We of Wocview are constantly on the lookout for things that basicly are fun. And we have been tracking the Super Baozi movies for a while, but ever since the second short, nothing has happend. And therefore it was time for a roundup; so here they are:

Super Baozi Kung fu band sings Jay Chou’s “Dragon Fist” 包强-龙拳

And this one pays tribute to Bruce Lee. Super Baozi vs Sushi man. 超级包子大战寿司侠（高清）

bron: www.youtube.com

After a 2 year investigation of the police from Heerlen, the Netherlands, a notorious random-shitter has finally been arrested. This 47-year old Dutch man made a habit of shitting near the local lake instead of the toilet bowl.

The man would have at least done that 50 times. And there would be a large amount of toilet paper scattered around the area.

The motive of the random-shitter is unknown, but probably a psychic problem is the case. The man is also suspected of deflating the tires of the same car multiple times, with a sharp object. And he is also suspected of carving the linen roof of this car to pieces.

bron: www.spitsnieuws.nl [24-12-2009]

China has almost certainly overtaken Japan to become the world’s second-biggest economy after state officials dramatically upgraded their estimates for the country’s growth last year.

[On track: China's output will surpass that of Japan's in 2010, according to the World Bank. Photo: Getty Images]

The fast-growing emerging economy had been expected to surpass Japan next year, but the transition looks to have happened in 2009, based on China’s new growth estimates. Its statistics bureau said that China grew by 9.6pc – rather than 9pc – in 2008, meaning its economic output was 31.405 trillion yuan, or $4.6 trillion (£2.9 trillion), last year.

According to the World Bank, Japan’s annual output was the equivalent of $4.9 trillion last year, but it is expected to shrink by 6.6pc this year. Meanwhile, Chinese officials project that its economy will grow by more than 8pc this year. It means it is likely that China became a larger economy than Japan some time in the second half of this year.

Statisticians said the bigger-than-expected expansion last year was fuelled largely by strong growth from the services sector, something which was only uncovered after a detailed census into economic activity during the year. The revisions continue a recent trend of officials upgrading their estimates for previous years’ economic growth.

In 2005, its statisticians dramatically upgraded their estimates of the size of the economy, catapulting it over Britain to become, at the time, the world’s fifth biggest economy.

Peng Zhilong, the head of the bureau’s national economy calculation department, said that the main difference was in the overall size of the economy, rather than its growth rate, adding that China would expand by more than 8pc this year.

David Cohen, of Action Economics in Singapore, said: “The big underlying factor propelling China’s growth is the migration of people from the agricultural sector to the more modern economy – industry and services. There’s no stopping China.”

But although China’s breakneck expansion looks likely to continue for some time yet, there are concerns over the country’s path.

Some economists compare China’s position – with the authorities combining low interest rates with high government investment and rising asset prices – to Japan in the late-1980s, warning that it, too, could fall victim to a crash.

Some worry about the country’s demography. The one-child policy means that in the coming years its population is likely to age extremely quickly, increasing the pressure on its public finances and dampening its long-term growth prospects.

Nevertheless, the news about the country’s strong growth will add to hopes that it will help support the wider world economy out of recession next year. Whereas 2009 was the year that brought the first worldwide economic contraction since the Second World War, the opening quarter of 2010 is expected to see the major economies back in growth again.

Although Britain contracted by 0.2pc in the third quarter of 2009, according to the latest official statistics, it is expected to move back towards growth in the final quarter of the year.

However, economists said the first quarter of 2010 would be marked by increasing tension over the fiscal position of various countries. Having had to borrow unprecedented amounts in order to prevent a deeper recession, a number of countries have generated large deficits, which may scare off international investors.

bron: www.telegraph.co.uk [26-12-2009]

Tanggulashan town officials have come up with a unique plan to kill grassland-destroying rats. They have erected about 830 bird perches to attract hawks and wolves, which in turn can kill the rats, reports China Daily.

The town, referred to as the “first town of the Yangtze River source”, has been struggling with the problem, leading to desertification.

In 1998, the local government started to wipe out the rats with a chemical called rodenticide. But it had a negative impact on the grassland. The government recently came up with the idea to attract hawks and wolves to kill the rats.

bron: www.dnaindia.com

Chinese woman Wen Hsiao-chuan was sentenced to eight years in prison for attempting to murder her husband, Shen Chun-lu, said Hsinchu District Court, in Taiwan ROC.

Wen, who married Shen in 1999, attempted to intoxicate her husband to death by mixing pesticides into his sandwiches this March and April.

Wen was not happy with the treatment she received in the family, according to the court verdict. Shen reported the case after he recovered from the intoxication. The police found that Shen’s mother had died of intoxication five years ago.

The investigators dug out of the corpse and conducted an autopsy and did not find direct proof indicating the murderer. The court convicted Shen of attempted murder, but said she was not guilty of murdering her mother-in-law due to the lack of evidence.

bron: www.chinapost.com.tw

A recent CNN.com feature titled “Growing up Black in China” offered a personal account of how Lou Jing (娄婧), a former reality show contestant with an African-American father, is dealing with the racial controversy she sparked this summer.

Lou definitely needed that comfort again when malicious and hateful comments concerning her mixed parentage were spewed over the internet.

Since the social construction of race that we have formulated in the West is relatively new to China, Lou’s ordeal on “Go! Oriental Angel” provides an interesting analysis of how the Chinese are tackling racial issues as their country has become more diverse. China’s economic rise has resulted in more foreigners moving into cities and a greater influence of American popular culture. I’ve learned more about this cultural shift from my Chinese students in the pop culture and English composition classes I’ve taught.

My pop culture course examines racial and gender themes in American music, film and television, and my Chinese students have been extremely interested in cultural similarities along gender lines, but have been reluctant to talk about race. In one of my class discussions on music and reality shows this year, they did not mention their country’s reaction to Lou, but pointed out the experience of Li Yuchun, a 2005 contestant on another “Idol”-like show called “Super Girl,” later renamed “Happy Girls.”

The disapproval that many Chinese expressed towards Li centered on her boyish appearance – she sported short, spiked hair and wore no makeup. My students stressed that Li’s popularity challenged China’s “conventional gender norms” and prompted former Minister of Culture Liu Zhongde to criticize “Super Girls” as “poison for youth” and “a disgrace to art.”

Although many Chinese were uncomfortable with Li’s tomboyish look, she won the “Super Girl” competition and gained a huge following among younger viewers.

From what I’ve read so far about Lou, it will take some Chinese a little longer to accept her. One of the racial similarities in China and America that is evident from Lou’s experience on “Go! Oriental Angel” is that the dominant physical characteristics of individuals with mixed heritage determine how they are racially classified. Because of her dark skin, Lou will never be accepted by some Chinese as completely Chinese.

In America, people with African American and white parentage often choose to label themselves according to the racial group they most resemble. For example, actress Halle Berry, whose mother is white, has explained that it was easier for her to identify herself as black due to how she looks. Her decision was most likely based on the fact that when people have tried to step out of the rigid racial boxes we’ve constructed in America, the reaction is often one of ridicule and scorn.

When Tiger Woods called himself a “Cablinasian” – a contraction of Caucasian, black, American Indian and Asian – on “Oprah” 12 years ago after winning his first Masters golf tournament, he attempted to highlight his Asian and African American heritage. Yet, many blacks thought Woods was ashamed of his skin color and accused him of downplaying his influence on black children. Woods’ current marital scandal has resulted in what some consider a racially indifferent response from African Americans.

China’s racial issues are not as complex as ours since the country is mostly a homogenous population. However, as Lou’s story has broadened the discussion on race, it will be interesting to see how issues of multiculturalism are addressed in the future.

My Chinese students did eventually share with me that prejudice in China is rooted in class achievement in addition to ethnic background, so as the nation begins to grapple with the latter, they will have to examine what it really means to be Chinese today.

• Jessica Johnson, a 1987 graduate of Clarke Central High School, is a correspondent for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch and an adjunct professor at Columbus State Community College.

bron: www.onlineathens.com [26-12-2009]

____________________________________________________________________________________________

We of Wocview know that this issue is highly debated by Chinese netizens, and therefore we did some research and compiled a comprehensive but indepth summary of different viewpoints.

Chinese netizens critisized Lou Jing (娄婧) for 5 reasons:

1) Her mother, a Shanghainese-Chinese woman had a sexual relation with an African-American, and got abandoned when she got pregnant. Which adds to an existing stereotype of African or dark tinted people, and implicates sideways to her mother’s poor choice of men or even loose morals. (Strangely enough; if her father was Caucasian this would have been considered normal). There is however another report which says: Lou Jing was the result of an illicit affair she had with an African-American man some 20 years ago. Ms Lou’s mother, who is a Shanghainese and known only as Madam Lou, said her Chinese husband divorced her when he found their newborn looked African instead of Chinese.

2) To conceive before marriage and give a birth to the child who has no father is considered disgraceful in China. Besides, there is a Chinese proverb: 家丑不可外扬 (do not spill out the shame of your family to outside), but yet Lou Jing told the public of her family in a tv-show, and that her intention was to find her father. This announcement outraged many Chinese, who think she is shameless and want to boost her popularity by such an action to get more votes. Whether this is a misunderstanding or not, only Lou Jing knows.

3) Once she said: “my father is an American, not an African”, this sentence makes many people think she looks down on the Africans, and her makes moral quality suspicious. Maybe she just thought to be an American is better to be an African, who knows…

4) Some people are skeptical about her origin, because if her father is an American, she could easily get the US nationality. Why did she opt to stay in China? A few people even speculate that her father fits perfectly in the stereotype of an irresponsible African man, but she pretends to have an American father just for showing off.

5) Many Chinese netizens also dislike the notion that foreigners consider Chinese women an “easy catch”. And this case proves once more that not only the “white devils” (Laowai), but also black people get an easy shot at Chinese women, who are known for applying a “double standard” when it comes to non-Chinese vs Chinese partners. Where the latter one clearly suffers in having a hard time finding a partner where the man-woman ratio in China is very bad from a male perspective. Many Chinese netizens critisize the lack of self respect of Chinese girls when it comes down to the choice of a foreign partner compared to a Chinese one.

Another part of the netizens do think that Lou Jing is treated too harshly. For a little girl to endure so much criticism, while most of the blame should have gone to her mother. Even so, the racial discomfort about foreigners is only verbal, hate crimes/attacks based on race never happen in China. You never see a Chinese guy attacking a foreigner just because his skin color is different, while these sort of hate crimes happens daily in for example America, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and England.

A 16-year-old South Giles Street resident was arrested Wednesday morning on a host of charges connected to the theft of two cars this fall.

The teen is accused of stealing a Chinese restaurant delivery driver’s Toyota Camry off South Giles Street on Oct. 24 and a Ford Taurus from Laurel Street and McCormick Place on Nov. 15.

Both cars had been left running while unattended when they were stolen. They were recovered undamaged within two days of being reported stolen.

Police identified the teen as a suspect by tracing the call made to the Chinese restaurant to place the fake order to his cell phone.

The teen was charged with two counts of unlawful taking of a means of conveyance, as well as conspiracy and theft charges. He was released on his own recognizance.

bron: www.nj.com [26-12-2009]

A Chinese robber threatened to blow up a restaurant with sausages, disguised as explosives, strapped to his body.

The 23-year-old man ate a meal at the restaurant, in Benxi, Heilongjang province, before grabbing the owner’s daughter.

He put a knife to her neck and demanded cash from the till – but the restaurateur and other diners overpowered him.

They called the police – but when officers arrived the man, named He, jumped to his feet and revealed his ‘explosive’ belt.

Police managed to restrain He and took him outside to an open space – and called bomb disposal experts, reports the Huashang Morning Post.

“When they experts arrived, they laughed out loud as they quickly realised the explosives were actually sausages,” said a police spokesman.

He said he staged the robbery because he was depressed after splitting up with his girlfriend. He told police he had been “inspired” by the shape of the sausages.

bron: www.ananova.com

The busiest parking lots in town Friday were those outside Asian restaurants, places like Yamato and Hot Wok and Miraku.

It doesn’t say Christmas quite like marking the birth of Jesus or even passing out presents under the tree, but lots of folks in Evansville made chowing down at Chinese restaurants part of their day.

“I cooked for 30 people last night, but I don’t have to worry about it today because our son takes care of it,” said Raleigh, Ill., resident Carole Rash, who dined at a large table with family members at Yen Ching at 406 S. Green River Road.

[pict: ERIN McCRACKEN / Courier & Press Charlie Chang, owner of Yen Ching at 406 S. Green River Road, refills the buffet line Friday.]

Rash and her husband, Randall Rash, were guests of their son, Evansville resident Randy Rash and his wife, Deanna, and their four children.

The family didn’t have to look up Yen Ching in the phone book. They are loyal customers for whom eating at the restaurant on Christmas Day — and lots of other days — is a way of life. The Rashes’ youngest daughter, Ranesah, has been eating there for seven years — and she is 7 years old.

[pict: Ranesah Rash, 7, takes a drink from her mother, Deanna Rash, as her father, Randy Rash, and their family enjoy their eighth consecutive Christmas Day dinner at Yen Ching.]

“(Yen Ching employees) have watched them all grow up,” a chuckling Deanna Rash said of her children.

A few blocks away at Jimmy Jeng’s Szechwan Restaurant, 669 N. Green River Road, Newburgh residents Jon Rochner and Peggy Pirro aimed to create a smaller-scale, more intimate annual tradition.

The couple, in their second year of Yuletide eating at the restaurant, enjoy the benefits of hot food prepared by someone else during a busy holiday season.

“Christmas is a very ‘home’ holiday,” Pirro said. “But after you’ve been home for a few hours, it’s nice to get out in public and not have the public pressures of the shopping and so on. That’s all behind you, and you can just relax.”

The diners in the Chinese restaurant were hardly a small group. At Yen Ching shortly before 5 p.m., the aisles between tables teemed with humanity in a bustling, standing-room-only dining room. Jimmy Jeng’s also was crowded, with a second dining room booked for the evening.

Yen Ching was open from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m., and Jimmy Jeng’s from 4:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.

Yen Ching co-owner Charlie Chang recalled a Christmas a few years ago when a woman burst into his restaurant and broke into tears.

“They were looking for a restaurant, and they couldn’t find any restaurant that was open, and she was so excited she was crying,” Chang said. “It is a tradition for a lot of families to come here on this day.”

New tradition

Jeng began opening his 10-year-old restaurant on Christmas Day in 2007 because some of his most loyal customers persistently had requested it.

“We have no alcohol, and it is a good day,” Jeng said before dashing back out onto the main dining room floor to help handle a rapidly developing crush of customers.

Sisters Megan and Tosha Rodriquez, who are students at Ivy Tech Community College, didn’t come to Yen Ching as longtime loyalists or seekers of a new holiday tradition. They came because Denny’s wasn’t open.

The sisters, who spent the earlier part of the day with family members, were excited about the clothes they received as presents and about the excuse to break out of their daily routines.

They said they would likely go to a movie later in the evening. “It’s just another day,” Megan Rodriquez said with a laugh. “A good day.”

bron: www.courierpress.com [25-12-2009]