The Week That Was At Beijing Cream, April 23-29

April 23 - April 29

Where is Chen Guangcheng right now? Or as our Chinese friends on Twitter and the Free CGC blog are saying: "陈光诚现在到底在哪？" If you'd like an explanation of the series, see this post from about 1:30 am today.

The news outlets have been so consumed by Chen that they've totally forgotten about Bo. Just this week, Bo Guagua made his first public statement in the Harvard Crimson, but all we heard was Oxford, Oxford, Oxford (there's a great comment at the end of that post). Then we photoshopped his head onto Barack Obama's body.

BJC uncovered video of another pedestrian falling through the sidewalk in China, which was immediately copied by traditional media like the Telegraph and reposted under their name. American Mike Sui imitated a bunch of people in this video, which is raking up views by the thousands. Leehom Wang sang "As Time Goes By" at the opening ceremony of the Beijing International Film Festival, but he flubbed a key line.

We upset some folks by suggesting Time Out's Food Awards are upscale... though I suspect the offending line, written by reader E, must have been, "I’m surprised that Time Out, a British-owned publication, is so interested in blowing their literary loads all over a bunch of French place"). Natsun, the friend of Jackson, the subject of a controversial "Meet an Expat" column last week, wrote a formal response. A slackline-walker crossed a canyon in Hebei, while a wingsuit-flier glided over Hunan's Highway to Hell. Here's a homemade electric car built on a farm on the outskirts of Beijing, a city that, in case you've forgotten, is hosting the China Auto Show.

And finally, here, again, is Victoria Beckham with Harper Seven at Sanlitun's Opposite Hotel -- a story still without redeeming value.

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The Week That Was At Beijing Cream, April 16-22

April 16 - April 22

BJC's most-commented post so far was Tuesday's "A Story About Journalism," in which I wrote about how a small Associated Press editing mistake led to a whole lot of misunderstanding and anger half a world away. This came a day after RFH's excellent Bo Xilai rumor-roundup, which came on the heels of our inaugural "Meet an Expat" column about a Tianjin foreigner who gave up his American citizenship so he could stay in this country with his Chinese wife and son. (If you haven't seen it, Jackson has posted a long reply on the post.)

London mayor Boris Johnson is on Sina Weibo, though he's almost as bad at Chinese social media as he is at the Western variety. Several months after sweeping Facebook, the Carl Weathers as Kony meme has reached China. And have you ever tried to picture Helen Keller eyewear?

There was a soccer skirmish in Qingdao earlier this week, and hopefully someone cares. This man is the best auto sports fan I've ever seen. This is the best dancer on Wangfujing, especially accompanied by that awesome music. This is the most crowded subway ever, in Japan. And this might be the best homemade Iron Man suit you'll see in China.

By the way, Lola coined the term "frivolititties" this week. If you ever see that word elsewhere, go to this post and tell us about it.

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The Week That Was At Beijing Cream, April 9-15

April 9 - April 15

Did we all survive Thursday's Internet Apocalypse? It happened thanks to the biggest bombshell Xinhua has dropped in years -- no, we're not talking about sexy pics of teen models -- that Bo Xilai has been ousted from his Party's posts and his wife, Gu Kailai, and aide are being investigated for murder (though Bo, interestingly, is still being referred to as "comrade”). China ended up censoring text messages, too. (Where's Anonymous and its "death-to-GFW" proclamations when you need them?) I ended up on BBC Radio to discuss these events.

We still hate censorship around these parts. Very, very much.

A lot of sensible websites got trolled by a fake quote, and we're still waiting for them to issue corrections. Here are pictures of Beijing emptied out. And this website has a new No. 2 post in terms of all-time views (will it catch No. 1?): meet Purple Panda!

Two deaths of note in this past week: Mike Wallace and Fang Lizhi (check out TAR Nation's takedown of Global Times's attempted takedown of Fang). This is not how to put a fresh take on advertising -- or is it? Homemade firearms in China look like crossbows, and we'd like to remind you that Baidu is a not a condom.

Finally, here's how Bo's family and associates are being depicted in the media, and that proposed Stephon Marbury statue remains ugly.

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The Week That Was At Beijing Cream, April 2-8

April 2 - April 8

If you're not excited, you should be: Alessandro is coming back! Meanwhile, BJC continues to roll out original content, on Tuesday with Jon Pastuszek's retrospective on Stephon Marbury, and on Thursday with Sir Charles Dashwood, as decrypted by RFH.

Jason Chu is the latest to join our "Chillax" feature with the video for "City of the North," part of his Goodbye, Beijing EP. We relived the Ducks' championship two weeks ago with a collection of videos, and let ourselves get taken back to our Nintendo-playing youth in this IKEA commercial, as uncovered by Mr. Smith.

A toddler gets pulled out of a Yunnan well here, while a toddler is seen in a funny posture at Raffles Mall here. Beijingers: watch where you walk, lest you want to be boiled alive, and for the love of civility, expats, Scott Grow tells you to not piss in the streets.

As of this moment, China Daily follows the likes of Tweet Flirt and Ivanka, while Global Times follows the FBI Press Office.

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Alessandro... he's coming back!

Just click on the below tag "Ask Alessandro" if you have no idea what this means. As announced this afternoon on Beijing Cream, Alessandro -- the man, the myth, the legend -- will be making a joint appearance on BJC and China Daily Show next week:

Like many continental men, Alessandro will often greet other males with a kiss on each cheek, but he rarely relishes it
The sunglasses? They’re Fottore-Bans
Did you know? Prickly pears are 30% less prickly in Alessandro’s presence
If Alessandro was an interrogator, your crotch would talk

Alessandro is now accepting questions. Please send to cds@chinadailyshow.com.

The Week That Was At Beijing Cream, March 26 - April 1

RFH wrote the most-read post of the week, “Corruption, Murder, And Intrigue In The Middle Kingdom.” Royston Chan of Reuters wrote the most disgusting China story of the year, abouturine-soaked eggs. Kurt De Raedemaeker, a Flemish art dealer who’s been under house arrest in Beijing since 2008, died of a heart attack.

Have you heard? The taxi fuel surcharge is now 3 yuan. Also, Beijing is home to both the men’s and women’s champions of Chinese basketball. You can watch the Ducks’ gripping Game 5 series-clinching win in its entirety — plus other postgame videos – here. It almost makes one forget how classless the Guangdong Southern Tigers were, starting with its boss, Liu Hongjiang, who inexplicably ordered a human flesh engine search on a Beijing fan that ended up hurting an innocent woman.

BJC’s newest column, To Serve People, debuted with guns blazing. The lades of Beijing cream talked about menstruation. And this Kickstarter project — Chinafornia — is worth supporting.

Sina and QQ Weibo were ordered to shut down their commenting feature for three days for not censoring their users more closely. Meanwhile, China’s crusade against “illicit content” on the Internet has led to its newest campaign, Spring Breeze.

Special shout-out to @niubi of Sinocism, who had nice things to say about this site, and Shanghaiist for linking to our Traffic Light series. Now if only we could extend our compliments toChina Daily, who is still not following @beijingcream.

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