· May, 2012

Stories about East Asia from May, 2012

North Korean Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur Dishing up Dollars?

  31 May 2012

Diana van Oort wrote a post on North Korean restaurants in Kaula Lumpur in one travel site. After explaining her general impressions of food, service and atmosphere, the author included some context on how the North Korean regime use chains of restaurants to earn foreign currency.

China: Weibo Censorship Pattern

  31 May 2012

Andrew Phelps from Nieman Journalism Lab looks into Chinese micro-blogging platform, Sina Weibo's censorship pattern and offers explanation on why and when tweets are deleted.

Philippines: Budget Transparency Portal

  29 May 2012

The Philippine government has recently launched the Budget ng Bayan website to promote transparency and good governance in the country. Budget documents and state expenditures are uploaded in the site.

Philippines: Military Bombings Create Refugees

  28 May 2012

Thousands of residents in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao have been forced to flee their land in the past few months because of increased military presence and activities in the area. The escalation of conflict between government and rebel troops also worsened the situation recently. The residents have become bakwits - the local term for refugees.

Hong Kong: Living in High-rises

  28 May 2012

Fauna from ChinaSMACK translated a feature story showing German photographer Michael Wolf's collection of “Architecture of Density” which reflects the living condition of ordinary Hong Kong people in high-rises.

Myanmar: Power Shortage Protests Spread

  25 May 2012

Power blackouts in several Myanmar towns triggered peaceful protests in the country. Several protesters were detained but it didn't stop the gathering of ordinary residents and consumers who are angry over the electricity shortage. The protesters also want the government to explain why it continues to sell power supply to China despite the electricity shortage in the country

Taiwan: When News is Sold to the Chinese Government

  24 May 2012

In recent years, more and more Taiwanese media workers have been worried that press freedom has been eroding. In addition to the "embedded marketing" practice which cloaks advertising as news, the mainland China government has extended influence on the Taiwan public sphere through news industry acquisitions.

China: Campaign to Clean ‘Foreign Trash’ Out of Beijing

  23 May 2012

A campaign to rid Beijing of illegal foreign residents has created controversy in China, with Chinese people expressing widely differing viewpoints on social media. A famous television host has labelled a reporter for Al-Jazeera as 'foreign trash' and invited police to run background checks on the blogger who has criticised his xenophobic remarks.

South Korea: Taking Evolution out of Textbooks

  22 May 2012

An atheist blogger who works as an English teacher in South Korea, Chris Hallquist wrote about some efforts made to strip evolution out of science textbooks. Based on his experience in South Korea which he defines as ‘a pretty secular country’, the blogger commented on the Christian organizations’ influence on...

China: Workers’ Culture on Weibo

  22 May 2012

Jennifer Cheung from China Labour Bulletin introduces how workers in China make use of micro-blog to tell their stories in different artistic forms.

Myanmar: Protest Against Power Shortage

  22 May 2012

CJMyanmar uploaded photos of the protest against the electricity shortage in Mandalay, the second largest city of Myanmar. Hundreds who joined the activity lighted candles and peacefully protested in front of the government office of Electricity Supply and Chinese Embassy.

Philippines, China: Scarborough Shoal Dispute Goes Online

  22 May 2012

Tension rose in the past month between the Philippines and China when the governments of the two nations accused each other of illegally occupying the territorial waters near the disputed Scarborough Shoal. It sparked nationalist sentiments in both countries and the ‘word war’ has gone online.

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.