Around the Blogosphere: Paper-cutting skills, press conferences and (political) fevers

• Like we told you before, Chinese state media are beginning to get the hang of the art of spin. CDT informs us that People's Daily Online ran an article about President Hu's wonderful skills in the traditional Chinese art of paper-cutting and this has spawned yet another wave of satirical commentaries from Chinese bloggers, read here, here and here (in Chinese). Really, Shanghaiist would love to lay his hands on a pic or video of Mr Hu in action, not the final product.
• Tim Johnson, Beijing bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers, and author of the China Rises blog, was invited to a pre-17th Party Congress press conference for foreign correspondents. The final question came from a Singapore reporter who asked, "Pollution and land disputes in China are getting worse. Social conflicts appear to be escalating. Could you release the latest figures regarding these social conflicts?" The spokesperson chose not to answer the question, but closed the conference with “Now in China, the economy grows, there is social progress and the people enjoy higher and higher living standards. The people are satisfied. Thank you.”
• Victor Shih who is a Chinese politics expert at Northwestern University, fills us in with the latest political gossip and various predictions of the new party lineup, here, here , here, here and here.
• Rebecca MacKinnon pays a visit to Liu Xiaoyan, a lawyer who is suing Sohu.com for censoring his blog posts. His case was thrown out by the Haidian district court, but he is appealing to the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate Court. Shanghaiist wishes him luck.

And in Shanghai...

• John Pasden talks about his (Chinese) wife freaking out over his fever.
• Swiss James of ISpyShanghai recommends the Ganzhi Blindman Massage on the corner of Beijing Lu and Shaanxi Lu.
• Marc van der Chijs (of Tudou fame) shares with us the inconveniences that the cancellation of a recent China Eastern flight brought him and how he was handled.

Picture from People's Daily: President Hu's paper-cutting skills has the tongues of Chinese bloggers wagging.

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