Today in awkward slut-shamey advice, Beijing officials are telling women to shield themselves with newspapers in order to avoid sexual harassment.  The cops gave out this hot tip now because of China’s rising summer temperatures – they know that logically, people will be wearing fewer layers and shorter clothes to beat the heat. And police brains often seem to think that shorter clothes = more harassment = under a ... Read More

In the U.S., the bride and her parents are expected to pay for the wedding, the gown, and to be in charge of the wedding arrangements.  However, in China it is the opposite. Instead, grooms are expected to pay a “bride price” – ordinarily $10,000 – often alongside purchasing an apartment and a car.  A more traditional and old-fashioned practice, these wedding standards are taking over China and redefining ... Read More

And we think the SAT and ACT are hard.  They have nothing on China’s Gaokao exam.  Also known as the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (NCEE), the Gaokao is the sole determinant in university admission in China.  Approximately 9 million students take this test every June over the course of three days on subjects including Chinese, Mathematics, English, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences.  As Los ... Read More

Tired of fielding questions about your enduring singleness from prying family members? Why not rent a significant other for your next family gathering, and nip those harping questions in the bud! This tactic, which might at first sound like something out of a romantic comedy, has become a viable option for women in China. Scouring the classified ads in China will yield postings for proffered male companionship...for the right price. Though ... Read More

  China’s next supermodel may just be 72-year-old Liu Xianping.  He’s got the bod for the latest in miniskirts and the legs to pull them off. His cross-dressing photos have gone viral and as a result, his granddaughters’ fashion store sales have increased five fold.      Apparently, Liu has plenty of input on his outfits and enjoys dressing up in contrasting colors.  His advice on mixing and ... Read More

In “What Century is this Again?” news, a TIME.com article said today that Hong Kong tycoon has offered nearly $65 million to any man willing to marry his daughter. This is no simple (though outdated) case of a father offering a dowry for his daughter. Cecil Chao Sze-tsung’s daughter Gigi is already married...to her longtime girlfriend, Sean Yeung.   Hong Kong does not recognize same-sex unions, so Gigi married ... Read More

Global Times has spotlighted some awesome feminists in China who have recently staged various grassroots protests that go beyond writing articles or giving speeches.  They focus on pressing women’s issues like sexual harassment and workplace and financial inequality.  China is a more difficult environment to protest in, as feminism is less accepted there than in the United States (and a lot of people in the U.S. aren’t ... Read More

Alison Klayman is 27 years old. She's graduated from Brown University, written for NPR, moved to China and made a feature length documentary. Oh, and she won the Sundance Special Jury Prize this past January. I, for one, feel like a slacker compared to the multi-hyphenated journalist.  Klayman's award winning film Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry hit theaters last week on July 27 via IFC Films. The 27-year-old spent years with her subject ... Read More

Of the 6.78 billion people on Earth, over 60% of the population belongs to Asia. In the last two decades, the Asia-Pacific population has been growing at a slower rate compared to the rest of the world, according to the United Nations. A recent study by the East-West Center, a research center based in Hawaii, reveals that a great societal change is taking place in various nations of East and Southeast Asia - the marriage and fertility rates ... Read More

In areas of China where the pressure to find employment is rising, female students are also struggling with the need to stay trim. Daily Mail reports that, in order to lose weight to impress employers in job interviews, Chinese students have been resorting to swallowing roundworm eggs. “They hatch in the stomach, allowing those who take them to shed pounds without exercising or dieting in the Xiamen, China. But swallowing the worms is ... Read More