· July, 2012

Stories about Chinese from July, 2012

China: Bizarre Power Triangle – Sina, the Government and Netizens

Ever since the advent of Internet in China, the Chinese government has either tried to embrace it or control it. The upsurge of social media in the country has introduced two other characters into the story-Chinese netizens and leading Internet company Sina. Find out more about this often bizarre power triangle.

31 July 2012

Taiwan: Threat of Media Monopoly and Power Abuse

Taiwanese civil society is worried that the acquisition of cable TV services by Want Want China Times would result in political censorship, in particular on mainland China news. A recent staged scandal against a scholar leading the campaign against the acquisition has shown the public the devastating effect of media monopoly and abusive use of media power.

30 July 2012

China: ‘Violent’ Pipeline Protest in Qidong

Violence that broke out during a protest against a pipeline construction project in China's Qidong province has split opinion online. The project would channel wastewater from a Japanese owned paper mill into the sea and has raised environmental concerns.

29 July 2012

East Asia: Flourishing Illegal Trade in ‘Captive Bred’ Exotic Birds

According to a July 2012 report from the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (TRAFFIC), many endangered birds that are sold as captive bred have actually been caught in the wild and smuggled out of their original habitats under cruel conditions. An ID registration scheme for captive bred parrots introduced in Taiwan enables clear identification of legally saleable birds to try and combat this problem.

28 July 2012

Language War in the Hong Kong Book Fair

A Cantonese-Mandarin language war broke out in a talk given by movie director Pang Ho-cheung for the 2012 Hong Kong Book Fair. To serve the big mainland Chinese market, the...

25 July 2012

China: Blogger Shorts SINA to 8% Shares Plunge With a Tweet

On July 16, famous Chinese blogger Isaac Mao wrote on Twitter that he would be shorting $SINA everyday, in reaction to SINA Weibo's (a Chinese microblogging platform) deletion of his user account. His message was delivered to investors from all around the world and next day SINA's NASDAQ listed price dropped by 8%.

18 July 2012

YouTube Show Brings China's Social Media to an English Audience

Want to know what’s going on on China’s social media but cannot speak Chinese? Keep on reading, then. It’s been four months since Elle Lee (@ElleIconLee) and Casey Lau (@hypercasey) opened a Youtube channel to broadcast Weibo Today, a weekly online show spotlighting trending topics from China's social networks in English. We talked to Elle Lee about their show.

17 July 2012

Hong Kong: New “Red” Elementary School Curriculum Flames Concern

Under pressure from mainland China, Hong Kong's elementary schools have to start a new curriculum on "national education." Recently revealed, its module on the "China model" is full of political propaganda, such as the claim that one party dictatorship is more effective than any other democratic political system.

8 July 2012

Taiwan: Democracy with a Confucian Face?

Politicians and academics have long debated whether Confucianism is compatible with democratic and civic values. Han Han's recent visit to Taiwan, and his high admiration of culture, freedom and democracy there, have sparked a vigorous debate about how they are related, and what this discussion means for mainland China.

2 July 2012

China: Passengers and crew foil hijack attempt

Six would-be hijackers from Xinjiang province were restrained by passengers ten minutes after take-off in Hotang, a remote city in western Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region. While many western mainstream have...

1 July 2012

About our Chinese coverage

Oiwan Lam
Oi wan Lam is the North East Asia editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.