China-focused Satire, Social Commentary, Comics and More

China

The Foreman Inspects the Neighborhood

The Foreman Inspects the Neighborhood

Episode 1


Dear PBR (China’s World War Two Yes We Can!)

Dear PBR (China's World War Two Yes We Can!)

“World War Two Edition in Memory of US Army” Dear Pabst Blue Ribbon, We know you. Pibber. P-B-R. We know you embarrassingly well. Pabst Blue Ribbon, unofficial cheap beer of choice for American hipster youth. We charge you with attempting to establish yourself as the representative drink of choice in a slightly different niche market [...]


Safety When Driving: Wal-Mart, China, and the American Dream

Safety When Driving: Wal-Mart, China, and the American Dream

Totally Awesome Picture of the Week 2.02 Finally, America’s own version of the Chinese fire drill is over. Close the doors. Time to move on. But in the wake of so many changes, as the anxiety and rage of all sides subsides, it is natural to wonder: what is America? What kind of a place [...]


With Red Strings Attached: A Photo Essay

With Red Strings Attached: A Photo Essay

click photograph for full image Share this:EmailRedditStumbleUponDigg


What We Could Sell if Only We Owned a Tricycle: Idea 17

What We Could Sell if Only We Owned a Tricycle: Idea 17

Stuffed Toys for a Missed Child or a Childish Mistress Share this:EmailRedditStumbleUponDigg


Dear Republican State Senate Candidate Who Mailed Propaganda to China

Dear Republican State Senate Candidate Who Mailed Propaganda to China

Dear Republican State Senate Candidate Who Mailed Propaganda to China, A red rectangle, yellow shapes, a straightforward simple slogan… so imaginative, so fresh! How impressed I was when handed your envelope; how happy I was that someone had thought to send me mail. I felt a swelling urge to announce my support for something. But [...]


Where is it? It is an English Programme for Children

Where is the oversight? This fall my boss rented me out to a kindergarten where her sister-in-law is principal. My new duty involves teaching four and five-year-olds to embrace the most important aspects of Western culture (for two half hour lessons each week). At first I thought they said I’d be teaching English, but evidently [...]


VTK: A New Orientation

VTK: A New Orientation

It is everywhere, that massive bulky trio of letters. On towers, the sides of skyscrapers, over supermarkets and hotels and coffee restaurants. KTV! An acronym as prevalent as its cousin KFC, it announces the existence of a special place even more tasteless and depraved. The strings of lights along its outline ensure that it will [...]


Dear Sichuan Monarch Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd.

Dear Sichuan Monarch Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd.

Dear Sichuan Monarch Sanitary Ware Co., Ltd., Let’s begin with a scenario: We are walking along the streets of Nanjing, two years past, when a chocolate-brown bus comes hurtling by, its entire visible body transformed into advertising space. It does not feature an airbrushed Taiwanese corn juice model, but instead an oversized naked white child [...]


Signs of Thought 7

Signs of Thought 7

“I’m Band! James Band.” Share this:EmailRedditStumbleUponDigg


What We Could Sell if Only We Owned a Tricycle: Idea 16

What We Could Sell if Only We Owned a Tricycle: Idea 16

Chairs. Chairs. Chairs. Chairs. Chairs. Share this:EmailRedditStumbleUponDigg


Thank You China

Thank You China

Totally Awesome Picture of the Week 2.01 It’s about time we told you. We came back. A lot of famous things have been said about home: it’s “why I keep returning,” it’s “where I want to be,” it’s “always so exciting,” etc. All catchy ideas that I’ll admit to singing along with and perhaps even [...]


The Fifth Modern Wonder of the World

The Fifth Modern Wonder of the World

Perhaps you missed the last visit of the majestically inbred boy-king of Egypt as he was hauled about the world for all to revere. And maybe you’ve never graced the great halls of the British Museum to look upon its chunks of Grecian monuments. Or stepped up to the mighty pyramids and been harassed into [...]


Corn Juice for the Masses

Corn Juice for the Masses

Stuff People Ingest Voluntarily episode 31 Before you start accusing us of focusing on the poor, fading laundry as part of our own Antonioni scheme to sabotage the world’s image of an entire nation, let us be clear: we are more interested in the one small bright square so carefully preserved like some tiny peep [...]


Face Value

Face Value

The Nanjing Galaxy Yacht Club floats securely in the yellowish, turbid water of the Yangtze River. The neighborhood – in the northwest of the city, far from the Ming Dynasty wall – is mostly industrial. Not far upstream is the famous Yangtze River Bridge, a dark, ominous shape stretching across the water. There are no [...]


New Year Predictions

New Year Predictions

The niu year has now passed. While it may be inauspicious to go digging up old news and past grudges, a quick rummaging through our archives has revealed a few loose tigers, so to speak, which deserve a bit of the spotlight on this festive day. And perhaps they can help us in our unsolicited [...]


This Ridiculous World Guide: China – Museums

This Ridiculous World Guide: China – Museums

Part One: The Patrons A Chinese museum is a fascinating place. Not because of the exhibitions of history. No, in a country with a heritage longer than that of Jesus the ubiquitousness of artifacts is less impressive than expected. Nowadays, with a proliferation of middle class Chinese people embracing all forms of consumerism, even intellectual, [...]


What My Student Gave Me: an unabridged journal entry

May 20, 2008 – Yichang, China “Dazed morning at the primary school, raspy voice trying to read a book about butterflies over the constant murmurs of the students. One of my students, the one with the possessed eyes, has now given me a little ‘present’ – twice now. Actually, today before class he came up [...]


What Are Sidewalks For? Answer #22

What Are Sidewalks For? Answer #22

Explosives Share this:EmailRedditStumbleUponDigg


Dear Big Ants Who Were Bossing Around the Little Ants

Dear Big Ants Who Were Bossing Around the Little Ants, First, I must say that you look crazy up close. Sorry, but I have been a little off lately and have found that brushing aside distractions clears up a path towards almost clarity. Share this:EmailRedditStumbleUponDigg


Prime Real Estate – Property # JSNJ012PRC

What this substantial piece of city land is doing unpaved and undeveloped is a mystery of commerce and real estate. Whatever the reason, that red flag piercing the mud surely indicates a coming edifice. A new age high rise, perhaps? Another shopping mall? Share this:EmailRedditStumbleUponDigg


Students Undisturbed by Disturbance at Chinese High School

Nanjing, CHINA – After three days of continuous drilling the unidentified mustached man on the ladder finally made it through the cement and brick wall and into lucky classroom 8. Though his workspace partially blocked the steps of the entrance to the main building the man’s progress went unimpeded and unquestioned throughout. Students of class [...]


This Ridiculous World Guide: China – Garbage Vessels

This Ridiculous World Guide: China - Garbage Vessels

Coming from America, or some nation similarly skilled in methods of clandestine waste removal – with magic, automatic flush toilets; color-coded trash bins; and troops of picker-uppers who carouse the streets in great machines with as much authority as fire engines – such unglamorous, undisguised removal may be a bit shocking. Here in this ancient [...]


What Are Sidewalks For? Answer #21