Liu Changfa, a retired automation engineer,from China, needed only one year to create a robot cook, using only rudimentary tools, like hammer and axe.

The Chinese inventor connected his robot cook to a laptop computer and a cellphone that allow to choose preset menus, or program it to cook certain dishes. Vinegar, salt, sugar and all other seasoning is stored in the robot’s chest, and the cooking takes place in its belly, where an induction cooker is installed. With the help of some dedicated software, the dedicated robot can be programmed to add a certain amount of seasoning, or stir a dish a certain number of times.

All Liu Changfa has to do is put the raw ingredients into the pot, and wait for the beeping sound, made by the robot. He has already contacted a Chinese restaurant, which will test the robot cook in its kitchen, and add robot dishes on its menu. More restaurants will shortly follow, says Liu Changfa.

Well, I’d wait a while before adding cooking to the list of automated fields, but this is definitely a step in that direction.

Photos via CNS Photo

Read More »

I know there’s nothing weird about babes stripping for husbands, but the title can be a bit misleading.

On a drizzling morning, a group of eight young girls, from Guangzhou, China, showed up near a local metro station, and started handing out fliers to male passers-by. There was nothing overly odd about them, apart from the masks covering their faces.

All of a sudden, music began playing, and the girls started dancing while holding signs that read stuff like “Marry me, please!” or “My mum’s been pestering me to get married. Marry me, please!” Their dance quickly turned into a striptease act, with the girls tossing off their clothes, all the way to their underwear.

The unusual even attracted over 100 curious onlookers, as well as several vehicles stopping by to check out what was going on. People were cheering, clapping or taken pictures, but their joy was short-lived, as the metro station staff quickly crashed the party.

Read More »

Young Zhang Mengqian, a university student from China, got more than she bargained for when her “boyfriend-wanted” card caused a stir among her male colleagues.

On March 8, to celebrate Women’s Day, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, in Chengdu, gave every girl student a bland piece of paper, and asked each of them to put down their wish and post it on a wishing wall.

Here’s what freshman Zhang Mengqian wrote on her card: “My name is Zhang Mengqian, a grade one student, and I think I am attractive, but strangely I can’t find a boyfriend. However I believe in destiny. If you have the same wish, please come under my dormitory building and shout for my name in between 12:30 to 12:50 on March 11th, and I will observe you secretly up on the building. If you’re my type, I’ll come down to meet you.”Combine that with a ratio of male and female students of 25:1, and yo have a real horn-fest on your hands.

Zhang Mengqian message became so popular that on noon of March 11, over 2,000 male students gathered in front of her dorm building. Not all of them were brave enough to shout out her name, though, but that’s maybe because none of those who did had any luck.

So i hope you learned your lesson Zhang Mengqian, NEVER ask for a boyfrind in a country with over one billion inhabitants. That’s a big “no-no”!

via Quirky China

Read More »

Zhang Ruifang, a 100-year old woman, from China’s Henan Province, has a strange horn coming out of the left side of her forehead.

This reminds me so much of the horned lady, but Zhang’s horn is much more…horn-like. The 1-century-old woman says her bizarre horn started growing last year, and now measures between 5 and 6 cm in length. Although the horn causes her no pain, I can only imagine how unhappy this poor woman is with her situation. Read More »

Huang Cheng-nan, a ceramic master from China, has created a series of beautiful ceramic bowls, thinner than China’s Jingdae bowl, the thinnest ceramic in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

Huang Cheng-nan’s ceramic bowls range from 12 cm to 20 cm in diameter, weigh between 4 and 8 grams, and are between 0.15 and 0.18 mm thick. His works are so light they can easily be supported by a cobweb. These fragile works of art are on display in Taipei, and will soon be acknowledged as the thinnest ceramic bowls on Earth.

Photos by REUTERS via Daylife

Read More »

The Pig Contest of Guanshan Village, Guangdong Province, China, is a centuries old tradition dating back to the Qing Dinasty.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists, from all over China, travel to Guanshan, every year, to take a look at the hundreds of pigs on display at the Pig Contest. This year, around 500 oinkers were sacrificed, cleaned up and set on display to be admired by passers-by.

After the most handsome pig is allected, the festivities end in a gargantuan feast, when the tasty participants are sliced up and served to the public. Read More »

Born at a normal weight, little Pang Ya now tips the scales at 41.5 kilograms, which is about as much as an adult Chinese woman.

Pang Ya weighed around 4 kilograms, when she was born, but reached 20 pounds in just 8 months, and ever since then she kept piling on the pounds. Now her worried parents are seeking medical help. They admit the toddler has a very healthy appetite, but claim doctors have no idea what is wrong with their daughter.

Pang Ya, from Taocun town, Shanxi province, is just one of over 60 million obese people in China. The numbers doubled between 1992 and 2002. That may have something to do with the opening of several fast-food chains in China.

Read More »

Apparently, one of the globe’s biggest polluters has found an environment friendly alternative to plastic keyboards and mice.

Bamboo keyboards and mice are not exactly new on the market, and I’m sure you’ve come across all sorts of wooden peripheral concepts online. Jiangxi Bamboo Technology Development Co. Ltd., the only bamboo peripherals manufacturer in China, says their products have become increasingly popular at a national level, after they’ve been successfully exported to markets in Europe and America.

Production of bamboo keyboards and mice began in 2008, but until early 2009, they’ve only been shipped to foreign countries. But ever since franchised stores opened in Shanghai and Ningbo, China can’t get enough of its environment-friendly peripherals.

Judging from the photos, the Chinese aren’t stopping at just bamboo keyboards and mice, they’re taking it a step further, with bamboo encased LCD displays.

via Gadgetonian (photos by ImagineChina)

Read More »

To welcome the Lantern Festival that marks the end of the Chinese Lunar Year festivities, authorities have covered an entire building in brightly colored paper lanterns. Around 2,000 traditional lanterns were used to cover the facade.

The Lantern Festival is one of China’s most important celebrations, and this year it will be celebrated on February 28.

via ImagineChina

Read More »

Wearing nothing but swimsuits and summer apparel, contestants conquered the snowy slopes, during a fun carnival held in the Shanyang Forest Park, China.

Skiing is fun (Or so I’m told) but sliding down the slope and climbing back up again, can only be exciting for so long. So to spice things up a little, the people at Forest Park organized a fun winter carnival where participants would wear swimsuits and summer clothes.

As you can see in the photos, it was a pretty big hit that attracted a hefty number of skiing (and probably swimming) enthusiasts.

Photos by Zhao Jingdong/Xinhua

via Sina

Read More »

A scroll featuring drawings of 2010 tigers was presented during the Shanghai Expo and is a serious candidate for the Guinness record for the scroll with the largest number of tigers.

Chinese artist Xiao Yanqing, known as the best tiger drawer in all of China, has created this impressive scroll for the upcoming Chinese New Year, known as the Year of the Tiger. His impressive achievement is now being considered for inclusion in the Guinness Book of record. Standing at over 200 meters in length, Xiao Yanqing’s tiger scroll is also one of the longest scrolls in the world.

via ImagineChina

Read More »

Oddly enough, setting a man on fire isn’t necessarily a bad thing, on the contrary, it’s actually considered curative.

Although I wasn’t able to learn much about this strange medical procedure, fire treatment is apparently very popular during the winter months, in Chinese traditional hospitals. People believe this will keep them safe from illnesses like the flu and common cold.

The piece of cloth is sprinkled with flammable substance, probably alcohol,then set on fire and put-out with another cloth. It isn’t painful at all, and according to a video I found on Youtube, fire treatment is also a great way to lose weight.

Avatar fever is infecting everyone these days and a big country like China wasn’t going to be spared.

15 talented sculptors spent 10 days working on two 3-meters-tall sculptures from James Cameron’s blockbuster movie. One of them is of Corporal Jake Sully and the other of his main Na’Vi squeeze, Princess Neytiri. The Avatar mud sculptures were carved in a studio in Wuhan City and are meant to keep the Avatar craziness going even longer

Photos via ImagineChina

Read More »

Located inside the Olympic Stadium, in Beijing, the World Chocolate Dream Park is an Asian version of Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, in real life.

Announced last year, as a way of pleasing the increasing number of Chinese chocoholics, the World Chocolate Dream Park is finally open to the public. As promised, the chocolate theme-park features a number of China’s historical and cultural symbols, including a 12-meter-long  chocolate replica of the Great Wall, an army of 560 terracotta soldiers of Emperor Qingshihuang made of chocolate, and a traditional Chinese painting of Panorama Along the Upper River During the Qingming Festival, in original size.

The chocolate terracotta army was announced as life-size, back in 2009, but the miniatures aren’t too shabby. According to a Chinese official, many European chocolate makers wanted in on the project, considering it’s a great way to advertise chocolate to a huge market that’s just discovering it.

Photos via Xinhua

Read More »

That’s right, this is what it has come down to. People now have to display their resumes everywhere they go, in hopes of finding job opportunities.

You Zu Lao Xu, a Chinese internet celebrity decided to wear an LCD displaying his CV, wherever he goes, in order to up his chances of finding a job, but also to raise awareness of the unemployment issue in China.

That’s a pretty bizarre way of asking for a job…Expensive too. I wonder if he managed to land one.

via ImagineChina

Read More »