Plays on Words...in Mandarin

A Game of Tones:
http://www.danwei.org/humor/baidu_baike_fake_entries.php

Live From Beijing: No More "TV"

According to an article posted on Danwei.org, CCTV, (or now I should say, 中国中映电视台）has made it illegal for Television station logos in China to include the letters "TV" if it is in fact an acronym for the word "Television."

http://www.danwei.org/tv/ministry_of_education_says_tv.php

I just tried to see if CCTV had posted anything about this on their website but for some reason www.cctv.com came through with an error.... I guess they will have to change their url too!

A Nascent Media

More details about the Mandarin Oriental Hotel accident below from the New York Times. Apparently the Hotel was engulfed in flames due to fireworks that were allowed by CCTV but not sanctioned to be set off within such dangerous proximity to the building. The fire started when shells from the fireworks landed on the roof of the hotel.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/world/asia/11beijing.html?_r=1&ref=world

The New York Times article has pointed out that CCTV news did little to cover the accident while it was happening and in the early aftermath. What is interesting, is that this is one of the first cases where witnesses, (or what a popular Chinese blogger called "the citizen media"), provided immediate, continuous, and widely-watched coverage of the event themselves via the internet.

Certainly the blogosphere has been continuously growing in China and has gained influence as a second source of [sometimes more reliable] news media, however the burning of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel is one of the first incidents that has made it clear just how powerful this "citizen media" can be. Plus it hits close to home as CCTV employees have been named responsible for the fire.

CCTV Fire

Only 3 years after the Chinese Central Government allowed citizens to set off celebratory fireworks in the inner 2 Rings of Beijing as part of the New Years' Festival, an even larger fire plagued the Beijing skyline. Part of the highly respected architectural project on Guanghua Lu that grew into the new CCTV Headquarters, the adjoining luxury hotel went up in flames today.

This past summer, I was teaching and living only a block away from the complex and 2 leaning towers, which had become a great source of pride for the Chinese during the Summer Olympics. Every morning I walked down the street and witnessed the construction magic that happened overnight on the Towers. My fellow Putney friend, Tara, decided Beijing must have resident Construction Fairies.


See the article. Many in China may consider this fire to be a bad omen; luckily no one was injured.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/world/asia/10beijing.html?ref=world

With more details, Shanghaiist has created a compilation of photos, videos, and blogging accounts about the incident.

http://shanghaiist.com/2009/02/09/new_cctv_headquarters_in_beijing_up.php?gallery0Pic=18#gallery


So far, we know that the fireworks set off around the CCTV Headquarter premises were allowed by CCTV.

See what bloggers say about what happened at www.Danwei.org.