Speaking Pictures

This image helps to understand the power of Xi Jinping, the leader of China: And maybe there are more positions awaiting him.

 Shinzō Abe, Japan  Joe Biden, U.S. Xi Jinping, China So, who will win?

Almost all the mainstream Chinese media reported that President Xi Jinping was capable to hold the tray, eat the steamed buns and pay the bills all by   himself in a chain restaurant, last Saturday, Beijing. This surprise visit was taken as a proof of the common touch between the top leader and the lower public, spreading quickly through the internet. Such interactions are highly unusual for senior Chinese officials, which are more stage-managed by Communist Party's propaganda divisions(some interviews leaked out later did prove that the restaurant had been cleared somehow in advance that morning). Well, those Chinese media who sing high praise for Xi Jinping's surprise visit to the lower restaurant may have forgotten that how they satirized that American Vice President Joe Biden's eating noodle in a similar restaurant while visiting China was a pure show-off : One can see how weird (snobbish) the Chinese media are: Xi Jinping ate steamed buns with ordinary peopl...

The picture above shows the five different Communist Party leaders, who were all ever No. 2 leader of the party but all killed by No.1. Conclusion: No.2 leader of Communist Party is the most fatal job in the world . Row 1: Jang Song Thaek, North Korea; Liu Shaoqi, China Row 2: Lin Biao, China; Nikola Bukharin, Soviet Union Row 3: Leon Trotsky, Soviet Union

As discussing the public transportation in Beijing, a Commenter named Zhang Bin made a remarkable suggestion (screenshot as above). Zhang said, " Since 2007 Beijing has employed one-ticket system for its subway, which was backed by tremendous governmental subsidy. However, low price causes lots of people to take subway even when not necessary. Thus it is necessary to raise the subway price. " Well, this comment is so amusing. Based on the comment, we can invent many other similar requirements: Restaurants should raise the price as lots of people come to eat even when not hungry; Clothing manufacturers should raise the price as lots of people wear clothes even when warm; PetroChina and SinoPec should raise the gas price as lots of people drive even when not necessary; ......,and many more. Chinese newspapers comments are so funny, aren't they?

Comments: 1, In contrast to many people's imagination, the racial gap in the post-Mandela era is larger than the time when Mandela was jailed. 2, Actually this situation is expected, as you can not turn around until you slow down at first while driving. 3, As discussed in the article, the slower growth of nonwhite's income is because of misguided governance, low-quality education and skills shortages. Massive unemployment is one result of these reasons. 4, To decrease the real income gap is really a long walk to go. South Africa needs patience. It would be useless to subsidize nonwhite directly. They need really to improve nonwhite's practical education and labor skills. 5, I wonder whether South Africa is on the right way, but it should realize they need to endure the extending gap before they can shrink it. South African inequality over the lifetime of Nelson Mandela ROLIHLAHLA MANDELA (later Madiba to his countrymen, Nelson to the wider world) was born ...

Another similarity between China and North Korea is: Half of the coffin-watchers of the last leader were killed or jailed by the rest half. In 1976, Mao Zedong passed away. Soon after his death Jiang Qing his wife ( the woman in black in the picture above), together with some so-called counter-revolutionists, was jailed by other CPC tycoons. In 2013, after Jang Song-thaek was arrested and executed soon, 5 of the 7 people who ever walked around Kim Jong il's coffin car were cleared or jailed. This is the destiny of tyrannies, isn't it?

Thomas L. Friedman MEMO to: China’s President Xi Jingping. From: A Friend of Your Country. Dear President Xi, in recent years there’s been a tug of war inside the global investment community between those who think China is a bubble about to burst and therefore a “screaming short” and those who believe that China has big problems — but also big tools and smart leaders — and will find a way forward, even if at a more normal growth rate. I lean toward the second camp, but looking at some of China’s recent behavior I’m beginning to wonder: Maybe your system is more frail than I thought? I say that as someone who wants to see China succeed in empowering its people to realize their full potential so they can better participate in shaping China’s future and integrate with the world. Anyone who is telling you that American policy makers want to see China fail doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Our two economies and fates are totally intertwined today. So, I wish China’s peop...

Here are some recent consecutive heated news: Dec 5, 2013: Inhabitants were found living underground in some thermal wells due to poverty or homelessness, Beijing. Some of the tunnel people have lived there for more than 20 years. News source(in Chinese) Dec 6, 2013: Government responded surprisingly efficiently. They sealed the related thermal wells with cement as soon as the news came out, while refusing to reply to how to settle down the tunnel people . News source (in Chinese) To cover the problem rather than to solve it, is not a valuable news in China. The point of the news is the Government is so efficient to cover scandals. The below is my ranting fiction:

This is a picture taken by US satellite in December 2013. I quoted here: China suffered another severe bout of air pollution in December 2013. When the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite acquired this image on December 7, 2013, thick haze stretched from Beijing to Shanghai, a distance of about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles). For comparison, that is about the distance between Boston, Massachusetts, and Raleigh, North Carolina. The brightest areas are clouds or fog. Polluted air appears gray. While northeastern China often faces outbreaks of extreme smog, it is less common for pollution to spread so far south. The fog has a smooth surface on the top, which distinguishes it from mid- and high-level clouds that are more textured and have distinct shadows on their edge," explained Rudolf Husar, director of the Center for Air Pollution Impact and Trend Analysis at Washington University. "If there is a significant haze layer on to...

For the last half of the past week, Beijing, Shanghai and many other cities in the north or east of China were covered by heavy polluting fog and haze. Yet, the following two flattering news were just so beyond my imagination: Global Times  (affiliate of People Daily ) : Fog and Haze Weaken Missiles' Accuracy, Favoring Military Defence News source  (in Chinese). CCTV : Fog and Haze have Five Benefits: 1, they let the Chinese people more united; 2, they let the Chinese people more equal; 3, they keep the Chinese people sober; 4, they let the Chinese people more humorous; 5, they enrich the Chinese people's knowledge. News source (in Chinese) . Can you imagine that the media are describing fog and haze which kill more and more people in China? And Why? Do not worry about these journalists' IQ, nor they are insane. They, as official media, just have to flatter Government. Since they are unable to criticize Government's incapability of controlling pollution,...

The video is shocking. It came out recently from a fire force (here in China the firemen are part of the army) in Inner Mongolia, and I don't think such an army is powerful enough to defend the people. Is this the so-called China Dream ? No, this is a nightmare, both for Chinese people and for soldiers.

What do China and North Korea the two communist countries have in common as for their top leaders? The answers are somewhat intriguing: the leaders of both China and North Korea are marked as the unprecedented revolutionary leaders in the world, while their most close relatives are all counter-revolutionists . China : Mao Zedong, the husband and revolutionist versus Jiang Qing, the wife and counter-revolutionist. North Korea : Kim Jong-un, the nephew and revolutionist versus Chang Song-thaek , the uncle and counter-revolutionist Is it weird? NO. This is the very portrays of totalitarian regimes.

Cartoon by @变态辣椒 Translate by me News source: Business Insider : "An anonymous anti-Western post called 'You're Nothing Without The Motherland' is blowing up on Chinese blogs and social media sites like Weibo, reports the South China Morning Post. "'You're Nothing Without The Motherland' warns China's citizens to keep an eye out for Western powers that wish to destabilize the nation and “take advantage of social instability to harm Chinese people”. "“China would be in chaos if it lost the leadership of the CCP and this would be a catastrophe for the 1.3 billion Chinese people,” the post says. "This comes amid tensions between the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and China over air space over the South China Sea. Moreover, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Beijing yesterday — a Bloomberg reporter was barred from a presser with Cameron and Premier Li Keqiang — and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is about to arrive for a sta...

*: PLA=People's Liberation Army, the official name of Chinese troops. Here comes the time for LOL NEWS. Here is one from Liberation Army Daily, official newspaper of PLA at Nov. 30, 2013 : " PLA Special Forces Trains Harshly and Swims Across the River at -27℃. " LOL！ The picture for the news is above.  Click here for news source (Chinese version). I did not translate it wrong, it is  -27℃ . What a hilarious picture! Then how to explain the green leaves in the picture, I don't know; how to explain the flowing but frozen water? I don't know; how to explain how to swim at -27℃ without being frozen? I don't know too; So much fun. Muahaha. Liberation Army Daily is used to exaggerating the power of PLA to terrify foreign counterparts; however, they often forget the common sense.

This is an official document of Nanjing the capital of Jiangsu Province. Its title is: " The Notice of Nanjing Municipal Government's Announcement of Price Control Target on Newly-built Housing in Year 2013 ". Can a price-controlled economy be called Market Economy? Yeah, it can, because this is China, a place where government thinks it can invent new economics laws. This is not a joke, it is a real governmental official document, No. 86 of Nanjing in Year 2013. So this is a Ford-style fun: In Ford's store,  You can have any color as long as it's black . And here in China, you can have any market economy as long as it's price-controlled .

The China's claim of ADZ, short for Air Defence Zone, and the reactions of its neighbors (mainly the US, Japan and South Korea), demonstrates China's over self-conceit.

*: ADZ=Air Defence Zone As soon as China unilaterally declared her Air Defence Zone , US Air Force flew two B-52 bomber to challenge the zone. The reason why they chose the slow and clumsy  B-52 was so simple (above).