Speaking Pictures

Alibaba, China's biggest e-commerce company, has paid $586 million to purchase 18% stake (plus 12% optional stake) of Weibo, China's biggest twitter-like SNS website. The deal has mutual advantages. Alibaba wants the deal to help drive internet traffic from Weibo to Alibaba's e-commerce websites such as taobao.com, and Weibo wants it to generate additional advertising revenue to ease its profit-making pressure. Well, the picture below might be the true reason why Jack Ma, the chairman of Alibaba, wanted to purchase (the stake of) Weibo: The picture is about some banquet where lots of movie stars were updating their Weibo posts by taking photos, which made Jack Ma (the first one from right) felt isolated, so he decided to buy Weibo to tell the guys: hey, just for tips: Weibo is mine .

The earthquake which struck Sichuan Province in April 20 became a good chance for the government to advocate patriotism. Patriotism is positive, but forcible patriotism is weird. If it is not free to criticize, then it is meaningless to praise. In the country where you are not free to speak, not free to purchase houses or cars, not free to buy clean food or water, isn't weird to talk about patriotism?

look at the picture above, are they the portraits of A Single girl or 20 Different girls? Bingo! You are right, they are 20 different girls who are Miss Korea 2013 contestants . But the audience are so astonished on how they all look so strangely similar to one another. You will be more impressive to see the gif picture below: The reason why the 20 Miss Korea contestants look weirdly similar is because they all receive the exactly same plastic surgeries and follow almost the same formulas for their appearance, which is popular in South Korea. This photo aroused heated discussion through the internet. Here is a picture about the girls before their transformation , and we can see they do differentiate from one another: But after their plastic surgeries, they have the exact same look. Here are some contrasts: Vow! So I think the champion of Miss Korea 2013 is the plastic surgery surgeon who created this miracle rather than any one of the girls! He can make everyon...

Students mourn for those who died in a 7.0-magnitude quake a week ago, at Lushan Middle School in Lushan County. Photo: Xinhua Today Sichuan Province mourned the dead victims in the 7.0-magnitude earthquake which struck a week ago. The public mourning began with the sound of sirens at 8:02 AM exactly the moment when the earthquake took place one week ago, then followed three minutes' silent remembrance. The earthquake so far has killed 196 people, left 21 missing and injured more than 13,000, according to state media. However, state media only announced 196 dead, but refused to announce the names of the dead people. No one knows who actually the dead people are, nor their personal/family conditions. The name-list of the dead people seems to be taken as a national secret, and normal people have no access to the information. This is a tradition of Chinese propaganda. In contrast, Japan announced daily the updated names of the dead people confirmed in case of earthquak...

Hualong Park in Yanshi founds a Maitreya Buddha Statue based on their founder's portrait rather than the traditional monk image, Yanshi, Luoyang, Henan Province. You can see the hair on the statue, which is rather different from a monk. This statue is said to be built by the highway to Luoyang, so you may catch sight of it if you go to Luoyang. Well, what interests me is: does this statue wear a silk underwear?

Some relief workers were carrying a pig to some safer place, earthquake zone, Sichuan Province.

The students arrived at Hebei sperm bank 40 students majoring in Chinese medicine in Shijiazhuang People's Medical College were forcibly taken to Hebei Reproduction Health Service Center for donating sperm. About 10 of them succeeded in donation and all the students went back to school later. It was said the  counselor teacher  just took the students there and told them to donate voluntarily. But in China, the teacher words could be interpreted a suggestion of donation. The director of the sperm bank responded in an interview: It was not a sperm donation, but a survey of sperm quality among Hebei college students. Every student participating the project signed some agreements before donating.

Since April 20 when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Lushan County of Sichuan Province, lots of Chinese people donated to help the local victims, including the Chinese army. The PLA, short for China's People's Liberation Army, Chengdu Military Region Command also donated RMB 20 million yuan (3.22 million US dollars) in cash and 20 truckloads of goods to the earthquake zone. I don't think I'm the only one to find the news weird . Does PLA have their own money? Doesn't their money come from the government, or actually tax-payers? Are they able to decide how to use so much money even for so-called doing-good without being audited? Then what if they decide to use the money for some other private purpose? While discussing this donation with some netizens, someone said I was over-worried. Their opinion was: Since PLA the army cost much money for corruption every year, this RMB 20 million yuan may just part of the corruption budget . So just take it easy; it'...

The search of " I'm cold, I'm hungry " was banned in weibo.com, Chinese largest twitter-like SNS websites (above), as many netizens found lots of bureaucracy corruption by searching the words trying to help local residents in the earthquake zone, Sichuan Province. Many local residents left messages online complaining that they were cold and hungry and did not receive any relief supplies promised by PM Li Keqiang. Soon netizens found the main reason why the relief supplies were delayed was because many local governmental officials used the supplies as props for TV news programs rather than sent them to real affected people. The angry netizens keep posting messages online criticizing the government that weibo.com soon decided to ban the search of the words "I'm cold, I'm hungry". I doubt, can you make the people warm and full  by banning the search of cold and hungry ?

Chinese armed-police troops implemented an ancient way, sending  Chicken-feather-letter (very urgent message) by hiking , while trying to communicate with the isolated Wulong Village (words in yellow above) in the earthquake zone, Sichuan Province, reported by CCTV. In the TV news program, the army interviewee explained, "The village is isolated and all the roads are blocked; in order to guarantee the communication, we decided to send the Chicken-feather-letter (meaning very urgent message in Chinese) there by hiking." This news is so funny; I cannot imagine the army chief and the TV reporter took it for granted that this is the most efficient and effective way of communicating? Why did no one question their decision? Come on! The Chinese army claims they have Stealth Fighter such as J-20 and the J-15 fighter which could land on the aircraft carrier, and they are unable to find a helicopter for landing on the village ? Where are so many helicopters? T...

What do you think was the first headline in 7 o'clock News, the most important news program in China, in CCTV on April 21? The Ya'an Earthquake in Sichuan? No. The Boston Bomb Event in US? No. The answer is (picture above):  Sushi Min scholar of Tsinghua University project launching ceremony was held in Beijing, and Xi Jinping and Obama sent congratulatory letters to the ceremony . The news of the earthquake is the third headline that night. Why? Is the news of the scholar project much more important than the news of the earthquake with 180+ people killed? The answer is Yes , because President Xi Jinping and President Obama wrote letters to the project. In Chinese standard, the president's letter is much more important than some dead people. This is the Chinese way of news reporting. Just keep it in mind, CCTV is a TV station of the bureaucracy, by the bureaucracy, and for the bureaucracy .

An M-7.0 earthquake struck Sichuan Province, China, on last Saturday, killing 180+ people and injuring more than 10,000 so far. Thousands of workers, including soldiers, rushed to go to the affected zones in Ya'an, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang flied to the area to direct the search-and-rescue from Beijing. Here is the photo of a local official (in white) accompanying Premier Minister Li Keqiang (in black) visited the earthquake zone. Can you see the secret of this photo? Notice the left wrist of the local official, obviously he took his watch off. See this picture below, he may put it in his left pant pocket: Why did he take his watch off? The only reasonable reason was that he tried to cover the fact that his watch must be far beyond his affordability and he tried to cover this proof of his corruption . Chinese netizens have found many officials corrupted by checking their watches, which reminded other officials to hide their expensive watches carefully in front of the p...

Here is an internet joke on why Xinhua news agency denied Xi Jinping's taxi-ride story : At Xi Jinping's home, Peng Liyuan, a well-known singer and Xi's wife, asked him angrily, " Where the hell were you on March 1st? " Xi answered, " In the office, what? " Peng, " Liar! You went to the hotel! See this newspaper report? Why the hell did you go there? to meet some girls?! " Xi, "...,  No! Of course not! It, it, it must be a fake news! " So then Xinhua news agency immediately denied Xi's taxi-ride story.

China's official Xinhua news agency denied in the evening the prevailing story about the leader Xi Jinping's taking a taxi ride and chatting with the driver. The story , posted last night and became the No. 1 headline in the morning, said Guo Lixin, the taxi driver, claimed two men got on into his taxi about 7 PM in downtown Beijing on March 1 and asked him to go to the Diaoyutai Hotel. As they chatted along the way, Guo thought one of the passengers looked familiar and the passengers admitted and said: "you're the first taxi driver to recognize me." They then talked about the air-pollution in Beijing and Xi Jinping paid him RMB 30 yuan for the taxi fee. Before they left, Xi Jinping wrote on a receipt " Yi Fan Feng Shun " or "May you be well" for him. Guo decorated the writing and hanged it on the wall at home (below). Guo Lixin pointing the writing of the passenger The story, published on Thursday by Hong Kong-based newspaper Ta Kung P...

Beijing International Film Festival 2013 opened on April 16th. Foreigners may be puzzled to see something different from Oscar festival. Let me explain it to you. First, why so many governmental bureaucrats were arranged to speak in the opening ceremony? The reason is simple: they, as politicians, are the best actors in China . Second, why Beijing is chosen to be the place to host the Film Festival? The reason is simple too: Beijing is the right place for so many movie's filming, such as the well known "Oliver Twist" because it is always coated by smog.

Pray for Boston, pray for very victim in the Boston marathon explosions, and pray for the freedom from fear!

What if you protest in China and other countries? In other countries, you will be told: we thank you . In China, you will be told: we tank you .

A local policeman checking entry ticket Yesterday we reported that Phoenix Ancient Town in Hunan Province started to charge RMB 148 yuan (about USD $24) as the entry fee for every visitor to the village, which reduced dramatically the number of tourists and harmed local merchants, and they stopped their business for protesting. The local tourism officials tried to console the troubled local merchants and shop owners with some hearings, and we can imagine a Catch-22 dialogue in the hearing: Government officials : Don't be afraid of the troubles, we the government will help you out. Local merchants : but we did not have any troubles before! Government officials : OK, then we'll bring you troubles.

Phoenix Ancient Town, a popular tourist destination in Hunan Province. If you are a resident of this town, you will have to pay RMB 148 as the entry fee to take your girlfriend home inside after this April 10th, as the couple did as the picture above. Phoenix Ancient Town is used to be open to the public, but not any more. Since April 10th, every visitor to the village has to pay an RMB 148 yuan (about USD $24) entry fee, even if they just come to see some family. RMB 148 yuan is over a third of rural monthly disposable income. The local tourism officials explained that to charge the entry fee is to create a better environment, however, this charging policy has not been discussed publicly and it has dramatically reduced the number of tourists and upset local merchants and shop owners. Many local merchants stopped their business and protested this policy (picture above). I know why the local officials decided to charge the entry fee, because they are unable to demolish this...

Senior Col. Dai Xu, said days ago: China's current lethal strain of bird flu is a "US bio-psychological weapon" conspiracy designed to harm China; China need to calmly deal with it, and some ordinary people's death due to bird flu does not matter much (so it is unnecessary to waste time on it) . This shocking opinion was posted on Dai Xu's Twitter-like weibo as above. The literal translation of the post is: For the latest prevailing bird flu, the state policy-makers must not exaggerate it too much, or they will be fooled like in SARS in 2003! At that time the United States was attacking Iraq and was afraid that China might take advantage of this opportunity to take some actions, so they used SARS the bio-psychological weapon. China then fell into a chaos and the United States was happy to see that. Now the United States tricked again. This time China should learn the lesson and calmly cope with this situation. Few people will die, even less than one-thous...

Look at the pictures above, does something come up to your mind? Vow, vow, vow, something vulgar ? Bingo! You got it. The left is the constructing office building of People Daily, and the right is the office building of CCTV, China Central Television. Both People Daily and CCTV are leaders of Chinese mainstream media, but it is really so weird why their office buildings are so like, you know, man's part/woman's part ?! Do they want to imply their sexual desire with their office buildings because they have been depressed so much? Do they want to express their desire because they are unable to talk about it publicly? Vow, poor guys. This is of course not an adult blog, but I can't help but to post the edited picture below, that you may understand more why netizens discuss the two buildings heatedly. Have fun!

Chinese authorities have cancelled screenings of "Django Unchained" on the morning of its release, despite that it already got the permission from the Chinese cultural censorship authority. Media authorities claimed this film had been suspended for "technical reasons", but unofficial news reported that the real reason was a scene showing full-frontal male nudity , which must be ignored by the censoring bureau in pre-checking. These film details are always over-cared by the Cultural authority, as reflected by the cartoon above. Vow, I guess, maybe the real "technical reason" is that the censoring bureau thought that the man's part onscreen is so large that they are so shy to sight it, too big for them to accept it. Maybe they were watching the film dumbfoundedly: "what? foreigner's thing so large? bigger than ours? impossible! Get it out of China!"

CCTV: China Central Television

Compare the two pictures above. The top one is the original picture, and the bottom one is the edited version, which was posted on the governmental website of Neijiang, Sichuan province. You can see the bottom one has been apparently edited and the bureaucrat in the middle was highlighted. Usually the editing skill is used to stress the especially important guys; well, this time the editor may stress it too much.

Days ago we quoted Jay Leno's comments on the floating dead pigs in Huangpu River through Shanghai, China. He joked that must be "someone was playing the world's largest game of Angry Birds". Well, to finish the game of Angry Birds, it is far less than enough to just have caught sight of some dead pigs, we still need to find the birds! Now Jay you got it, today we found the birds, dead! Reported by weibo.com, a twitter-like SNS, lots of sparrows have been found dropped down, dead, in the Jianye District of Nanjing, almost 300 kilometers from Shanghai. The local Municipal Health Department still did not explain for this event and no one knows whether or how it was related with the bird flu (H7N9 virus) downstream of the Yangtze River. So, Jay Leno was right: yes, someone did play the world's largest game of Angry Birds in China; Jay found the dead pigs, and we found the dead birds.

The statue explicitly portrays Chinese government: the government is interested in only two things: the seal (right hand), symbol of power; and the god ingot (left hand), symbol of money. The foundation is the prison, for jailing those who are obstacles for the government to obtain power and money.

Almost every habitant in China, especially in big cities, has to face the Chinese health dilemma: You have to close your house windows to shield the hazardous smog; on the other hand, you have to open your house windows for more fresh air to prevent Bird Flu (H7N9 virus). Which would you choose if you were in China? So, it is understandable that increasing foreigners want to flee Beijing reported by Financial Times.