Stories about East Asia
Inspiring new generations of Balinese language speakers through superheroes and wikis
"Unequal access to digitalization is our biggest problem. Internet users continue to grow, but in reality not all areas in Bali have adequate internet access."
Digital discourse: How going online is keeping Kadazan and other indigenous languages alive in Borneo
"The indigenous languages don’t have to stay in dusty cabinets. We can use technology to have our languages and cultures available online."
Hong Kong customs raids pro-democracy retail chain, sparking sympathy
About 100 custom officers stormed AbouThai’s warehouse and its 26 stores confiscating goods worth more than a million Hong Kong dollars, due to missing Chinese labels of 14 types of...
‘Our homeland is where the money is': pragmatic citizenship in Tajikistan
Every year, thousands of Central Asian citizens try to overcome the restrictions attached to the citizenship they acquired at birth and apply for a Russian passport.
WATCH/LISTEN: Breaking the taboo on abortion
Missed the live stream of the April 7 Global Voices Insights webinar on abortion rights in five countries? Here's a replay.
For stateless and scattered Tibetans, a new online tool helps voters make an informed choice
The reliable online platform, created by a group of Swiss Tibetans, allows candidates and voters to communicate effectively, and although it overcame some challenges, others are work in progress.
China’s Xinjiang-cotton debacle unleashed fierce patriotism and ethnic policy support
China has mobilized online patriots to support the use of Xinjiang cotto, arguing that allegations of forced labour along with other human rights violations are false information
Israeli phone hacking firm stops sales to Belarus and Russia
Cellebrite, an Israeli software company known for making tools used to extract data from smartphones, has announced it will halt sales to Russian and Belarus state bodies and law enforcement.
In another blow for Japan's Summer Games, male chauvinist “Olympig” is forced to resign
Yet another setback for the 2020 Olympic games, already postponed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and plagued with gaffes.
Artists ‘raise three fingers’ in support of Myanmar protesters
"When we see somebody, and we raise three fingers, we know the movement is still alive. There is still hope."
Beijing has rewritten Hong Kong's electoral rules. What will change?
It's a total overhaul of Hong Kong's representative democracy.
LIVE on April 7: The other health crisis—breaking the taboo on abortion
Unsafe abortions result in 30,000 deaths each year. Join us to hear women from Uganda, Thailand, Brazil, Pakistan and Poland talk about the reproductive rights situation in their countries.
The price of dissent: Women and political activism in Vietnam
Women "should think that our fight is not only against dictatorship ... It is also a fight to free ourselves from our own ideological constraints, from the prejudice that we...
How Hong Kong lost its academic freedom in 2020
Since the enactment of the national security law, professors have had contracts terminated, student protests were repressed, and a new curriculum will be implemented in all schools starting September 2021.
Timeline of the second month of military coup and terror in Myanmar
Images and videos of the brutality unleashed by Myanmar's military are widely shared on social media. Despite the terror tactics, pro-democracy forces are fighting back.
Chinese patriotic YouTuber apologizes after criticizing propaganda and corruption
"In our village, the forest land has not been distributed. It is so full of corruption!"
After pineapple ban, Taiwan calls Beijing’s new agricultural investment offer ‘an old trick’
Weeks after the pineapple ban, China offered incentives to Taiwanese agriculture and forestry sector to invest in rural tourism and plant high-end commercial crops in China.
Malaysia’s ‘fake news’ ordinance takes effect amid continuing concern over the COVID-19 state of emergency
"This ordinance strengthens the perception that the state of emergency we are currently in is a smokescreen to curb any form of criticism towards the government of the day."
About our East Asia coverage
Oiwan Lam is the North East Asia editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.
Nevin Thompson is the Japan editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
