This video, created by BuzzFeed, has compiled many of most the embarrassing social faux pas committed by non-Asians, who often offend first-generation Asians with insensitive questions and comments.
For the next three minutes, enjoy the awkward commentary, uniquely directed toward Asians. For non-Asians, this video is a chance to see how a few unconsidered words can affect others.
We came across this video today and thought it was too good not to share. It was done by TMD Shanghai, which does a lot of short sketches and comedy bits on life in China.
Check it out! If you are behind the GFW, you can find the video on Youku as well.
[This post contains content which may be upsetting to some readers]
A chef in Foshan, Guangdong has been killed by the Thailand king cobra he was preparing for a meal when it bit him long after its head was cut off, reports China Daily. Some reports say the head had been severed for 10 minutes when the bite occurred, with other reports saying 20 minutes had passed.
The victim has been identified as Peng Fan from Shunde. He was working in an unidentified restaurant that serves poisonous snakes to customers. Peng was throwing out the decapitated snake head when he was bit.
“It is a highly unusual case but it appears to be just an accident,” a police spokesman said. “He prepared the snake himself and was just unlucky. There was nothing that could be done to save the man. Only the anti-venom could have helped but this was not given in time. It was just a tragic accident.”
One news report used the incident to look more closely at the dangers posed by severed snake heads. It shows how snakes continue to move after having their heads separated from their body. This video goes to a a snake farm where several snakes have their heads cut off:
Earlier this month, an online community was outraged because they suspected a Shenzhen woman released live poisonous snakes into a local park.
Southern China is home to 35 types of snakes that are venomous. These include the Chinese cobra, the king cobra, Fea’s viper, and Russell’s viper.
Memes that spread internationally are often slower in coming to China — Gangnam Style, planking and coning come to mind, just to name a few. However, Chinese celebrity power has ensured that the ALS ice bucket challenge is a trending topic on the Chinese internet.
So far, the ice bucket challenge has been most prominent among Chinese technology leaders, perhaps due to the campaign’s involvement of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Tim Cook and other US tech stars. Those having participated in the challenge include Victor Koo of Youku, Zhou Hongyi of Qihoo 360, Lei Jun of Xiaomi, and Pet Lau of OnePlus.
But that was last week. Now, Chinese celebrities can’t wait to be called upon to take part in the challenge. Here’s a list of famous Chinese celebrities who have taken part in the ALS ice bucket challenge so far:
Zhang Ziyi, who had a news story written about her challenge:
Andy Lau, speaking in both Mandarin and Cantonese, performs his challenge on top of a building:
Donnie Yen speaks English during his challenge:
Jay Chou:
Wang Lee-hom, in the spotlight:
Joey Yung, who has Spider-Man help her for her challenge:
And Charlene Choi, whose elaborate video features music and graphics:
What is most notable is the showmanship. Each celebrity tries to outdo the previous one through better production values, shot locations, and camera techniques.
The ALS ice bucket challenge actually started nine months ago, but recently came to prominence through the efforts of US golfer Chris Kennedy. The goal of the challenge is to raise funds and awareness for ALS, (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
People who accept the challenge agree to have cold water poured onto their heads, after which they nominate others to take the challenge within a day. Those who turn down the challenge are asked to contribute at least US$100 to the ALS Foundation.
Many like to think of the cinema as a place that lets their mind wander; something that takes them to different worlds and lets their imagination run wild. In order to do that, you need peace and quiet — which is why cinemas provide advertisements reminding guests to turn off their phones and avoid taking during the film.
Some cinemas in China, however, are going in the complete opposite direction. Chinese audiences aren’t only encouraged to complain about the movie they are watching, but share their comments with the rest of the audience—by having them projected on the movie screen.
Theaters in Beijing and Shanghai have begun experimenting with a live commenting system through which audiences can share a comment by sending a text message from their phone, reports Sohu Entertainment. Messages are then projected directly on the screen over the film, or onto an adjacent screen.
The Legend of Qin is an animated film that has tried the new feature in 50 theaters in Beijing and Shanghai since it was released on August 8. Shen Leping, the film’s director, is very enthusiastic about it, saying:
We are exploring how the response from the audience can affect the movie itself… We are, in fact, putting the director and viewer on equal terms and I think many of the opinions of the viewers are very helpful for film makers.
The screenings that feature live commenting predominantly feature young audiences, 80% of whom are 24 years old or younger. This demographic is more familiar with live commenting, which is already used online. Called danmu, or “bullet screen” for the way words scroll from left to right like bullets, live commenting on videos puts user content on equal terms with the video content. Originating from Japan, two Chinese websites that have popularized the danmu are ACFun and Bilibala.
To give you a taste of what this experience is like, here’s a video (below) with live commenting enabled. The video shows a video-taped confession of Taiwanese actor Kai Ko, who was arrested on drug charges along with Jaycee Chan. Screenshots are first provided, and then with a video clip below.
Having moved from the internet and onto the silver screen, audiences can use the live commenting system to bring their own snark and sarcasm as they enjoy watching a movie through the interface of their own phone.
Beijing is the capital of China, a historic city that that residents claim is the cradle of Chinese civilization. But with so much history, perhaps it takes cities like Beijing even longer liberalize and embrace new ways of living.
That is one theory, anyway, for why some views expressed in this video might seem harsh. Beijing LGBT in Asia, a lobby group, hit the streets to ask Beijingers a series of questions related to their thoughts on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. While a few people expressed openness towards the LGBT community, others were much less so. Take a look, and let us know what you think.
To help bring your Wednesday to a close, here’s a video of a Buddhist monk playing a rock beat on the drums while accompanying another monk that is singing.
We’re not entirely sure how this came about. But here it is, in all its glory.
As we told you earlier, the pop song My Little Apple is now very popular on the Chinese internet with several spoof videos circulating on social networks.
However, one foreigner of China has endeared himself tremendously with the home crowd by making a tribute video inspired by that other Chinese pop trend that refuses to die, Journey to the West.
As explained on his Youtube page, Shaun Gibson made an English version of My Little Apple to tell a well-known story from Journey to the West: when Tripikata gets captured by the Queen Mother of the West as part of a forced marriage, and disciples Sun Wu-kong, Piggy and the rest must rescue him.
Part of the charm of Gibson’s Liverpool-based adaptation is in using costumes from the classic 80s televised version of Journey to the West, and the rest can be seen in the use of anachronisms as well as an overt Stephen Chow reference.
On the video’s Youtube page, comments were mostly positive. They include “I cant believe how incredible you are!!!!!!”, “WOW!!! that was AWESOME!”, and “Okay. Mr. Gibson, you win!!!!!”
Perhaps to make this Chinese pop song stay Chinese, the chorus has been left in the original Chinese, but the subtitles don’t provide any English version aside from pinyin. So in the efforts of making My Little Apple achieve the juggernaut cultural status of Gangnam Style to which it aspires, here’s the chorus in English so you can follow along:
You are my little apple I can’t love you enough With a face of red, you warm my the cockles of my heart and ignite the fire of my life, f-f-f-fire You are my little apple Like the most beautiful cloud in the sky When spring comes and flowers bloom all over the mountainside I will reap the bounty of the seed of hope I had planted
We wonder what’s next for Shaun Gibson, but if he is to continue to curry favor with his Chinese audience, we’d imagine it would have to involve pandas, the waving of a Chinese flag or shouting “This is real Chinese kung-fu!” at the top of his lungs.
Here’s the music video, and here’s video again on a local video provider:
A Ferrari driver in Beijing has been caught on video assaulting two people in the middle of a busy street, reports Sina News Video.
At around 11:30pm on July 23 in Beijing’s Chaoyang District near Liangma Bridge, a Ferrari sports car suddenly cut in front of a taxi. Then the driver of the sports car hopped out and moved toward the taxi.
As caught on video, the driver of the Ferrari is seen beating the taxi driver, then on his knees in the middle of the road. The Ferrari driver slapped and kicked the taxi driver and used foul language to berate him.
Later, a male passerby tried to intervene, but he too was beaten and kicked by the Ferrari driver. Neither victim fought back. Both were seen bleeding from the mouth and fell unconscious.
The police arrested the Ferrari driver once the arrived, although the driver claims he was beaten by the cops.
The video was taken by a netizen named Wang, who recorded most of the five minute-long assault.
The driver of the taxi is named Chen, 38. He suffered an ear injury and soft tissue injuries from the assault. The passerby that tried to intervene is named Yi, and he also suffered soft tissue damage and a swollen eye. He apparently now has difficulty walking.
According to Chen, the Ferrari driver had jumped in front of his taxi and said “You hit me!” while pounding on the hood. Another man with the Ferrari driver reportedly said, “He’s drunk; if you’ll come out and talk about it with him, I’m sure it will be all right.”
Are you perplexed by China? Still don’t know what to make of the “Chinese Dream” proposed by President Xi Jinping? Why not have everything explained to you by a foreigner?
That’s what a video series called China Review hopes to do. Though it is still very new, China Review has established a panel of experts ranging from diplomats to consultants to help explain the intricacies of Chinese government policies to a captive English-speaking audience.
Though the interviewees all speak in English no matter where their foreign home is located, China Review is readily accessible to a Chinese audience with provided Chinese subtitles. The Nanfang found it after it was forwarded by Sina Media.
One of the recent episodes of China Review featured Sameh El-Shahat, a representative of UK-based risk management consultancy Huayu (literally meaning “reputation of China”). When asked the difference between a Chinese dream and a “Western dream”, El-Shahat explained:
A lot of people have made the comparison between the Chinese dream and the American dream. They are two very different things. One is based on invading other countries. Okay? One is based upon a universal view of the world. This is the American dream. The Chinese dream is different. It’s… it’s… the Chinese—the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people. Right? It’s about the Chinese people doing what is good for themselves.
El-Shahat then describes what can only be summarized as a “win-win” situation:
But the history of the last 40 years has shown that when the Chinese do what is best for themselves, they also end up helping the world. So by having a dream, the Chinese are unintentionally going to share the dream with the rest of the world.
While El-Shahat began talking about the “American dream”, he continues his explanation by talking about the “Western dream”:
The big dream over the last four, five hundred years has been the Western dream. But the Western dream (touches face), its origins are not maybe the most peaceful. It started in colonialism. The Chinese dream is not going to be based on colonialism because China is going to be the first great power to have been a victim of colonialism, and not a colonial power itself. The dream already starts in a good place. So, it’s a different kind of dream.
El-Shahat reserves some key praise for current President Xi Jinping:
And it’s a dream that is needed, because if you can not dream of China as a foreigner, you can not spend more money on Chinese products, you will not do more business with the Chinese. Because China is not so big; it’s very size makes it even more suspicious. How can a country this big not have a dream? So he (Xi Jinping) was right.
Even better, El-Shahat says the “Chinese dream” is already being shared:
The Chinese dream has already started in many ways, if you think about it. In the last forty years, China has taken four, five hundred million people out of poverty. Isn’t this a dream? It will never happen again in the history of humanity. Those five hundred million people caused enough growth in China to trigger growth all around the world. China has been the engine of the world together with America for the last forty years. Without China, the West will not have developed the way it has. So, China has already been sharing the dream.
The world has changed. We’ve just watched an entire—let’s call it the “Washington Consensus”—has collapsed. You know, we’ve had the economic crisis, there’s no growth in the world. The world is not well. Why? Because of a particular vision of doing business has been shown to be wrong. That vision has been.. it’s a zero-sum vision, you know. Somebody had to grow at the expense of somebody else. China has come and say, “hey, we can all grow together”. That’s a vision. Also, the world needs an idea. And China is a responsible player in the world. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s very interesting.
“No, where are you really from?”
Cinemas In China Allowing Audiences to Type Comments Into Phone, Appear on Screen During The Film
Posted: 08/19/2014 2:17 pmMany like to think of the cinema as a place that lets their mind wander; something that takes them to different worlds and lets their imagination run wild. In order to do that, you need peace and quiet — which is why cinemas provide advertisements reminding guests to turn off their phones and avoid taking during the film.
Some cinemas in China, however, are going in the complete opposite direction. Chinese audiences aren’t only encouraged to complain about the movie they are watching, but share their comments with the rest of the audience—by having them projected on the movie screen.
Theaters in Beijing and Shanghai have begun experimenting with a live commenting system through which audiences can share a comment by sending a text message from their phone, reports Sohu Entertainment. Messages are then projected directly on the screen over the film, or onto an adjacent screen.
The Legend of Qin is an animated film that has tried the new feature in 50 theaters in Beijing and Shanghai since it was released on August 8. Shen Leping, the film’s director, is very enthusiastic about it, saying:
The screenings that feature live commenting predominantly feature young audiences, 80% of whom are 24 years old or younger. This demographic is more familiar with live commenting, which is already used online. Called danmu, or “bullet screen” for the way words scroll from left to right like bullets, live commenting on videos puts user content on equal terms with the video content. Originating from Japan, two Chinese websites that have popularized the danmu are ACFun and Bilibala.
To give you a taste of what this experience is like, here’s a video (below) with live commenting enabled. The video shows a video-taped confession of Taiwanese actor Kai Ko, who was arrested on drug charges along with Jaycee Chan. Screenshots are first provided, and then with a video clip below.
Having moved from the internet and onto the silver screen, audiences can use the live commenting system to bring their own snark and sarcasm as they enjoy watching a movie through the interface of their own phone.
Photos: Sohu Entertainment, CCTV English