The Beijinger gives some perspective on Singles Day:

For most Chinese youth, today’s date has nothing to do with a far-away war that ended 90 years ago. In recent years, the repetition of the digit 1 in 11/11 has been taken by many as a good enough as an excuse as any to celebrate Single’s Day or 光棍节 Guanggun Jie. To mark the occasion, various speed and blind dating events will be taking place across town while other singles will use the day to display their pride in their singledom.

However, according to a poll that is getting a lot of coverage in today’s papers, more and more people (especially young professionals) are wishing that they didn’t have to celebrate the special day anymore. The results, of what was no doubt a highly-suspect and totally unscientific poll conducted by zhaopin.com, revealed that men want to be married by the time they are 30 and 62.1% of respondents thought that women should be getting married before they’re 28. The poll results also indicated that 70% of single professionals are worried about their single status and yearn to find a partner….

A deputy in the National People’s Congress withdraws from a beauty contest amid public criticism:

BEIJING: A Chinese lawmaker has quit a beauty contest after critics accused her of debasing politics by participating in the pageant, state media said yesterday.
Ms Yuan Jing, 22, who ranked second out of 1,000 contestants in the Miss Chinese International Pageant held by a Hong Kong television station, insisted she had not withdrawn under pressure, Xinhua news agency said.

‘I’m too busy to continue the contest. I have a heavy workload,’ she was quoted as saying, citing her political duties.

Beijing is providing an average of 10 condoms for every Olympic athlete:

“BEIJING (Reuters) - The Sydney Olympics ran out. Athens doubled the number. So organizers of the Beijing Games are hoping 100,000 condoms will satisfy the needs of Olympic athletes.

While sex is not an Olympic sport, it is expected to be an activity in the Beijing village housing 10,500 athletes, all of whom are in great shape and with plenty of free time on their hands once knocked out of the Games.

Athletes have received free condoms at every Olympics since Barcelona in 1992 to help raise awareness of AIDS, and Beijing is no exception.

‘There are many young, strong, single people in the athletes’ village and, like everywhere, some will fall in love or other things so we need to make condoms available,’ Ole Hansen, spokesman for UNAIDS China, told Reuters.”

The winning team of last year’s Chinese version of “So you think you can dance?”

The show is “1-2-3-4 Dance” (1234舞) and the team, two boys named A Li (阿力) and Yang Yifan (杨一帆), talk about the dance they call “Forbidden Love,” then perform it. In the interview, both the dancers and the announcer acknowledge the homosexual storyline told by the choreography.
In the US, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental diseases in 1973. In China, the equivalent happened in 2001.
For the finale of 1234舞 last year, Yang Yifan was eliminated and A Li was named the winner. The show is filmed in Changsha, capital of Hunan province. This year’s contest is still under way.

The star of “Lust, Caution” is banned from Chinese media:

“HONG KONG (Hollywood Reporter) - ‘Lust, Caution’ star Tang Wei has been banned in the Chinese media because of the sexual nature of her performance in director Ang Lee’s steamy drama, according to local press reports.

An internal memo from China’s State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) was reportedly sent to all television stations and print media in China on Thursday night, stating that a new television commercial starring Tang for skin care brand Pond’s was to cease broadcast immediately. All print ads and feature content using the actress also were to be pulled. The memo gave no reason for the ban.”