Note: The report cites
(a) Max Fisher, Chinese State Media Fooled by Satirical Story on Washington Post Sale. Washington Post, Aug 8, 2013 (blog) http://www.washingtonpost.com/bl ... shington-post-sale/
("On Thursday, the state-run Xinhua news agency translated into Chinese a heavily satirical story from NewYorker.com on the sale, running it as fact. The story was dutifully re-reported by People’s Daily Online and other Chinese media outlets")
* "The original article [in New Yorker] * * * included a series of gag references that will be familiar to anyone who ever purchased something online, which is relatively common for urban middle-class Chinese."