
Found on bbs.163.com, a concerned Netizen posts the story of a boy who has been chained to his window, naked, every day for the last three years, while his father goes to work. Commenters express alarm and sympathy, but one has to wonder how the kid hasn’t slid out of that chain yet:
[Heart-breaking] the five-year-old boy living locked in an iron chain
A five-year-old boy named Qiangqiang is being locked with an iron chain by his father in a rented house in Liulitun Village, on Yellow River Street in the city of Zhengzhou. Qiangqiang is infected with a disease with strange symptoms. He is always putting his head against the wall. The family has become impoverished, due to the high cost of the medical treatment. Qiangqiang’s mother has left the unbearable situation. And the thirty-five-year-old father has no choice but to lock his son up with an iron chain beside the window, which has been going on for three years.

I think he should be receiving good medical treatment instead of being locked up.

Fortunately, this boy doesn’t look thin and weak.
What if he wants to have a meal? He cannot eat in this way. And why is he naked?

Almost as soon as the Sanlu milk crisis became known in China, bloggers were circulating jaded bits of humor, getting in jabs at the companies and Party officials involved.
Here’s one that was passed around on QQ chat, and also at Sina.com:
三鹿事件后,河北省研究决定采用以下方法解决:
由沙隆达等大型农药生产厂家趁机一元收购三鹿集团,改名为三鹿农药厂,三鹿奶粉直接换包装改为三鹿 杀虫剂,此杀虫剂杀虫原理为使虫子得肾结石而死,无农药残留,可用于生产无公害蔬菜。
After the Sanlu scandal, Hebei Province decided to take the following steps to solve the problem:
Ask big pesticide companies like Shalongda (沙隆达) to buy Sanlu Group for 1 yuan; change its name to Sanlu Pesticide Factory; change Sanlu milk powder’s packaging immediately to Sanlu Pesticide; this pesticide uses the principle of killing pests by kidney stones: no pesticide residues, and it can be used to produce pollution-free vegetables.
“A team of traffic police on Taibai Road created a method to inspect forged or altered motor vehicle plates; some irregularities were corrected.”
“Thumbs up! Police are people, too. During down-time at work, resting for a bit, it’s also understandable.”
“With so many foreign cheerleaders and their trouble-bags, they’re afraid they would leave monastic life, so the Buddhist great master has forbidden it.”
“‘Cui Jian has always been right,’ say his fans. Businesswomen wearing pearl necklaces, just the same as taxi drivers with Buddha figurines and bare chests, plus umpteen more, surprisingly, could all be Cui Jian’s children.”
As the greatest symbol of the “nothing” generation, Cui Jian still bottles a rebellious spirit for his fans, even if it sells next to cans and drafts these days.
“To show the world China’s charisma and economic and technological strength, to a certain extent, reversed the prejudice of the world’s people toward China… Most Westerners’ impressions of China are completely stuck in the early part of the last century: backwards, ignorant. It’s like Zhang Yimou’s movie ‘Raise the Red Lantern.’ “
“‘Am I in big trouble this time?’ Zou Kaiyun was bursting to ask a reporter yesterday afternoon. He claimed he didn’t expect this situation to arouse the attention of so many people.”
“At ten in the morning I received a phone call from a sponsor of the Olympics who invited me to go see the Olympic opening ceremony. I hastened to ask my leader for permission, and after approval I began preparing.”
The Foreign Expert underwent laser photocoagulation for a retinal tear, and was instructed not to read for a few days. Premier Wen Jiabao told Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World, that he reads websites often, though he did not name them; he also deflected questions about limits to free speech, saying, “the freedom of Internet in China is recognized by many, even from the West.” Hunan TV’s version of the American comedy Ugly Betty, “Ugly Wudi” (丑女无敌), premiered September 28. According to a potential translator for the show, recruiting began in April for an English-speaking Chinese to help the lead actress learn short English phrases, with producers asking that they work on-call at a film set near Changsha’s “Windows of the World.” On the day the actress was revealed, 3,300 commenters wrote on Baidu that she “should be fatter” and uglier. She is a rather attractive example of a sìyǎnmèi (四眼妹), or four-eyed girl.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Peter Ford discusses China’s unions, past and present:
“Once upon a time, when the Chinese Communist Party was fighting for a revolution, the trade unions that the party controlled were important pieces in the political chess game. Ever since 1949, however, the unions grouped in the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the only federation allowed to exist, have simply been pawns of the government. Totally toothless, they were reduced to the role of organizing works outings and putting up large character banners proclaiming the government’s latest policies… But nowadays, the Chinese government is beginning to think twice about the social and economic costs of its headlong rush to development…”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

THANK YOU FOR READING THE FOREIGN EXPERT
© Copyright 2008 The Foreign Expert