Stories about Chinese from May, 2011
China: Detained Rights Lawyer Interrogated About Sex Life
After three months in detention, Chinese lawyer Li Tiantian described on Twitter how her interrogators used intimate details of her personal life to harass her. In the past months, more than a hundred human right lawyers, activists, writers and artists have been arrested or prosecuted in China as a result of the crackdown on the Jasmine protests.
China: Netizens Declare Candidacy In Upcoming Elections
Their chances may not be good, but a small and growing number of Internet celebrities and microbloggers have decided to run in grassroots elections this coming September in constituencies around the country.
China: Three Gorges Dam, A Time To Reflect
Through 17 years of construction until its completion in October 2008, China lauded the Three Gorges Dam as one of the engineering marvels of the world. At a State Council steering committee meeting on May 18, 2011, a statement was issued acknowledging serious flaws in the project.
China: Rejected Self Defense Plea A Green Light For Deadly Demolitions
Villager Tong Yihong says a demolition crew drove a bulldozer onto his property, and he acted in self defense. Police say the bricks Tong threw down from his roof left one man with a serious head injury. Tong, now sentenced to four years in prison, still has public opinion on his side.
China: Writing Imaginary Book Reviews
In 2010, a collection of reviews for non-existent books, written by Chinese author Bimuyu, was published. This month Bimuyu shared with readers his thinking behind these reviews.
China: Another Failed Grassroots Election
A retired worker from Jiangxi province, China, Liu Ping, had decided to run an economic justice campaign in the grassroots level election for her local seat in China's People's Congress. In the process, she and her supporters have been harassed by local police and on May 13, 2011, she was forcibly detained.
China: Shake the Country
Olivia from China Hush explains how the Forbidden City Palace Museum first lost their exhibited art pieces and then their face because of wrong spelling in their thank-you banner to the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. To defend one's country has turned into to shake one's country as a result...
China: editorial on 2008 earthquake blacked out
China Media Project has translated an editorial from liberal newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily commemorating the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The piece, which featured references to detained artist Ai Weiwei, who had attempted to investigate the deaths of children and collapse of school buildings in the disaster, was removed from the newspaper's website...
China: Red Culture Fever
2011 is turning out to be a year for 'red culture' revival, mocked fiercely online but taken seriously by courts, prisons, universities, television stations and police departments in a growing number of areas throughout the country. Is it all for political show, or does it signal a pending culture war in China?
Hong Kong: Brainwashing Education
The Hong Kong Education Bureau is planning to make patriotic education compulsory for primary and secondary school children. The objective of the Moral and National Education Curriculum is to help the students to "develop a sense of belonging to the motherland", "support national sports teams" and "appreciate Chinese culture". The plan, however, has sparked fears in the society of political brainwashing.
China: Death of Bin Laden and the Clash of Civilizations
In the early 1990s, political scientist Samuel Huntington put forward the clash of civilizations theory that the fundamental source of conflict in the post-Cold War world will be cultural. Two Chinese writers examine the implications of the death of Osama Bin Laden on Sino-US relations, through the lens of the clash of civilizations.
Where the hell is Taiwan
Remember “Where the hell is Matt“? Wu Jian-heng(吳建衡), a young Taiwan backpacker who went on a journey to India-in the costume of deity Nezha, has a similar ambition. His sole wish is to let more people around the world know his country and his trip video has gone viral online recently[English subtitled].
China: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The past week has seen a real-life version of film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” reenacted in China. The Chinese protagonist, Xu Wu, has been detained in a psychiatric hospital for four years over a labour dispute against a state-run enterprise. He escaped from the hospital and told his story to a television station, but police forced their way into the station building and abducted Xu, remanding him back to the psychiatric ward.
Taiwan:Osama bin Laden's mansion…and bad “Feng shui”?
Don't be surprised to learn that Taiwan TV news always try hard to decode global issues with “Feng shui“, and this time it is the death of Osama bin Laden and his mansion being decoded. While “Feng sui Master” in the news says that any leader stay in that kind...
About our Chinese coverage
Oi wan Lam is the North East Asia editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.
