Washington Post

choi

(1) Keith B Richburg, For China’s Driving Test, Be Ready for Almost Anything. Washington Post, Apr 2, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wo ... QABBpaqS_story.html
("To purchase a new car in Beijing — one of several cities trying to limit the number of vehicles on the road — potential owners must first enter a lottery for a new license plate. At the last count in March, 970,000 Beijing residents had signed up for one of the 20,282 license plates available for the month. The Global Times newspaper put the odds of getting a license plate at 1 in 47.9")

My comment: If you wish, you may take an online quiz, by clicking the photo to the left of the text.

(2)
(a) Simon Denyer, Self-Immolations Reflect Rising Tibetan Anger. Washington Post, Apr 1, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wo ... QA2szapS_story.html
(a 22-year-old man named Lobsang Jamyang at Ngaba, whose pinyin is Aba; date not mentioned)
(b) Horrifying Acts of Resistance; In a reflection of growing nationalism and frustration, more than 33 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule of their homeland. Washington Post, Apr 1, 2012 (photo gallery).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wo ... allery.html#photo=1

(3) Editorial: Chipping Away at China’s State Capitalism. Washington Post, Apr 1, 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/op ... QA3rObpS_story.html
("Just four months ago, Andrew Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union, published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal urging the United States to adopt a 'forward looking, long-term economic plan,' like China does. Mr. Stern was just back from Chong­qing, impressed by that mega-city’s 'people-oriented development' under 'an aggressive and popular Communist Party leader — Bo Xilai.' * * *
Alas for his admirers in the West, China’s Communist authorities purged Bo Xilai on March 15")

Note: Regarding the sentence "Or perhaps his rivals in Beijing simply concluded that the populistic Mr Bo had gotten too big for his britches."

(a) britches (noun plural; alteration of breeches): "BREECHES"
www.m-w.com
(b) breeches
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeches
(Formerly a standard item of Western men's clothing, had fallen out of use by the early 20th Century in favor of trousers)
(c) Too big for your breeches. The Phrase Finder, undated
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/too-big-for-your-breeches.html
("Conceited; having a too high opinion of oneself"; in 1835 by Davy Crockett)