Beijing
January 28, 201314 Comments
![It’s so simple, isn’t it? – An expat’s take on smog in Beijing It’s so simple, isn’t it? – An expat’s take on smog in Beijing](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Gong-Ti-hazey-day.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
Chris Toepker is a contributor to Ministry of Tofu. He hails from the United States, has been living in greater China since 1990 and has recently relocated to Beijing. All too often, visitors to Beijing fret and cluck their tongues at the air pollution. While it certainly is awful, clearing the air is certainly no simple [...]
Continue readingJune 14, 20129 Comments
![“Grandpa Wen, I want to go to school!” “Grandpa Wen, I want to go to school!”](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2012/06/1.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
Pictures from weibo.com Weibo users reported the demonstration at the entrance of Fengtai District Education Commission in Beijing by elementary school age kids who are not eligible because they don’t have Beijing hukou. The signs run, “I want to go to school.” Their parents are migrant workers from outside Beijing. The municipal government’s attack last [...]
Continue readingMay 15, 201223 Comments
![Beijing starts cleanup of three-have-nots foreign expats Beijing starts cleanup of three-have-nots foreign expats](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2012/05/laowai_thumb.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
From Sohu Beijing’s Bureau of Public Security has announced a hundred-day crackdown on foreign nationals who have no valid visa, residence permit or work permit, which lasts from May 15 to the end of August. Beijing residents are encouraged to inform against any such three-have-nots foreigner. This special strike-hard campaign is believed to have much [...]
Continue readingFebruary 16, 20122 Comments
![Picture of the day: Want a ride on the bus in Beijing? Picture of the day: Want a ride on the bus in Beijing?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2012/02/pubbus02_thumb.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
At about 5:30 p.m. on February , a No. 815 public bus arriving at a stop near Beijing’s Guomao area was packed like a sardine can. Seeing that the front and the rear bus doors were blocked by passengers, those eager to get a ride home jostled with one another to climb into the bus [...]
Continue readingOctober 28, 20114 Comments
![Photos: Chinese start to miss slow, cheap train rides as China advances on high-speed rails Photos: Chinese start to miss slow, cheap train rides as China advances on high-speed rails](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/10/slowtrain19.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
From China News and Yangtse Evening Post In today’s China, where the transport networks, made up of highways, railways, and airways, is expanding at a runaway speed, and paces of life have been accelerating nonstop, slow “green-skinned trains” doddering along a short rail link have become popular among many people, young and old. Train 6417, its plain 4-digit [...]
Continue readingOctober 27, 20114 Comments
![China stung by its youth soccer fiasco, given huge height advantage over Russian preteens China stung by its youth soccer fiasco, given huge height advantage over Russian preteens](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/10/youthsoccer04.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
From Caixun and NetEase A “friendship match” in Beijing between youth soccer teams from China and Russia on Monday, October 24, ended with China suffering a crushing 0 to 15 defeat to Russia. Most galling is the fact that, the visiting team, composed of Russian children born after 2000, did not even seem to get fair [...]
Continue readingApril 26, 2011One Comment
![“Rat packs” living in Beijing’s underground to be driven out “Rat packs” living in Beijing’s underground to be driven out](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/04/tunnel02.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
From Beijing Times 22-year-old Shi is a salesperson in a department store near Muxiyuan. Her fiancé Guo is a trucker at a logistics company. They live in a makeshift room in a tunnel, one of thousands built in 1960s and 70s as air raid shelters. At 6 p.m. Shi bought some leafy vegetables for food [...]
Continue readingApril 7, 20112 Comments
![Picture of the day: Mao lookalike surrounded by onlookers Picture of the day: Mao lookalike surrounded by onlookers](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/04/mao01jpg.jpeg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
On April 5, a man, who resembles Mao Zedong and was wearing his trademark Mao suit, appeared in Beijing Tiananmen Square. Curious onlookers surrounded him and took picture with him.
Continue readingMarch 3, 2011One Comment
![Beijing to pinpoint and track citizens via cellphone Beijing to pinpoint and track citizens via cellphone](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/03/cellphone-1024x340.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
Beijing is setting up “Real Time Map of Beijing Citizen Locations”, a system based on data collected from China Mobile’s 17 million cell phone users in the city. The map will show distribution of the population within a certain area and time slot. The first phase project will be focused on Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan, two areas with [...]
Continue readingFebruary 21, 2011One Comment
![Video: Dancing Matt (Michael Harding) comes to China; netizens’ comments Video: Dancing Matt (Michael Harding) comes to China; netizens’ comments](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/02/matt.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
Matthew “Matt” Harding (born September 27, 1976), is an American video game designer and Internet celebrity known as Dancing Matt for his viral videos that show him dancing in front of landmarks and street scenes in various international locations. Harding has since received widespread coverage of his travel exploits in major print and broadcast media [...]
Continue readingFebruary 18, 20112 Comments
![Protection or discrimination? Beijing’s new property prices curbing policy divide residents Protection or discrimination? Beijing’s new property prices curbing policy divide residents](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/02/beijing.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
Beijing’s prohibitively high real estate prices have plagued the city’s dwellers for years. Wealthy speculators who buy several pieces of real estate for investment purpose are a major reason why the prices can’t cease soaring, which takes heavy toll on less well-off purchasers. Earlier this week, Beijing announced a new set of rules to thwart [...]
Continue readingFebruary 18, 2011One Comment
![Chinese police mimic Michael Jackson’s and Korean Wonder Girls’ dance moves Chinese police mimic Michael Jackson’s and Korean Wonder Girls’ dance moves](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/02/police021.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
The official Beijing police embedded this video in their microblog message via their Sina account ‘Peaceful Beijing’ (平安北京) as greetings for Chinese Lantern Festival, or the last day of Chinese New Year. Most of the 300 plus commenters applauded their moves, saying the dance is happy and cute, whereas a fraction said it is amateurish.
Continue readingJanuary 10, 20115 Comments
![Why can’t China adopt a school bus system similar to the U.S.? Why can’t China adopt a school bus system similar to the U.S.?](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/01/schoolbus1.png&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
On December 30, 2010, a “school bus” taking 20 elementary school children fell into a creek in Hengnan County, Hunan Province. 14 drowned, 6 were injured and hospitalized. The so-called school bus was actually an automatic rickshaw. The three-wheeler has only ten seats, but fit 20 inside. Several children had to squat on their haunches [...]
Continue readingJanuary 2, 201113 Comments
![RMB77 monthly rent in Beijing? Lie on TV involving Chinese President exposed by netizens RMB77 monthly rent in Beijing? Lie on TV involving Chinese President exposed by netizens](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2011/01/031.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
From Dapenti China Central Television’s news said that on January 1, 2011, Chinese President Hu Jintao brought his new year wishes to a neighborhood in Beijing. There he visited a low-income family who lives in a low-rent department – 77 yuan (US$12) a month – because of the Party’s policy to ensure the people’s welfare. [...]
Continue readingDecember 21, 20107 Comments
![Photo diary records air pollution and belies China’s official count of “Blue Sky Days” Photo diary records air pollution and belies China’s official count of “Blue Sky Days”](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2010/12/0117.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
From s1979.com and QQ.com 365 Days of “Blue Sky Diary” by Two Beijingers Two people, a foolproof film camera, a heart that embraces a blue sky, and above all, perseverance that carries them on for 365 days. What can these do? Let’s count how many purely “blue sky days” Beijing has in a year. Photographers Lu Weiwei [...]
Continue readingNovember 6, 20105 Comments
![Chinese College mistress “price list” and contract exposed online Chinese College mistress “price list” and contract exposed online](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2010/11/12888410398098920.jpg&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
Original post in Chinese on Mop.com Recently, a post titled “it costs only twenty thousand yuan to keep a beautiful Shanghai college mistress” has become quite popular over the internet. The post gives price quotes of keeping beauties from some of the major colleges in Shanghai. Some of the girls are priced at as cheap [...]
Continue readingOctober 18, 20103 Comments
![Spat between Beijing and Shanghai, China’s two great cities, and beyond Spat between Beijing and Shanghai, China’s two great cities, and beyond](http://web.archive.org./web/20170404105151im_/http://www.ministryoftofu.com/wp-content/themes/polarmedia/lib_frame/scripts/thumb.php?src=wp-content/uploads/2010/10/2008061621244106.gif&w=150&h=150&a=c&zc=1&q=90)
The Los Angeles Times takes a look at the ongoing rivalry between Beijing and Shanghai: “They stand like this,” says the 56-year-old restaurateur, hands on hips, adding a scowl to her performance. “They’re sooo annoying. Just because they come from the capital, they act like they’re running the country.” The antipathy is mutual. “Shanghai people [...]
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