Stories about East Asia from November, 2005
China, Taiwan: Taiwanization of China
“It is already under way,” posits Madman of Chu in a post discussing the “coming Taiwanization of China.” Still, the rivalry continues. The leaky pen notes China's attempt to upstage Taiwan's Golden Horse film awards by having overseas Chinese stars attend its Golden Rooster award ceremony a day earlier.
Indonesia: Local Apprentice
adinoto's blog watches the pilot episode of The Apprentice Indonesia, with local businessman Peter Gontha in the Trump position. Says adinoto (Indonesian): “Sorry folks no offense I would rather watching Donald’s version.”
Malaysia: Spreading Porn
Prurient The Malay Male argues for the development of a local pornography industry. He argues: “The real benchmark for a truly developed nation and/or people is the porn scene thriving in that particular country.”
Philippines: Little Brown Brother
Manuel L. Quezon III runs down the history of the controversial “paternal-racist” phrase “little brown brothers,” first used by William Howard Taft, the Philippines’ first American governor-general.
Tunisian blogger dinner
On Friday night I had the pleasure of joining the 8th Tunisian Bloggers Meetup, along with fellow WSIS participants Jeff Ooi of Malaysia and Isam Bayazidi of Jordan. After the craziness of the past several days, it was really nice to leave the conference behind, just talk about blogging, and...
News from Chinese Blogosphere
1. Blog Auction:A T-shirt that was signed by participants of CnBloggerCon was auctioned on the official blog(in ZH). The revenue would contribute to two online charity projects: Simling Library and 1KG. Blggers can post on their blog then use trackback to offer price. The price rose from 20 to about...
Cambodia Water Festival Highlights
The Water Festival (“Bon Om Tuk”), the most exuberant festival in Cambodia, took place on November 15-17th. According to Jinja, the Festival marks the start of the dry season and of Bon Kathan (a Buddhist practice done yearly where new robes are offered to monks). Up to a million people...
Chile, China: Free Trade Agreement
The presidents of China and Chile have signed a free trade agreement. Gloria Delucchi writes in El Morrocotudo that she envisions that the region of Tarapacá will gain importance (ES) as unfinished goods are imported from China to be fully assembled and marketed for Chilean consumers.
China: Interpreting the Mascots
Mutant Frog Travelogue analyzes the symbolism behind China's recently unveiled five mascots for the Beijing Olympics. “China’s choice also says something about the degree to which its “peaceful rise” diplomacy has been incorporated in creative and non-traditional ways into popular culture. Whether one buys into the message or not, one...
Malaysia: Judging Anwar
Ada apa dengan ShinShin? asks whether disgraced former Malaysian deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim is an asset or a liability to the opposition party he associated with.
Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand: Raiding Burmese
Burma Underground compares raids on Myanmar refugees and activists in Malaysia and Thailand. “In Chiang Mai, I would sit on the floor at my Kachin friends’ house, and Naw Kham would tell me traditional stories from the Jinghpaw, their tribe. Here in KL, I sit in the kitchen of the...
Singapore: Maid Perceptions
Singapore's serialdeviant.org(y) says that a domestic helper ought to be treated as an employee not a servant, and that their employ should be the same as employing anyone else for a job.
South Korea: Graduation Speech
Korean-Canadian Jun-Gang of A Canadian-Gyopo's Tour of Duty posts the speech he gave in Korean at his graduation, which discusses why he decided to go to Korea to learn his parent's native tongue: “What’s more important to me though is the one thing I've always wanted to be able to...
Images from Thailand: Tiger Dancer
“Tiger Dancer” by Scruffy Dan A dancer with a tiger mask prowls through a parade in Bangkok.
WSIS: Defending Freedom of Speech in Tunisia
Despite the odds, we managed to pull off our “Expression Under Repression” seminar here at the World Summit For Internet and Society. This was largely thanks to the strong spine of our sponsors, the Dutch NGO Hivos, who fended off a phalanx of plainclothes police who tried to shut us...
China: More Self-Criticism
On Anti's English Blog, a translation of an interview with liberal author Yu Shicun on his opposition to intellectuals. “There is no effective criticism among intellectuals, not to mention effective criticism to the society. The intellectuals lack the sense of self discipline and making contribution to the society. This has...
China, North Korea: Interview with a Historian
Austin Arensberg meets Paul French at a Beijing bookshop and interviews him about his new book on North Korea.
Indonesia: Year of Eradicating Corruption
On Indonesia Today by Yosef Ardi, an evaluation of how successful the Indonesian government has so far been in stamping out graft in 2005, which it had dubbed the “Year of Eradicating Corruption.” The verdict: not very successful.
South Korea: APEC Protests
As the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan, South Korea nears, Andy Jackson of Flying Yangban discusses what the likely anti-globalization protests that will accompany it mean.
Malaysia, Singapore: Fifteen Minutes
Overloaded by the hype and attention loaded on Singapore blogger-beauty Dawn Yang, Malaysia's Kenny Sia, following others, inquires whether she had a little something done to her eyes. Last week, Xialanxue wrote an open letter asking her to clarify whether she had plastic surgery. On her blog, Yang replies to...
Philippines: Blog Muckraker
At Kuwento Kuwento, Benjamin Pimental has a three-part podcast series interviewing journalist Sheila Coronel and her now-influential Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) blog. Click here for the beginning. On a recent post, the PCIJ blog generated discussion about the country's digital divide.
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