Beipiao: 北漂, Literally “Beijing vagabond”, referring to the group of people who do not have a Beijing hukou (permanent residence), who migrated to Beijing from other places of China seeking opportunities and better life. Beipiao is also a life style of being a drifter in Beijing.

(MOP) My mother came, stood at the exit of the Beijing train station, waving at me. I took her bag, my father followed in silence. I took them to eat Peking duck, my mother said, “Ay, going to get fat again.” I frowned in anger and said, “You can eat less then.” She picked up the chopsticks and said, “You should have said I am not fat.” Afterwards, she stood in the street of Beijing, looking at me cautiously, and asked, “Where are you taking us?”

» » » » Continue reading ‘Beijing vagabond, do you wish your parents to visit you?’

(Tianya) Yesterday I went to the job fair, intended to find a job to put food on the table. I was not successful but I unexpectedly bumped into this ‘awesome’ character that shocked me till this day.

This man was very normal and fragile looking, when a pile of his certificates and credentials fell onto the floor, they had scared me that I almost jumped up. Staring at him, this man was fumbling picking up all of his scattered certificates in a rush, at least 30 of them. Brother Certificates is indeed unique!

» » » » Continue reading ‘Interesting encounter at the job fair in China’

The process of courtship in China seems to be much more important than the process of courtship in the United States. While there is a lot more sexual activity among younger Chinese, a lot of Chinese girls still expect the utmost courtesy and respect when a male is seeking their affection, especially if the goal is to be in a relationship. Below, you will find a guide in the form of a table to interpreting "signs" in how a guy asks a girl out on a date and his actions during and after the date.

A term commonly used among girls to describe men with a knack for courtship is “细心" (translated: careful, attentive, meticulous) and I think this is very much the case. In the U.S., I think girls talk about guys who are "sensitive" but it’s not quite the same thing. I found the following table on Renren as a guide to dating and after looking at it: I concluded that what’s easy to do is also easy not to do. And sometimes that makes all the difference.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Chinese dating etiquette: What is easy to do is also easy not to do’

21 year-old-girl Xiaoqing just ended a 1 year relationship with her boyfriend not long ago. The reason was her boyfriend’s strange obsession over American movie star Jessica Alba. She could not take the fact he always dressed her up as Jessica Alba. After the break up, Xiaoqing was in so much pain that she decided to have cosmetic surgery to look like Jessica Alba to win her boyfriend back.

Because of her tight budget, Xiaoqing did not have enough money to have the make-over, so she posted a post online(on Tianya) “Cash reward offer, who can give me the make-over to have the most beautiful face in the world.” She also posted her picture, and hoped using the power of Internet to attract more attentions, and to attract cosmetic surgeons’ attentions. On the Internet, some people gave her advice, some people supported her, some people insulted her, some people questioned her, Xiaoqing’s life has changed.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Chinese girl getting cosmetic surgery to look like Jessica Alba to win her boyfriend back’

City Evening News reports on January 25, Changchun hospital gynaecology department took in a special patient, a 9-year-old girl who was 8 and half months pregnant. On January 27, at noon, this girl gave birth by cesarean section to a 2.75 kilogram (about 6 lbs) baby boy.

On January 25, reporter went to the gynaecology department of the hospital, most of the patients and family members were asleep; the hospital hallway was very quiet. Reporter approached the hospital staff asking for information on this girl and the staff member said please do not disturb because the girl and the family were already asleep. Reporter than asked about this girl’s personal circumstances and situation, but the staff member did not disclose anything. The reporter learned the 9-year-old girl’s name from the registration form and the registration condition was “pregnant…”

» » » » Continue reading ‘A 9 year old girl gives birth to a 6 pound baby boy’

Recently this music video named “The whole world is laughing at China being stupid” (全世界都在笑中国傻) has been circulating on the Chinese internet. Initially this music video was “officially approved” by the Chinese government, however netizens strongly reacted to the bitter sarcasm of the lyrics which associated with China’s current situation. Soon after, Sina – the first website posted this video quickly removed the video content from its page. Subsequently, most of the major Chinese video sharing sites also have removed it.

This internet song is modified from the original song “Zhong Guo Hua” (中国话: Chinese language) by S.H.E. It uses the same music with modified lyrics. Netizens called it the KUSO version of the S.H.E song.

» » » » Continue reading ‘“The whole world is laughing at China being stupid”’

From MOP:

Life is a process, a process from birth to death. Everyone has their own attitude towards life. While some people are enjoying their healthy bodies and taking them for granted, some other people are living a difficult life because of their physical disabilities. In Xiaoyangba community Yichang town, Hubei Province, there is a “teacher” with severe physical disabilities. A childhood medical malpractice injured his sciatic nerve, so he forever could not stand up.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Legless teacher, I am proud of you’

[Netease] On the evening of December 7, 2009, a tragic trampling incident happened at Yucai private middle school in Xiangxiang city, Hunan Province, causing 8 dead, 26 injured and 8 others under medical observation in the hospital.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Hunan school trampling incident, 8 dead, 26 injured’

[QQ] Direct flight across the Taiwan Strait was completely achieved in 2009. The exchange between Mainland China and Taiwan has entered a new stage. However, not everyone has the opportunity to go to Taiwan, unwilling to be left-out netizens come up with a new way to play. Recently an activity using photographs for cross-strait exchange spreads on the internet. Youth from both side of the strait are learning about each other through these images.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Taiwan would like to know, do you know?’

(Image: Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy” album cover, released in November 2008)

When Chinese people write blog articles, their meaning is often subdued and slightly nuanced, they are less willing be to direct and straightforward. Or, even if it seems that they are being direct, they will have hidden meanings embedded in what they say. While some topics are just sensitive no matter what in China, democracy is one of those that might be sensitive or might not, depending on the context. On one hand, for example, Yu Keping, the deputy director of the Central Translation Bureau, wrote an essay (and then a book) entitled “Democracy is a Good Thing” and this article was widely published and praised among Chinese media and officials. On the other hand, Charter 08, a petition advocating democracy in China caused the government to interrogate and threaten many of the petition’s original writers. Hence, most Chinese thinkers choose the more nuanced, indirect route. The following essay is written by a blogger who often discusses democracy:

» » » » Continue reading ‘How should we live before democracy?’

[From NetEase and many others] During President Barack Obama’s town hall meeting at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, a beautiful Chinese girl dressed in black appeared in many photos and videos of the scene with the President. Quickly the photos along with the mystery girl became popular on the Chinese internet. The mysteries identity of the beauty let to her Human Flesh Search. She is Shanghai’s image ambassador, Fan Bingbing’s relative, Yang Lan’s niece and many other speculations roamed on the internet.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Mystery woman in black behind Obama at the town hall meeting becomes popular and speaks out’

As Chinese youth are exposed to more and more sex via the Internet in China’s rapidly expanding economy, the education system still has to catch up to their newfound curiosity. Even many schools in Beijing have only recently started true sex education classes, and these only usually begin in high school. There is an inconsistency in the way that China is becoming increasingly liberalized in some ways, but not quickly enough in some important ways and the problem of sexual education illuminates this (you can see the progression of abortion rates here). A number of horrific incidents have occurred recently, including a young woman giving birth in a toilet. Here is a recent article in the Slate concerning the lack of sex education in China. The following story provides a detailed description of the reaction of a small town to the incident of a 14-year old girl giving birth with no one ever noticing she was pregnant.

» » » » Continue reading ‘The Blank Slate of Sexual Education in the Chinese Countryside’

President Obama spoke with several hundred students at the museum of science and technology in Shanghai today where he answered students’ questions in a Town Hall Meeting. However according to this post, some of the “students” who asked the questions were not exactly current students? These fake students were actually university officials?

» » » » Continue reading ‘President Obama took questions from fake Chinese students at town hall meeting’

[EASTDAY] November 7, 2009, 5 am in the morning, a 20-year-old girl gave birth to a brown-skinned mixed-race baby in the People’s Liberation Army 411 hospital in Shanghai. It is reported that this girl got pregnant and gave birth to the mixed-race baby due to her lack of judgment while making friends. With no parental care, the girl was not able to induce labor. The hospital lent her a helping hand to help her pull through the difficult time however the girl’s parents heartlessly ignored everything.

» » » » Continue reading ‘Shanghainese girl gives birth to black baby, her parents ignore the matter’

[DNKB] While the recent Shanghai school girl “Sister Bear (Sister Xiong)” beating incident was not yet subsided. Another heavily discussed school girl beating incident was created. A 4 minutes long video showing four girls and one boy ganging up on one girl while many bystanders just watched recently became popular on many Chinese major websites. Kids in the video were speaking Fuzhou dialect. Netizens said “This group beating scene was even ‘better’ than the Shanghai schoolgirl fight.” Some netizens fleshed out the incident location is in Minhou (闽侯), the northwestern side of Fuzhou City in Fujian Province.

» » » » Continue reading ‘More Schoolgirl Violence caught on Video, this time in Fuzhou’