News You Might Have Missed: A Flashing Mob, Reworked Holiday Songs and More Subway Stabbings?

We've got an odd mix of recent news. There's an upsetting story of a dog dumped from 18 stories, real and fake pregnancies, and for heaven's sake, why can't people pronounce "Beijing" correctly? Meanwhile, keep an eye out for less-vulgar luxury and watch your back on the subway.

Last week, animal-lovers were shocked to hear about a dog that was thrown out of an 18-floor window at Soho New Town. The animal suffered several broken bones and internal bleeding, but survived. The dog's owner was arrested for endangering the public. At the moment, China has no animal cruelty laws, only a proposed draft that has been sitting around for three years.

Last week was World Breastfeeding Week. To mark the occasion, over 30 women in Wuhan staged a breastfeeding sit-in at a department store to fight for a woman's right to breastfeed in public. While China has high rates of breastfeeding compared to other developed nations, women in larger cities breastfeed significantly less than those in rural areas, likely due to the availability of formula in urban areas and the lack of support for feeding mothers who work in office jobs.

Who would want the benefits of pregnancy without the burden of an actual baby? Many people, apparently, if we're to draw any conclusions from a surge of interest in fake bellies. Taobao offers several models. You can choose to appear 8-40 weeks pregnant. You can even opt for an extra-large "twins" model. The suggested reasons behind buying a belly include: hiding the fact that you've chosen to adopt a baby instead of gestating your own; test-driving the nine-month experience; tricking people into offering you their seat on the subway; getting nagging relatives to stop asking, "Isn't it time you got pregnant? You're not getting any younger."

What’s so hard about a hard J? James Fallows of The Atlantic has clued readers in on his London 2012 pet peeve and it’s not the time delay. He has been pleading with announcers to “remember that the ‘jing’ in Beijing is pronounced basically like the ‘jing’ in Jingle Bells. It's essentially the normal English j-sound. What it's not like is the Frenchified zh-sound you hear in ‘azure’ or ‘leisure,’ or at the end of ‘sabotage.’” The next time you find yourself mispronouncing Beijing or want to put a Chinese spin on a holiday favorite, Fallows suggests, “Just repeat to yourself, ‘Bei-jingle bells, Bei-jingle bells, Bei-jingle all the way,’ and it will come naturally.”

Gaudy ostentation may be on the way out as the understated look slinks into fashion. China luxury-market watchers are reporting a trend towards inconspicuous consumption – and some stats are bearing them out. The evolved rich, who don’t want to be seen as "mushroom millionaires," are becoming more interested in “invisible” premium goods such as mattresses, underwear and non-labeled items. For now, this decline in the purchase of visibly branded goods seems to be limited to Beijing and Shanghai, not so much in second- and third-tier cities, where it's still en vogue to deck yourself out in as many glittery, jeweled and shiny Gucci G's and Chanel C's as possible.

Girls may need to start watching out for more than just their purses on the subway. Last week, two girls reported getting stabbed in the butt at Pingguoyuan subway station. Neither girl was able to describe the attacker. In fact, the reports are vague enough that we suspect they may have been unintentionally jabbed by a sharp object. If that's not the case, I'll be adding this to the list of reasons I try to avoid the subway. On the other hand, if Beijing had subway buskers like this guy, maybe I'd keep the bike locked at home on occasion.

Photos: lostintranslations.blogspot.com