Wacky China - Your Daily Fix of China's Weird News

Chinglish, now in the bathroom

The following examples of proper toilet manners were photographed at the entrance to the mountain Emeishan, outside of Chengdu, Sichuan province. We hope you remember these next time nature calls.

Word.

In Guangzhou: poor but stylish

From Chinaren's blog: The following pictures were taken in Guangzhou, Guandong province. They show a man scrounging through dustbins wearing a rather eccentric outfit, which he seems to have made himself out of material he's found among the garbage. The blogger who posted these photos write: "I really admire his feeling for fashion, to strive against and find solutions to the problems we meet is what makes us human". 

Comments from readers: "Why would a normal person choose to live like that?"

"Guangzhou is very harmonious, so this is perhaps not Guangzhou"

"How did he do that?"

"He's really gifted, he should be a fashion designer"

"The alternative kids should copy his style"

We agree that this guy has skills, and we really like his hair.

Girl kicks pregnant woman over bus seat

Today we found a bit of disturbing news on 163.com. The following incident is reported from the city of Wuhan, Hubei province: A 21 year old woman, with the surname Lin was riding a local bus from a friend's house. Lin, who is four months pregnant, had sat down in an empty seat and fallen asleep.

After about 20 minutes' ride, Lin was shaken awake by a tall woman in her early twenties, who wanted to reach the empty seat beside her. After the rough awakening, both women lost their tempers and a fight broke out, which the ticket collector tired to stop. During the fight, Lin shouted: "I'm pregnant, don't punch my belly!". The woman who had woken her up then kicked her in the abdomen. Lin says she felt a sharp pain.

When the fight had subsided Lin called the police, the driver stopped the bus and kept the doors shut, waiting for the police to arrive. However, some passengers wanted to get off to be able to catch a train. The woman who had kicked Lin said that the two of them could wait on the road: " I promise not to run away". To no one's surprise, she tried to run off once outside, but was caught by a bystander and brought to the police station.

Suddenly we understand why the Chinese bus stops are covered in slogans telling passengers to act "wenming", civilized. Kicking people, we're fairly sure, is not wenming.

Photo by Jinyu

Chinese farmer builds wooden bike

From Chinaren: Sun Lixue, a 52 year old farmer from China's Liaoning province has constructed this lovely bicycle. Apart from from the tires and some small details, it is entirely made of wood. After three months hard work, Sun Lixue was able to take the bike for a test ride this week.

According to its maker, the bike weighs around 8 kilos and will be able to carry up to 100 kilos.

We like it and so does the web. Comments from users:

"Art stems from life, he's really skilled"

"There are so many talented people among us, although they often go unnoticed".

"This piece of art is too good to be used as a vehicle"

"I want to be his apprentice"

Photos from Chinaren.

If you want a Chinese character tattoo, remember: some can read it

The topic "What is the strangest Chinese character you've seen tattooed on a foreigner?" has generated a huge response on Chinese web forum Tianya. Apparently even foreigners who stay in China have been brave (or stupid) enough to show off the random words inked on their skin, much to the amusement of the Chinese.

The first post on this thread recounts this incident: " A friend of mine, a German girl had the word 屁, (which means 'fart', 'rubbish' or 'buttock') tattooed on her behind... When she showed it to me, I remembered that she had previously asked me how to say: 'unconcerned, carefree' in Chinese. I had told her it was ( 'not to let 屁事 - trifles- bother you) Later she found out the word was wrong and broke contact with me. In the end I paid for laser removal, now her tattoo says "别离" (farewell)".

 

Other comments from this thread:

"Ha, ha, hilarious"

"I saw a girl who had “奶妈” (wet nurse) written on her wrist, I almost collapsed with laughter". (The girl probably wanted her tattoo to say; "妈妈" (mum). 

"Ha ha, why do they use Chinese? They don't even understand it"

"During the Olympics, one athlete got a tattoo that said: 我在这里 ('I am here')

"I met a girl who had 屎 ('excrement') tattooed on her leg"

So, people, before you write something that will stay on your body for a long time, make sure it's not "shit". Or use a language that is not spoken by over a billion people.

Engrish songs with funny videos

OK, so we realize that irony has officially reached China. If you need proof, have a look at these charming clips from Chinese site Tudou. They are all recorded in the interesting linguistic phenomenon Fake English, (which many of us might mistake for ordinary Chinglish).

The people behind the movies are aware that the lyrics (from the fith clip):
"Spicy, spicy, spicy, girl, girl girl,
Little spicy girl doesn't fear pepper,
Bigger spicy girl doesn't fear pepper", sound quite unorthodox. But here's the thing: they understand just how funny these half comprehensible snippets of English are. Now that's what we call self-distance.

We would espically recomend films 3, "A Word in Heart", an unlikely addition to the Forest Gump soundtrack and 5, an Asian take on Spice Girls,