I recall sitting at dusk waiting for friends in a nondescript Beijing bar, flipping through The Beijinger (then known by a different name), when I came across a reference to a mysterious liquor native to China that, when consumed, caused people to, well, not really remember what comes next.

This mysterious liquor was transparent (innocent enough, right?), but one shot of it at a raucous Chinese banquet could have people swinging from the chandeliers (and swinging from the porcelain the following morning). What was this stuff, anyway?

Baijiu a strong grain alcohol usually distilled from fermented sorghum, but it comes in many different varieties. Wikipedia says southern Chinese versions may use glutinous rice, while those up north might use wheat, barley, or millet. To the uninitiated, it might not matter: baijiu is strong, and often difficult to drink for newbies. But after acquiring a taste for it, it’s really not *that* bad. In fact, you can begin to maybe, just a little, appreciate it. (Really!)

That’s according to Jim Boyce, anyways. Boyce (known in the capital as simply Beijing Boyce) is the nightlife king in Beijing, where he has long published a newsletter and website on the city’s dining and drinking establishments. After spending more than 10 years in China’s capital and having consumed many varieties of baijiu, he finally decided the drink needed its own celebration: and World Baijiu Day was born. “Like many others, I’ve had those reckless ganbei sessions that left me wondering if I could look at a bottle again,” says Boyce. “But this spirit has a long history, an impressive range of styles and, as we saw last year, can work with cocktails and infusions and foods.”

China’s fire alcohol, which is the world’s top-selling spirit, will be honored on August 9 (in Chinese, ba jiu, get it?) in 24 cities around the world.

Bars and restaurants in Australia, England, France, Italy and the United States, among others, will feature everything from baijiu-inspired cocktails, liqueurs and infusions to chocolate, pizza and beer. 

Here are just a few spots with events to mark the day:

• Demon, Wise & Partners and The Hide Bar in London will have baijiu-inspired drinks and give Moutai or HBK tasters to those who say ‘happy World Baijiu Day’.
• Speakeasy Carry Nation in Marseilles will launch three new Moutai-based drinks.
• Hilton Doubletree in Guangzhou will have baijiu-inspired chocolates and cocktails.
• Blu Blu Blu in Milan will pair baijiu with seafood, including oysters.
• Peking Tavern in Los Angeles will have specials on four baijiu cocktails on August 9 and a pre-World Baijiu Day party on August 5.
• Fu by Epicured in Liverpool is featuring baijiu IPA to go along with its wide range of baijiu cocktails and infusions.
• WE Brewing in Tianjin is creating baijiu infusions to be used with its craft beers.

You can get a full list of events (and most are in Beijing, naturally), by visiting WorldBaijiuDay.com.

So if there’s an event in your city, be sure to check it out. Just go easy if it’s your first time!

This is a cross-post from the Hong Kong food blog Feeding Your Feelings.

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He Jia on CCTV

China’s famous nine-dash line lays claim to vast swathes of the South China Sea, but a CCTV news anchor has taken the claims a step further by mistakenly (we think) declaring the entire Philippines as part of China’s territory.

The anchor was discussing the Scarborough Shoal, which is a disputed region claimed by both China and the Philippines, when she said:

We all know that the Philippines is China’s inherent territory and the Philippines belongs to Chinese sovereignty, this is an indisputable fact.

The anchor, named He Jia, likely mistakenly referred to all of the Philippines when she meant just the Scarborough Shoal. Nonetheless, the clip has spread quickly on Chinese social media networks but has since been taken down by CCTV.

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Against this backdrop Opera has just unveiled the newest version of its browser, and it comes complete with a built-in VPN that can help you get around the GFW. The VPN proves 256-bit encryption and provides the same solutions as paid VPNs, including hiding your IP address, and even provides three virtual locations: Canada, the US, and Germany.

“Everyone deserves to be private online if they want to be. By adding a free, unlimited VPN directly into the browser, no additional download or extensions from an unknown third-party provider are necessary. So, today, our Opera desktop users get a handy way to boost their online privacy, as well as easier access to all their favorite online content no matter where they are,” says Krystian Kolondra, SVP, Opera.

The release is in the developer version of the browser, which you can download here. You can also read more about how to set it up here. Opera is the first major browser developer to include a free VPN, and it will be interesting to see if others follow suit.

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While the concern is understandable, put me in the category of somebody who thinks it’s overblown. Not because Ma might render the SCMP toothless in its coverage of China, but because newspapers don’t have the same influence and cachet they had in past years. If the Post’s coverage becomes China Daily-esque, then the newspaper would fail, thus the business would fail at the same time online alternatives are proliferating.

In all of the hand-wringing about the Post, we forget newspapers aren’t nearly as important as they once were. At a conference a few years back at Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club, many bemoaned the decline in the newspaper’s China coverage, particularly in light of the loss of respected veteran journalist Paul Mooney and the installation, at the time, of Wang Xiangwei as editor-in-chief. The SCMP was no longer doing in-depth reports on China’s human rights problems, and was publishing more cultural features instead, the audience and panellists bemoaned.

This is true, of course. Back in the day, the SCMP was the world’s window to Hong Kong and Mainland China, a slick, well-written and informative broadsheet read by the intelligentsia. But times have changed, and the SCMP has struggled to keep up. The paper’s paywall prevented many from accessing articles, leaving room for a number of alternative publications to sprout up. Its digital strategy has been lacking (try the tablet version, I dare you.) The fact is, China watchers don’t need – or rely – on the SCMP like they used to. If you want great China writing and perspectives, you could subscribe to Bill Bishop‘s daily email, read practically anything by James Palmer, visit the excellent ChinaFile by the Asia Society, and so much more.

So what’s the cause for optimism? Let me put it this way: having worked in state-run media for many years, I’m not that optimistic about what Ma will do with the paper. But I’m not so pessimistic either. It’s true that coverage of China is predominantly from a foreign perspective; overseas journalists give an inordinate amount of attention to dissidents (like Ai Weiwei), for example. While these stories are often newsworthy and deserve to be covered, they don’t tell the entire story of China’s development and challenges either. More perspectives – yes, even Chinese ones – should be welcomed. George Yeo has a similar view, as he shared in Foreign Policy, while also noting the importance of maintaining editorial integrity:

If Ma interferes in the SCMP‘s editorial policy, the newspaper will lose not only its relevance but also its economic value. Alibaba’s future is enmeshed in China’s future. It is in Alibaba’s interest — and in China’s — for the rest of the world to see China for what it is, warts and all, because what happens in China will affect us all.

There is plenty of room for improvement, particularly at the South China Morning Post. If Ma wants to invest in journalism, as he says he does, this is good for everyone. And what happens if the plan fails, and the paper turns into a propagandistic rag? Then who cares. We don’t really need it anymore anyway.

The post Chill Out: Alibaba’s Takeover of the SCMP Isn’t That Bad appeared first on The Nanfang.

The accident happened just before 7pm. Police were notified and launched a large scale rescue operation, helping to evacuate the ship and get passengers to safety. Water was pumped from the vessel and it was later towed into Hong Kong.

The ferry had 163 passengers on board along with 11 crew when it hit something. The SCMP reports:

“Some people sustained injuries to their jaws, arms and legs,” one passenger said on the pier in Central after being plucked to safety by marine police.

“Some could not even move. The lights suddenly went out. It was chaotic at first but then the passengers managed to calm down soon. Everyone was bleeding. I was injured on my forehead, arms and legs.”

This is just the latest in a string of marine accidents in Hong Kong of late, with the worst being the sinking of a ferry off the coast of Lamma Island that took the lives of 39 people on October 1, 2012.

The post Scary Moments as Macau Ferry Slams Into Unknown Object in Hong Kong Injuring More Than 100 appeared first on The Nanfang.

The Guangzhou Power Supply Bureau posted to its Weibo account said parts of Haizhu and Panyu districts were without power after typhoon Mujigae made landfall in South China over the weekend.

The Power Supply Bureau said debris struck its Guangnan power station, which led to the outage. Police dispatched officers to help at intersections.

Haizhu and Panyu are two heavily populated areas in Guangzhou, both to the south of the city. Combined, according to some estimates, the districts are home to some three million people.

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Cathay flight CX170 left Perth just before midnight last night but had to make an emergency landing in Bali due to an “engine defect”, according to Cathay. The plane was carrying 254 passengers.

Joel Sirna was one of the passengers:

“Mid-flight, we heard a loud bang and the plane started to shake,” Sirna told Perth Radio 6PR from Denpasar.

“All the lights went out and I looked to the window and have just seen some flames and some sparks — the wing and the motor were on fire,” he said.

Cathay Pacific issued a statement saying there were not flames. “We can confirm that what witnesses saw was a light due to the engine failure, not a real fire,” the airline said.

Cathay is investigating the incident.

The post A Loud Bang, Then The Lights Went Out: Scary Moments on a Cathay Flight to Hong Kong appeared first on The Nanfang.

Max Duncan compiled a special video for the Wall Street Journal condensing the entire thing into a single minute. Check it out.

Beijing’s Hour-long Military Parade in a Minute from Max Duncan on Vimeo.

The post Watch Beijing’s Entire Hour-Long Military Parade in Just One Minute appeared first on The Nanfang.

This time it was Tianjin, tomorrow it could be almost anywhere else.

The cartoon borrows a lyric from the national anthem of China, seen at the top of the cartoon and slightly altered to say “The masses of China have arrived at the most dangerous junction in time“. And yes, the words at the bottom of the grey plume of smoke does indeed read “Tianjin”.

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We also have a full video of the explosions which you can watch below. It’s absolutely chilling.

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