Move over Japan, China seems to be making steady strides on the vending machine front. We have already reported on crab vending machines (check out our previous report on it ) and novelty machines carrying mementos, fresh fruit and tickets. Now we see a fresh fruit juice vending machine.

On June 21, a post-90s girl, Guo Meimei caused outrage among netizens by posting ostentatious photos of her villa, several luxury sports cars, and a dozen or so colorful Hermès handbags. When netizens investigated this flaunter’s identity, they saw on her Sina Weibo personal profile that Guo claimed to be the general manager of Red Cross Commerce. Ay yo! Now there are rumors being swung online suspecting the Red Cross of misusing funds. A host of companies, brands and people are being connected to the scandalous rumors (which are mind you, rumors).

A Sina micrblogger made a relationship chart tying Guo Meimei to various companies, brands, organizations and celebrities, helping people better understand how the situation got complicated after the “Guo Meimei incident” exploded online.

A few days after it screened, the movie “Beginning of the Great Revival” (aka 建党伟业) became famous – not for its nationalistic message but for its censored reviews. The movie, a celebration of the Communist Party’s 90th anniversary, has been called out by netizens for being the first movie they can’t rate, comment or recommend on Douban, a SNS based on creative communities sharing opinions and grouping around their interest in arts and culture.

picture from Internet

On June 7, the first day of the 2011 national college entrance exams (known as gaokao in Chinese), none of the expected 45 student test-takers showed up in the two prepared examination classrooms. After fifteen minutes of waiting, the exam was cancelled.

These 45 newcomers, who will be first year students at South University of Science and Technology of China were given the monumental choice of whether or not to take the exams. And they said no thanks. The school claimed that the results would not affect their admission which is also of course a wildly new concept in Chinese education. Although the school studies traditional subjects mixed in with some ground-breaking curriculum, its diplomas are not officially recognized – showing yet another leap of faith from the students and the school that China is changing its attitudes about education.

These students posted an open letter online saying the exam was “inappropriate” for them – a major step in building new roads to success in China.

DigiWar, a comic series created by ZENITHknight (a post-80s young Chinese), consist of stories told through sarcastic conversation, featuring personified digital brands. The story lines present news about mobile phones, computers, game machines and, of course, the Internet. We asked  ZENITHkinight to tell us his story.

ZK: There was a funny start. It all began because of a quarrel with someone about which is better – Windows or Mac OS. The debate took place on TGFC forum (a digi-club) but, as everyone knows, if you are too serious on forums, you lose arguments. So I found a way to express my point of view without allowing others to talk back. This is manga. It is not a problem for me since I studied art in school and have been working in animation, comics and game design fields.

ZK: I take into consideration how these brands target their customers, and also use my own understanding. For instance, the character Mac, of course, wears T-shirt and jeans, a very casual look. PC is in a suit and looks heavier and more inflexible. Sony is a fashionable youth with good taste; Sharp is more of a trendy young girl; Samsung wears typical Korean styled loose clothes.
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DigiWar, a comic series created by ZENITHknight (a post-80s young Chinese), consist of stories told through sarcastic conversation, featuring personified digital brands. The story lines present news about mobile phones, computers, game machines and, of course, the Internet. The series pokes geeky fun at digital brands. Take a look at one of his stories: “Greeting”.

The much feared and anticipated gao kao (China’s national college entrance exams) passed today with a big sigh of relief for the 9 million students who tested and their families. Despite some commentary about less students taking the test than did in the past, test takers continue to draw support.

Pictures of taxi drivers in Hubei province offering free rides, Shanghai subway prepares stationery for students and post on microblogs to remind students not forget necessities.