Stories about East Asia from March, 2008
Taiwan: Voices after Presidential Election
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?
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
DANWEI has organized a panel discussion on foreign media's news coverage of China. Here is a sum up.
China: Open Media Market
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
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
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
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].
Taiwan: Counter Culture
Blog worker wrote a letter to gutsy youths who vote to use counter culture spirit for changes in Taiwan [zh].
Israel: Israeli Vietnamese Poet is Rising Star
“Vaan Nguyen, the 26-year-old, Israeli-born daughter of Vietnamese refugees… is being hailed as one of the country's provocative and innovative young poets,” Dion Nissenbaum reports.
Korea: Roh Moo Hyun Syndrome
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?
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
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
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].
South Korea: Fashion Wave
Metropolitician blogs about the cultural background for the potential rise of Korean fashion wave.
Poland: Stance on Tibet
Kinuk writes about Poland's stance on Tibet and China.
Japan: 40% Spam Blog
Asiajin pointed to Nifty Laboratory survey which found out 40% Japanese Blogs are spam.
China: Petition to Stop the Ban On Tang Wei
Eric Mu from DANWEI translated a petition to stop the ban on Tang Wei – the main actress in the movie “Lust, Caution”.
China: The Wolves are Here!
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
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.
Hong Kong: Shopping Experience
Onemanbandwidth has written some funny shopping experiences in Hong Kong.
China: Vlogger helped Child Labor back to School
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 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.
