Little rabbit be good

This video circulated on the Chinese internet recently before its predictable pulling. Created by a young group of videographers in China. It depicts Kuang-kuang, a character of theirs, falling asleep and dreaming/ fantasizing of a past and future. (WARNING: this is not a children's cartoon, there is lots of blood, mayhem, and dying cartoon bunnies.) Make sure the in-video comments are on to view the English translations.

The interesting points of this video are a few. First that it was made and posted at all, and that it was able to survive for even a short time without being taken down on a Chinese video sharing site. (It has been long since pulled, but was up long enough that even I, who is pretty slow to notice trends, was able to view it on Youku.)

Second it manages to touch upon a number of sensitive, current trends and topics going around the Chinese internet. The first and most obvious, is the tainted milk scandal, which I discussed earlier today. In the video a truck bearing the name of a "Sanhu" (Three Tigers) distributes poisoned milk. "Sanhu" sounds an awful lot like "Sanlu", and no Chinese person could miss the reference.

Ai Weiwei round-up on the inter-tubes

First it must really be noted that Ai Weiwei is not the only person by any means who has been detained recently. Check this list compiled at Chinageeks.

Champion of classical Liberalism, the Economist ties Ai Weiwei's detention to the lack of a Rule of Law in China. Also, Weiwei sat down for tea with them last year to vent his spleen on the CCP in this video interview.

The Guardian covers Ai Weiwei's detention. And Foreign Policy addresses the arrests in general.

Sometimes it all makes one say stuff like this.

Ai Weiwei Detained (again)

Artist, critic, and Chinese Communist Party provocateur Ai Weiwei was detained by security personel on his way out of Beijing a few days ago. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Ai, he is a remarkable figure. A conceptual artist in China today who splits his time between making brilliant pieces of art and poking, prodding, and critizing the Chinese authorities. And really doing both at the same time more and more often.