[Mb-civic] In Chinese Cyberspace, A Blossoming Passion - Washingtron Post

[William Swiggard]

In Chinese Cyberspace, A Blossoming Passion

By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 19, 2005; Page A15

BEIJING -- Suddenly this summer, Sister Lotus is all over China.

Hotly debated on Chinese-language Web sites, her saucy photos get 
millions of hits. National magazines dote on her, and China's television 
crews are taping away. Late to catch on, Communist Party censors now 
officially frown on her. Some sociologists warn that Sister Lotus cannot 
be good for China's teenagers; others smile and predict her fame will be 
fleeting.

But nobody, including Sister Lotus, appears to know what this is all about.

"I think it's crazy," she said in an interview.

<>Sister Lotus, who turns 28 on Tuesday, is Shi Hengxia, and comes from 
a small town in Shaanxi province. Over the last few years, she tried and 
failed to gain admission to Peking University and then to Tsinghua 
University, China's most prestigious institutions of higher learning.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/18/AR2005071801561.html?nav=hcmodule
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