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Xinhuanet (news in Chinese) and Shanghai Daily (for non-Chinese readers) report on the bizarre Beijing tale of a two foreigners and their overprotective Chinese interpreter who fought off eight guys who apparently gawked at his clients too long. Those rude guys not only stared at the blond, mustached foreigners, but then they refused to apologize for it! In the Shanghai Daily story, according to a relative of one of those hooligans, that was when the interpreter stopped being Mr. Nice Guy:
The interpreter came to table of 8 and asked them to apologize to the foreigners because the group had "stared at them too long," the relative told the newspaper, quoting a victim."Their requirement was refused," said the relative. "The Chinese interpreter relayed the refusal to the foreigners and then he came back to the table and attacked and stabbed three of them, and continued to chase the other five who were trying to escape, stabbing another four."
OK, so we were also initially more than a little skeptical of this story of an interpreter going all Westside Story on a group of eight Chinese on behalf of his porn star mustachioed clients. Lucky for you, this Shanghaiist is Chinese, so we managed to find several other accounts of what happened to add to the confusion. According to Sohu.com the interpreter pulled a dagger first and then was joined by his blond buddies. Sina (news in Chinese) reports that it was the foreigners who initiated the stabbing and were then joined by their loyal and armed Chinese interpreter.
Fortunately, the Beijing News reports that the seven injured Chinese patrons are in stable condition and should undergo a smooth recovery.
Shanghaiist would be interested to know how the reporters can be so sure that this so-called “interpreter”-turned-Jack-the-Ripper is really an interpreter. Is this an assumption based on the fact that he just happened to be the Chinese guy in the group? Regardless, wear a mustache and you're going to get stared at -- plain and simple.
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I thought translating the phrase "douche bag" was difficult enough, I have to bring my prison shiv made out of hardened plastic toothbrush handle everywhere now?
sooo... it seems that english language media reports that it was all the Chinese guy. And some Chinese language media reports that it was the foreigners that started it, or that the foreigners were a major part.
Seems like a great way to further promote distancing between the two groups.
Ah the realities of media bias. Sad.
The Shanghai Daily story acts as though it is a translation of the Xinhuanet story. It has a link at the bottom to the Xinhuanet story that says "Chinese story link." So, if that is true (I, sadly, cannot read Chinese), it would seem like the discrepancies would be between stories that are all written in Chinese. So perhaps not the conspiracy some think it is?