Chinese dreamer swaps army for pole-dancing

Gong Yifei says he is proud of his military training

Gong Yifei swapped life as an armed police officer for a precarious career as a pole-dancing trainer - and he wants pole-dancing to be respected as an art.

If you take pole-dancing seriously, two little rooms tucked away on the top floor of a shopping mall in Beijing are where you train.

Apart from a few scantily-clad women, there is little to suggest this is the headquarters of China's first and biggest chain of pole-dancing training centres, the Luolan Pole Dancing Club.

Step inside and you see a forest of steel poles. A few women are warming up. One person stands out. He is the only man in sight and his name is Gong Yifei.

"I'm 24 years old and have loved dancing since I was a child," says Mr Gong. "But lessons were out of the question. I only began as an adult after being mesmerised by an online clip posted by Luolan."

Chinese hit-and-run toddler dies

BEIJING - A Chinese toddler who was ignored by 18 passers-by as she lay critically injured in the street after being run over by two vehicles has died, the hospital treating her said Friday.

Surveillance camera footage of people walking past the two-year-old girl, nicknamed Yue Yue, as she lay bleeding and unconscious sparked a wave of condemnation and soul-searching on China’s popular social networking sites.

A rubbish collector who finally moved the girl to the side of the street in the southern Chinese city of Foshan was hailed as a hero, but the incident also led many online commentators to question the state of Chinese morality.

“Yue Yue died of systemic organ failure,” a spokesman from the hospital treating her told AFP, adding that no expense had been spared to try to save the girl, whose parents are migrant workers.

Chinese student offers sex for new iPhone 4S

A student in Nanjing, China has offered a man sexual favours in return for the new iPhone 4S.

Leaked screen grabs of the QQ conversation between the girl and a man show her first offering him oral sex in exchange for the phone.

Calling herself 'lovemelo', on the Chinese instant messaging program, she asked the man to 'Take me away, please'.

She told the man, "As long as you wash it clean, it's really nothing."

Chinese Malaysians must read - Get lost, MCA! I want to vote for PAS

It has become the tradition for MCA to use hudud to attack Pakatan Rakyat especially now when we are in the last lap to the 13th general election. Hudud is of course the part of the Islamic criminal law that pertains to 6 specific punishments that includes amputation of limbs, whipping and stoning to death.

But this time around, the shocking thing is how the Chinese community reacted in the scocial media network. No one rushed to condemn hudud, no one took pity on the MCA. On the contrary, they attacked MCA with gusto, hurling foul words at its political hypocrisy and cheating ways.

It is not surprising then that MCA vice president Gan Ping Sieu has quietly dropped his debate challenge to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng over the hudud issue.

Chinese models strip to promote cars

A car showroom in Heilongjiang, China, has been slammed by Chinese netizens for getting models to strip in order to promote their cars.

According to a Sept 3 report by Apple Daily, the car models were initially clad in bikinis. The girls then started to pose provocatively with the cars before losing their clothes and going the full Monty.

10 most beautiful executed Chinese criminals

1. Ren Xue tricked her lover's daughter out and killed her after her lover kept her as a waitress instead of a better job.

The Ugly Muslim: Racist ads dishonour Ramadan, not just the Chinese

Media Prima Bhd was forced to axe a controversial series of Ramadan commercials on its 8TV channel following heavy public criticism and claims that the advertisements were racist in nature.

Media Prima chief operating officer Ahmad Izham Omar announced the decision after coming under heavy fire from the public. He also tried to deflect criticism by asking people to “chill” and not to “overanalyse” the commercial, which advises non-Muslims how to behave during Ramadan. Released as a public service announcement on 8TV, the three commercials depict a socially-inept “Chinese” girl eating in public, wearing revealing clothing and being loud and obnoxious during the Muslim fasting month.

Chinese thieves use chopsticks to pick pocket

Skilful thieves in China are using the humble kuaizi or chopsticks to pinch mobiles phones and wallets from the pockets of unsuspecting people.

The ambidextrous bandits have been caught on camera targeting shoppers in busy marketplaces as well as commuters waiting at bus stops.

The CCTV footage catches the robbers striking their unwitting victims from behind, wielding their lightweight eating utensils with ease and precision.

In one video, the pickpocket lifts the coats of browsing shoppers before plucking their phones and wallets, making several failed attempts without being noticed.

Making no effort to disguise his actions from others, the thief also runs alongside a briskly walking man to take his wallet.

Some of the footage was filmed in Hangzhou in the country's east, but the problem has been reported elsewhere.