In what might be the craziest thing you'll see this week (yes, it's only Tuesday), here's a video of Chinese soldiers playing hot potato with a live grenade. Apparently it's an official military exercise.Totally assuming that the grenade is real and that any bobble might mean the difference between life and death, the video hits on the "can't look away from the train wreck" sweet spot of internet videos. It may also be just an indication of just how serious (or seriously crazy) the Chinese military can be. There aren't any confirmations (and we'll be looking) for the video or the grenade's authenticity. From the insignia, it looks like the video was broadcast on China's CCTV, and a version hit YouTube on January 21 (this version we're looking at has close to 45,000 views at the moment). The Guardian picked up the video today, though their description (six soldiers...passing... jumping...) doesn't quite do this potentially explosive military exercise any justice.

Update:  We're working on getting a translation on this video from CCTV.  It looks to be part of a military demonstration for dignitaries, and we're trying to find some of our Mandarin-speaking friends to help us out in determining if the explosive is live or simply a dud. If you have a translation, feel free to leave it in the comments below. 

Update 3:26 p.m. According a to a rough translation of the Chinese broadcast (in our previous update), it seems that the explosive in the video along with the the other stunts (jumping through rings of fire, etc.) are real.  They are drills and military exercises but the CCTV broadcast seems to indicate that it is indeed a live explosive.  We're working on getting a transcript translation for you. 

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Alexander Abad-Santos