Stories about Chinese from December, 2008
The Death of Ai Iijima, the End of an Era
For many men in Taiwan, this Christmas Eve was a day of regret and disappointment. It is not because that at this eve some of us would need to spend a significant amount money to please our lovers--thanks to the endless bombing from merchants and commercials. And neither it is because that others would be upset due to lack of lovers for the holiday--yes, for most people, Christmas in Taiwan is more like Valentine's Day--perhaps the forth or the fifth one. It is that in the era of closure on any discussion of sex issues, an ex-AV porno Japanese actress who accompanied us during much of our private time, and later successfully transformed into an entertainer in show business, was found dead in the afternoon at her house in Shibuya, Tokyo: her name is Ai Iijima.
Taiwan: Winners of Citizen Journalism Award
Peopo, a unique and successful citizen media project presented by Taiwan's Public Television Service(PTS), just announced the second Citizen Journalism Award winners. The five video reports are about the disaster caused by typhoon, the management of stray animals, taxi drivers’ voices and lives, hoboes’ heath problems, and an old lady...
Hong Kong: Not too boring Christmas
Karden, with her black and white cats, wish you a not too boring Christmas. (via inmediahk.net)
China: Nationwide Teachers’ Strike
Since this October, teachers in Sichuan, Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong went on strike, demanding a salary raise. According to local media report, the strike started from Sichuan Pi Region (陴縣) in Sep 23, teachers demanded local government to follow national law (such as Teachers Law) and raise...
China: Commissioner scrutinized by netizen detectives
Zhou, Commissioner of Housing Bureau in Nanjing, stopped developers from cutting down the real estate price, claiming it was for the sake of people. But rebukes never stop as what people expect is right the opposite. Netizen detectives set out to run after clues of corruption from past news reports and pictures, from which two crucial evidences show up: cigarettes and watches. They even find out that he has a brother who is exactly a developer.
China: “08 Charter” Signers Arrested and Questioned by Police
Big Brother searching and questioning people involved in an collective appeal for democracy.
When you've been in Taiwan too long
SpinalCord shared an absolutely hilarious but also down to earth article exemplifying the most possible outcome in 261 items if a foreigner stays in Taiwan for too long…
China: Charter 08, to be free and fearless
At the Eve of the sixtieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Dec 10, 303 prominent intellectuals and human rights activists in China, jointly released Charter 08, demanding more political reform in China. However, the China government decided to celebrate the Universal Declaration of...
Taiwan: Support for Greece Student/Anarchist Movement
Em, a devoted Taiwanese female anarchist and civil media journalist expresses her support for Greece students. She remarks that Greece students are the most active and influential among global anarchists(zh).
Hong Kong: Pride Parade 2008 – Celebrate Love
In this coming weekend (13 of December), a coalition of civic groups will organize a pride parade to celebrate diverse love expression. Although Hong Kong is a global city, to organize this parade is not easy at all, the government, public service sector and conservative Christians do not even try to hide their discrimination.
Taiwan: The government could not wait to harvest wild strawberries
The forced eviction of Wild Strawberries Movement at the Freedom Square this morning (Dec 11), just a few hours after the International Human Rights Day, shows the Taiwan government's hypocrisy in the implementation of human rights .
Taiwan: police evict Wild Strawberries
In the early hours of this morning police forcibly evicted students from the Wild Strawberry movement [report also in Chinese (zh)] from Freedom Square in Taipei. The students had maintained a continuous protest there for over one month after an earlier protest at the Executive Yuan in response to police...
China and France: Boycott of French Goods
On December 1, an article appeared in China.com urging a nationwide boycott against French product in order to protest against the meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Dalai Lama. The post advised consumers not to buy about 50 French brands, including cars, clothes, alcohol and skin-care products. Commentaries from...
China: Protestors and petitioners penned up into madhouse
It is a story about petitioning, protest and madhouse. Reading the story, I am almost drowned by a sense of desperation infused in what Mr. Sun has gone through all these years, but also very much touched by Mr. Shi’s courage to expose such a scandal to public. I know, this would be a story worth record, and translation.
China: Official report — political aristocracy has ruled national wealth
National wealth, as an dauntingly open article in public media suggests, has almost been monopolized by the class of political power. What makes the matter worse is that, the privilege has been passed on to the next generation.
Taiwan: President out of mind?
Social activist Wobblies says on his twitter(zh): “Knowing that Ma refused Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan, I began to think that my father's friend is correct. He said that this President is either a body double, or is just kidnapped by someone. Or whatelse can there be such an idiot...
Taiwan: Newspaper for the Immigrants
Bao Bon Phuong, a unique immigrant-focussing Vietnamese newspaper celebrates its second year from its first issue in Dec. 2006. On its blog(zh), the editor 張正 Zhang Zheng writes : “Everyday, the editorial team receives dozens of letters written in Vietnamese. Each letter contains different state of mind: to thank somebody,...
Hong Kong: Murphy’s Law
Erynnyes from Those were the days said that the SAR government in Hong Kong is under the spell of Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Any issue, small as evacuating tourists from Thailand, has gone wrong [zh].
Taiwan: HIV+ Bloggers’ Love for Life
For most of the bloggers in Taiwan and around the globe, Dec 1st is World AIDS Day, but for HIV+ bloggers everywhere, everyday is AIDS day. Two days ago I yelled on my personal twitter: "Does anyone know any HIV Positive bloggers?" I soon received a reply.
China: AIDS blogger Li-xiang's unextraordinary life
Now about 30, he contracted AIDS in a blood donation when he was only a high school student. He started blogging in 2005, writing about his life, ideas, and occasionally HIV treatment. He loves beautiful girls, and has a girlfriend. He is now more a social worker than merely a patient, and always inspires his fellow patients with a light heart. But there are no less depression, desperation, and people's indifference, even open insult left on his blog. This is Li-xiang, an AIDS blogger.
China: Guangzhou Taxi Driver Strike
Localgd posted photos showing Guangzhou Taxi driver strike.
About our Chinese coverage
Oi wan Lam is the North East Asia editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.
