· March, 2008

Stories about East Asia from March, 2008

Taiwan: Voices after Presidential Election

  31 March 2008

March 22 is Taiwan's presidential election held once every four years. The victory is belonging to KMT's Ma Ying-jeou, who got 60 percent of votes and 2 million votes than the other candidate, Frank Hsieh from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). KMT lost the political power since DPP became the ruling party eight years ago. Now they are back and complete the second-round trasition of political power. After the election, in addition to the election result reported by Taiwan and international press, bloggers in Taiwan have many comments on democracy development, hot and criticism for two parties, and relationship between Taiwan and China.

Japan: Why does Mario move from left to right?

  31 March 2008

Blogger lastline has drawn over 400 bookmarks on the Japanese bookmarking service Hatena for a detailed investigation of the question: Why does the video game character Mario run across the screen from left to right, and not right to left [ja]? The blogger explains that video tends to prioritize movement...

China: Foreign Media

  31 March 2008

DANWEI has organized a panel discussion on foreign media's news coverage of China. Here is a sum up.

China: Open Media Market

  31 March 2008

In response to the anti-CNN campaign, Huge argued that the solution was to open the media market and protect press freedom [zh].

Japan: Views on Yasukuni, the movie

  31 March 2008

A documentary film about the controversial Yasukuni shrine, shot by a Chinese filmmaker through funding by a Japanese government agency, has sparked debate and discussion after a group within the ruling LDP party convened a screening to assess its "neutrality". Bloggers offer differing views on the move and on the idea of their government subsidizing what some see as a "political" film.

China: Zeng Jinyan

  31 March 2008

Zeng Jinyan is back to internet communication [zh] after three months house arrest. As for Hu Jia, he will be on trial again in April 7.

China: Chaos and Nationalism

  31 March 2008

Shangguan from Tianya blog felt that the Chinese government campaign against western media in the report of Tibet riot has stirred up nationalistic sentiment in China [zh].

Korea: Roh Moo Hyun Syndrome

  30 March 2008

The popularity of the previous President, Roh Moo Hyun, in Korea seems to become a hotter issue on the Internet. A new terminology, Roh-Ganji (Roh, his family name + Ganji, a slang that teenagers and netizens like to use and its meaning is ‘cool’) is born. His hometown is full...

Japan: Richard Gear ditched by Nissan?

  29 March 2008

A news report [ja] (summary in English) that Nissan has decided to back out of a contract for a TV commercial with Richard Gear due to the actor's support of the Dalai Lama has triggered hundreds of comments in posting forums [ja] and responses from bloggers. While some wonder whether...

China: Responses to the Dalai Lama's appeal

  28 March 2008

As Lhasa has supposedly quieted down, the anti-CNN.com crowd has gone off the deep end, that might be worth exploring more. The death threats they've been making towards Western media representatives stationed in China certainly haven't gone unnoticed. On Mutant Palm blogger Davesgonechina's list of links chosen in a move...

Hong Kong: Revitalizing Tai O

  28 March 2008

The Hong Kong government has organized a competition for revitalizing a traditional fishing village, Tai O. Diumanpark pointed out that the word “revitalizing” is a cover up of “commercialization”, which, eventually would destroy the local culture and character[zh].

Japan: 40% Spam Blog

  27 March 2008

Asiajin pointed to Nifty Laboratory survey which found out 40% Japanese Blogs are spam.

China: The Wolves are Here!

  27 March 2008

Huge commented on the debate about Tibet news: When a kid kept on telling lies, one day when the wolves really popped up, no one would believe him anymore [zh].

China: Remembering Our Predecessors

  27 March 2008

A number of intellectuals, media and cultural workers have written a joint declaration [zh] to commemorate their predecessors, who died for seeking and speaking the truth, before Ching Ming Festival.

China: Vlogger helped Child Labor back to School

  27 March 2008

Xu Alun, a vlogger hammering away at a point that "truth is power", exposed a moving story of three child coal haulers in Biji, a small city in the south of China, and with an effective advocacy of QQ groups, the story tended to circulate immediately, arousing great public concern.

About our East Asia coverage

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

Mong Palatino
Mong Palatino is the South East Asia editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.