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Planet China

The strangest stories from the Middle Kingdom...

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A worrying new trend: Dognapping
Feb 15, 2018 (WiC 398)

As dog ownership grows in China a new business has emerged – kidnapping pets and holding them for ransom. In many cases people simply pay up, desperate to have their pet returned. A common threat is to sell it for meat if the owners ...

No place like home
Feb 9, 2018 (WiC 397)

During this time of a year, millions of Chinese make long journeys home to celebrate the advent of the Lunar New Year with their families. Social media has been fascinated this year with one tale involving a male college student who travelled ...

Left Behind
Feb 2, 2018 (WiC 396)

WiC once heard the story of an adventurous American family that decided in the late 1990s to drive along China’s old Silk Road (long before it became a trendy investment theme). At one point they accidentally left one of their kids behind in a ...

Roll Call
Jan 26, 2018 (WiC 395)

When some WiC readers cast their minds back to their student days, they may remember the odd early morning where they looked at the alarm clock and decided to give that early lecture a pass. In southwestern China a college has taken a new ...

Diving Queen
Jan 19, 2018 (WiC 394)

In China the term pengci literally means “bumping porcelain”. It refers to a scam in the antique industry where a cheap vase is strategically placed so that shoppers may easily brush it and thus knock the object over. The owner will ...

The perfect thief
Jan 12, 2018 (WiC 393)

The last time a cat burglar got so much public sympathy was when Cary Grant played one in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief. In that movie, of course, Grant’s character John Robie was being framed. Fast forward to modern China and ...

Oh boy!
Jan 5, 2018 (WiC 392)

2017 was a breakthrough year for the sharing economy in China. Pride of place went to the bike borrowing schemes now featuring in many cities, although we also talked about borrowing BMWs in Shenyang (WiC388) and sharing sex dolls in Beijing ...

Go with the flow
Dec 8, 2017 (WiC 391)

Stories of motorists breaking traffic rules are common in China. Cases in which drivers try to change the rules are a lot rarer, however. Enter a man surnamed Cai who, tired of the delays in his daily commute, decided to speed up the traffic ...

Two at a time
Dec 1, 2017 (WiC 390)

Is it something in the water? In China the question might normally cause a shiver but in a village in Chongqing municipality it is sparking a more upbeat debate rather than pollution concerns. That’s because Qingyan boasts an incredibly unusual ...

Making an entrance
Nov 24, 2017 (WiC 389)

In 2007 Xu Menghan – then a high school student in Anhui – compared himself to Don Quixote, saying that like the fictional Spanish character who tilted at windmills, he “is a fool who does not want to be silent”. He was also a great ...

Older »

1... 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13... 47

« Newer

Planet China

The strangest stories from the Middle Kingdom...

A worrying new trend: Dognapping Feb 15, 2018 (WiC 398) As dog ownership grows in China a new business has emerged – kidnapping pets and holding them for ransom. In many cases people simply pay up, desperate to have their pet returned. A common threat is to sell it for meat if the owners ...

No place like home Feb 9, 2018 (WiC 397) During this time of a year, millions of Chinese make long journeys home to celebrate the advent of the Lunar New Year with their families. Social media has been fascinated this year with one tale involving a male college student who travelled ...

Left Behind Feb 2, 2018 (WiC 396) WiC once heard the story of an adventurous American family that decided in the late 1990s to drive along China’s old Silk Road (long before it became a trendy investment theme). At one point they accidentally left one of their kids behind in a ...

Roll Call Jan 26, 2018 (WiC 395) When some WiC readers cast their minds back to their student days, they may remember the odd early morning where they looked at the alarm clock and decided to give that early lecture a pass. In southwestern China a college has taken a new ...

Diving Queen Jan 19, 2018 (WiC 394) In China the term pengci literally means “bumping porcelain”. It refers to a scam in the antique industry where a cheap vase is strategically placed so that shoppers may easily brush it and thus knock the object over. The owner will ...

The perfect thief Jan 12, 2018 (WiC 393) The last time a cat burglar got so much public sympathy was when Cary Grant played one in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief. In that movie, of course, Grant’s character John Robie was being framed. Fast forward to modern China and ...

Oh boy! Jan 5, 2018 (WiC 392) 2017 was a breakthrough year for the sharing economy in China. Pride of place went to the bike borrowing schemes now featuring in many cities, although we also talked about borrowing BMWs in Shenyang (WiC388) and sharing sex dolls in Beijing ...

Go with the flow Dec 8, 2017 (WiC 391) Stories of motorists breaking traffic rules are common in China. Cases in which drivers try to change the rules are a lot rarer, however. Enter a man surnamed Cai who, tired of the delays in his daily commute, decided to speed up the traffic ...

Two at a time Dec 1, 2017 (WiC 390) Is it something in the water? In China the question might normally cause a shiver but in a village in Chongqing municipality it is sparking a more upbeat debate rather than pollution concerns. That’s because Qingyan boasts an incredibly unusual ...

Making an entrance Nov 24, 2017 (WiC 389) In 2007 Xu Menghan – then a high school student in Anhui – compared himself to Don Quixote, saying that like the fictional Spanish character who tilted at windmills, he “is a fool who does not want to be silent”. He was also a great ...