From Netease:

Elegance and vulgarity has always been sworn enemies of each other in popular culture over the years. Guo Degang once said, drinking coffee is elegant and eating garlic is vulgar; nude photography is elegant and couple telling dirty jokes is vulgar… Now, in a scenic spot of Xinmi, Henan Province, elegance and vulgarity crashes again.

Planed to dedicate herself to the art, the nude photography model never thought she was going to get shooed away by tree branches. On June 9, 2010, at the scenic area of Xinmi, a naked female model posing for nude photography was shooed away by the local villagers.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Village elder shoos away nude photography model, “don’t make a spectacle of yourself here”’

Xili Bro, also known as Brother Sharp, a homeless man raved by Chinese netizens because of his fashion style and sexy looks and became a fashion icon and even made his presence on the international media.

After reunited with his long lost family, Brother Sharp recently signed with a fashion company and even walked his first fashion show on May 1.  Though it wasn’t very successful because Xili Bro was too nervous and had only walked the stage for a short time on the first day.  After viewing Brother Sharp’s awkward photos from the show some netizens said, “Xili is already the past, Brother Sharp is no longer sharp.” Netizens think it is a pity that Brother Sharp is already becoming a “cash cow” for some enterprises.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Huge painting of Brother Xili, is Brother Sharp still sharp?’

Some audiences have called it “cute,” while others have dubbed it “cheesy,” but French-Vietnamese producer Arnaud Bertrand’s album, Chinoiseries, has brought a bit of international spunk into underground hip hop. For me and my dance-themed radio show, that’s cultured.

Bertrand, known by his fans as “Onra,” found inspiration for this style on a trip to Vietnam, where he bought Chinese records from the 1960s and ’70s. He mixed nasally, high-pitched vocals from one of these old school songs with Chinese, big-band style beats for “The Anthem,” a less than two minute tune that I often play on repeat.

» » » » Continue reading ‘A China-inspired playlist’

From Lengxiaohua:

Beijing: Once had world’s great prestige of the imperial style but because of narcissism and not working hard he became weak and went back to his infant stage… Now grew to be a very arrogant child, working hard planning on “how to go back to being an adult”. Likes barbeque duck, recently troubled by a pile of old stuff at home.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Anthropomorphic portraits of Chinese provinces and cities’

Kung Fu Bunny was created by Vincent (李智勇),  28 years old independent animator and lecturer at the Animation Department of Communication University of China (中国传媒大学). The first episode of Kung Fu Bunny “Toto & Gogo” came into the spotlight in 2005 when Vincent was pursuing his master degree on transportation at Jilin University (吉林大学).

» » » » Continue reading ‘Kung Fu Bunny series by Vincent’

This "Seed Cathedral" seems to be garnering rave reviews from both the US and China. With Chinese netizens exclaiming "I must go see it!" and "Beautiful!" BLDGBLOG saying, "it is one of the coolest architectural constructions I’ve seen in a long time," and the NYT calling the building "extraordinary and unconventional."

» » » » Continue reading ‘The amazing "Seed Cathedral" – too much symbolism, not enough practicality?’

From Unicornblog:

There are generally two categories in Chinese ancient paintings methodologically, one is hand-drawn Chinese paintings that are mounted into scrolls, the other is New Year paintings and engraved paintings that adopt block printing.

» » » » Continue reading ‘A glimpse at Chinese New Year paintings’

From Netease:

Jin Ping Mei or The Plum in the Golden Vase (金瓶梅) is sometimes considered to be the fifth classical novel after the Four Great Classical Novels. It is the first full length Chinese fictional work to depict sexuality in a graphically explicit manner. Known for centuries as pornographic material and banned officially most of the time in China, the book is nevertheless surreptitiously read by many of the educated class. The newest film “Jin Ping Mei” featuring Japanese adult film stars will air in Japan in February 2010.

[From Sina]

Actually when many people meeting me for the first time, they will think I am pretty cold because I don’t like to talk, but that’s because I am very shy. Therefore people who know me all know that I am really very warm.  Growing up in Sweden and coming to Beijing this time, many things are my first time. For example, shooting for a TV show, magazine or a show, also climbing the great wall and then the first time doing this kind of interview.  Comparing Sweden to China, I think China is more suitable for young people. Because it’s lively here and there is always something to do here. My dream is to be a good actress.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Mixed race girl, Beijing vagabond from Sweden’

[ChinaGate] This is a “Family Portrait” of China’s 56 ethnic groups. Chen Haiwen, a photographer, recently lead a team of 14 photographers to create a book entitled, “Harmonious China: A Sketch of China’s 56 Ethnicities.” The team spent one year travelling all over China to complete the project. They ended up taking over 5.7 million photographs.

Thanks Mike, Helena, and Diana!

» » » » Continue reading ‘Family Portraits of all 56 ethnic groups in China’

(picture: A polluted eggplant)

[Southern Metropolis Daily] In July and August of this year, the Hunan Liuyang cadmium pollution incident caused nationwide concerns. It has been three to months since the incident, chemical plant was permanently closed, the relevant officials were suspended from their positions and affected farmers also received a certain amount of compensation. Recently the photographer went back to Liuyang, to some of the affected areas and shot a set of portraits for the crops. These terminally ill fruits and vegetables tell us the disaster has not yet ended.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Vegetables are sick – Hunan Liuyang cadmium pollution’

[NetEase] The afternoon of Novmber 14, in Shenzhen Huaqiang North downtown area, a man wearing a gown looked exactly like Chiang Kai-shek appeared at Huaqiang Norton Commercial Street. He sat on the floor in front of him a cap and some words about begging for peace, begging for creativity, begging for number of clicks, begging for ideas…” attracted numerous curious onlookers to take pictures of him.

» » » » Continue reading ‘“Shanzhai Chiang Kai-shek” begging for peace in Shenzhen’

On October 21^st 2009 I posted “Amazing Pictures, Pollution in China” featuring the winner of W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, Lu Guang’s documentary project “Pollution in China”. This post was an instant sensation that attracted viewers from all over the world. In less than 20 days, this post was viewed by over 475,000 unique visitors in 204 countries with over 510,000 page views. As for today it had 3,327 retweets on twitter and 929 comments. Thank you everyone! It was both surprising and inspiring to see how much people around the world cared about the pollution issues in China and the environment of the planet earth. And of course Lu Guang’s haunting photos were truly breathtaking. His artistic and insightful work of art exposed real urgent issues of people living at the bottom of the society in China, the side of China people of the world usually don’t get to see.

But how did Lu Guang take these photos? And what was his experience going to the polluted areas? Lu Guang shared some insights in an Interview with NetEease. The topic of the talk focused on what was behind those photos – the residents living in those polluted areas. As a photographer who directly contacted and interacted with these villagers, Lu Guang described how the villagers saw the pollution issues.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Interview with Lu Guang, the photographer of “Pollution in China”’

[QQ] October 14, 2009, the 30^th 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.”

» » » » Continue reading ‘Amazing Pictures, Pollution in China’

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, Zhongqiu Festival (中秋节) is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people. It falls on the 15^th of August in Chinese calendar, which is usually around late September or early October. This year, 2009 the Moon Festival is on October 3^rd.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Happy Mid-Autumn Festival Sand Painting’