As students head back to school and moon cakes flood kitchen tables, Luan Dun serves stories that sizzled the summer.

From a sexy tofu making robot to a man that creates the weather, this issue of Luan Dun covers the weird and wonderful happenings of China from August to September.

Our feature designer this month is Deer Cl, who was inspired by the all outlandish stories in society. To extend this concept, this issue of Luan Dun is designed with a comic book theme to enhance the dramatic stories of culture and society.

Since June 2009, Luan Dun has served as the eye that compiles and celebrates the weird and wonderful in China. This vision could have never come to life if it wasn’t for the Princess Planner, Charinee Chairasmisak. As founder and editor of Luan Dun, Charinee has led the effort in providing a window into Chinese culture. She’s surprised us, made us laugh and challenged our way of thinking by showcasing the unconventional stories of China. In many ways, Luan Dun represents the values of Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai. We dig deep and take the road less traveled in order to find perspectives that are interesting and relevant to people and culture. So Charinee, although you might hate the fact that we have created this page for you (or maybe not) we want to wish you all the best with your next adventure. And although Luan Dun will never be the same without you, we’ll try our best to make you proud and keep your legacy going. #CCsays.

After winning gold in the 100m freestyle event during the 2015 FINA World Championships, 22-year old Ning Ze Tao quickly rose as a hot topic on Chinese social media due to his recent victory and dashing good looks.

Overnight, female netizens in China expressed their love for Ning by sharing photoshopped posts of themselves with him on their social media. Jiang Xin, a famous Chinese actress, joined the craze by posting her own photos with Ning on Weibo, accompanied by the hashtag #Ning’s Girlfriend”.

With divorce rates on the rise,a Chengdu based company called Luo Rong, has emerged to prevent couples misfortunes by helping m a r r i e d m e n g e t r i d o f t h e i r mistresses.

Equipped with a team of lawyers and psychological consultants, Luo Rong has had an impressive 80% success rate with their clients.

Pending the complexity of the case, prices start at 10,000RMB and can get as high as 120,000RMB, which in grand scheme of things, is a small price to pay when compared to an ugly divorce settlement.

You’re most likely familiar with the world renowned Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. But what about the famous one in Huaying? A curator based out of Sichuan has started their own interpretation of the wax museum, by appointing professors from the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts, to design wax models that resemble famous celebrities.

The problem though is that none of the celebrities actually look like who they’re supposed to, which has started a craze on China social media.

Netizens have renamed the museum as the “Farmer's Fashion Museum”, as re fe rence to the fa rmhouse fashion the wax models are dressed in. The museum publicly admitted that their wax models don’t exactly resemble the beautiful celebrities, but it hasn’t stopped them from attracting visitors.

A tofu pudding store in Luzhou, has recently gone viral due to their newest employee, a life sized super model-looking robot. Built by the store owner Mr. Zhou, a 70 year-old retired engineer, the robot was originally built to help tackle the laborious process of making tofu pudding.

However, what started as an effort to bring convenience to production has in turn evolved into an effective marketing promotion for his business. The popularity of the robot has now created new commercial opportunities for Mr. Zhou, as he is planning to put “Tofu Hottie” into mass production.

Whoever said, “you can’t control the weather," obviously never met the Cloud Man from Zhengzhou. The Cloud Man, a named bestowed by Chinese netizens, has been at tract ing many v is i tors to his makeshift cloud shows.

How does he do it? Well, he has cleverly designed a machine that creates “clouds” by combining a mixture of constringent gas and epispastic l iquid, which al lows the clouds to rise high into the sky. What started as a hobby has evolved into quite the lucrative business model, with reports stating that these makeshift cloud shows earn more than 10,000RMB a day.

The Cairo Declaration , is a recent film produced by a film studio closely tied with the People's Liberation Army. The basis of the film was to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II by putting focus on the events that led up to the signing of the Cairo Declaration.

A f te r the re lease o f i t s key mov ie promotion posters, netizens unmercifully mocked the makers of the f i lm for distorting the historical accuracy of the story. Their criticism was driven by the glorifying of Mao Zedong’s role at the summit, when in actuality he was never there. This created quite a stir on social media, as many people felt that the film makers were misleading history.

The online community quickly reacted by creating their own version of the poster featuring celebrities such as Jay Chow and Jackie Chan, and politicians such as Barack Obama to show their dissatisfaction to what had been done.

In China, every parent wishes for their son or daughter to be in a stable relationship once they reach a certain age. In fact, for many who are over the age of twenty-five, finding a marriage partner becomes a constant pressure levied by family members. But as with all problems come solutions.

Introducing the “Rent a Partner” function built onto the immensely popular app, WeChat. The new function now al lows singles who are lonely or in need of avoiding parental lectures, to simply rent a temporary boyfriend/girlfriend. Of course, the platform works both ways as you can rent yourself out to earn some extra dollars.

The platform offers different types of girls/boys from different regions. Each person has a complete profile, with photos, region, job, provided services, hourly/daily pay and available times. There are also various price ranges, so you can find the person who is most suitable for your requirements.

A way to describe a person who is acts and thinks like a little princess.

“You are being such a ‘xiao gong ju’ right now.”

“Megan is such a ‘xiao gong ju’, her desk looks like a Disney movie.”

“Don’t be such a ‘x iao gong ju’, carry your purse yourself.”

Example: Mega pop star, Jay Chou, publicly admitted that he had princess dreams, as his wedding ceremony was held in castle to mimic the fairytale story of a prince marrying a princess.

EASON CHAN: GETTING READY

Getting Ready is Eason Chan’s latest Cantonese album. The album title is inspired by his quote “The process of getting ready allows one to look forward to something and it’s an important process for me.”

Known as the “King of Asian Pop”, Eason Chan is a skilled guitarist, violinist, and a pianist with strong vocal skills. Having been in the music industry for nearly 20 years, Getting Ready continues to delight listeners with his unique voice and brooding instrumental arrangements.

LI JIAN: LI JIAN

Li Jian, known for combining poetry into his folk music, released his latest self titled album. It is a collection of poetry from his travels between 2011-2015, as a reflection of the tiny things in life.

L i has never been drawn to the glamour of show business. He is reserved in his public appearances and always keeps a low profile. This became apparent when he appeared in the popular TV show called “I Am A Singer”, where singers of the previous generation return to battle against each other. He continues to stay true to himself, and the latest album is proof of his attitude towards fame and success.

XI YU HU YANGI COME FROM

HEAVENLY MOUNTAIN

Xi Yu Hu Yang is a pop musician from Xinj iang, China’s autonomous region where majority of the Uyghur ethnicity live. His music is inspired from his love and appreciation of his hometown, as it is a perfect harmony of folk and rock music.

I Come From Heavenly Mountain, is a celebration of his return to the music scene. He chooses 13 selected tracks from previous albums, which he believes are the best representation of his music.

Monster Hunt is a 3D fantasy comedy adventure film directed by Raman Hui. After just two weeks of the films release, Monster Hunt became the highest-grossing Chinese film of all time.

MONSTER HUNT

The film takes place in medieval China, and centers around Huba, an offspring of a human father and a monster mother, who is threatened by both humans and monsters alike.

Due to the high film production quality, Huba surpassed Baymax (Big Hero 6) as China’s favorite character. His popularity was so immense, that Huba signed a ‘career contract’ with Edko Film Limited, where Huba is allowed to appear in commercials and other sponsorships outside of the movie.

CUG: King of Heroes is probably the best animated film produced in China to date.

Based on the Chinese novel Journey to The West written during 16th century, the movie tells the story of the Monkey King being rescued by a 7-year old Monk named Tang. The animation follows their adventures together and through this we learn more about Chinese culture and history.

Besides being on par with Hollywood’s animation quality, the movie reignited people’s interest in Journey to The West , which is becoming less and less relevant to the younger generation in China.

Based on the real-life story of popular Chinese cartoonist Xiang Yao, the movie is an adaptation of a series of her comics.

Most of Xiang's comic books are focused on teenage love, weight loss, life as a single woman, and her idol, Michael Jackson. She chronicled her darkest hours towards the end of her books.

In 2011, a life changing event o c c u r r e d w h e n s h e w a s diagnosed with cancer. However, she didn’t give up drawing and began posting comics strips of herself online, which attracted millions of fans including top tier celebrities. In May, her comic Go Away Mr. Tumor was published. Unfortunately, Xiang passed away in November of the same year.

THE JOURNEY OF FLOWERRecomposed from a popular online novel written by Fresh Guoguo, the series is a costume piece centered around fantasy and magic.

The main character Hua Qiangu, is an unlucky orphan who looks for a chance to learn magic after the death of her parents. Bai Zihua, an experienced immortal takes her on as his only disciple. Hua falls in love with her master but doesn’t reveal her true feelings towards the end. The multi-episodic series tells a story of the relationship between a master and a disciple.

The trailer dubbed in both Chinese and English were released in Cannes 2014, and received a overwhelming positive response.

Life is full of drama, what’s better than literally living it?

Xiao Ka Xiu is the latest hot app that’s rocking Chinese youth. An advanced version of Dubmash, Xiao Ka Xiu allows you to create short videos of yourself while being dubbed with famous movie lines.

It became even more popular when celebrities started using the app to outdo each other with an iconic Chinese movie line.

We interviewed Jamie Qing, a Xiao Ka Xiu user about her experience with the app, and here’s what she has to say:

How do you find out about Xiao Ka Xiu? I found this app on Weibo because a lot of famous celebrities were using it to mimic popular movie lines

What attracted you to use it?I was attracted to the app because my WeChat moments was flooded with friends sharing their own videos. I thought it was a fun idea so I decided to join the party.

How many videos have you created? I’ve only created a few, but I use the app because I enjoy watching other user generated videos.

What is your favorite video?My favorite videos are the ones that mimic Jing Xing, a Chinese talk show host.

Why do you think this app is popular for Chinese youth?Two reasons, the first reason is that video social is becoming a new trend in China, because it allows people to not just write but show their dynamic side. The second reason is the new generation, like myself, is scared about missing out on what’s cool.

Editor:

David LinWriters:

Charinee ChairasmisakCarina Huang

Designer:

Deer CL