Hu Ge spoof about group housing

Hu Ge (胡戈), the spoofster behind a wildly-popular parody of Chen Kaige’s The Promise, has released a new short: a mocking parody of CCTV’s Network News set in a shared apartment unit. See below for more.

Hu Ge achors the “CCAV” news broadcast, which is concerned with the effects of the economic downturn on the unemployed residents of XXX apartments.

In news-speak chock full of political buzzwords and bureaucratic phrasing, the show reports on the following stories:

• An annual work meeting of the unemployed residents decides to “spur domestic demand” by investing 300 yuan into toilet and plumbing and infrastructure;
• Toilets are a scarce resource in the apartment. To eliminate the long lines that harm the unit’s image, an odd/even access policy is implemented, restricting access based on ID#;
• To deal with residents’ poor post-graduation job prospects, the unit decides to encourage more extensive education. If the economy is still poor after doctoral studies, there are a whole range of “* 士” degrees to acquire;
• A toilet is stopped up. In a breaking development, the party responsible is identified and dealt with;
• The broadcast’s sappy human-interest segment is a profile of one resident who was recently diagnosed with Internet Addict Syndrome. Because he came down with it three years ago, but the condition was only given a name this year, he’s well past the early stage when treatment is most effective. Still, he soldiers on bravely;
• The neighborhood has notified the unit of environmental problems, breaking the harmonious relationship between them and the building management.