Odd Job Lives!

And he's a lackey of evil foreigners with mustaches


The carnage. Source: Xinhuanet

This story of a two blond, mustachioed foreigners sending their Chinese friend (or interpreter or bodyguard, depending on who you believe) as a samurai punisher on eight young males taunting them in a Beijing restaurant a few days ago and in a flury leaving seven of them on the ground with non-fatal stab woundsand has been more than good enough to wake me from my blogging slumber, especially as there seems to be at least enough truth to it that it was reported in the local press. First here it is in Chinese on Xinhuanet, and then here's a good write-up on the blog the Shanghaiist(English), which also gives an idea of how in only a couple of days this has already become something of an urban myth with all kinds of bizarre permutations. I first heard that it happened in Chengdu and involved diplomats and their hitman - take this with a grain of salt. But what I really wonder was where was this guy in the Pig and Whistle in Hsinchu?

...okay, now I finally feel like I'm back in China.... and to make a quick follow-up on the last post, Gmail works fine here, so does Google, for the moment...