China.CoolerThanThou.net - Cool Stuff From China

Gay Marriage in China

A post over on Peking Duck raises an interesting question. Will China approve gay marriage before the US does?

There’s something to be said for a society that isn’t blinded by the foaming-at-the-mouth intolerance of the fundamentalist religious groups (Muslims, Jews, Christians, fill in the blank). Granted many Chinese have their own customized blinders - party dogma and a culture that makes it all but impossible to tell your parents you are not getting married. But the new generation of Chinese are amazingly tolerant and they simply don’t possess the wild-eyed ideology to make them fall for such hollow nonsense as gay marriage “threatens the sanctity of traditional marriage.”

I don't think either country will approve gay marriage particularly quickly, but there are some indications in China that there is tolerance for homosexuality in contrast to what one might expect. Remember our post from back in February about lesbians in Beijing posing for wedding pictures? They didn't seem to run into too much trouble. And that's certainly a good sign.

Funny 'Chinglish' Signs in China

One of the coolest things about visiting China is checking out all the English mistakes that end up on public signs. Otherwise known as 'chinglish,' this phenomenon will provide you with endless entertainment if you ever come to the Middle Kingdom.

Here are a few sample from ellamay.com. Absolutely priceless!

Hot Chinese Babe of the Day: Yu Na

Only in China: 8 People on 1 Motorcycle

I've seen 8 people in a car before, but 8 people on a motorcycle is truly awesome:



See the entire photo set over on China Smack.

Hot Chinese Babe of the Day: Gong Li (& the twins)

Detian Falls At the China-Vietnam Border

Here's an awesome picture from the Sino-Vietnamese Border. Detian falls (or Ban Gioc Falls in Vietnamese) are located in Daxing County, Chongzuo prefecture in Guangxi Province.

They are the fourth largest falls in the world to lie on a national border, and as such are the subject of some controversy (such is usually the case near any Chinese border). 

The Sino-Vietnam War is something that a lot of Chinese people are not fully aware of. And if you're ever talking politics in China (a somewhat tedious pastime to be sure), the Sino-Vietnamese war is something you always want to have in your back pocket when discussing China, America, and war.

Buy a house, get a free wife

Danwei has a fascinating post on how one Chinese housing developer has come up with an interesting strategy for selling houses:

The company encourages future homeowners to date its sales girls and promises a wedding present of RMB 60,000 to any couple that ends up getting married. The official story is that the company lured the sales ladies with a commitment to pay 8% in sales commissions as well as the opportunity to strike gold by securing a wealthy husband.

However, a local Real Estate executive I spoke to pointed out that the girls on offer are not that attractive. His theory is that the developer is not making money on selling apartments and so it signed a deal with a matchmaking agency to mary these "unwanted" girls to rich husbands. In return, the developer will receive much more than RMB 60,000 for every girl they manage to "give away".

I knew there had to be a catch. Ugly girls. Still, it just goes to show that this economic crisis is not leaving China unaffected.

Chinese Police Training Manual Leaked Online

Somewhere in China, police officials are extremely pissed off. According to the Telegraph one of their training manuals has been leaked online, and as one would expect, the content is a little controversial.

The published sections of the manual explain that officers must quell any dispute swiftly. "Without letting go of the subject, several officers shall act together and in a single move take the individual under bodily control," it said. "Each action must be effective so as not to give the subject any pause for breath."

Most likely the police will defend this by claiming that the document is a fake. But it will be interesting to see if the document circulates far enough to have any serious impact. Or will it be censored before it can make a splash.

photo source

Harmonica Team

Enough said.

source

China Fights Pirates with Dolphins

I can't believe this story. In fact, I'm surprised that xinhua expected anyone else to believe it. As their story goes, Somali pirates were in position to pounce on one of their ships when China's army of dolphins came to the rescue!

Thousands of dolphins suddenly leaped out of water between pirates and merchants when the pirate ships headed for the China's. The suspected pirates ships stopped and then turned away. The pirates could only lament their littleness befor the vast number of dolphins. The spectacular scene continued for a while. China initiated its three-ship escort task force on Dec. 26 last year. xinhua

Tell me if I'm becoming too cynical about Chinese media, but does this not strike anyone else as a load of horse manure?  It is good entertainment though. It's unfortunate for the Chinese people though that their main publication is about as reliable as gossip rags in the US. Both lie through their teeth, but for vastly different reasons. But then again, maybe I'm taking this too seriously. Who knows?

Hot Chinese Babe of the Week: Meng Guangmei

source

Hundreds of Chinese Bought Degrees in France

From BBC News comes an interesting but not altogether surprising story of Chinese students buying degrees in France:

An official at a French university says he was offered a huge bribe to award degrees falsely to Chinese students. . . Police and the education ministry are investigating claims that hundreds of Chinese students have bought degrees, in a scam going back four years. . . Le Monde newspaper said this week that students were able to buy degrees for around 2,700 euros (£2,400). . . Mr Gensse told France-Inter radio that he had been offered a bribe of 100,000 euros to give degrees to Chinese students despite their "lamentable" grades.

Of course such incidents are widespread in China, likely a combination of two things: 1) Intense competition in University, in anticipation of an equally competitive job market, and 2) Widespread corruption in all facets of Chinese society.

I'm curious to hear if any of our readers out have thoughts on this. If there are any English Teachers reading this, I wonder if any of your students have ever attempted to bribe you in the past? If so, let us know.

Hot Chinese Babe of the Day: Marianne Chan

Fragile Car Made in China

This is a bit of an oldie, but a goodie for sure. Check out this video of a very fragile car. Supposed made in China, but of course we all know that this one is computer generated. I'm not sure how they managed to do this, but it looks pretty awesome. Have a look for yourself.

Does anyone out there own a Chinese car? What do you think of them? Let us know in the comments.

Auto made in china
by RhubarbCake

Hot Chinese Babe of the Day: Mei Ting