Danwei
Danwei is a website about media, advertising, and urban life in China. With frequent reference to and translations from Mainland Chinese media, we publish fresh information about China that you won't find anywhere else.
Lei Feng, serving the people in the 21st Century
(Mar 8)
 Lei Feng taking down dodgy adverts
Lei Feng's got a microblog!
Lei Feng Diary contains the musings of the Rustless Screw forty-eight years after his death in an unfortunate telephone pole accident.
The tone is earnest, and while much of the very dry humor derives from the incongruity of a national icon commenting on contemporary pop culture and the latest social scandals, the microblog also explores what the real Lei Feng might make of a world that perceives him as both an outdated icon and a brand ripe for exploitation.
Some excerpts:
A couple days ago the company started to study " The Diary of a Bureau Chief," but there's only one computer, so the comrades haven't been able to. The political instructor was at wits' end, which I saw and took to heart. This evening I worked into the night to write it out by hand so that everyone in the company could have a copy. On the flyleaf of each volume I wrote "Lovers are not the exclusive right of the bourgeoisie. We proletarians also ...
It's not dinner I'm making, it's affection!
(Mar 8)
 Liaoshen Evening News, March 8, 2010
The Anshan (鞍山) edition of the Liaoshen Evening News is celebrating International Women's Day by detailing:
What to cook for a woman on this day (which has the headline "It's not dinner I'm making, it's affection!" 老公做的不是菜, 是爱心, a parody of the World of Warcraft "brother" and "legend" catchphrase).
All women need on this day is to feel important: the article begins by talking about women schoolteachers who can't take the day off, and goes on to describe how some women will spend the day － shopping with their boyfriends etc. It ends with a nod to "girls" 女生, who'd rather not celebrate it because of the word for "women" 妇女, used in Women's Day (三八妇女节). "Old women", 老太太 might also think that they don't fall under the category of "women" (妇女), despite that all women over 18 should be included.
The interestingly-designed front page poses many questions: Do you know that you have a half-day holiday today? What to do if you can't enjoy ho...
Premier Wen's unwitting endorsement of reading glasses
(Mar 8)
Chongqing Economic Times, March 6, 2010
How to maximize the declining value of newspapers as an advertising medium must be a challenge faced by all advertisers, but the editors at the Chongqing Economic Times seemed to have found one answer.
The big image on the front of the March 6 issue shows the charismatic Premier Wen Jiabao wearing his gold rimmed glasses as he delivers a speech before the National People's Congress. The image is captioned with his inspiring words, "Let people live more happily and with more dignity; make society more just and harmonious."
Underneath, a headline reads: "Presbyopia sufferers, we remind you to wear a pair of next generation adjustable multi-focus reading glasses." Very subtle, indeed.
Tags: advertisements, Chongqing Economic Times, newspapers
This article is from Danwei.org 
A dance and a secret women's script
(Mar 6)
A video by Janek Zdzarski for See China: HerStory (Nüshu 女书) is a dance piece inspired by the secret women's writing system, choreographed by Helen Lai, recently performed at at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing.
Tags: dance, Helen Lai, nushu
This article is from Danwei.org 
A bold front-page layout at the People's Daily
(Mar 6)
People's DailyMarch 6, 2010
March 5 marked the opening of the Third Session of the 11th National People's Congress.
Opening Day varies little from year to year. The politburo makes its entrance. Wu Bangguo emcees. Wen Jiabao delivers the annual work report while everyone else follows along in their print copies. Then during the break-out sessions, Hu Jintao presents some important remarks to a provincial delegation (Jiangsu these days). Then on March 6, the People's Daily publishes a newspaper that is practically indistinguishable from years previous.
Well, not this year. Today's People's Daily features a front-page that makes some innovative layout choices.
Vertical composition is passé in 2010, so the paper features a horizontal headline over a row of photos. Hu Jintao's remarks have been shifted to the bottom left, leaving the upper right free for news bites from the NPC and CPPCC. And the lead editorial returns to the front page after a two-year absence.
For the past few y...
Legislative sessions? What legislative sessions?
(Mar 5)
 Chongqing Evening News, March 5, 2010
While most of the nation's newspapers are busy covering the legislative sessions currently underway in the capital, the Chongqing Evening News features a front page with no direct mention of the "two meetings" (两会).
True, the lead headline, in which mayor Huang Qifan describes taking to his cooperation with party secretary Bo Xilai as "a fish to water," is taken from an interview conducted at the sessions, but the rest of the page is a rundown of rougher news items:
Who's got the guts to dump into the Yangtze?: Dump trucks, at a rate of 40 per hour throughout the night, poured gravel into the Yangtze River. "We're constructing a landing," they said. The Waterway Bureau called the project illegal.
"If anyone says the Lei Feng story is made-up, I'll fight him like hell!": Hu Rong'ao, who knew Lei Feng back in the army, talks to the newspaper about his experiences with the model soldier. Lei Feng helped him learn to read and taught him "The Cl...
Kneel before Lei Feng
(Mar 5)
 Pledging to follow the Fengster
Lei Feng Day, March 5, is a time for the mainstream media to stage gimmicky stunts that somehow illustrate the decline of the Lei Feng Spirit of selfless dedication in contemporary society.
The Chongqing Economic Times sent a reporter out to help people at the local train station, where he discovered that people today are suspicious of strangers who offer them unwanted assistance:
Yang Xiaoli piled up her luggage on a spot just outside the entrance and then lifted up her one-year-old son before sitting down on the pile like so many other fellow travelers waiting for the train. Yang's oldest child was just three or four and would not settle down. "Don't run around. Obey!" Yang looked a little haggard as she watched her two rambunctious children. But when the reporter stepped forward and offered to help look after them, Yang brusquely refused: "No, I can look after them myself."
When the reporter then disclosed his identity and intentions, Yang re...
The true story of a soy sauce man on film
(Mar 5)
The true story of a soy sauce man, the companion film to Eric Mu's series of articles (see Part I, Part II).
Tags: Soy
This article is from Danwei.org 
Liu Xiang is chased by reporters
(Mar 4)
 Information Times, March 4, 2010
Today's Information Times runs a widely distributed picture of Liu Xiang, the 110m hurdler, who was being chased by reporters during the start of the CPPCC yesterday. The NPC begins today.
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