Beij 3: MOKOnut

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The Peking Order is committed to seeking out exciting phenomena in China, especially when those exciting media phenomena involve half-naked women. This week, Beij 3 features MOKO.cc – an extremely popular Chinese social network that appeals both to the narcissism of women in China and the lust of humans, well... everywhere.

The premise is simple, just like Myspace or Facebook, members have a personal profile that allows them to list basic information and upload photos. So that members can be spotted and make network connections, they can be listed under various titles, i.e. Actor, Still Model, Car Show Girl, Producer, etc.

However, the reasons that MOKO looks so good are also the things that make it different from other social network sites:

1. There is a selective registration process. According to the site, only 10 percent of applicants get through the initial screening. What it is not mentioned are the criteria are used to choose members. Although it could be that the unlucky 90 percent did not fill out their form correctly, a quick look at member profiles (a "quick look" will be impossible for many) would suggest it has a lot to do with looks.

2. The site has an offline presence. MOKO has a number of successful partnerships with magazines like Maxim and FHM, as well as Beijing nightspots, like LAN Club, which hosts regular MOKO parties.

3. MOKO makes photos look good. Once a member, people can apply to be a MOKO Top Girl (or a MOKO Top Man). Once accepted, members are invited for an interview and a photo shoot, all free of charge. The photos taken at the shoot are the photos you see all over the site. If you wonder why the some of the girls look too good to be true, they probably are - MOKO boasts that it photoshops the photos, also free of charge.

4. There is a voting system. The votes of unregistered viewers are worth one point, the votes of members are worth five. Meet Zhang Yinghan, who currently leads the MOKO Top Girl ranking with 164,802 votes:

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Beij 3: There ain't no rack in the Union Jack

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Beij 3 is back! And this time with even more tenuous reasons than ever to put pictures of beautiful women on The Peking Order. For an attempted justification of why I feel it necessary to share this material with my readers, please refer to some earlier Beij 3 girls.

Without further ado, it is my pleasure to introduce Yi Li (依力), who almost jumped out of my brand-new July edition of Chinese Maxim:

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And the reason for Miss Yi's appearance in the The Peking Order? The title of this entry - a sexist play on the words of a popular British racist chant - came to me as soon as I saw this two-page spread. I couldn't resist sharing it.

Beij 3: Perfume girl kicks up a stink

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Perfume Girl (香水女生) will return to school next week, reported The Beijing News on Friday. This is the mundane conclusion of a story that involves Wang Tingting (王亭亭), a fourth-year German language student at Beijing Foreign Language Studies University (BFSU), and her criticism of China’s compulsory foreign language education.

"Buff Tingting"

On March 16th, Wang wrote that because of comments on her blog, which included criticism of China’s Ministry of Education (MOE), she had been forced by the university to quit her studies. While some have backed her criticism of the MOE and BFSU, many netizens have accused the girl of being interested purely in self-promotion - they smelled a rat, rather than perfume, and questioned why she would post so many photographs of herself on a blog entry about being kicked out of school.

The Peking Order, which takes an interest in both Chinese education and girls that look good in pink velour tracksuits, translated some of her blog to see if there is anything to her claims:

Zhao Benshan for Education Minister

In her first critical blog entry, Wang likened China’s Minister of Education to an “executioner with a stranglehold on human talent.” “Exam-based education, compulsory foreign language classes from elementary school, an inflexible college entrance exam system, and universities that do not allow transfer between departments,” she wrote, “are suppressing and destroying human talent.”

Wang went on to recommend Zhao Benshan (赵本山), a well-known Dongbei comedian, for the position of Education Minister. Unlike Zhao, who successfully popularised Dongbei dialect within 10 years, “the Ministry of Education is unable even to fully popularise Mandarin."

When Chinese people think of foreign languages, claimed Perfume Girl, the first thing people think of is not pleasure or fascination, it is “destroyed childhoods and the extreme study pressures of youth.”

Foreign languages depriving Chinese of the right to education

The next blog entry went on to complain that “foreign language study is depriving Chinese people of their right to education.” “Regardless of your interests or which direction you want to head in, whether it is history, Chinese, Chinese medicine, archaeology, foreign languages are a hellish gate that the you must pass through.” However talented someone might be at his or her own subject, she wrote, the talent will be choked out by an inadequate grasp of foreign languages.

Foreign languages holding Chinese people to ransom

In her final diatribe before claiming to be kicked out of university, Perfume Girl called on people to “abolish compulsory foreign language education.” This article describes how “foreign languages holding the lives of Chinese people to ransom,” how languages are emphasised at every stage of a young person’s development: from aged three, where “tiny souls are bewildered by foreign languages;” through to graduation where “spoken English, business English and all sorts of foreign language certification, are enough to stress anyone out.”

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Apart from a few nicely-written slogans and the amusing Zhao Benshan analogy, there is nothing special about these comments. Miss Wang’s blog entries are hardly objective criticisms, and like a lot of the Chinese articles I read, they lack logical reasoning and are not backed up with evidence. Her arguments could be summarised into two points: foreign language requirements might hold back those who would otherwise succeed in other subjects; and that many resent studying foreign languages in China.

Both might be acceptable evils if the current system was improving the level of English in China. However, if China's schools are making many unhappy and are stifling talent, then considering my experience of the English levels despite compulsory study, The Peking Order thinks that these complaints are legitimate and that it maybe about time for a drastic rethink of China's education system.

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According to a recent entry on Perfume Girl's blog, hackers have deleted all offending entries. Luckily, others have posted full copies of what she wrote:

Zhao Benshan for Education Minister (Chinese)
Foreign languages depriving Chinese of right to education (Chinese)
Foreign languages holding Chinese people to ransom (Chinese)

Beij 3: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Cameraman

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In China's latest "sexy photo scandal," topless photographs of 29-year-old Zhang Ziyi are doing the rounds on the Chinese Internet. The pictures were taken while the Chinese actress was sunbathing recently in St. Barts with her fiance Aviv Nevo, an Isreali venture capitalist.
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The full set of 81 images can be viewed at X17 Galleries, where some of the more saucy snaps reveal a great deal more of the starlet's collapsible frame.

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The photographs have caused outrage among mainland Chinese netizens who are clearly not familiar with the ruthless traditions of the Western paparazzi. Needless to say, furious online commentary has ensued. Below are two of the more extreme comments that I found, each is a very different way of looking at the relatively innocuous photos. I am far more sympathetic to one than the other:

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ugly whtie people with thick body hair and stink smell. urghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Posted by: 大葱炒韭菜from 天涯社区

give me one minute with this hoe, and i would have my nuts in her guts.
Posted by: Anonymous

Beij 3: Kappa slapper

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“Kappa slapper” was a phrase used to describe a girl who, taking advantage of cut-priced Kappa clothing in Britain during the mid-nineties, would stand around on street corners causing trouble while dressed head to toe in the gaudy tracksuits.

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Miss Huang – 太黄…

The expression quickly dropped out of common usage when the brand, forever sullied by its association with promiscuous and often ugly girls, lost all its credibility in the British Isles.

Now, a decade later, as far away as China, no sooner has Kappa begun its Asian marketing strategy, a female of questionable character looks set once again to destroy the image of the sportswear manufacturer.

A couple of months ago, Miss Huang was fired from a Kappa outlet in Shanghai when it was discovered that the 12-minute-long sex video that she had uploaded of herself and a partner had been spread on the Chinese Internet.

Things were to get worse for the girl when she was arrested last Friday. Police are quoted in a report by The China Daily, as saying she had set up a blog in a bid to "profit from her notoriety by offering advertising space and interviews in exchange for cash”.

Following this incredible bust, The Peking Order is in no doubt that the Chinese porn police are currently working hard to remove the clip from the Internet.

Darling buds of mei

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On Friday, a leading Beijing newspaper, The Beijing News, named actress Zhang Ziyi as the most beautiful person in China, 2008.

Public appeals by the 29 year old to raise money for the Sichuan Earthquake relief effort might have had something to do with her ability to garner the public vote, especially considering that many Chinese people have never rated Zhang Ziyi very highly.

Zhang’s beauty is a topic of conversation often endured by foreigners in China. Many Chinese people seem to find it incredible that the actress has been able to win such Western acclaim. “According to Chinese standards of beauty”, I am often told, “Zhang Ziyi is not that beautiful”. This tedious topic ranks just below enthusiastic explanations that “Chinese is the hardest language in the world” and “Sichuanese food is very spicy”.

Last year's winner was the actor Huang Xiaoming. Perhaps the fact that Huang is not among the 50 names on this year's list will bring strange comfort to his embittered former English teacher.

Beij 3: Eunis Yao-zer!!

Grace Cheung handed over the title of Miss Asia to 23-year-old Eunis Yao at the award ceremony for the 2008 Miss Asia Pageant, held by Asia Television Limited in Hong Kong on Sunday.

Miss Asia 2008 flanked by runners up, Belinda Yan and Lene Lai

With 137,610 public votes, Yao snatched the prize from her Canadian-Chinese rival Belinda Yan, who, according to The People’s Daily, was close behind with 129,416 votes. The old-fashioned paper also mentions that by “selling her flesh”, Eunis, who measures in at 34-24-35, also won the award for perfect figure. Upon being crowned, the winner exclaimed: “Since I thought I would be knocked out during the earlier stages, I didn’t have high hopes on entering”.

23-year-old Eunis Yao, Hong Kong

The Peking Order is considering publishing a retrospective of what has been a whirlwind year for the 2007 winner, Grace Cheung (pictured below). It is unlikely that the Hong Kong student dreamed of such stardom when she shared a flat with this blogger back in 2005.

Putting the "grace" in Disgraceful

Beij 3: Chen Yi

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gWhoar-qi

Former Supergirl hopeful Chen Yi (陈怡) caused a splash when she recently posed in a swimsuit for a Japanese version of Playboy. Angry Chinese netizens believe that by draping herself over the flags of Japan and China, the Chinese 21-year old is insulting her motherland. Chinasmack translates the best of the commentary here.

This is not the first time a Chinese celebrity has run into trouble over questionable use of national flags. In 2001, Chinese actress Zhao Wei took the controversial step of wearing a dress depicting the Japanese military flag for a fashion shoot in a Japanese magazine. Readers of The Peking Order will also remember Yi Yanlin's political statement earlier this month when the Taiwanese model choose to wear a dress bearing both the flag of the PRC and the ROC.

The Peking Order regrets that, even after some thought, it was unable find a tasteful way to use the word "nips" in today's entry.

Beij 3: Political Cleavage

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Was there something that Li Yanlin wanted to get off at her chest during yesterday's annual Taipei Audio Fair? The Taiwanese model, singer and actress believes that by wearing the flags of both the PRC and the ROC she was “representing world peace”, reports Zaobao.com.

Visits by high-level PRC leader Chen Yunlin to Taiwan earlier this month have led many to believe that cross-Strait relations are at their best since the bust up back in 1949. During the ground-breaking talks, the two parties agreed on increased direct flights, more maritime trade, postal services and cooperation in food safety.

Miss Li, who was apparently worried by all the media attention, told reporters “I have no political standpoint”. It seems that in two very different senses of the word, on closer inspection this 23 year-old 32B cup has struggled to pad out this rather empty political statement.

Beij 3: Sex Fest in China

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China became the butt of many jokes yesterday as the Sixth National Sexual Culture Festival got underway in the southern city of Guangdong.

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Thong Kong: Crack photographers snap away models sporting the latest in Murena Lingerie, a well-known brand in the former British colony.

For many, the event's highlight was the lingerie show. It was amid roars and jeers, reports the People’s Daily Online, that the scantily-clad models strutted their stuff down the catwalk. Males in the front row were apparently not satisfied when models wore skirts; many lowered their heads for a better view while others simply resorted to sitting on the floor to get the best angles.

The audience was not always so enthusiastic. When models wore too much for someone's liking, the reporter heard the man yell: “I didn’t pay thirty yuan to watch this kind of show!”

Yesterday’s event will have come as a disappointment for not only those who hoped for a serious fashion exhibit. As the show descended into farce, scenes witnessed in Guangdong might also make bitter viewing for those who believe that China has developed into a society with more grown-up and modern attitudes to sex and nudity.