Stories about East Asia from September, 2011
Incredible Photos of North Korean Mass Game
Photographer Sam Gellman took 50 photos of a large-scale Mass Games in Pyongyang during his 4-day trip to North Korea. Although nearly 100,000 North Korean were mobilized for the game which is heavily laden with regime's propaganda, net users left good comments on Gellman who captured these incredible images.
China: Obama Fried Chicken
Obama Fried Chicken (OFC) is now opened in Beijing. (From Shanghaiist)
Laos According to WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks has released a set of Laos files that confirmed the country’s underdevelopment, endemic corruption in the bureaucracy, and the fragile state of its environment. Here are some online reactions and excerpts of the Laos cables.
Taiwan: Polyglot teaches you Taiwanese indigenous languages
Mike Campbell, a polyglot who can already speak fluent Mandarin, Hakka, Fukien-major languages used in Taiwan, along with a dozen of other languages, is now teaching people how to speak Sediq, Truku, and other rarely spoken Taiwanese indigenous languages on Youtube that now even most indigenous people now cannot speak.
Vietnam: Cash Transfer Programs
Stoney Chenal reviews the experience of Vietnam in implementing Cash Transfer programs.
Wikileaks Cables on Laos
Wikileaks has released a set of cables that involve Laos. Blogger Lao Bumpkin identifies the relevant topics in the uploaded files.
China: Sex Education
While young people are interested in sex, 65.9% has not received any sex education and misled youngsters see abortion as a way of contraception. (More from China Hush)
Philippines: Creative Protests During Campus Strikes
Last week's nationwide campus strikes in the Philippines against education budget cuts saw the lively and creative integration of online tools to mobilize thousands to fight for the right to education. From mass planking, freeze mob, blackboard campaign, fashion show, to Facebook campaigns, activists used various forms of protests to highlight their cause
China: Shanghai Metro Crash Injures More Than 200
Samuel Wade from China Digital Times reports on the Shanghai Metro Crash happened yesterday (September 27). More than 200 people were injured in the accident.
East Timor: Tasi Mane Petroleum Infrastructure Project
A local Non-Government Organization, La'o Hamutuk, has set-up a special website page to gather information, monitor project updates, and document the resistance of a community to East Timor’s Tasi Mane Petroleum Infrastructure Project.
China: Xinjiang’s Most Popular Song
Josh recommends an Uyghur pop song from Xinjiang presented by a trio, named Shahrizoda, from Uzbekistan.
Recreating China Map into Maga
Shanghaiist collects a series of anime character drawings recreated from the China map.
China: A rejected entry permit to Hong Kong
Annie Lee from ChinaHush translated a blog post by a mainland Chinese Su Gengsheng, who expressed her frustration over the application of entry permit to Hong Kong.
China: Why do rumors explode in China?
China Media Project has translated the editorial of China Daily discussing the spread of rumors in China.
China: Secret Arrest to be Justified by Law Amendment
The Chinese government is in the process of completing an amendment to its Criminal Procedure Law (CPL). The draft, released for public consultation on 30 August, has sparked an intense debate among law professors and lawyers, as it has granted police legal justification for secret arrest and investigation.
Black Scholars Who Make a Specialty of Asian Studies
The Black Tokyo blog writes about the rich history of Asia studies by African-American scholars. “I want to follow the path of Blacks that have made it possible for other Blacks to provide information on Asia, in my case Japan, from an Afro perspective.“
North Korea: Kim Jong-Il's Surprise Appearance On the Simpsons
Martyn Williams from the North Korea Tech blog wrote a short post on Kim Jong-il's appearance on “The Simpsons”. One character from the episode says that he was forced to write a musical about Kim in a North Korean prison and introduces a song addressing the regime's ban on internet.
North Korea: Kim Jong-il Plans to Solve Famine by Breeding Giant Rabbits
Zimbabwe Metro site posted a list of eccentric acts and plans carried out by North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-il. It includes Kim's plan to solve famine by breeding giant rabbits and revelations that Kim being one of the world’s largest buyer of Hennessy, German cars and Uzbekistani caviar.
Book Review: ‘Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives In North Korea’
Change in Longitude blog posted a thorough review of the book ‘Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives In North Korea’ by Barbara Demick. The book’s title comes from a song that North Korean school children recite, “We have nothing to envy in the world” in spite of chronic malnutrition and famine...
Ethical Issues in Doing Business in North Korea
Uhro van der Pluijm from Omkar Gopalakrishnan's Posterous blog wrote about ethical issues in doing business in North Korea.
Japan: Tracking a telecom giant's quest for carrying the iPhone
Since news broke that Japan's 2nd largest carrier KDDI has struck a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone5, tech savvy netizens are keeping a close watch on the company's actions. The company has not made an official statement at this point.
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.
