China Daily, China’s most exciting news web site, opened the week with reports about three of the Middle Kingdom’s most remarkable women.
The first report tells about Zhang ZiYi’s new contract with Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein to star in three new movies. The first movie will be based on the Story of Hua Mulan, and the second is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. In both movies, the 27-year-old Zhang would play women disguised as men. No information was given on the third movie.
The next item, aptly titled “Bare butt of woman writer stirs readers up”, introduces us to Qin Dai, the latest in a series of Chinese bloggers to post revealing photos of herself. Qin, however, is more than just a pretty behind. The young writer fancies herself as no less than the “Chinese Kafka”. Still, the masses are not impressed, and one reader urges Qin to apologize to her family, her readers, and her… buttocks: “We readers appreciate the great works of writers rather than their nudity. Naturally, eggs are what we want from a hen, not the hen itself”.
In a final coup-de-bizarre, China Daily tells the story of Qian Yubo, a pregnant woman from Jilin Province. During her pregnancy, Qian’s waistline has grown to 175cm, about 8cm more than her height. Local doctors told Qian that she is carrying 5 babies, and her husband estimates that her waistline is growing by 9cm per day.