Inspired by the question of why China's peasants didn't revolt during the three-year famine of 1959 to 1961, Inside-Out China publishes a transcript of an interview with Chongqing resident Mr. Chen, at the time a local government worker, who describes the shocking conditions he witnessed in Sichuan during the Great Leap Forward. (Requires proxy)

Danwei TV interviews author Wang Gang about his experiences in the Cultural Revolution and why nobody else wants to talk about it.

In a thoughtful post at the Granite Studio, Jeremiah Jenne argues that in order to explain the apparent gap between Chinese and Western attitudes toward state control, we need to consider what we fear the most, not what we value the most.

ChinaSMACK translates a Chinese netizens' sometimes witty, sometimes not responses to the hypothetical question, "What would happen if the aliens in the movie District 9 landed in China?"

Be a hater. It's not just you who despises the squeaky voices and cheesy lines on Chinese TV commercials. ChinaHush provides a lowdown on 2009's top 10 worst offenders, as voted by Chinese netizens. "And my, over the years, constipation is gone, too."

Shanghaiist reports on the latest stupid things Jackie Chan said on CCTV.

Our sister site GoKunming has a fascinating report on Dwarf Empire, the dwarf theme park near Kunming and how the dwarfs there are treated.

Fool's Mountain examines why China hasn't produced (m)any laureates of the Nobel Prize for Literature and the state of writing in China. (Requires proxy)

Fran likes surfing the China blogosphere, and every Sunday she shares her picks of the week with GoChengdoo readers.