Stories about East Asia from October, 2006
Indonesia: Rise of Democracy
Adam's Gecko in Bangkok looks at the rise of democracy and de-centralisation of power in Indonesia. The blogger has interesting perspectives from a trip to Indonesia in 1992, just after a pro-democracy movement in Thailand.
South Korea: expatriate experience on screen
Robert Koehler at Marmot Hole introduces a film, “Expats”, in Pusan film festival. The director Wonsuk Chin's goal is to introduce Korea to Amercian audience: Korean Wave films are doing well in Asia, but there hasn’t been a substantial American movie filmed here in decades.
Japan: American celebrity in Japan
Marie Mockett poses a question in Japundit: Is it true that every American celebrity can find instant success (in Japan)?
China: real name registration
DANWEI has translated Wang Xiao Feng's post on “The paradox of registering bloggers’ real names”(zh).
China: error in arrest
The China Media project reports that Chongqing police admit error in arresting author of satirical poem.
China: Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)
Shang dan at Shanghaiist advises the readers not to travel to Beijing early Novemeber as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be taking place, and the traffic will be in total chaos.
Malaysia: Human Capital Development in Ottoman Empire
Nik Nazmi in Malaysia reads a book on Ottoman ruler Suleiman and discovers the Ottoman people's desire to develop the talents of any exceptional person they encounter.
Indonesia: Blog Search Engine
Indonesian blogger Enda Nasution has set up a blog search engine for Indonesian blogs. Enda is inviting submissions to the search engine.
New Round of Violence in East Timor
In her latest post from East Timor, blogger Timorsunshine writes about the latest incident in Dili. Apparently the gang war ranging in the airport area has become so bad that the Comoro bridge was blocked off and the airport actually shut down, and attacked by the people living in the...
Hong Kong: “zero-charge” tours
The “zero-charge” tours scandal is a distinctive “free-meal” feature in Chinese capitalist society. It happens in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, targeting at Mainland China tourists. How does this “zero-charge” tours come into being? Chong interlocals.net gives some background on the issue: Incredibly low fees or “zero-charge” tours are strategies...
Japan: war crime confession
Alexpappas in Japundit blogs about the confession of a 84 years old former Japanese military medic's confession of human torturing during the WWII.
South Korea: interview with George Soros
Citizen reporters in Ohmynews has an interview with George Soros. The interview has touched upon many issues including economy, new media, and the recent nuclear test.
China: city without dogs
In preparation for the Olympics, Beijing city government is now catching street dogs without proper license. Han song wrote a short piece fiction on “city without dogs” (zh).
China: Good cop/bad cop
A story shared by A-list blogger-journalist Huang Tingzi (黄亭子) about an engineering student recruited by Chinese cops on his campus who—along with four colleagues—one day finds himself quite a bit in over his head: 读大学时,庄警官念的是无线电专业,毕业前,本打算去IT界发展。结果,正好遇上公安局招干,陪同学一块去顺利也报了个名,没想到很快就被录取了。 In university, officer Zhuang majored in wireless communications. Before graduation, he was planning to go...
Laos: Luang Prabhang Night Market
Vietnamese blogger Vietnamese God visits neighboring Lao city of Luang Prabhang and posts pictures of the night market. The blogger has some tips for a good bargain. “Most of the prices that those sellers give to you are up really high and the game starts from 70% off then stop...
Thailand: Attracting Arabic Speaking People
Enda Nasution links to a website launched by Thailand to attract business and tourists from the countries in the Middle East.
Malaysia: More Critisism from Former Prime Minister
Earlier this week the feuding former prime minister of Malaysia mahatir met with the current prime minister Badawi to discuss their differences. The blogger at Cakap Tak Serupa Bikin writes that the meeting did not have the desired effect and criticised the former prime minister again prime minister Badawi in...
China: dam project in tiger leaping gorge
DANWEI has a post on the future and potential conflict of the dam construction plan in the tiger leaping gorge in Yunnan province.
China: the elephant in the newsroom
The imagethief discusses about the quality of China's English language media, which, in his opinion is related to the elephant in the room studiously overlooked in the article above.
Hong Kong: protecting bloggers?
ESWN translates Sidekick's post pleading local media to protect the privacy of bloggers(zh); the recent case is a 12 years’ old girl saying in her blog that she wants to kill her father after being beaten. Florence thinks that sidekick's plead would be in vain as the mainstream has their...
South Korea: the passing of former president
Matt summarizes the life of South Korea former president, Choi Gyu-ha, who passed away last Sunday.