Stories about East Asia from July, 2007
China: The hair blogger
Ben Ross, an American blogger in Fujian province, hit the bloglight this year when he began working full-time in a Chinese barber shop, blogging his way through the month and the several hairdos that came with it. Today he recaps the road to fame his hair has led him to,...
China: Environmental evaluation
Is criticism of China's environmental protection polices racist? Dan Harris at China Law Blog chips in on a very wide discussion on that very question.
China: Released documents implicate Yahoo!
A Beijing State Security Bureau document has been released, writes Rebecca MacKinnon at RConversation, which shows Yahoo! was aware at the time the reason why Beijing authorities wanted access to the content of Chinese journalist Shi Tao's e-mail account, later sent to prison for ten years. And there's more.
China: Preview of Ang Lee film of Eileen Chang novel
“Color us excited,” writes Maureen O'Connor of Shanghaiist, “[t]he “Lust, Caution” trailer is out!”
China: Eighty years of liberation
August first marks the eightieth anniversary of the founding of China's People's Liberation Army and Chinese media news blog Danwei correspondent takes a look at how several Beijing newspapers covered a performance held to commemorate the day, also known as Bayi (8-1) Military day, also the anniversary of the Nanchang...
Malaysia: GVO's Jeff Ooi joins Opposition Party
Today marks one of the most important occasion in Malaysia's blogging community as Screenshot's Jeff Ooi, who is dubbed as one of the most prominent blogger in Malaysia's blogosphere joined an Opposition Party – the Democratic Action Party (DAP). Speaking at the the press conference announcing his decision, Jeff reason's...
Japan: A Historic Election Defeat
The overwhelming defeat of the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan's upper house elections on Sunday, historic in its scale, brought about a drastic shift in the Japanese political landscape and sent a clear message to prime minister Abe Shinzo and his government. While media across the world analyze political fallout of the political shift, bloggers are echoing the message and demanding change.
China: Citywide taxi strike
It seems the ten thousand taxi drivers in one Chinese city have all gone on strike, bloggers are making this much clear. Local media appears not to be reporting on the incident, so the reasons for the job action have yet to be made known.
South East Asia: Overworked Human Rights Commission
Rajan Rishyakaran feels that if there is ever going to be a ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) region wide official human rights organization, it is going to have to work very hard.
Malaysia: Blogger Becomes Politician
KTemoc comments on Malaysia's popular blogger Jeff Ooi's switching his political affiliation to another political party.
Cambodian Blogger on Blogging
GV's Cambodian author Tharum Bun interviews Borin Ly, an Internet enthusiast and an avid blogger. Borin talks about his blogging experience and his motivations for creating the blog. Cambodia has a very active blogging scene, with more and more young people going online. People who have just started blogging might find Borin's blogging tips handy.
Korea: Blogger party next month
“Due to popular demand,” writes I'm a Seoul Man Jon Allen, “I have arranged another Korean bloggers meet up.”
Korea: On the kidnapped Koreans
Robert Koehler at The Marmot's Hole follows up on a series of posts looking at the plight of the 23 Korean missionaries—now on hunger strike—recently taken for hostage in Afghanistan in ‘My personal view on the current hostage crisis,’ an answer to his question: “why would 23 men and mostly...
China: WordPress plugin subverts keyword filters
Ryan McLaughlin, a very innovative blogger and long-term resident of China has just released Censortive, a WordPress plugin which converts words into images which fit seamlessly into your blog post, allowing it to subvert keyword filtering. Chinese character support is still being developed. Any suggestions?
China: Chen Liangyu booted from Party
First Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu was removed from his post last September (post blocked in China) following a corruption probe into misuse of Shanghai social security funds, and this week he was kicked out of the Communist Party. “Support for Chen’s punishment has dominated online comments, and many netizens...
China: Words for the Olympics
Planning on attending the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing? Ms. Jenkins at the Elizabeth in China blog has already begun thinking up ways to help prepare her readers with Dirty Words: “…a great way to make yourself feel more Chinese. (I’m always searching for ways to feel more Chinese! Who...
China: To blog to dream
Two American bloggers in China will be taking their blog on the road for a year starting with a trip next month, for charity, for understanding, and for your dreams.
Philippines: Anti-Terror Law takes effect
Five months after it was passed by Congress, the anti-terrorism law known as the Human Security Act took effect more than a week ago. The government describes the law as the centerpiece legislation that would deter terrorist activities in the country. However, the Opposition is worried that the law might be used to quell legitimate dissent.
Internet shopping
A blogger shares her experience with internet shopping in Korea.
How horror movies can be advertised.
How horror movies can be advertised. A blogger came across girls with blood streaming down their faces in the middle of downtown Seoul.
Sympathy for Christian missionaries
After a famous actor who is respected for his morality expressed sympathy for Christian missionaries and the abducted Christian missionaries in Afghanistan on his personal homepage, his webpage was inundated with comments. [k]
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.
