Chinese State Media Tweet About Xi Jinping's Special Visits

The Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily received an important visitor today. They were inspired to report it on Twitter, which is blocked in China.

President #XiJinping is in People's Daily's newsroom, meeting with the editors and other staff pic.twitter.com/T4OZXbeVm8

— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) February 19, 2016

People's Daily wasn't the only state-media organization in China to receive a visit from Xi today and tweet about it. Xinhua made appropriate use of quotation marks in one of its tweets.

President #XiJinping visits Xinhua HQ in Beijing, encourages journalists to write stories that "people like to read" pic.twitter.com/0wXGqITtRL

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) February 19, 2016

They also shared a heart-touching moment.

President #XiJinping visits Xinhua newsroom in Beijing, clicks 💟on Xinhua's mobile news app pic.twitter.com/73691VclwA

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) February 19, 2016

In its excitement, CCTV didn't feel inhibited to declare "exclusive" on something which happened within their own studio.

Exclusive: President #XiJinping visits the studio of CCTV Evening News Bulletinhttps://t.co/cpe3xdp9PN

— CCTVNEWS (@cctvnews) February 19, 2016

CCTV really loves inspections after all.

"CCTV's family is The Party; Absolute loyalty; Please inspect us" - blare screens during Xi visit. @S_Rabinovitch pic.twitter.com/DGe2K2tcoU

— Tom Grundy (@tomgrundy) February 19, 2016

Unsurprisingly, there was a bit of commentary on Twitter.

"And now, a word from our sponsor."pic.twitter.com/rM4OKqzLyg

— Mike Forsythe 傅才德 (@PekingMike) February 19, 2016

Slow shutter speed really highlights who is clapping the hardest, bad clappers will be fired https://t.co/HBxeKDGojQ

— Benjamin Haas 本雅明 (@haasbenjamin) February 19, 2016

President Xi Jinping drops by local fanzine pic.twitter.com/4jBNxTPGmT

— China Daily Show (@chinadailyshow) February 19, 2016

pic.twitter.com/dqTAk8YIoP

— MiaInChina (@MiaInChina) February 19, 2016

China's still got the last mile to go. The question is how fast it will get there. pic.twitter.com/v9uvX4NuSO

— Li Yuan (@LiYuan6) February 19, 2016

Of course, none of this is a joke.

Xi has identified all the people making jokes at his expense. pic.twitter.com/oQa4KpDJSb

— Chris Buckley 储百亮 (@ChuBailiang) February 19, 2016

If these tweets aren't enough to satisfy, one can head to Medium where David Bandurski translated a portion of a poem about Xi's visit written by a deputy editor at Xinhua. Bandurski described it as a "steaming heap of sycophancy". That is also not a joke.

Undoubtedly Trashy: Goats Eating in Jieyang

I thought I might be on my way to a goat-free day, but, of course, this afternoon I came across some goats yet again in Jieyang. A older man had just bought some fresh goat milk and appeared amused when I photographed the goats. We spoke briefly and thinking about the ambiguity of the Chinese character 羊 (yáng) regarding sheep, goats, and other Caprinae I inquired about the name of these fine animals. Not to my surprise, he went with 羊 (yáng) on its own.

What most caught my attention about these particular goats wasn't their number (only two) or their mode of transportation (walking with their human). I earlier mentioned that while buyers like the man I met today could be assured of the source and freshness of their goat milk, there were still unanswered questions which could be of concern such as those pertaining to the goats' diets. So I watched silently as one of the goats munched on . . . something.

And with that food for thought, I think it can be said not only has the recent goats-on-wheels series come to a close for the time being but now the broader goat series as well.

Signs of Goat Meat in Jieyang

As was evident with the previous lunar year's zodiac symbol, the Chinese character 羊 (yáng) can refer to sheep, goats, rams, and other related animals. Professor of Chinese Language and Literature Victor Mair uses the term "ovicaprid" when translating instances of 羊 (yáng) which are ambiguous. "Caprinae" may work as well. My earlier idea to go with "Year of the Yang" never took off.

Although adding a preceding Chinese character provides more clarity, it is still common in China to see 羊 (yáng) without one. For example, a man I recently saw selling goat milk in Chaozhou evidently felt that no additional character was needed. But at a market in Jieyang I passed through the other day, I saw several instances of 山羊 (shānyáng), which typically refers to goats.

They weren't selling milk like the vendors with goats on tricycle carts I saw nearby. The third character in these signs means "meat".

Elsewhere in Jieyang, I saw a restaurant sign which used 羊 (yáng) alone, once again with the meat character following. During my earlier days in China I would have assumed this meant sheep meat was on the menu. Given how I have seen the character used elsewhere in this region, though, I wasn't shocked to see a picture of a goat below.

So what do they write in Jieyang when referring to sheep? I haven't explored this fascinating issue, but I did see one man selling sheep meat who didn't write anything at all. The head and skin did seem to communicate enough on their own though.

Undoubtedly Unexpected: A New Goat Cart Record

I hadn't planned on a series of posts about unexpected goat sightings in Chaozhou and in Jieyang. I figured the last post about the motorbike tricycle cart with an impressive five goats would be hard to top and looked forward to moving onto other matters. So even though I saw an electric/pedal-powered tricycle cart with five goats yesterday in an urban area of Jieyang . . .

and saw a milking for a customer . . .

I probably wouldn't have shared more goat photos today.

But nearby on Ronghu Road, I came across something which made me feel, yes, another goats-on-wheels post was clearly justified.

One cart. Seven glorious goats.

Barring seeing something like a school bus filled with goats, which at this point I wouldn't discount, this should conclude the series. I will have something to say, though, about a fate for goats in Jieyang less grand, at least from a goat's perspective, than being milked or riding carts.

Undoubtedly More Goats: On Wheels and On Foot in Jieyang

While taking a series of photographs of a scene at Jinxianmen Avenue in Jieyang yesterday, something else deserving to be captured caught my attention. I was ready with my camera, but unfortunately the arrangement of vehicles on the road was not conducive to a clear shot. But as the vehicle of note sped away there was a break, and I caught the moment.

After briefly looking at the small image on my camera, I thought it was a motorbike tricycle cart with four goats — topping the previous carts with goats in Jieyang and in Chaozhou. When I later looked at the photo, I realized it was something even greater, as can be more easily seen in a cropped version of the photo.

Yes, make that five goats — all with a view.

The goat appearances didn't stop there. Today near Donghu Road while I had been thinking about matters other than goats, four more goats passed by. And for the first time in my life, I was surprised to see goats because they were not on a motorbike tricycle cart.

Like before, all of these goats were spotted in urban areas. These are exciting days indeed.

Undoubtedly Authentic: More Mobile Fresh Milk in Guangdong

Chaozhou and Jieyang, bordering cities in eastern Guangdong province, share much in common. So after recently seeing fresh goat milk for sale in Chaozhou, I wasn't entirely surprised to see a similar arrangement yesterday at a street intersection in Jieyang.

Like the milk seller in Chaozhou, the tricycle cart carried three goats (in the above photo two of the goats are off the cart mostly out of view). Unlike the milk seller in Chaozhou, the tricycle cart had a motorcycle front end.

Nearby, another seller offered offered milk from a more common source.

While there, I was fortunate enough to witness a milking for a customer's order.

Having grown up in an area with many farms, I have seen plenty of cows before. I haven't seen many on motorized tricycle carts in the middle of urban areas though.

With concerns about fake products and past milk scandals on the minds of many in China, even inspiring cross-border trips for milk products, it is easy to think of reasons why this option would appeal to some people. Questions remain pertaining to the milk's quality, including ones about the animal's diet, but there is no doubt about its source, its freshness, or whether anything was added after it left the animal.

Traffic Jam Jieyang Style

Sixian (思贤) Road in Jieyang, a prefecture-level city neighboring Chaozhou

Traffic Jam Chaozhou Style

At Zhumu Gate (竹木门) in Chaozhou

Rooster Hoping For Something Better During the Year of the Monkey

A neglected portion of Fenghuangzhou Park (凤凰洲公园) in Chaozhou holds statues for all the animals of the Chinese zodiac. Yesterday, on the last day of the Year of the Yang, the goat statue stood proud.

Hanging out nearby was the statue for the new lunar year's animal.

I'm don't know what is planned for this portion of the park. It seems to hold some potential despite its curious current state. But hopefully they at least address one mishap before next year — the Year of the Rooster.

The Last Goats During This Year of the Yang

Not only did I see three goats yesterday, three goats saw me.

And a girl petted one of them.

They weren't part of a mobile petting zoo though. Instead, the man who had biked them there was selling fresh goat milk.

It seemed to be an auspicious sign to see goats on the second to last day of the Chinese lunar new year. There was much debate over which animal was represented by 羊 (yáng) — the Chinese word for the year's zodiac symbol. It can refer to a range of animals related to sheep and goats, and additional characters are sometimes used to remove any ambiguity. In this case, though, the seller apparently felt that 羊 would be understood as "goat", not so surprising since we were in Chaozhou — a city in southern China. Of course, if there was any doubt, the nearby goats cleared things up.

Although I had questions about the whether the milk was safe, I figured I couldn't pass up the opportunity to end the year in such a fitting fashion. So I told the man I was interested in making a purchase. After discussing the amount of milk I wanted, he asked what I intended to do with it. After I told him I planned to simply drink it as is, he explained that wouldn't be a great idea.

The man with the goats had spoken. And he had passed up a sale in order not to bring me any harm. I thanked him and left milkless but appreciative I didn't end the year on an unpleasant note.

A Luggage Ride in Shenzhen

I recently saw many examples of luggage sales at the Dongmen shopping area in Shenzhen. Most buyers likely planned to use their new luggage for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday.

I saw one example, though, of a more immediate benefit.

More on Foods with Durian

Durian hawker in Hanoi, Vietnam, five years ago

In response to my first taste of durian pizza and my stated preference for plain durian, a reader in the U.S., a country were I doubt most people could even identify the fruit, shared his own durian-related preferences:

For what it's worth, my first exposure to durian was in ice cream. I didn’t like it. I also tried durian muffins — also not so good. I then discovered that I do quite like plain durian — so long as we’re outside and the smell can dissipate.

I had previously wondered whether treats such as a durian ice cream could be a way for more people to gain an appreciation of durian. The reader's experience made me question that, though the unenjoyable treats may have primed him for a more pleasurable first experience eating plain durian. Perhaps if he revisits the muffins he may now have a different impression. It is also worth noting that people can have strong preferences for a specific durian variety, of which there are many. There are so many variables to consider, but at least the reader's story has a happy ending. He may be heartened to learn I ate the strong-smelling durian pizza outside.

As planned, I ate the leftover durian pizza at room temperature (inside) for breakfast. I must say, it was a great way to start the day. I now see durian pizza in a new light and am wondering if I could get a durian pizza delivered in the early morning — with extra durian, of course.