Digital country life, and a new nickname for the Dallas Mavericks
Live-streaming country life is turning some Chinese farmers into celebrities. Offbeat content such as farmers doing their chores gets extra attention. “Each day, farmer Liu live-streams video of his life in rural Sichuan Province to nearly 200,000 subscribers, who pay him the equivalent of $1,500 a month in virtual gifts — far more than anyone in his village has ever made.”
“Each day, farmer Liu live-streams video of his life in rural Sichuan Province to nearly 200,000 subscribers, who pay him the equivalent of $1,500 a month in virtual gifts — far more than anyone in his village has ever made.” NPR says that “offbeat content such as farmers doing their chores gets extra attention” in China and cites The China Project’s Jeremy Goldkorn for the reason: “It’s very difficult to get entertaining entertainment in China…the movies that are shown in the theaters and the stuff that is permitted on the internet are all highly censored, and as a result, highly predictable.”
- One man’s fight against desertification
A life dedicated to planting trees / Sixth Tone
“[An] Inner Mongolian man has spent decades with the national forestry program, defending his home against sandstorms.” - NBA basketball
Dallas Mavericks announce new official Chinese name / Mavs.com
“After nearly two decades of the name ‘Mavericks’ being translated into Chinese as ‘Little Cows’
[小牛 xiǎo niú], the Dallas Mavericks have selected a new Chinese team name with much help from Chinese basketball fans. Announced tonight during Tencent’s live broadcast of the Dallas Mavericks home game against the Golden State Warriors, the official Chinese name of the Mavericks has been changed to 独行侠 (dú xíng xiá), which translates roughly in English to ‘Lone Ranger Heroes.’” - Going home to the town where sax is king
China’s ‘saxophone capital,’ a factory town transfixed by Kenny G / NYT (paywall)
“Once derided as a bourgeois excess, the saxophone is making a comeback in China. And one northern village is delighted to be playing its part.” - Copycat architecture
Another ‘Bird’s Nest’ in China? Feathers fly over Zhengzhou’s new stadium / SCMP - Touching stories
Hebei millionaire who gave up her wealth to adopt over 100 abandoned children now battling cancer / Shanghaiist - The people who make Chinese on-demand ecommerce possible
The supercharged work rate of a Chinese takeaway delivery man / SCMP
