Aside from terrible traffic, row upon endless row of souless apartment blocks, and a rather brutal family planning system, China's massive population also assures that it's never short on bizarre news stories. And while traditional media outlets are never shy to publish a juicy or scandalous story, a number of blogs have popped up in recent years that do all-weird, all the time. What follows is a list of some of my favorite sources of weird China news.

chinaSMACK: With just over a year's worth of posts in its archives, chinaSMACK has taken the translation blog genre to an entirely new level. The site's daily posts act as a meme tracker of what is happening on the Chinese Internet. Translated stories and BBS posts give a rare (and often gritty) look into what is happening around China's Web.

Weird Asia News: Around since 2006, Weird Asia News doesn't specifically focus on China, but offers up both China and Hong Kong coverage. Wacky stories from Japan, Korea and SE Asia help keep China's weirdness in perspective.

ChinaHush: Relatively new to the game, and similar to chinaSMACK right down to the China + onomatopoeia domain, ChinaHush dishes out scandalous stories from around the Mainland. It is another meme tracker, and a great way to find out what seedy things are happening around the Chinese Web.

Hao Hao Report: While not specifically a resource for weird China news, the Hao Hao Report has a dedicated category to the topic, offering a quick way to find out what strange China stories are worth reading. Disclaimer: Hao Hao Report is a site I founded in 2006, which allows anyone to submit Chinese news and blog stories to be voted on by the community.

EastSouthNorthWest (ESWN): The blog that launched a hundred blogs. ESWN has been the prima-site to get an insider's look at what unscrupulous things are going on in the Middle Kingdom. More than a half decade before chinaSMACK was pulling up the skirt of China's Internet, ESWN was dishing the goods to foreign correspondents, bloggers and readers alike (despite its lackluster design and awkward domain).

Worth a mention

The following sites don't focus on weird China news, but often offer it up all the same and are well worth a visit:

Danwei
ChinaGeeks
Shanghaiist

Have a great resource for weird China news? Be sure to leave it in the comments below.

 

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