A viral internet song has been banned at all Chinese Basketball games after it has allegedly been used to put off the opposition.
The wacky Chinese folk song has taken the Chinternet (I just came up with that) by storm. Netizens have been doing spoof versions, guitar covers and piano versions of the catchy (?) hit.
Here is the original song –
It is pretty annoying.
Check out the wonderful Ministry of Tofu for comedy covers of the song…
“The core of Chinese culture is the pursuit of the harmonious unity of man and nature”
Pan Yue, vice minister at China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection wrote recently in an article for the People’s daily.
What sets China apart from the profit driven, industrial, capitalist West, he writes, “is the country’s unique cultural system, based on moderation, harmony and tolerance”. I pondered the Chinese ideal of “harmony between heaven and humans” as I read Chinese new reports this week that heralded a new “golden-decade” of hydropower. The state will accelerate the building of hydro dams – reversing a long halt caused by environmental concerns and the social upheaval of displacing large number of people – in order to meet “green” energy targets. Nature will be harmoniously harnessed to bring power to the people. Take that nature.
This will mean every year adding the equivalent of another Three Gorges Dam (already the world’s largest). The pearl upon the sparkling crown of this eco-green golden age will be the cascade of dams down the mountain rivers that pour from the Tibetan Plateau. Completion of the Tibetan railway – known as the iron leach among locals – has spurred new dam construction, as well as mining developments in this previously inaccessible region. The Tibetan hinterland is preparing for a new development boom.
Yet more shadowy rumours are afoot. A dam (a modest creature three times the size of the Three Gorges) is planned at the great bend of the Brahmaputra River, just before it enters India. At the same site a 20 km long canal will be blasted through an intervening mountain range north of the river in order to carry water on its way far to China’s arid north.
A few obstacles stand in the way of Chinese engineers. But nothing that a few “friendly” nuclear explosions can’t overcome.
After all, as Mao oft mused, “Battling with heaven is endless joy, fighting with the earth is endless joy”…
Filed under comedy, environment, News, Science, Uncategorized
This week the English media circus has had a field day over the sexist remarks and behaviour of Sky Sports’ anchormen Andy Gray and Richard Keys. Although their off air remarks are ‘pre-historic’ (Rio Ferdinand) it is not particularly surprising and it seems to state a fact that most people would have thought was obvious.
At Brushduck we will be breaking another shocking story. No, it is not about the religious persuasion of the current Pontiff, nor is it concerning the defecation habits of bears in coniferous outgrowths.We have uncovered more sexism. This time in Chinese folk music.
The song in question is one of my personal favourites.
or ‘Girl from the the city of Daban’
please watch the priceless video below:
At further examination we can get to the bottom of the ‘sexism’ that pervades this folk yarn.
Daban City’s stone streets – hard and flat, ha!
Watermelons big and sweet! (Is this a sexist metaphor? … I think so)
A girl who lives there has long braided hair, ha!
And a pair of beautiful eyes!
If you think of marrying, don’t marry another,
You must marry only me.
Bring a lot of money
And your younger sister, riding in the horse cart too!
(here we have the assumption of the male protagonist that her younger sister will also be ‘up for it’. In later versions such as the one in the video – this is softened to ‘bring your dowry’)
‘Girl from the city of Daban’ is essentially a song wooing a young virginal girl from Xinjiang. When I have asked Han Chinese about the song they will tell you it is a classic Uighur song. However, when I travelled around Xinjiang singing the song in mandarin expecting a rapturous response from my Uighur brothers I was met with fierce glares. In retrospect I can see why singing a song about taking away their young women (especially one sung in Chinese) might come across the wrong way. It would be a bit like an American singing about how hot Iraqi virgins are…
In a breaking news story we can report here that a Chinese news website has in fact reported some news. The People’s Daily online has reported two hot off the press stories.
the first concerns Young Japanese girls wearing kimonos at a ‘coming of age’ festival
the second piece of news concerns a porridge festival in north west China 
All this news is obviously reported on a day in which the Guardian and other Western media outlets report on the missing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng’s torture ordeal http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/10/missing-chinese-human-rights-lawyer
The guardian have clearly missed out on the top stories.
After having slept like a panda for over 12 hours. I was impressd by my ability so I thought I would make a small comparison.
In fact, although pandas sleep for 10-12 hours a day. They actually nap more often than sleep. Furthermore you can tell how long a panda has been sleeping at a spot as they defecate whilst sleeping. Fortunately, I do not share this habit and have woken up once again with clean sheets.
I have no idea where the above picture came from, or who on earth made it, but it does remind me of a story from Chengdu a few years ago –
after a panda that had been released to nature died shortly after, the Woolong Nature Reserve said they were going to teach pandas to fight by making them watch attack dogs in action. Only in China.
Filed under comedy
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