Security protocols at Beijing Capital International Airport are being questioned after a passenger was able to bypass all security checks and board a flight without a ticket on Sunday.

An airport representative confirmed to the Beijing Youth Report that a parent smuggled his or her child past security checkpoints and check-in registration yesterday, and was only discovered by the flight crew in the passenger cabin just before takeoff.

The extra passenger prompted the airport to undergo extra procedures, forcing all passengers to disembark and undergo security clearance for a second time while the plane underwent another security check.

As a result, Juneyao Airlines flight HO1252 from Beijing to Shanghai was delayed five hours, pushing back its scheduled departure of 6.55am until 11.59am.

The incident was first publicized by a Weibo user on Sunday who said a family of four had only purchased seats for three. Other accounts described the family as consisting of five members.

Chinese netizens reacted to the story by criticizing airport for allowing this security breach to occur. "Just how was this person able to bypass both security and the check-in?" asked one person while another guessed, "Could it be that he is invisible?"

Last June, a 16-year-old stowaway from Sichuan named Xu secretly boarded a flight to Dubai from Shanghai because he heard beggars can earn upwards of USD 70,000 a month there. In 2003, two men possessing Turkish documents mysteriously fell onto a Chinese village after stowing away on an Air France flight bound for Shanghai.

Already plagued by frequent delays, passengers on Chinese airlines have to contend with a number of incidents that make air travel in China especially tedious.

In addition to poor weather, flights at Chinese airports have been delayed by flying lanterns, passengers opening emergency doors after specifically told not to do so, and even by a superstitious passenger throwing coins into an airline engine for "good luck."

More stories from this author here.

Twitter: @Sinopath 

Images: NetEase, iFeng

Goodbye, LeSports Arena; hello, Huaxi Live! Beijing's go-to facility for hosting sporting events and music concerts has quietly abandoned its former name for a new sponsor.

The Wukesong Arena, itself formerly known as the MasterCard Center, has been hosting events under this new name since the middle of May as former sponsor LeTV has been embroiled by a stockbroker meltdown.

As far as we can tell, all events that were scheduled for the former LeSports Arena will still go on as planned with the only major change being that the venue's name is different.

Soon to host Coco Lee and Arianna Grande, Huaxi Live (华熙LIVE) has spent the last month promoting a basketball tournament in its facility as well as a William Wei concert. 

The changeover has been so sudden that we're not even sure of its official English name. A visit to their official website reveals a URL called "Bloomage Live," but we'll hold off a bit to see if this is actually the English name we're supposed to use. All the same, judging by the geometrically-shaped logo on the outside of the Wukesong Arena, there's no mistaking to which corporation the Wukesong Arena now belongs.

As we mentioned before, Wukesong Arena's name change comes as a massive financial scandal embroils LeTV.

LeTV's fortunes hit a new low this weekend as it was revealed parent company LeEco incurred a USD 92 million deficit in the first half of this year. A shareholder meeting held Monday was disrupted by mobile phone suppliers demanding the return of 33.3 million yuan while shareholders continue to lose confidence as former LeEco chairman Jia Yueting failed to show up, remaining at large outside China.

Despite Jia's promise to "undertake all responsibility" for company debts after having USD 183 million of his assets frozen, creditors wanting their money back began protesting at LeTV's Beijing offices as far back as two weeks ago.

So, with all things considered regarding the sudden demise of LeSports Center, we think we'll stick to calling our beloved local major sports/music performance facility the "Wukesong Arena." 

More stories from this author here.

Twitter: @Sinopath 

Images: Weibo, Daidu

[This post contains content that certain readers may find disturbing or offensive.]

A summer crackdown on perverts plaguing Beijing's public transportation system has taken a deadly turn after a man accused of molesting a woman on a bus ended up using a knife to slash his victim.

The incident occurred at around 8am on Monday (July 17) on the #582 bus in the east-end neighborhood of Liyuan near the terminal station of the Beijing Metro Line 1. The suspect was subdued by the bus driver and fellow passengers as the victim was seen lying on the street, covered in blood.

In a report posted online, the Tongzhou police make no mention of any molestation. However, Weibo user @新华lois said the suspect touched the victim inappropriately before attacking her.

Arrested is a 26-year-old man surnamed Liu, originally from Liaoning. Police say the investigation is ongoing. 

Monday's knife attack comes in the wake of a campaign in which undercover Beijing police have arrested dozens of suspects for sexually molesting women on the city's crowded public transportation. Caijing reported that 20 suspects had been arrested as of June 16.

Some local media have taken it upon themselves to uncover some of these subway perverts, such as this video that reportedly shows one man sexually molesting four different women within a five-minute span, or catching men right in the act (shown below).

Local media have also uncovered a group of men who share their perverse acts in an online group, boasting of how they rub up against women (self-described as "顶族 dǐng zú," a phrase too gross to translate into English).

However, the campaign's sensational arrests have been met with increasing resistance. Some suspects have violently attempted to avoid being taken into custody (as seen above), while last week one undercover officer suffered a bite wound by a suspect after he was caught (link here, don't click on account of grossness).

And while Beijing has yet to follow the lead of southern Chinese cities that have adopted women-only subway trains, its trains have become so crowded that women (or men) don't have any personal space to call their own. For just one example, here's the scene outside Tiantongfan Station on Line 5, also on Monday:

It's for this reason that although Beijing is considered comparatively safe, it's always good to stay vigilant, especially when in crowded and enclosed spaces.

More stories from this author here.

Twitter: @Sinopath 

Images: Taici, Weibo (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), China Xiaokang

Since 2015, Texan ambient pop quartet Cigarettes After Sex have been steadily building an enthused following with a string of singles that are hypnotically haunting. Beijing fans of such subtle downcast tunes will surely enjoy their August 21 gig at Tango 3F.

Aside from choosing one of the best band names we've heard of in a long time, Cigarettes After Sex also won us over with their eponymous debut LP, released last month. Frontman Greg Gonzalez's singing is high and melodious enough to give the songs an androgynous quality that aptly overlaps with the music's hazy, ambiguous tones.

"K.", the album's opening number, successfully sets the scene with lustfully lovelorn lyrics and drumming that's so soft it sounds distant. "Sunsetz," is another standout because of its melancholy electric guitar notes, along with lyrics about fading dusk light on the face of a long since departed old flame.

Upon the album's release, popular music news site Pitchfork praised Gonzalez for writing "modern love songs set to downbeat dream pop. Much like relationships themselves, the songs on this ... LP are full of contradictions."The Guardian was even more impressed, calling it "Addictive, memorable and with the potential to reach an audience far wider than the cult following that normally awaits this kind of stuff, they’re the reason why an album where every track’s sonic components are more or less the same never feels monotonous or boring."

Cigarettes After Sex will play Tango 3F on August 21. Tickets cost RMB 220 or RMB 180 in advance.

Photos: The Guardian

We're all for interesting chef collaborations and in Beijing, it doesn't get much more interesting than Opera Bombana and The Georg. For two nights only, on July 21 and July 22, head chef at The Georg Wang Bin will join Chef Marino D'Antonio in the kitchen at Opera Bombana for an enthralling collision of northern and southern European cooking styles. They're calling it a "14-course menu," as each chef will put his own spin on seven different ingredients.

The dinner is priced at RMB 1,988 per person, including wines paired by The Georg. There are only 20 spaces available each night and they're going fast, so be sure to call Opera Bombana on 5690 7177 ASAP to book.

Sticking with this week's fine dining theme, if you are interested in wine, you'll want to get down to Sureño on Monday, July 24, for a Riesling master class and wine dinner with German Wine Princess and Riesling Ambassador Mara Walz. Elected every year, the German Wine Princess is one of the foremost international representatives of the German wine industry.

The master class (RMB 258, 4-5pm) will teach you about the subtleties of this oft-misunderstood grape variety, while the wine dinner (RMB 788, 7pm) will show you how it pairs with food, with a menu prepared by Sureño's star chef Talib Hudda. There's a special discount price of RMB 888 if you attend both the master class and the dinner. 

Even if you don't make it to Sureño for the Riesling event, ladies in particular should still make a note to pop by because they are offering a free bottle of Prosecco for every two ladies who dine with them from Sunday to Wednesday. Alternatively, head over to Bistrot B on Thursday evening with a group of four or more girlfriends and the restaurant will treat you to a bottle of house wine. 

Your editor remains a ladies' night skeptic but who are we to argue with free wine?

And finally, a reminder that Tribe's new summer menu is currently 40 percent off, running until July 22. We were lucky enough to try nearly every new dish late last week and didn't leave disappointed.

More stories by this author here.

Instagram: @gongbaobeijing
Twitter: @gongbaobeijing
Weibo: @宫保北京

Images courtesy of Opera Bombana/The Georg, Opposite House

The perfect occasion to raise a glass and toast China's most famous spirit is nearly upon us. On August 9, nightlife blogger and longtime baijiu enthusiast Jim Boyce will host his third annual event dedicated of the notoriously strong (and divisive) Chinese liquor.

This year's World Baijiu Day participants include Capital Spirits, Pop-Up Beijing, Q Bar, Schoolhouse at Mutianyu, and Tiki Bungalow, with more happenings likely to be added to the docket when it's all said and done. Details are still being finalized, but Boyce recently posted on his blog about Q Bar's World Baijiu Day specifics, which will include not only domestic varieties of the spirit but also a flight of burgeoning international brands like Taizi from New Zealand.

The baijiu that will be served that night at Q Bar and at some of the other participating venues will be served in flights because, according to Boyce: "when we do drink baijiu straight, it tends to be in flights, so we can compare and contrast different baijius."

While Boyce is passionate about exploring the spirit's many facets, he more than understands the trepidation some foreigners may have when it comes to a drink that Chinese friends and colleagues have used to ganbei many of us under the table. To that end, he explains his nuanced thinking behind this annual event, telling the Beijinger during a recent interview: "I didn't create World Baijiu Day to make people love baijiu. Frankly, I have my own love-hate relationship with this booze. I created it because baijiu is the planet's most-consumed spirit and people should try it. Being an alcohol aficionado and never trying baijiu is like being a noodle fan and never trying spaghetti or ramen."

In keeping with the preceding World Baijiu Days, this year's iteration finds Boyce not only planning Beijing events but also coordinating with baijiu purveyors and restaurateurs the world over. Venues from 21 different cities – from Sydney to Melbourne, London to LA and more – will host various tasting events and food pairings, and you can read the entire breakdown here. Newbie locales include Buenos Aires, Chengdu and Shenzhen, and more may very well be added considering there's still three week to go before the big day.

Though many a foreigner has experienced rough nights after one too many shots of baijiu – its fiery flavor and potency making it one of the hardest drink-specific culture shocks to swallow – Boyce has long gone against the grain as an expat proponent of the spirit, going as far as penning a blog for the Beijinger in 2014 that offered fellow foreigners a "how-to guide" to better enjoy knocking little glassfuls of it back.

On the eve of the inaugural World Baijiu Day in 2015, Boyce told fellow spirit enthusiast and blogger Derek Sandhaus that he saw Chinese "grape wine go from being widely dismissed by most people to gaining some respectability over the past decade, and I figured something like World Baijiu Day might help baijiu on its own path to wider visibility and acceptance." He added that "I thought it would be fun to work with bars and restaurants on creative ideas, whether for cocktails or infusions or food pairings or even the deep-fried baijiu we tested here in Beijing, and learn more about this spirit myself."

The "fried baijiu" that Boyce mentions in that Q&A was something that he describes fondly to the Beijinger today as, "One of the coolest projects" that was ever part of World Baijiu Day because it saw former Windy City "Chef Dustin Merrett deep-fry baijiu in the Jing-A kitchen. You soak angel's food cake in baijiu, deep-fry it, then roll in icing sugar. It was good, although deep-fried bourbon and tequila were better. Other tasty experiments included the "drunken shrimp pizza" with seafood sauteed in baijiu, invented by Josh Lally at Gung Ho, and the Maotai mocha coffee made by the late Sam Cornthwaite of Good Works, along with lots more."

Another key aspect World Baijiu Day is to provide alternatives to the ganbei, rapid gulping-style consumption of this sorghum-based spirit that is so popular with the most devout of Chinese drinkers, but which proves more than cumbersome for most foreigners. Boyce explains: "I also created WBD as a platform to go "beyond ganbei." People in China typically consume baijiu as lukewarm shots but that's not a popular way to drink white spirits like gin or vodka elsewhere. Over the past two years, our venue partners have created baijiu-inspired cocktails, infusions and liqueurs plus foods and drinks like pizza, ice cream, chocolate, gummy bears, beer, and coffee."

Boyce adds: "No one is saying doing shots of baijiu is bad. But going beyond ganbei is a lot of fun and creates new ways for people to ease into baijiu."

To that, we can only say "cheers!" and raise a glass of our own. Well, maybe come Friday. For updates and more information about World Baijiu Day, see the event's website here follow the event on Facebook or Twitter.

More stories by this author here.
Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
Twitter: @MulKyle

Photos: Serious Eats, World Baijiu Day, 300 Shots at Greatness

With beer drinkers, the taste and quality of a beer carry significant weight when deciding if you do indeed like a beer or not, and an interesting and recitable story behind a beer often makes the enjoyment of the tipple even greater. To truly appreciate German beer, you have to understand the history behind it, and in fact, much of its history relates to one family, the Wittelsbach family, which dates back to 1260. Duke Ludwig "the Severe" founded the first royal family brewery in Munich.

A few centuries later, in 1516, the reinheitsgebot, known as the Beer Purity Law, was adopted in Bavaria by William IV, Duke of Bavaria. This law limited the ingredients to produce bottom-fermented beer to water, barley, hops, and yeast, and allowed for the additional use of malted wheat in top-fermented beers. Since 1919, the Beer Purity Law has had a great impact on the types of beer brewed today. The law was instated to cover all German beer. 

For 200 years, between 1601 and 1801, the Duke Maximilian I from the Wittelsbach family monopolized brewing weissbier (wheat beer). In October 1810, the wedding celebration of Crown Prince Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen marked the first-ever Munich Oktoberfest, which would go on to draw six to seven million visitors annually. Then in 1868, King Ludwig II established a brewing science faculty at the old Benedictine Abbey of Weihenstephan outside Munich, which happens to now be part of the Technical University of Munich.

Quality Matters Most

HRH Prinz Luitpold von Bayern has set himself the target brewing and to offering only the best beers of each style since being obliged to the Bavarian Purity Law was issued by one of his ancestors in 1516. His family recipes have been fine-tuned over the centuries and follow Royal Bavarian brewing and processing procedures to guarantee the highest quality.

HRH Prinz Luitpold von Bayern and his technical team ensure that all beers from Kaltenberg Castle are brewed under strict quality control measures. Guaranteed compliance with all Royal Bavarian brewing standards and specification is mandated for those breweries allowed to brew Kaltenberg beers. The monthly control by Bavarian brewmasters and the steadily degustation and taste approval under the supervision of HRH Prinz Luitpold von Bayern lead to many accolades, including international quality gold medals for breweries licensed by König Ludwig International.

The König Ludwig brand specializes in several Royal Bavarian beers. Their Weissbier (5 percent ABV), brewed with Kaltenberg’s special yeast, wheat, barley, and Hallertau hops are particularly refreshing with notes of clove, banana, melon, and elderflower. The body is cloudy with a hint of yeast and the foam is stable and tight. One of their leading dark beers, the Dunkel (4.6 percent ABV), is brewed with three various malts, Hallertau hops, and yeast that gives the brew a copper color, a clear body, and a creamy foam. It has aromas of cinnamon, nougat, caramel, and roasted malt, and flavors of chocolate, orange, almond, and caramel, with a pleasantly bitter finish and a full body.

Useful beery words

Beer 啤酒 píjiǔ
Water 水 shuǐ
Hops 啤酒花 píjiǔhuā
Yeast 酵母 jiàomǔ
Barley 麦芽 màiyá
Brewery 酿酒厂 niàngjiǔchǎng
Bavarian 巴戈利亚 bāgēlìyà
Weissbier/wheat beer 白啤酒/小麦啤酒 bái píjiǔ/xiǎomài píjiǔ
Dunkel 黑啤酒 hēi píjiǔ
Bavarian Purity Law 啤酒纯酿法 píjiǔ chúnniàng fǎ
Beer garden 啤酒花园 píjiǔ huāyuán

Conversation starters

Can I have a bottle of König Ludwig Weissbier?
我可以点一瓶路德维希国王小麦啤酒吗？
Wǒ kěyǐ diǎn yīpíng lù dé wéi xī guówáng xiǎomài píjiǔ ma?

I like the lingering aftertaste of this beer.
这款啤酒的余香很久，我很喜欢。
Zhèkuǎn píjiǔ de yúxiāng hěnjiǔ,wǒ hěn xǐhuān.

A classic wheat beer always has aromas of clove and banana.
经典的小麦啤酒一般有丁香和香蕉的香气。
Jīngdiǎn de xiǎomài píjiǔ yībān yǒu dīngxiāng hé xiāngjiāo de xiāngqì.

The body of Dunkel is not cloudy as Weissbier.
黑啤酒的酒体不想小麦啤酒那样浑浊。
Hēi píjiǔ de jiǔtǐ búxiǎng xiǎomài píjiǔ nàyàng húnzhuó.

This subtle and creamy foam is the treat of summer.
夏天喝绵密如奶油般泡沫的啤酒真是享受。
Xiàtiān hē miánmì rú nǎiyòu bān pàomó de píjiǔ zhēnshì xiǎngshóu.

The Dunkel is very drinkable thanks to it being under 5 percent ABV.
酒精度不到5度的黑啤酒非常易饮。
Jiǔjīngdù búdào 5 dù de hēipíjiǔ fēicháng yìyǐn.

Could you buy a box of König Ludwig Dunkel for a friend’s birthday?
有朋友要过生日了，可以订一箱路德维希国王黑啤酒吗？
Yǒu péngyǒu yào guò shēngrì le, kěyǐ dìng yīxiāng lù dé wéi xī guòwáng hēi píjiǔ ma?

You can get your hands on all the abovementioned beers here.

Visit one of the following locations to find any of the brands mentioned: 

Hotel
China World Hotels
Crowne Plaza Beijing Lido and Crowne Plaza Zhongguancun
Metropark Lido Hotel Beer Garden
Nuo Hotel
Rosedale Hotel Beijing          
Four Points by Sheraton Beijing
Swissotel Beijing, Hong Kong Macau Center
Grand Mercure Beijing Dongcheng

Bars
Paddy O’Shea’s
Zeit Berlin
Hopfenstube Germany Restaurant
Shuilintianyue
Groovy Schiller's

Restaurant (Dianping's Chinese addresses) 
Bianyifang Roast Duck Restaurant (airport branch)
Liang Restaurant
General Chi Yan Charcoal Burning Meat House
The Original Mud Furnace
Hongsheng Beer Garden
Uncle Crayfish

Supermarkets
Jenny Wang
Cheers Wine

This post is paid for by König Ludwig Weissbier. 

Images courtesy of König Ludwig Weissbier. 

Located on the first floor of the so-new-the-paint-is-still-wet Hotel Jen, Beersmith Gastropub has finally opened its doors to the public, and they certainly know how to make the most of a massive space. With 250 seats, 12 massive, 100-liter copper beer tanks (each embossed with a laser-cut Chinese zodiac sign), pool tables, and big screens for sports, this is somewhere you could post up for hours, if not days (given you have a hotel room).

Those immense tanks are to thank for the 16 beers on tap, including an easy-drinking blonde ale with nutty and sweet tones (4.8 percent ABV); a full-bodied English porter with a fruity aroma (5.5 percent ABV); and an IPA with tropical and citrus notes (6.5 percent ABV), which went down the hatch particularly smooth. For a hotel bar, the prices are reasonable – a pint of beer costs RMB 48-60 and a flight of four is RMB 90 (including service charge and VAT).

“At Beersmith Gastropub, we take great care in monitoring the process every step of the way, from grain to glass, to ensure maximum enjoyment,” brewmaster Tom Ashton, who previously managed brewing at Great Leap Brewing, explains. “My philosophy is using the best ingredients available, whether they are imported or local. We’re looking to create a beer range inspired by international styles from around the world: German kölsch, English porter, Belgian saison, New World IPA, New Zealand golden ale, as well as ciders.”

The gastro pub also offers hearty Western bar food to soak up all that beer, including classic snacks, soups, burgers, pasta, salads, and desserts. Among the highlights are the porter-marinated black pork ribs with mashed potatoes and corn (RMB 128), and the Wagyu beef burger (RMB 88) with its thick patty topped with cheese, tomato, and an aioli sauce that pops but doesn’t overwhelm. Perfect for munching while drinking, the pils battered cod and chips (RMB 98) are certainly worth a mention, the crisp crust bearing a subtle beery flavor.

Given that Beersmith is officially CBD’s first brewpub, we expect productivity in the area to have dipped considerably come the next quarter’s results, but only time will tell if this hotel-affixed venue will attract Beijing’s beer lovers from further afield on the merits of its brew alone.

Beersmith Gastropub
Daily 11am-2am. 1/F, Hotel Jen Beijing, 1 Jianguomen Waidajie, Chaoyang District (6505 2277)
鲜啤吧：朝阳区建国门外大街1号新国贸饭店1层

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
Instagram: @flyingfigure

Photos Courtesy of Beersmith, Tracy Wang

The expat enclave of Shunyi won't be such an isolated suburb of Beijing anymore with a new light rail public transportation system expected to begin operation in 2019.

Construction has officially begun on the T2 light rail line that will provide commuter service right through the heart of Shunyi, connecting to the Beijing Metro Line 15 as well as straight to Beijing Capital International Airport.

As the first private/public partnership for Beijing public transportation, the streetcar line will stretch 19.8 kilometers from the Friendship Hospital (友谊医院站) in the north to Terminal 3 of Beijing Airport. Commuters on the T2 line will be able to switch to the Line 15 subway at Hualikan Station and the China International Exhibition Station.

The environmentally friendly train will run at a maximum of 70 kilometers per hour with all but 3 kilometers of its track laid side-by-side. T2 stations will be situated closer together than those of a subway line, and an average distance of 893 meters apart. 

The T2 line will also serve as a public transportation access point for suburban commuters by constructing a car park 10 hectares in size.

Shunyi will continue to facilitate Beijing's need for a transportation conduit with future plans to construct an additional 11 major road and seven rail construction projects that include the future T1 and T3 lines, combining for a total streetcar rail length of 65.2 kilometers.

READ: Beijing Subway Line 12 to Open in 2020, Promises Transfers of Under 100 Meters

Additional plans say streetcars may also be coming to other Beijing suburbs like Daxing and Fengtai.

In other public transportation news of special interest to expats, construction for the future subway station in Sanlitun is still on track, but remains years away from opening.

Workers' Stadium Station (工人体育场地铁站) will be an interchange station where Beijing Metro Line 17 and 3 will meet, but the first stage of Line 3 isn't expected to open until 2021; construction on six of Line 3's stations is expected to commence by year's end.

All the same, it shouldn't be too long before the east end of Beijing features a streetcar system much like its west end. Here are the 22 T2 stations that have been announced so far (listed from north to south):

• Friendship Hospital Station (友谊医院站)
• Diya Manor Station (迪亚庄园站) 
• Qinggang Gardens Station (青岗花园站)
• Dingshi School Station (鼎石学校站)
• City Gardens Station (城市花园站)
• Aviation Base Station (航空基地站)
• Antai Boulevard Station (安泰大街站)
• Jixiang Gardens Station (吉祥花园站)
• Hualikan Station – Interchange with Beijing Metro Line 15 (花梨坎站)
• China International Exhibition Station – Interchange with Beijing Metro Line 15 (国展站)
• Tianzhu Gardens Station (天竺花园站)
• Tianzhu Middle School Station (天竺中学站)
• Public Square North Station (广场北站)
• Public Square Center Station (广场中心站)
• Xingfu Street Station (幸福街站)
• Tianzhu Home Station (天竺家园站)
• Tianhaiyuan Station (天海苑站)
• Gangshan South Station (岗山南站) 
• Gangshan Station (岗山站)
• Sijing Road Station (四经路站)
• Terminal 3 Station (Beijing Capital International Airport) (T3航站楼)
• Terminal West Station (Beijing Capital International Airport) (航站楼西站)

More stories from this author here.

Twitter: @Sinopath 

Images: Sina, Sohu, Tracy Wang

A diet of video games and old movies have influenced the most popular online trends, as seen by a list of the hottest Chinese internet slang from the first half of this year expected to bewilder anyone not up-to-date on some very obscure references.

As compiled by Headline News, the online slang terms originate from such varied sources as online video game banter, a Yu-Gi-Oh card game and even a 25-year-old Stephen Chow movie – subtle signs that Chinese youth are a little behind the times when it comes to pop culture.

Want to talk like a Chinese teenager? Here's the list:

1. Fisty ("拳拳 quánquán")

This phrase is used to describe "cuteness" through violence and requires a short explanation of basic Mandarin.

As the story goes, a female netizen was upset that her attempts at being sājiāo (撒娇, meaning "coquettish") were not having the desired effect upon her better half, so she threatened him with violence instead by saying:  "Hmph, this person will use their little fists to thump your chest." ("哼，人家拿小拳拳捶你胸口 hēng, rénjiā ná xiǎo quánquán chuí nǐ xiōngkǒu")

Reduplicating a noun in Mandarin has the effect of making it sound cuter, often used by children or by people acting sajiao, and in this case, is used for the word "fist" (拳 quán). However, a term for the doubled "fist" already exists, and means "sincerity when pertaining to national pride." The result of combining violence with cuteness along with nationalism has resulted in Chinese netizens popularizing this phrase, making it the current version of 萌萌达 méng méng dá (an earlier phrase for "cute").

Although duplication occurs in English with such words as "boo-boo" and "choo-choo," translating this slang as "fisty" is probably better than translating this as "fist fist."

2.  Let's go, mantis shrimp! ("皮皮虾, 我们走 pípí xiā, wǒmen zǒu")

This Chinese online slang, used to express something amazing, is the culmination of different memes developing separately, but combining to form a "super-meme."

"Let's go, xxx" is a phrase that originated with the trump card of the Yu-Gi-Oh: Official Card Game in which its most powerful character is summoned by saying its name along with "Let's go!" Chinese netizens eventually ditched Yu-Gi-Oh's "Prehistoric Dragon Star" in favor of another popular Chinese slang term, "mantis shrimp," a nonsense word used to express dissatisfaction. 

As weird as this slang sounds, it could have been weirder: other slang terms similar to "mantis shrimp" include "plucking clams" (拔蚌 bá bàng) and "winter melon skin" (冬瓜皮 dōngguā pí).

3. Secretary Dakang's GDP

"Mango TV" won this past spring's battle for ratings on Chinese television with their breakout hit about corruption in the Chinese government, In the Name of the People. Although it inspired a host of internet memes that included satirizing bureaucratic overreach through tiny windows, the most-popularized meme was a phrase widely repeated on bullet screen comments.

To show their support for the show's main protagonist, Chinese netizens posted over and over the phrase "I volunteer to pick up the slack of Secretary Dakang's portion of the GDP." (达康书记的GDP,我来守护！dá kāng shūjì de GDP, wǒ lái shǒuhù!)

Upon moving to general internet usage, the phrase became the question: "Who will take up the slack of Secretary Dakang's portion of the GDP?" ("达康书记的GDP 谁来守护？dá kāng shūjì de GDP shéi lái shǒuhù?")

4. Prick to the Heart ("扎心 zhā xīn")

Bullet screen comments are again to thank for originating this Chinese internet slang, used to convey compassion.

Reportedly, commenters were so moved by a live-streamer's attempt to help a Dongbei child that many of them repeated the phrase, "Old friend, that is so heart-rendering!" that included the phrase 扎心 zhā xīn (prick of the heart).

As it were, this phrase is in keeping with the Japanese cartoon convention of signifying certain emotions by reusing the same character modifiers. A fringe of lines at the top of a television screen signifies defeat causing sadness, while compassion for someone suffering from an act of betrayal is signified with a dagger through the heart, much like this Chinese slang term.

5. It's possible I may have (verbed) a fake (object) ("我可能 X了假 Y wǒ kěnéng X le jiǎ Y" )

The best of the lot, this internet slang is used to convey doubt, and is usually used for comedic purposes when something is far too late to act upon. It was widely used by school kids before spreading out all over the Chinese internet.

This phrase goes all the way back to the beginning of the year and was popularized with a story about fake terracotta warriors. Although the woman responsible for the original story didn't come up with it, Chinese news media spread her humorous story by saying, "It's possible I may have visited the fake terracotta warriors."

A spiritual successor to Arrested Development's running gag of "I've made a huge mistake," the very first time this Chinese online slang was used was in the phrase "It's possible I may have drunk fake alcohol" ("我可能是喝了假酒 我 wǒ kěnéng shì hēle jiǎ jiǔ").

6. Doesn't this ache your gentle heart? ("你的良心不会痛吗？ nǐ de liángxīn bù huì tòng ma?")

Zhuhu, China's version of Quora, has become a social media phenomenon with certain people achieving online fame just by their responses alone. And, it's responsible for creating a number of Chinese slang terms.

One such slang comes from a Zhuhu response in which Chinese internet users were aghast to be informed that venerated Chinese classical poet Li Bai treated his contemporary Du Fu with disdain. Even though Du dedicated some of his work expressively for Li, Li chose not to appreciate Du; instead, Li chose to dedicate poetry to Du's rival, Wang Lun.

This cold-blooded snub proved to be too much for Chinese netizens, prompting them to criticize Li Bai for his lack of kindness towards Du, thereby inspiring the phrase "Doesn't this pain your gentle heart?" ("你的良心不会痛吗？nǐ de liángxīn bù huì tòng ma?“)

7. Unexpected, but not by accident; surprised, but not shocked ("意不意外, 惊不惊喜 yì bù yìwài, jīng bù jīngxǐ")

This weird phrase, used to convey ambivalence, goes back a long way to the Stephen Chow film All's Well, Ends Well (1992). In the film, Chow delivers this classic line to Hong Kong's ingenue-of-the-moment Maggie Cheung. It has since been reused as a way to describe an unexpected turn of events or to ridicule dramatic reversals in a story.

Digging up cultural relics from another era is common for mainland Chinese internet memes. The recent "laidback Ge You" meme originates with an old mainland sitcom that dates back to the 90s.

8. No matter what, I'm a loser ("你尽管 X, Y 了算我输 nǐ jǐnguǎn X, Yle suàn wǒ shū")

China's diaosi and their funeral culture receive their very own online slang term with this term that conveys complete and total failure. Originating in a Weibo hot topic, the slang eventually filtered over to general Chinese internet use by becoming a macros (text accompanied by words, always in bold).

9. And, what, this thing? ("还有这种操作？hái yǒu zhè zhǒng cāozuò?")

Also originating with the online video game community, this slang is used to criticize or praise something surprising, usually regarding video game rules. 

操作 cāozuò means a kind of "operation," so this slang refers to a specific mechanic, and yet doesn't quite have the same ring to it when translated as, "And there's this kind of operation?"

10. Amazing, brother ("厉害了，我的哥 lìhàile, wǒ dí gē")

Yup. This is a thing people say on the 'net to each other. 

And the rest...

2017 is still half-baked according to the solar calendar, so there is still time for these other terms to make it big:

• "Kiss me, hug me, hold me up high" ("要亲亲要抱抱要举高高 yào qīnqīn yào bàobào yào jǔ gāo gāo"): Although this sounds cute, it mostly has negative connotations.
• "The brain is a good thing" ("脑子是个好东西 nǎozi shìgè hǎo dōngxī"): As a two-parter, the response to this is either "too bad you don't have one" or "hope you have one too."
• "Does not exist" ("不存在的 bù cúnzài de"): taken from an internet show, used to express a belief to win against bleak odds.
• 有freestyle吗?: China's hip-hop pop idols get schooled with this simple question.

More stories from this author here.

Twitter: @Sinopath 

Images: Sina Blog, Sohu, ChinaByte

Too often, Beijingers craving high-quality, affordable French-style bread find themselves out of luck, shelling out for pricey imitations that pale in comparison to the real thing. That's all about to change though, especially for Dongzhimen dwellers looking for a low key, neighborhood style bakery to get their grain fix. Yes, the newly opened Alesia La Boulangerie Française on Shizipo Jie (right next door to Pizza Saporita, formerly Pizza+) is sure to attract throngs with its fluffy croissants, pain au chocolate, pain aux olives and pain aux tomates, all available for an astoundingly low RMB 18 each.

Those prices are oh-so-reasonable when you consider their imported ingredients like French butter, not to mention their careful craftsmanship. Chalk that affordability up to the lack of overhead at the small bakery, which has three seats for anyone who wants to eat in at what is otherwise very much a takeaway joint. The skeletal operation consists of Alesia founders and bakers Shuang Chai – a Beijing native and Cordon Bleu alumnus – and her partner and co-founder Andy Chu, a Taiwanese chef who she met while working in F&B in France.

Aside from her laudable culinary schooling, Chai also honed her craft at the Michelin-starred Parisian restaurant L'arôme and has worked with and befriended numerous restaurateurs in Beijing. Indeed, her bon amis Ignasi Prats at the recently opened Fab bakery is among the exclusive few here in the capital to pass the pastry muster as far as Chai is concerned, leaving her to sing his praises during our recent visit to Alesia (that is, until she began lamenting the prices and greasy quality of many of the other French-style bakeries in Beijing).

Chai is sure to become even more well known in Beijing's F&B circles before long, because she's coordinating foodie seminars in the 798 art district to unveil the nuanced differences between various types of olive oil and other European ingredients (the classes are only in Chinese for now, though we hope demand will eventually lead to English iterations). See via WeChat ID: FCStudioLab.

Sure, we'd love to see a wider array of baked goods on offer at Alesia. But the somewhat narrow current menu allows Chai and Chu to really hone in and serve up a handful of deeply adept items at a low price. These truly are some of the best breads we'd had in Beijing-- the croissants boasting a subtly buttery aftertaste and a golden crisp exterior along with being fluffy soft inside; the pain au chocolate, meanwhile, has an equally nuanced texture and a sweetly lingering flavor.

What's more: Chai plans to switch up the menu regularly, baking breads flecked with local organic fruits like peaches, pears, and others when they're in season. These attributes should help Alesia La Boulangerie Française rise in popularity and esteem like well-prepared dough in an oven, and we can easily see droves of Beijingers flocking to this uniquely authentic French bakery.

Alesia La Boulangerie Française
Tue-Sun, 9am-7pm. 107, Bojing Haoting, 8 Shizipo Jie (138 1085 3324)
北京市东城区十字坡街8号铂晶豪庭底商107

More stories by this author here.
Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
Twitter: @MulKyle

Photos courtesy of Shuang Chai

One hundred and sixty one students and staff have safely returned from a school hiking expedition in the mountains around Beijing after getting lost for hours in the dark, narrowly avoiding a massive thunderstorm.

READ: Safety First: How to Stay Safe on Your Next Beijing Hike

After spending a night outdoors in a wilderness area of Miyun District, the outdoor class trip of the Beijing Experimental School set out at 9am Thursday for their journey home, but was not able to find its way back. It was not until nine hours later that teachers in charge of the trip finally admitted they were lost. 

But as student and Weibo user NiallGirl revealed online, teachers refused to contact the police out of fear of damaging the school's reputation. They also forbade students from doing the same.

NiallGirl said that cell phone reception was intermittent at Tianmen Mountain in the Beijing suburb of Miyun, but that text messages were able to be sent. By her account, it was only because students disobeyed the teachers' orders and secretly notified the police that they were eventually rescued.

After police and firefighters intervened following a report made at 6.40pm, every one of the 161 students and staff were reported to have come down from the mountain safely at 9pm, some 12 hours since they first set out. Everyone was said to be in good health except for one student who was taken to the hospital for a fever.

In her Weibo posts, NiallGirl criticized certain teachers and the tour guide responsible for getting them lost and then abandoning them in the wilderness, something that was supported by other students.

A third-year student named Chengcheng (a pseudonym) told Future Net: "In the end, the guide abandoned us to fend for
himself," adding that the Beijing Experimental School excursion took a different route from the one supplied by the travel agency.

"The school did not take the proper precautions," said Chengcheng. "We were only notified the day before yesterday that we would be going on an outdoor excursion trip to Tianmen Mountain in Miyun District."

All the same, the trip's planners decided to bring cooking equipment and utensils with them in order to eat hot pot. To take part in the trip, the 150 students had to pay a fee of 690 yuan.

Chengcheng said that the tour guide supplied by the travel agency appeared to have no experience as a tour guide, and was completely unfamiliar with the surroundings.

Although NiallGirl was very critical of the Beijing Experimental School in her Weibo posts (that have since mostly been deleted), she took the time to give thanks to teachers who remained with the students throughout the harrowing ordeal as well as to police and firefighters for saving them.

According to Future Net, Beijing Experimental School did not provide a comment about the incident, only saying that the school was hosting an "emergency meeting."

Previously called the Lixin School, the prestigious Beijing Experimental School was founded in 1920 by noted Chinese philanthropist and educator Xiong Xiling.

A number of dangerous weather conditions appeared on Thursday. In addition to prolonged exposure to the day's heat wave, the lost students were threatened with a looming thunderstorm that turned out like this:

Tianmen Mountain has an elevation of 800 meters and is located approximately 100 kilometers north of the Beijing city center. It is located in a remote area far away from roads and towns. Here's how Tianmen Mountain looks from Shijiazhuang:

Outdoor excursions are commonly taken for third-year Beijing high schools. Called "frontier training," this type of trip may not necessarily be outdoor education that teaches appreciation for the natural environment, but could be character training for participants through activities like "trust falls."

More stories from this author here.

Twitter: @Sinopath 

Images: Weibo (1, 2) Chouti, China

While pockets of old Beijing have been wrestling with forced closure and reclamation over the past several months, Cacha Cacha in Sanlitun’s Taikoo Li North was enduring their own property battle. Now, after nine months of lying dormant, and with the addition of the city’s skinniest escalator having eaten into its floor space, the restaurant resurfaces just in time for summer as the peculiarly-titled Klerm. Fans of the former establishment will be relieved to hear that the original Hong Kong-by-way-of-Bangkok team remains intact and so does the kitchen’s general premise: bright, fun, and modern Thai dining with nary a hint of arrogance.

We might as well start with that name: Klerm. Not so much a word that rolls off the tongue so much as a sound that you’d make after a serious head injury, Klerm means something in the vicinity of the drowsy or pleasant feeling you get while intoxicated. In that vein, the space itself exudes a supine disposition with colorful murals, dangling potted plants, and well-trained staff that are both friendly and attentive.

But even these elements pale in comparison to the food. Much like its predecessor, Klerm relies heavily on the cuisine of northern Thailand; hearty dishes laden with spices and a fiery kick that might be too much for some (ask them to hold back if necessary), all embodied in rich and creamy curries, big chunks of juicy meat and seafood, and fresh, tangy salads.

Favorites from our Southeast Asian feast include the poached mussels in green curry (RMB 78), the clams some of the freshest we have tried in Beijing, bulging and ready to dipped in the puddle of curry below; and a gargantuan crab in thick yellow curry sauce with onions and tomatoes (RMB 298). The crispy seafood pancake (RMB 88) made for a good filler to mop up any remaining juices, that’s if the accompanying sweet marmalade wasn’t so hard to forfeit. However, the show stopper is the signature beef fillet (RMB 268), which comes sizzling on a metal bell contraption brought over specifically from Thailand, the huge slabs of steak then flambéed at your table.

If you have the wherewithal to cram more in, we’d recommend the sticky rice pudding with condensed milk and fresh mango (RMB 68), a rich mix of sweet and sour and the ideal cooling dessert to escape Beijing’s heat. Despite that, at this point every bite was pushing me a little closer to understanding what was meant by “klerm,” grasping for any previous semblance of self-control and slowly entering a state of sloppy delirium.

Although the food here is the highlight, management is looking to enliven the space by putting more focus on the manned bar that sits in the center of the space, already offering a handful of classic, and more tropically-themed, cocktails and a short list of imported Thai beers. Nevertheless, those aspirations won’t come true until the property management okay for them to remain open past their current 10pm curfew.

Klerm is still in the process of polishing the final product – expect more focus on the bar as they settle – but the effort that they’ve put in so far in bringing a slice of Thailand to Beijing is plain to see. Given that the city already has slim pickings for good Thai food, Klerm presents a fresh option over some of the dreary and tired Sanlitun hangers-on.

Klerm
Daily 11am-10pm. NLG45, B1/F, Taikoo Li North, 11 Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang District (5721 2286)
朝阳区三里屯路11号院太古里北区地下一层NLG45

More stories by this author here.

Email: tomarnstein@thebeijinger.com
WeChat: tenglish_

Photos courtesy of Klerm

Beijing Beats brings you the best in Beijing nightlife each weekend. Its aim: to help you soothe the woes of a long and stressful week with some out-of-body gyrating and some experiences you'd rather forget come Monday. Check the weekend's full list of nightlife events here.
 

Friday, July 21

IMAABS (N.A.A.F.I Label)
Member of the Mexican dance label and brand N.A.A.F.I, IMAABS is the alias of the Chilean artist Cristo Gavras. Over the past few years, Gavras' music has gained worldwide attention leading to a world tour and releases with multiple labels, including PTP (USA) and Trax Couture (UK). Support from Puzzy Stack, Lu Xixi, Joy Ginger, and Yesen. 10pm. Price TBA. Dada

Yen 13th Anniversary Party
Beijing’s long running mega-party crew celebrates 13 years of epic nights in the capital. With an array of local stars on the decks, this one is definitely going to be a big night. 10pm. Price TBA. Migas
 

Saturday, July 22

JstJr
James S. Tomaszewski Jr. got his start in 2013 making remixes at his New England college. Today, his work combines baile funk, zouk bass, twerk, and moombahton, and has worked with Major Lazer and appeared at festivals with some of the biggest names in EDM. RMB 120, RMB 75 (advance). 10pm. Modernsky Lab

Club Paradise 
The hard-partying Club Paradise DJ crew looks to bring their tropical, funky vibes to Yue Space for the very first time for what should be a sweaty night of hutong booty shaking. DJs Ted Dancin', Saucy, Chloe, and friends look to take partygoers on a disco journey around the world with their unique blend of summery dancefloor fillers. 9.30pm. Free. Yue Space

Liao Annual Pool and Garden Party
Head to Liao's annual pool party this weekend for what promises to be an equal dose of pool fun, DJs, and, of course, drinking. The organizers have also hired a bunch of chiseled men to attend to do what chiseled men do best (check the event if you don't believe us). RMB 69, RMB 99 (with bus), tickets include three drinks. 2-6.3pm. Beijing Fortune Club

Carl Nunes
Sir Teen continues its tour of DJ Magazine’s top 100 list, bringing #86, Carl Nunes, to Beijing. The artist may be Latin America’s biggest DJ, playing genre-blending electronic and dance. He’s taken the stage with greats including Tiesto, Deadmau5, Armin van Buuren, and EDX. 10pm. RMB 100. Sir Teen

Ludo V., Nassdak, and Bobby
From international greats to local favorites, Migas is the place to find the best house music in Beijing. Plenty of deep and heavy grooves from early evening until late. 10pm. Price TBC. Migas
 

Sunday, July 23

Disco 2000
Whether you work in F&B, events or education there is always a chance you may have Monday's off. Making Sunday the start of your 'weekend' when the majority of people are in bed early awaiting the start of the working week. The good people at 8-Bit are in the same boat and so invite you to come party late into the night. 6pm. RMB 20. 8-Bit

Club Paradise Sunday Sundowner
Club Paradise teams up with Zarah and Jing-A for this Sunday Sundowner. Enjoy RMB 30 pints from Jing-A to the musical stylings of Brother Ping and Saucy Gary Boozy and sample Zarah’s finest grub all Sunday afternoon. Free. 3-7pm. Zarah

As always, all of Beijing's best nightlife events can be found in our Events section here.

Images courtesy of the organizers

This post comes courtesy of our content partners at TechNode.

As of yesterday, customers using Apple Pay in China can benefit from a range of offers of up to 50 percent off if they can understand what they are and where to use them. Apple has launched its largest ever promotion for Apple Pay in China since its launch, according to a report by the SCMP. Participating retailers include Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Zhen Gongfu, and the Guangzhou Friendship Store.

Apple has made little headway in the mobile payments market in China where Alipay and WeChat Payments dominate, making up around 95 percent of the market. It does not help that iPhones – the only handsets that support Apple Pay – made up only 9.6 percent of the country’s shipments in the first quarter of the year. A Bloomberg report in March found that at one major Chinese bank just 1 percent of its 10 million digital banking customers had signed up for Apple Pay.

The promotion runs from July 18 to 24 in retail stores and online. During this time period, the promotion also gives credit card points bonuses at 50 times the usual rate when spending via Apple Pay at the stores covered or, for some banks, anywhere.

So far so good. But for any potential Apple Pay spenders who manage to hear about the promotion (registered users at TechNode have yet to receive notification) may have trouble using it. Promotions are limited to particular cities, groups of cities or even particular stores.

READ: Ride the Beijing Metro by Swiping Your Phone ... As Long as It's Not an iPhone

Some discounts are relatively straightforward. Starbucks nationwide is offering RMB 15 off a spend of RMB 60 or over (yet with different daily store limits in different parts of the country) and Mobike is giving a RMB 10 top-up for RMB 5. Yet many of the discounts sound promising at 50 percent off, but have a raft of restrictions. For example, stores such as 7-Eleven limit that to just RMB 10, and Decathlon, the sports equipment retailer, is offering 50 percent off but only for 8,000 customers Shanghai.

Images: Shopify, Apple Pay

We're currently wading through the swamp that is the Beijing summer, which means that sat firmly on the horizon is a crusty, oven-baked and oval object, sopping with cheese and tomatoey goodness, signaling the impending encroachment of autumn.

That's right, Beijing! Our annual Pizza Festival, marking the launch of this year's Pizza Cup, is now only a mere two months away, this year falling on September 16-17 at Wangjing Soho. That means that we're already well into preparations for what has over the past four years been the biggest celebration of pizza that China has ever seen in its 5,000-year-strong history.

This year's fest will keep that dream alive, taking on a carnival theme to bring a splash of color to Beijing. There'll be music from some of the city's best live performers, including The Hunters, The Mac Daddies, and several DJs, as well as carnival games, magic shows, and carnival dancers.

Best of all, there'll be more than 50 food and drink vendors to make sure you never go hungry throughout the entire two-day festival. If that wasn't enough, you may even see history in the making, with the Guinness Book of World Records coming to record what will hopefully be the biggest dough toss of all time.

Tickets for the event will cost RMB 25 and the door or RMB 20 advance. Booking ahead of time will snag you a free secret gift to enjoy at the festival.

So, mark the dates in your calendar, snag your tickets early by scanning the QR codes below, and start making a mental note of all the pizza you shove into your face from now until September so that you can better revel in the joy that is the Beijinger's 2017 Pizza Festival.

Photos: Telegraph, Junction, Uni You

Beijing seeks to put an end to noisy traffic by implementing the city's first-ever automated system that will identify and penalize drivers that excessively use their horns.

Described as a "sonar system," drivers who indiscriminately honk their horns will be triangulated by a computerized system of microphones and cameras that will record their license plates.

"The detectors consist of three parts, namely, a microphone array acquisition device, an electronic capture, and a LED prompt system," said Li Jianfeng, deputy director of the Scientific and Technical Information Department of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau.

Li said the system is so precise that it can identify a violator within two seconds and distinguish between vehicles.

"Parallel vehicles can also be identified based on their position in each lane; the recognition locator feature can reflect the direction the honks are coming from, so there will be no misjudgment," said Li.

READ: 16 Road Nuisances That Need Banning in Beijing More Than E-Scooters (Which Were Banned Today)

"Combining the three systems, we can distinguish between the sounds of horns, brakes and engine noise," said Li. 

The system will also publicly display the license plates of offending cars.

The system was set up last week in two Beijing neighborhoods that are designated "no horn" zones: the Xiaowei Hutong in Dongcheng, and the west gate of Peking Union Medical Hospital. 

Dongdan traffic constable Bai Yun said the system will formally begin issuing fines this week after having completed its trial run. The automated system is said to expand to other areas of Beijing in the future.

READ: Road Construction Will Close the East Third Ring Road at Night This Summer

Violators will be fined RMB 100 (under USD 15), but won't be deducted any points on their licenses.

According to the 14th item of the 91st statute of the "People's Republic of China Road Traffic Safety Law," motorists are not allowed to use their horns to prompt or urge cars or pedestrians that have stopped or are slowly moving. 

Beijing widened its ban on vehicle honking from within the Third Ring Road to the Fourth Ring Road in July 2001, and extended it again to the Fifth Ring Road in April 2007.

More stories from this author here.

Twitter: @Sinopath 

Images: Sohu, Weibo

Last year’s data from Diyi Caijing puts Beijing’s average rent in the not-so-desirable spotlight as China’s highest. The average rent per month, per square meter in our fair city was RMB 71.24 in 2016, an increase of 13.46 percent year on year. That puts a 130-square-meter three-bedroom apartment of at approximately RMB 9,000 a month.

For anyone living within the Third Ring Road, that’s likely to be much lower than what you’re paying, but bear in mind that this information includes data from the further outlying districts of Tongzhou and even Changping, where the cost of living is much lower.

The only city that comes close, as you might have already guessed, is our arch rival Shanghai, with RMB 66.34 per square meter per month on average in 2016, also up more than 13 percent when compared to data from 2015.

Placing themselves in third and fourth place on the list of China’s most expensive places for rent, we have the southern cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, coming in at an average of RMB 66.25 and RMB 44.47, respectively.

Capping off the list is Shijiazhuang, the capital of neighboring Hebei province, where you can find a house for almost a quarter of what you’d pay in Beijing, the only downside is that you then have to live in Shijiazhuang (sorry, SJZ, we love you really).

More stories by this author here.

Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com
Instagram: s.xuagram

Photo: Nikolaj Potanin

This post comes courtesy of our content partners at TechNode.

Despite traveling at 300km per hour, as of today, it is now possible to order takeaway to your train seat. No longer do you need to circumnavigate the misery of the plastic yellow trays of microwaved mush-with-rice. And, yes, of course, you can pay by WeChat.

The official train booking system, 12306, has allowed restaurants to integrate with the high-speed train network. So far, 27 stations offer the service (see list below) as part of the pilot, but only along the high-speed bullet train (高铁) network.

Passengers can use the 12306 app or website to order food from a station along their route and must place the order at least two hours before they are due to reach the station. The food is prepared by the restaurant, delivered to the station, loaded onto the train and then brought right to your seat.

We planned a fictitious journey from Beijing through to Shenzhen to check out the options. Beijing is notably absent from the first batch of stations offering the service. We would have to pack our own breakfast, but moving on to lunch the options opened up and we could have dumplings delivered for RMB 28 plus a RMB 8 delivery fee – similar to using food delivery apps when not on a bullet train.

We were a little disappointed at the choice available on day one, as there is a lot of fast food with KFC, Dicos, and McDonald’s, but we hope for high-speed improvements. As the system develops it should be possible to order the specialties of the regions you speed through.

Passengers do not need to have bought their train tickets through the 12306 app or network to be able to use the order service. Once you’ve got the ticket, you can order food with your ticket and contact details.

While the system is thus far still controlled and not open to the likes of Meituan-Dianping, it will still come as a relief to passengers in China who have long complained of the poor options on board the country’s rail network.

The service is currently available at:

Changchun, Changchun West, Changsha South, Chengdu East, Chongqing North, Fuzhou, Fuzhou South, Guangzhou South, Guiyang North, Hangzhou East, Hankou, Hefei South, Jinan West, Lanzhou West, Nanchang West, Nanjing South, Nanning East, Shanghai Hongqiao, Shenyang Bei, Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan South, Tianjin, Wuhan, Xiamen North, Xi’an North, Xining and Zhengzhou East

Images: Estanda, 12306

Chinese media and netizens are outraged at a foreign car manufacturer for using a social trope in one of their advertisements even though the cliche is so common in Chinese society that it is featured during primetime television.

A recent commercial promoting second-hand Audis has been under fire for its "sexist" attitude of "treating women like livestock."

The 34-second commercial depicts the mother of the groom interrupting the exchanging of the vows during a Chinese wedding ceremony to give her soon-to-be daughter-in-law a crude physical examination. Much to the shock of the guests and the non-Chinese priest presiding over the wedding, the groom's mother yanks on the bride's face to look inside the bride's mouth and behind her ear.

When she finally gives an "OK" sign after walking away, the bride and groom give a visible sigh of relief. However, the new mother-in-law pauses, suggesting there is one last place she forgot to check, at which point the bride demurely covers her bosom.

The commercial ends with the words, "An important decision must be made carefully."

READ: Netizens Outraged as Foreign Man is "Schemed" in Chaoyang District

However, the tongue-in-cheek commercial did not tickle Chinese netizens the way it intended to and has since been taken offline. Some netizens complained that the commercial "likens women to a slave or a horse" while others said it "reinforces social bias against plastic surgery."

One netizen wrote: "What a revolting commercial. Audi is such a big company, and yet they think like this?" Another said, "I am so taken aback by Audi's comparison of women to second-hand cars that I want to vomit!" 

The Chinese media has also condemned the commercial. ThePeople's Daily has described the Audi commercial as a "car wreck" while Global Times said the German car manufacturer has "hit the skids."

READ: Chinese Public Outraged After Fight Breaks Out at Hockey Game

Then again, the Chinese anger at Audi isn't so justified when considering that the "self-righteous, overly demanding mother" trope employed in the commercial is one that is overly used in Chinese culture. Shameless mothers with hard-to-satisfy demands have long served as a staple in Chinese TV dramas, but this cliche finally hit its cultural zeitgeist this past January. 

That's when a dating show with a unique twist debuted on Chinese television. On this show, parents accompany an eligible bachelor or bachelorette and help them make decisions. But because choosing a wedding partner is such an important decision that must be made carefully, many of these parents can't help but act rudely and without tact. Parents shamelessly ask personal questions that would offend someone in normal company, while another mother reaches out to touch a contestant's hand — to see if her blood circulation meets the requirements of a fertile woman.

READ: Cost of Marrying One of China's Outnumbered Women Continues to Skyrocket

At first raising controversy, the show went on to be a big hit with Chinese audiences, even inspiring a few copycat shows. And if to demonstrate no mistake to the subtle social commentary it provides, the show is called Chinese-Style Dating.

But a national TV show isn't the only place where Chinese parents impose their demands on their children. "Marriage markets" are commonly held in Chinese urban centers in which parents try to find suitable wedding partners for their children, simplifying them to basics like salary and home ownership. Instead of allowing their children to choose their husband or wife, these parents are attempting to make the choice for them.

READ: Beijing Boyfriends Among the Best in China, Says Chinese Dating Website Survey

Meanwhile, much of the online anger directed at the German car maker comes despite the fact the commercial was made by the Chinese subsidiary of German automaker Audi FAW-Volkswagen. The difference between these two entities becomes even more pronounced when considering they have been feuding over brand partnering with new dealers in China, leading to a 12.2 percent drop in sales for the first half of this year.

To that end, foreign car makers have been given exceptional coverage by the Chinese media. Last November, the Daimler head of the China division Rainer Gartner resigned in disgrace after he was reported to have been involved in a racist road rage incident in which Gartner's identity and personal details were published in the Chinese media, but nothing about his accusers or witnesses was even mentioned.

This is not the first time Audi has offended the Chinese market. Last March, the company apologized for using a map of China that excluded the self-governed island province of Taiwan during a presentation.

It's clear that the Audi commercial has gone too far in its use of hyperbole. And, in hindsight, it's also clear that Audi should have thought twice about using the truth about China's overbearing mothers to sell its cars.

Watch the Audi car commercial here.

More stories from this author here.

Twitter: @Sinopath 

Images: Caijing, Weibo, The Chinese News