The Year of Living Dangerously: TheBeijinger's Top Ten Posts of 2012
It was the best of years, it was the worst of years ... whatever you make of it, 2012 was pretty damn interesting, and your reaction to our blogs was no exception. Here is a list of our top ten hottest posts for the year.
Sanlitun Savvy: Can You Stay Safe on Bar Street?
For a metropolis of this size, Beijing's known as a fairly safe city. but a few violent assaults on foreigners had the international community wondering if times have changed for the worse.
Why I'm Leaving China
the Beijinger's backpage columnist George Ding penned this satirical piece on the "foreigner explaining why they are leaving China" meme. Hilarity ensued. It even spawned a sequel (see below).
Are You Legal? 100 Days of Checks on Foreigners Begins Today
'Twas an eventful year of crackdowns. This particular one, sparked by the woefully uncouth public behavior of one particular British tourist, proved to be a massive headache for many of Beijing's foreign residents.
Why I'm Coming Back to China
George Ding's follow-up to his satire on foreigners leaving China (see above) sparked a viral frenzy after it was translated into Chinese by Caixin and other local media – and taken quite literally by netizens with a dim view of foreigners in Beijing.
Of Elements and Embassies: Is It Safe to Go Out?
The comments section in this post about a fight at Elements nightclub between security and a US Embassy staff member played host to a lively debate as to who exactly was to blame, as well as the larger topics of violence against foreigners in Beijing, and what role English-language media should play when reporting these incidents.
Beijing's Top Tailors
This oldie but goodie from 2010 is still a reader favorite for those in search of custom threads.
Time for Temple: Chinese New Year's Fairs
Because there's quite simply nothing else to do in the dead of winter when the entire city is closed for Spring Festival ...
Foreigner Killed at Qianmen: The Web Reacts
The tragic stabbing of a 62-year-old American man by a mentally ill person echoed a similar incident during the 2008 Olympics and once again highlighted safety concerns and Chinese-foreign relations in the capital.
The Rules of Expat Dating: Ask Yue Xu
This dating coach's comments on "Yellow Fever" were a real turn-off for some readers.
Voting Now Open in the Beijinger 2012 Reader Bar and Club Awards
Readers were keen to let us know their thoughts on Beijing's nightlife scene in the run-up to our Bar and Club Awards.
Comments
New comments are displayed first.Comments
webdude
Submitted by Guest on Thu, 01/03/2013 - 10:27 Permalink
Re: The Year of Living Dangerously: TheBeijinger's Top Ten ...
Your teaser photo shows a collision between space objects. The ado over the Mayan calendar was ridiculous, but at some point, Earth will be hit. Actually, Earth is hit many times each day - just not by an object big enough to worry about. However, why should that stop retailers from missing an opportunity?
Here's the next good one:
Last February 23, an asteroid, designated 2012 DA14, was discovered by an observatory in Spain. 2012 DA14 has an estimated diameter of about 45 meters and mass of about 130,000 metric tons. When will it pass close to Earth? Just after Valentine's Day this year. Sounds like a great opportunity for retailers to sell lovers on buying gifts to ensure getting one last kiss, or something more intimate, before risking saying goodbye forever!
The government appears to be blocking all sites related to the object, as well as many other sites related to Near Earth Objects (NEOs), perhaps due to fear of a recurrence of something similar to the school attack by the knife-wielding lunatic just before the last "end of the world." So, unless you use a VPN, about all you can view is this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Earth_Objects
Astronomers measure distances in Astronomical Units (AUs), roughly equivalent to the average distance from Earth to the sun. For NEOs, I think LAUs (Lunar Astronomical Units) would make more sense. Asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass within about one LAU of Earth. Let the Valentine's marketing frenzy begin!
Validate your mobile phone number to post comments.