Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who followed his record-breaking 100m win with yet another record in the 200m dash yesterday, made the front page of quite a few of today’s papers. The Dongguan Times ran the headline “Inhuman Bolt” () across a rotated, full-page photo. The headline puns on 非人 “inhuman,” a homonym of 飞人 “flying man.”
The China Youth Daily, a more politically-charged newspaper, ran a short obituary of China’s former leader Hua Guofeng in the bottom right corner.
Hua, who died yesterday at the age of 87, became Party Chairman, State Council Premier, and the chairman of the Central Military Commission after Mao Zedong died in 1976, but was pushed out by Deng Xiaoping within a few years. Subsequently, he retained his position as a CPC Central Committee member until 2002.
August 21, 2008
Despite his rough political life, today’s official obituary of Hua is nothing short of complimentary: he was said to have been “an outstanding CPC member, a long-tested and loyal Communist fighter and a proletarian revolutionary who once held important leading posts in the CPC and the government.”
Also on the front page of China Youth Daily is a photo of China’s president Hu Jintao shaking hands with a disabled athlete. Yesterday, Hu visited China’s Paralympic Team and encouraged the athletes to “strive for excellency”. He also visited a rehabilitation center for disabled people in Xicheng District.
- China Youth Daily (Chinese): President Hu hopes the athletes strive for excellency