Stories about East Asia from April, 2006
Taiwan: Taxi music's passing
Rank blog's Dog of the South blogs about the disappearance of a genre of music that used to make cab rides a treat: “For all its obvious flaws, I always thought Taxi Music communicated a bit of credible pathos. And you know what? The women and men who sang those...
Singapore Election meme
There is no ban on blogging and podcasting in Singapore during the elections but the authorities warn against publishing anything that "persistently promotes a certain political view, or political party". Bloggers are slowing their output just to play safe and not wanting to inadvertently publish any content that might get...
Indonesian Playboy
Two colleagues are in a reflexology place enjoying their massage. A stranger joins in and starts small talk with them. The fun starts when the Indonesian Playboy magazine issue comes up.
Loving wan ton noodles
Bunnywunny relishes home cooked food but remembers her childhood craving for a street vendor's wan ton mee, a popular noodle dish in Malaysia and Singapore.
Understanding the Germans
Pinayexpat, currently living and working in Germany, gives us a peek into her understanding of German people. She observes “They actually place a lot of value on relationships hence, they are wary in the beginning. Friendship isn’t readily given but when it is, you can rely on their sincerity and...
The rice terrace land
Yellominded has some pictures from travels in the mountains of Luzon. This region is famed for the 2000 year old rice terraces dug out of mountain slopes.
Report card for Penang bus service
Lucia is displaying and distributing report cards that Penang residents can use to monitor their city's bus service.
Taiwan: English teaching essentials
Mark at Doubting to shuō blogs critically on what separates good ESL teachers in Taiwan from the bad. “Obviously,” he writes, “this is pretty subjective.”
China: American expansion discouraged
Sun Bin blogger gives some economic-model advice to the United States in response to their perceived China-containing intentions: “You will lose…The US has to kickbox also in Middle East, S. America, Europe, Russia and Africa. The US could then be dragged into exhaustion like the Soviet Empire. This is not...
Japan: Bush photo mocked
Blog of the Riding Sun‘s Gaijin Biker has a caption contest for a photo of American president George W. Bush pulling on the arm of Chinese president Hu Jintao's suit during Hu's talk at the White House last weekend. Some contenders: “Let go of my gorram jacket before I get...
China: Red but greening
In ‘Is China Going Green, Part VIII?‘, China Law Blog‘s Dan Harris relates a Wall Street Journal story on increasing environmental awareness in the rapidly-developing Asian country to his own experiences there: “We have found the same thing in our China work for foreign companies, particularly in the last few...
China: Intellectual property law
Kevin Fisher at chinablawger takes a legalistic look at the glamorous side of intellectual property law.
China: Kidnapping impacts family
Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao—now considered by Reporters Without Borders to have been kidnapped by the Chinese state—has in these two months of illegal detention missed not only his own birthday party but that of his father's as well [zh].
China: Detained writers remembered
Has it really been a year since Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong was charged by China for spying? And two months since Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao's arrest for what has yet to be announced? AsiaPundit‘s myrick reminds us in ‘lest we forget’.
China: Photoblogs—translation not needed
In the write-at-your-own-risk world of blogging in China, there are no fine lines between what's acceptable, what will get you blocked and what will get you thrown in jail. Lists of words and topics appear from time to time, but nothing official has ever been released. It's tragic. What for...
China: Technorati blocked
Technorati has been blocked. Albeit limited, Technorati used to be the best Chinese-language aggregating one could hope to get.
King wants the courts to resolve Thai election deadlock
BangkokPundit links to Thai newspaper stories that have the Thai king declaring that he will not intervene to appoint a prime minister. The king is asking the country's top courts to help resolve the deadlock. Even after two rounds of elections there is no clear winner as boycotts have led...
Hong Kong: Health hazard ignored
sevenyearsinChina‘s Han Girl stayed up late one night last week to show us why it wasn't in Hong Kong television station TVB's best interest to cover a recent report from Greenpeace which found levels of pesticides—some banned in the European Union—in vegetables sold in the city's two largest supermarkets at...
Chinese opera in Singapore
Chinese opera came to Singapore with the early immigrants from China. They were very popular in the days before movies and television. Some troupes are still active and once in a while they stage a show. themediaslut has a photo heavy post on one such performance.
In love with the little prince
Asri tells us why she likes Antoine de Saint-Exupery's book The Little Prince. The author's simple style has Asri smitten and has a lesson for her own writing style.
China: America's oil foe
China Confidential‘s Confidential Reporter continues to make the case that China and the United States are locked in a race to the bottom of the world's oil barrel. “Like a player in a modern version of the Great Game—the classic contest between the British empire and Czarist Russia for mastery...