Just when you think that China has completely exhausted its capacity to surprise you, the hard-line foreign policy tabloid Huanqiu Shibao sends a reporter to cover an S & M-themed show at an International Exhibition in a second-tier city like Zhengzhou, Henan, where apparently, if the face of the little old man at the foot of the stage is any indication, the show brought much joy and proof of China’s internationalism to the masses.
Given his attempts to wipe out sex-themes samzidats as head of the Communist Youth League in the mid-1980s (as documented in the East German archives, among others), I can’t imagine Hu Jintao signed off on this one,
Perhaps the Health Ministry [卫生部] has won an important internal bureaucratic battle? It seems that the promotion of information about sex in China has been significantly increased since even August.
Or, as one Netizen said in response to the above gallery: “中国 开的太放了 该管管了 [China has opened up too much; need to manage manage….].”
By contrast, Kim Jong Il’s travels through Manchuria and the Russian Far East led him to decree an end to short skirts, tight pants, and English-language T-shirts in North Korea. Whereas China, the socialist ally and cultural intermediary for North Korea, promptly began, at the same time, the state promotion of rubber dolls by women wearing bunny ears.
Perhaps it’s not inaccurate to say that the “culture wars” continue in East Asia? Before long, even this analyst will be crying for the return of the Generalissimo and the spiritually healthier days of the New Life Movement.
But in the meantime, happy birthday PRC. If the 2008 Olympic Games somehow failed to mark your debut on the world stage, certainly the Zhengzhou Expo marks a new moment in some kind of history of this jagged, morphing, protean, now overtly masochistic, fascinatingly weird and endlessly restless Republic.
Adam Cathcart 
Adam,
It is me again…:)
To answer you comments on that nasty SM show, I would like to quote what Chairman Mao once said — 矫枉过正 / too far east is west . That show is nasty but is a natural reaction after the abstinence life, especially this life in Culture revolution. People there will go crazy for a while, after that life will go back to normal. Chinese were never shy about sex life. It changed only during Culture revolution. That is part of the reason why weirdo artists like Aiweiwei emerged.
As to 2008 Olympic game, you westerns may feel China was being slapped on face. Again, you guys don’t understand China. I say CCP is the biggest winner!
I say so because CCP used western arogancey and Dalai Lama to realy ‘united’ most Chinese pople. Have you ever heard to anti-CNN.com? It was created by some Chinese youngersts and most of them are colleague students. In that moment, Chinese people just by natrue grouped together to go against ‘western invaders’, even though Chinese may not trust CCP at other times. It just reminds me the anti-Japanese war. Chinese gathered together to fight for what we think we deserve.
It was such a big change in people’s emotion or attitude towards 2008 Olympic game. Before the game, most Chinese, including me, were really grumpy against the game, as we all call it ‘face project’. However, after we saw those non-sense western protests, we just all changed over night. And that kind of collective emotion can only be found during anti-Japanese war time. In other words, we took Dalia and wetern world as our enimies, subconsciously. The most amazing thing was Chinese all agree the best way to fight back was make the 2008 Game the best game ever!
Did CCP win on 2008 Game? I bet you $10,000 they won the game. It is a big win!
That is what I called understand China!
Cloud
Hi Cloud, thanks for the comment!