failed to get on the nine-nominee shortlist.
Other Columnists
Ravi S. Narasimhan
- Spot the real elephants in the field
- Pssst? Heard this one about Games?
Li Xing
- Time to tell them how the Chinese feel
- Beware fake models of democracy
Liang Hongfu
- Diet pills in the time of rice shortage
- Myth the market can do without