Consistently ranked near the top of China’s air pollution list, the eastern industrial Province of Hebei, with its coal-burning plants, is notorious for its poor air quality. In a rare admission of guilt, the mayor of Baoding, Ma Yufeng, publicly apologized for the city’s poor air quality while delivering the city’s annual report.

“Among 74 key cities monitored by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, our city was ranked at the top of the 10 cities with the worst air quality readings … as mayor of the city, I am deeply upset, guilty, and hold myself responsible. I want to apologize to the residents of our city and to the delegates of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.”

The report wasn’t all bad news, however. The mayor made note of the city’s improved air quality over the past year, which say PM 2.5 readings decline by 4.4 percent. But this has done little to dispel the city’s poor reputation, which has become synonymous with dirty air.

In 2013, Greenpeace ranked Baoding as having the third worst air pollution in China.In 2013, Greenpeace ranked Baoding as having the third worst air pollution in China. Its PM 2.5 density averaged around 127.9 annually, and peaked at 675.

Hebei, a largely industrial province, is heavily dependent on coal-burning. Smoke emitting from one of Hebei’s many chimneys is a permanent fixture of the skyline. Hebei’s neighbouring city, Beijing, which suffers from its own air pollution problem, often blames Hebei as a source of its poor air quality.

Air pollution has become a hot topic in China of late, after former CCTV presenter Chai Jing released a groundbreaking documentary on the causes of the country’s smog that has divided audiences.

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A car crash at Shenzhen’s Bao’an International Airport has killed nine people and injured at least another 23. The accident occurred after a red Mercedez-Benz veered off the road and crashed into a nearby overpass.

Although not designed for it, the overpass was popular among pedestrians watching planes take-off. Five people were killed immediately, and another two were pronounced dead at hospital. The driver, a 24 year-old said to be from Chongqing, is in intensive care.

The driver was apparently startled by honking horns and over-steered into the overpass, according to the driver’s boyfriend who was in the vehicle. One witness, a taxi driver named Yang, said the crash was so forceful that “a row of people were blown off the ground” and called the scene one of the scariest things he’s ever seen in his life.

Pedestrians are actually banned from the overpass, and airport security typically patrols the area to disperse them on a daily basis. Witnesses reported that there were no signs, or other markers, indicating that the area was off-limits.

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A groundbreaking documentary about China’s debilitating smog problem has struck a chord in the country, having already been viewed 100 million times since its release last week. The video, a TED-style talk done by former CCTV presenter Chai Jing called “China’s Haze: Under the Dome”, looks at the causes of China’s pollution problem and insinuates the government could be doing more to improve China’s air quality.

The self-funded piece has mostly drawn praise from people in China, with even the newly anointed environment minister giving the 104-minute piece the thumbs up.The self-funded piece has mostly drawn praise from people in China, with even the newly anointed environment minister giving the 104-minute piece the thumbs up. But several critics have emerged, questioning Chai’s decision to use her daughter’s story as a backdrop to the documentary. Chai’s daughter has a tumor in her lung, leading many to question if Chai brought a fair-and-balanced perspective to the issue.

Professor Wu Jing from Peking University accused Chai’s documentary of trying to appease public sentiment for commercial gains. Others doubted if the solution proposed by Chai, which is to replace coal with gas and new energy, is actually possible given China’s rich coal resources and the constraints of technology.

One teacher at the Central Academy of Drama even went so far as to criticise China’s entire middle class, arguably the most vocal group about the smog problem, for being hypocritical. On one hand, he said the middle class in Beijing is always concerned about the problem and blames neighbouring Hebei province for smog, but on the other hand, they indulge in high-energy consuming lifestyles, oblivious of their own impact on smog.

Despite the criticism, however, most Internet users sided with Chai and commended her for putting the issue on the table and giving the public a chance to understand the problem, and hopefully inspire some actions to improve it.

One Weibo user (光远看经济) defended Chai, writing, “As expected, many experts shook their heads and voiced their criticism, saying Chai Jing’s investigation is not professional and has many technical errors. If you are professional, why don’t you do something about it? If you are professional, why up until now, do you still not know what causes smog? If you are professional, what did you do to solve the smog problem? I think the only thing that’s professional about the so-called experts is they always jump out and accuse others for being unprofessional when they have done something professional indeed.”

It appears thousands of Chinese people agree. This post has been liked 103,000 times and shared 23,745 times by last night (March 1).

You can watch Chai Jing’s documentary here.

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There have been stories of Chinese tourists behaving badly overseas and on airplanes; now, they have their sights set on Antarctica.

Some Chinese tourists, described as “eager to touch everything” in Antarctica, are demonstrating “very disappointing behaviour,” said one Chinese news photographer. Some were chasing penguins and charging into their colony, completely disregarding rules to protect the birdsSome were chasing penguins and charging into their colony, completely disregarding rules to protect the birds, he said. A newlywed couple even shooed off several penguins for the perfect photo shoot.

According to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), Chinese tourism in Antarctica has grown significantly over the last ten years. In 2004, only 37 people travelled to Antarctica; but by 2014, about 3,328 Chinese arrived on Antarctica’s shores, placing third behind American and Australian tourists.

In addition to having a negative impact on the local habitat and wildlife, China’s Antarctic Great Wall Station on King George Island has been unprepared for the number of visitors. Qu Tanzhou, a director at the station, said: “More and more Chinese tourists are flooding in, and it disrupts our daily work.”

Most online users are infuriated by the tourists’ behavior. “They are so embarrassing. Next stop for them should be Mars,” one wrote.

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The passenger, identified by his surname Xie, was detained and held for 10 days for “disrupting public order” after threatening to blow-up a plane. Xie became irate after the pilot announced that the flight, which was departing Shenzhen for Nanchang, was to be delayed by an hour.

With the passengers already on the plane, Xie reportedly marched from economy to first-class, yelling at the flight crew and threatening to “blow-up the plane if it did not take off now”. The flight crew took emergency measures and immediately evacuated passengers and crew. Security boarded the plane and detained Xie, who, as a result of his disruption, managed to delay the flight for another hour.

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In the opening number, actor Tong Dawei was wearing Gieves & Hawkes, while his wife, actress Guan Yue, wore a rainbow-colored dress from Shiatzy Chen’s 2015 Spring/Summer collection.

Wife and Husband team, Guan Yue and Tong Dawei

Na Ying, who sang a song called Silk Road, was spotted wearing a pork-dot Givenchy pantsuit, accessorized with Tasaki jewellery and pumps by Gucci.

Na Ying’s Givenchy pant suit was straight from the fashion house’s 2015 collection.

Li Yuchun, winner of Super Girl, China’s answer to American Idol, was wearing a customized pantsuit also by Shiatzy Chen. Hong Kong singer Karen Mok wore the same designer brand. Actress Liu Tao, who paired with comedian Guo Dongling, was wearing bright red Dolce & Gabbana. Actor Lu Yi who appeared on popular reality TV Show Where Did My Dad Go? was wearing the same designer brand, as was his wife and daughter who sang a song together on the show.

Li Yuchun picked out this design out of over 20 design sketches.

Actor Zhu Yawen was wearing Gucci, and Hong Kong pop singer G.E.M. wore Emma Wallace.

The Lu family all opted for Dolce & Gabanna.

The show of glitz, glamor, and wealth was in stark contrast to orders from President Xi Jinping to rein in overt displays of wealth.

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Singletons attending a speed dating in mainland China.

It isn’t easy being Chinese if you’re male, a PhD candidate, and single. It’s the absolute worst if you’re also from Guizhou.

New research by the Southwestern Economics University found Chinese singles in the 20 to 30 age group scored 126 on the happiness index, which is scale from 100 to 150 with 150 being the happiest. When singles in the 30 to 40 age group were examined, the happiness index score dropped even lower to 119.8.

Perhaps the most unhappy singles in China were those with PhD degrees, whose scored 109.4 on the index. According to the research, the average score for PhDs was about 121. Contrary to the common belief that female PhDs were the least happy, research showed that male PhDs were less happy than their female counterparts, scoring 117.1 on the happiness index compared with 121.6 for the ladies.

Guizhou residents fared no better. The province’s happiness index was calculated at 118.6, well below the national average of 130.5. One reason believed to be driving Guizhou’s unhappiness is pressures involved with housing. Research showed that buying a 90 square meter apartment in the province required at least 16 years of work, which is the fifth longest in the country. Shandong, on the other hand, enjoyed the highest happiness index score at 147.5, given that it takes only seven years to buy the same-sized apartment. It’s also one of the least expensive real estate markets, along with Heilongjiang Province and Inner Mongolia.

Maybe the most interesting finding?  High-income earners, including the so-called white, rich, and pretty (白富美) and tall, rich, and handsome (高富帅), which earn more than RMB 30 per hour, enjoyed the same level of happiness with the diaosi, the self-proclaimed losers, who earned between RMB 7 to 12 per hour.

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The red dragon fish was imported from Indonesia four years ago into Wuhan, and has grown from 20cm to its current length. The fish has a life expectancy of up to 100 years.

Thus far, no one is willing to bite.  Although there have been many interested buyers, according to animal experts, while the fish is rare, the price is simply too high.

The dragonfish, also known as Asian Arowana, is a freshwater fish largely raised to be kept in captivity. The owner of the shop said eating the red dragonfish does not have any medicinal effects; however, its red colour and cultural association with the Chinese phrase 年年有余, make it popular among wealthy businessman who believe the fish brings good fortune.

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A more economical, albeit much slower mode of transportation, the motorcycle has become the vehicle of choice for the armies of migrant workers riding with their wives, and often young children sandwiched between them, to get home for the holidays. Scores of riders have been flooding the highways since February 4, armed with gloves and plastic wrappers around their feet to fend off the winter cold.

This year, the scale of the migration is historic. According to estimates by Guangdong’s traffic department, a city with more than three million migrant workers, the number of migrant workers riding home this year is expected to reach 600,000.

Mr Liang, a migrant worker in Shunde, a district of Foshan, was among the motorcycle army. He said riding home on a motorcycle saved him more than RMB 500 compared with the taking the bus, never mind the train.

China’s army of motorcycles dates back to the 1990s, when many migrant workers from Guangxi and Guizhou bought their first motorcycles.  But, ride with caution; this month alone, there have been 23 reported motorcycle accidents with five deaths and 12 injuries in Zhaoqing, Yunfu and Meizhou.

Below are some images of the motorcycle army:

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While China’s president Xi Jinping was paying a visit to Ya’nan, the former revolutionary base of the Communist Party and where Xi spent much of his youth, his American counterpart was charming Chinese audiences with a Taylor Swift parody and selfies.

Baracksdubs, a professional soundbite team, cut and pasted sound bites of Obama’s speeches to create a video where he appears to be singing Taylor Swift’s hit song, “Shake It Off”. The video subsequently went viral on Chinese social media and video sharing websites.

By the end of the day, the phrase “Obama Shake It Off” had been searched close to 60,ooo times on Sina Weibo. At the same time, images of Obama taking selfies with a selfie stick, and making faces in front of mirror in the White House, began to gain traction online.

Chinese newspaper Xinmin posted all of the GIF images and wrote on its Weibo account, “February 15 is the deadline for enrolling in Obamacare. In order to attract more young voters to purchase healthcare, Obama took a selfie for promotion.”

Many netizens were impressed by Obama’s casual and approachable demeanour in the images. One Weibo user named 逝者如斯随风舞 wrote, “Other people’s presidents are an ordinary human beings, while ours is seen as a god.”

Another user called yixiu_lai wrote sarcastically, “The president who doesn’t visit Yan’an during Chinese Spring Festival is not a good president.”

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