Stories about East Asia from November, 2007
China: Fake Confession on Fake Tiger
Joel Martinsen from Danwei summarizes the official responses to the fake tiger issue and netizens’ spoofing of the responses.
China: Relation Between Doctor and Patient
Zengying points out (zh) that the relation between Medical practitioner and patient is very tense in China. A major reason is the marketization of medical care, which turns the relation into purely “buying” and “selling” of service. And there isn't any mechanism to solve the conflict between the hospital and...
China: Editor's House Raided by Police
According to Zhen Jin-yan, the Shanghai police searched Zhai Minglei's (Chief Editor of Minjian) home yesterday and confiscated 41 copies of Minjian and his computer's hard disk under the charge of illegal publishing.
China: Shanghai Stock Market
Fons from China Herald comments on the ups and downs of Shanghai stock Market.
China: Visiting AIDS’ Village
Today (Nov 30), the Premier of the State Council Wen Jia-bao visits the AIDS village in Hunan, his last visit was three years ago. AIDS activist Hu Jia pointed out that this years, villagers were more anxious than excited when compared with last time. Nothing substantial has changed and this...
Hong Kong: Inspired by Nude Photos?
Recently the Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang visited Beijing “798 Art District” and saw the exhibition of huge nude photos. He said he was inspired and had more expectation for the future west Kowloon cultural district. Hymnkee wonders if people kept complaining about nude arts, how can such inspiration...
China: Labour Protest
Hunan BBS has a citizen report on a labour protest in Dongguan. Photos show that there are thousands of workers gathering outside the electronic factory demanding an increase of salary (zh).
Taiwan: Any Blind Spot in Blogsphere?–Blogblind
An experimental website was born in Taiwan in Nov 20, 2007: ‘Blogblind‘ (It was closed in two days). The main concept is digging (as in Digg) blogs that people do not like and tagging them with comments like ‘copy machine’ or ‘self promoting stuff.’ When most people leave flattering comments...
Cambodia: Welcoming Burmese Leader
Borin does not wish to welcome the Burmese leader to Cambodia.
Japan: Environmentally-friendly coffin
Blogger Kaz introduces and talks about environmentally-friendly paper coffins, which he found in an advertisement put by an ISO14001 certified funeral company. The paper coffins reduce the amount of fuel necessary for cremation by 50% and shrorten the cremation time by 10 munites, according to the blogger.
Philippines: Rebel Soldiers Take Over Manila Hotel
News from the blogosphere in the Philippines of the latest attempt by the 2003 coup leaders to get rid of the current administration in Philippines.
Japan: Robot Award
Edo from Pink Tentacle introduces the list of nominees for the 2007 robot award in Japan.
South Korea: Crackdown on Migrant Workers
Jamie from Two Koreas posts the call for international solidarity by local labour union against the government violent crackdown of migrant worker union. More background can be found at local newspapers Hankyoreh (reposted in Two Koreas)
China: New Idiom
Doublleaf suggests a new idiom “Zheng Long Pai Hu” (zh). Its literal meaning is Zheng Long taking the tiger photo and its extended meaning is someone doing forgery for interest group to cheat the public. Even the case is exposed the person still insists the forgery is the truth.
China: Taxing Post-graduate Student
Pbzhai writes a story he heard from his university [zh]. A post-graduate student wrote to the Nanjing city mayor and asked why the post-graduate students had to be taxed even if they got only RMB200 (US$26) per month subsidy? In a recent party meeting, teachers were asked to teach their...
South Korea: Wartime Propaganda Movie
Matt looks into a propaganda movie Volunteer (Jiwonbyeong) from 1941 in detail to study traces of Korean contemporary nationalism.
South Korea: Migrant Worker Trade Union Leaders Arrested
CINA blogs about the South Korea government's crackdown of the migrant worker trade union yesterday (Nov 27).
Hong Kong: Animal Reproduction Right?
The Hong Kong government recently introduced a new regulation which requires animal breeders to have proper license. Some breeders protested that animal should have reproduction right and the license is against such right. Cheung yun-ling argued at inmediahk.net that the regulation is targeting at human who has already intervened into...
China: Digg Model Won't Work?
Gomain points out that Chinese internet user is more keen on comment rather than voting for a post and the digg model hasn't been very popular so far[zh].
China: “Red Foreigner” Sings Red Songs Naked
An American blogger who names himself Honglaowai (red foreigner) has revived the Chinese red songs, a serious political music in China ,and extensively posted his music videos on YouTube, Youku and Tudou such video sharing websites. What's more, in his red song MVs, he is naked to the waist.
Malaysia: Indians in Malaysia Demand Equal Rights
Malaysian Indians took to the street on Sunday to demand equal rights. Police used tear gas and water canon to break up the protests and to prevent the protesters from submitting a memo to the British High Commission demanding monetary compensation for bringing Indians to Malaysia. Angshah rounds up Malaysian bloggers comments on the protests.
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.
