· January, 2011

Stories about East Asia from January, 2011

China: Let the Bullets Fly

  27 January 2011

Dan Edwards from Screening China introduces director Jiang Wen's recent movie, Let the Bullets Fly. The movie has recently broken the record of domestic box office.

South Korea's Most Retweeted Story: Newspaper Ad Against Unfair Layoff

  26 January 2011

South Korea's Hongik University laid off its maintenance workers who formed a labor union. This has sparked mass online protest, prompting citizens to buy a newspaper ad proposing the Dean to have frank talks. South Korea's citizen media, WikiTree announced[ko] it the most retweeted article (around 2000 times) in its...

China's Campaign Against Corruption

  26 January 2011

Steve Dickinson from China Law Blog looks into 2 reports published by the PRC National Audit Office that address the corruption problem of government officials.

China: A Subversive New Years’ Video Card

  26 January 2011

C. Custer from ChinaGeek translates and analyses a subversive New Years’ video card, “Little Rabbit, Be Good!”. The video addresses most of the social conflicts happened in the past few years, such as poisonous milk, forced demolition, and etc.

Wanted: More Babies Needed in Singapore

  26 January 2011

Singapore’s total fertility rate has decreased to an all-time low at 1.16 percent. To increase population, the government proposes to increase the number of foreign workers and residents in the prosperous city state. Here are some reactions from the blogosphere

Philippines: The ‘Big Bad Blogger’ controversy

  25 January 2011

A story about a 'big bad blogger' in the Philippines who is allegedly in cahoots with a public relations firm in an extortion racket targeting an unnamed restaurant owner has caused a great stir among Filipino bloggers. Here are some reactions

Cambodian Children Books Project

  25 January 2011

Cambodian Children Books Project is a collaborative effort of a team of Cambodian writers/artists to create reading books in Khmer for Cambodian school children in Cambodia.

Cambodia: Garment Worker Open University

  25 January 2011

Anne Elizabeth Moore blogs about the Garment Worker Open University project in Cambodia. It aims to unite factory workers in Phnom Penh and inform them about their legal rights

Cambodia: Blogspot still blocked by one ISP

  25 January 2011

Blogspot is still being blocked by one ISP even if it has been “unblocked” by other networks in Cambodia. The government was accused of ordering the networks to block Blogspot to shut down an anti-government blog.

Taiwan: Dacheng Wetland, not a wetland?

  25 January 2011

Citizen journalist Zhu Shu-juan(朱淑娟) reports that even though all reviewers from the Wetland Review Committee of the Ministry of Interior suggested Dacheng Wetland in Changhua County to be listed as national or even international wetland, due to resistance from local politicians and consortia who support petrochemical project to be built there,...

China: Robot animation for the holidays

  25 January 2011

Robot planet Haven sees its worst energy crisis in a millennium. Only “chosen one” superboy Molin holds the keys to restore balance, but will he succeed? “Legend of Molin” is a new 3D animation which will run in the prime time slot on CCTV-1 throughout Spring Festival; part one aired...

China: P2P service down for copyright compliance

  25 January 2011

When leading Chinese P2P website VeryCD was shut down in 2009, it was back online the next day. This time, it appears the network won't be back up until all copyrighted materials are removed: ‘The days of “free” movie downloads for Chinese users,’ writes [zh] tech blogger William Long, ‘are...

Vietnam: State of Social Media One Year after Facebook Block

  25 January 2011

Surprisingly, Vietnam is on the list of 10 countries with the fastest growth of Facebook users one year after the popular social network was blocked in Vietnam. Facebook marketing is enjoying a boom in this country with Facebook marketing agencies mushrooming all over Internet

Malaysia: Hindu Festival Celebrated Amid Protest

  24 January 2011

The Hindu festival of Thaipusam, a public holiday in Malaysia, was celebrated as devotees thronged the famous Batu Caves to fulfil their vows. This year's event became controversial after activists were arrested for protesting the inclusion of a "racist" novel in schools. The book depicts the Indians as the "pariah caste"

Taiwan: Greenpeace member arrested

  24 January 2011

Tipsuda Atichakaro, a Thai member of Greenpeace's flagship Rainbow Warrior, was arrested in the first protest in Taiwan during the ship's East Asia tour to protect the ocean. Taiwan environmental activist wobblies67 tweets that “…a member was arrested by the police and is now under investigation at District Prosecutors Office. Our lawyer friend says...

A Korean Vessel Rescued from Somali Pirates, Worries of Retaliation Grow

  24 January 2011

Last Friday, South Korean special forces successfully rescued its 21 crew members who had been held as hostages by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea. Prudent net users have raised worries over possible retaliation and complaints against mainstream media for neglecting important domestic issues and the efforts of the individuals who have actually saved the crews.

China: Wind power drive target of complaints

  24 January 2011

Do China's massive state-backed efforts at ensuring energy security constitute a violation of WTO trade rules? United Steelworkers seems to think so, and Angry Chinese Blogger looks today at the nature of the American union's complaints.

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.