Asia

As most people with an interest in China are probably aware, the 26th marked the first day of the lunar new year, ushering in the year of the Ox. I will make no comments about being gored or being bullish but only note that the fireworks frenzy that grips Chinese at this time of year seems to have been even crazier than ever. This may be …

From my colleague Hannah Beech, a look at what the stars have to say about the upcoming year. And below, a photo of Chinese New Year celebrations by the Drum and Bell towers in central Beijing last night.

Here’s a link to my latest story, on how China’s “human flesh search engines” are occasionally turning against government officials.

From our colleague Michael Schuman in Hong Kong, a look at China’s slowing economic growth.

It’s the slogan that has launched countless interpretations and translations. Yesterday we mentioned the difficulty people in China are having reaching a consensus on what President Hu Jintao meant last month when he used the phrase “bu zheteng” (不折腾). Perhaps that’s the sign of a good slogan. Both everyone and no one knows what it …

From a Beijing newspaper comes a disturbing story about two teenagers who were lured to Burma with the prospect of jobs, then kidnapped and held for ransom. Danwei has a summary of the original Beijing News piece. It says the parents of the boys, Zhou Dawei and Zhang Bo, were called and told to pay 80,000 RMB ($12,000) or else their …

A couple of years ago I met the Hong Kong director Herman Yau, who was finishing up what was then the most expensive horror movie in Chinese history. He was casting about for an English title and I suggested “The Ghost Inside.” It stuck. I never saw a dime for my contribution, and didn’t even get to meet the hottie star Barbie Hsu. But …

From the AP, a look at what lines were cut from Obama’s inauguration speech by some mainland Web portals:

Chinese translations of President Barack Obama’s inauguration speech posted Wednesday on popular online portals were missing his references to communism and dissent.

The comments by the newly installed U.S. president veered into

…

So President Hu Jintao had to intervene with the Ministry of Railways to try and bring some order to the sale to tickets. It’s may strike some non-Chinese as a little odd that the president of a country of 1.3 billion people should reach down to the level of railway ticket sales. But in China just before the Spring Festival, this is a …

My apologies. I should have provided an explanation. The restaurant whose sign I posted a picture of below is a Halal establishment serving to classic jingwei’r –capital taste– dishes. One is a sort of mutton burger (the “meat patty”). The other is a tripe dish, hence the exploding –or ‘burst might be a better translation– stomach. …

Cooking at home is one way to save money during the economic downturn. But if you are genetically predisposed to eating out whenever possible, the only alternative is to eat out as cheaply as possible. Fortunately in Beijing that’s not a problem. Sure, there are places like the coffee shop I visited Sunday that offered 90RMB ($13.15) …

As a rule we don’t post signs in peculiar English as they mostly fall into the “aren’t the natives charmingly dopey” patronization and anyway are well covered elsewhere. Like all good rules, however, it is made to be broken, particularly when the sign below is A) exactly the same, word for word in Chinese and B) priceless. For anyone who …