A foreigner who snacked with an old beggar on two bags of French fries and chatted with her on the side walk has become the latest hot topic on China’s social network. On the afternoon of May 5, user “轻疯患者Mr_Q(Weibo page)” posted on Sina Weibo a photo with comment: “Outside a McDonald’s restaurant, a foreigner [...]

After Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced at a press conference that Chen Guangcheng could well apply to study abroad just as any other Chinese citizen can, the U.S. State Department issued a statement that says Chen has been offered a financial aid package by a U.S. university and is allowed to bring his wife and [...]

From Sina After a patient died allegedly from medical malpractice in Shaanxi province, the hospital’s president and more than 40 staff members put on heavy mourning garments and attended the patient’s funeral, where the president gave a tearful self-criticism speech and kowtowed with the rest of the staff to the portrait of the deceased. The hospital was even [...]

Note: Gil Hizi is Ministry of Tofu’s contributor. He is also the chief editor of website Thinking Chinese. In the last few decades, self-help culture, in the form of advice books, accessible knowledge and popularized expertise is blooming in the Western world as well as in many developing countries. China is no exception. Commercialized medicine, [...]

From Renren Life journey of a Chinese o to 10 years old: Be forced to learn to master various skills for the sake of gaining face and certificates 10 to 20 years old: Wars against mountains of books Age 20 to 30: Send millions of resumes to get a job 30-40 years old: Become a [...]

Beijing is in spotlight these days, as automakers from home and abroad roll out their newest production cars and concepts in Auto China 2012, the leading auto show in the country that boasts the world’s most promising automotive markets. But perhaps the organizer and the participating sellers are not confident enough about enthusiasm of potential [...]

From NetEase With now an increasing number of Chinese students choosing graduate school to get themselves more prepared for the hypercompetitive job market in China, admissions to various graduate programs are getting more selective than ever. The Postgraduate Admission Test (中国研究生入学考试) is an integral part of the admission process. Every Chinese college student has gone through the ritual [...]

In a quiz on Chinese reading, a first grader answered “No, I won’t” to the question “Would you give up your pear out of courtesy to your brothers if you were Kong Rong?” He got a huge “X” for his answer from his teacher. The child’s father, upon seeing the answer sheet, took a picture [...]

From Renren and Xinhua The city of Harbin in northeastern Heilongjing province has enforced a new regulation that prohibits residents in the city and the townships it administers from raising 49 breeds of large, fierce and ugly dogs including Golden Retriever, Samoyeds, Chow Chow and Labrador Retriever that are known to have mild and lovable [...]

The following content comes from a discussion thread in a forum in Baidu dedicated to topics related to CBS sit-com The Big Bang Theory. (A condensed version can be found here.)The author asserted that he spent 8 months in rural India and stayed with his Indian classmate, during which he did research for his thesis [...]