Great post by Charles Hayford at Frog in a Well on all things related to pigs in Chinese history. Fabulous read as we get ready to celebrate the year of the Pig. You have to love a year that can claim as its own Chiang Kaishek, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lee Kuan Yew, Ronald Reagan, and Woody Allen. Now that’s a cocktail party.
Charles is the newest contributor over there and if this post is any indication expect some more fascinating things from down in The Well.
Ryan in Suzhou reports that China’s top propaganda chief Li Changchun has decreed that the pig shall not be used in television advertisements celebrating the year of the…pig. The reason? To avoid offending China’s Muslim population. First, I’m not an expert but I thought Islamic law prohibited people from eating pork not from going to see the movie Babe: Pig in the City. Second, if Beijing is really serious about not offending China’s Muslim population, they might try not arresting people on trumped up charges of being “Uighur nationalists.” Just a thought.