Stories about East Asia from May, 2011
China: Shake the Country
Olivia from China Hush explains how the Forbidden City Palace Museum first lost their exhibited art pieces and then their face because of wrong spelling in their thank-you banner to the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau. To defend one's country has turned into to shake one's country as a result...
China: Must-see websites for learning Chinese
Charlie from Chengdu Living introduces 5 must-see websites for readers to advance their Chinese language ability.
South Korea: Clashes Surrounding Fur Fashion Show
South Korea's capital, Seoul city has told Italian fashion house Fendi to pull fur products from a fashion show scheduled for next month in Seoul as animal rights groups and net users condemned the city government for inviting Fendi for its promotion event. Fendi is trying to negotiate. Korea's citizen/blogger...
China: Shenzhen Cultural Industries Fair
Mary Ann O'Donnell from Shenzhen Noted blogs about the Seventh Shenzhen Cultural Industries Fair and highlights the debates about cultural creativity and copyright law.
Japan: Daniel Kahl “Stop the Hysteria”
TV personality and activist Daniel Kahl has taken to YouTube to appeal that the international media Stop the Hysteria, saying “They purposefully select to broadcast ONLY negative items coming out of Japan, even though the situation is improving in many ways”.
“Namazu-e” from Japan: Earthquake catfish prints
Pink Tentacle posted numerous images of namazu-e (“catfish pictures”), a type of color woodblock print that became popular after the Great Ansei Earthquake, which struck current day Tokyo in 1855. The mythology namazu and earthquakes is still prevalent in contemporary Japanese culture; one such example being the icon for the...
Philippines: New bar examination format
A Filipino lawyer revealed that the bar examination format would be modified next year. Aside from the traditional essay questions, examinees will also answer multiple choice examinations.
Philippines: Political Prisoner Writes Online Prison Diary
A Filipino artist, journalist and activist who is detained by the Philippine authorities has created a blog to document his prison experience and reflections. His family, friends, fellow artists and writers, and supporters from civil society have also been using the net to campaign for his freedom.
Japan: No Nuke Art
A group of anti-nuclear activists started No Nuke Posters [en], a project “for a post-nuclear future and for those working to rebuild amid Japan's nuclear crisis”. They accept submissions of original artworks [en] that will be published on the website under Creative Commons license (by-nc-sa).
Singapore: Dog meat
A Singapore blogger urges authorities to rethink the ban on the selling of dog meat in the city state.
Singapore: Cancer treatment subsidy
Deborah Choo, writing for The Online Citizen, features the story of a cancer patient who found out that cancer treatments are not being subsidized by the Singapore government.
Singapore: Changed political landscape
Catherine Lim explains why Singapore's political landscape has changed despite the victory of the ruling party in the recent general elections.
Indonesia: Blog Reactions to Bin Laden's Death
Surprisingly, Osama Bin Laden's death wasn't received with much fanfare in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim majority country. There were hardliners who paid tribute to Bin Laden but they were a minority. Here are some blog reactions in Indonesia.
China: editorial on 2008 earthquake blacked out
China Media Project has translated an editorial from liberal newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily commemorating the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The piece, which featured references to detained artist Ai Weiwei, who had attempted to investigate the deaths of children and collapse of school buildings in the disaster, was removed from the newspaper's website...
Japan: Design Related Reconstruction Assistance Projects
A group of creatives have set up Design311 [ja], a site that introduces post-earthquake reconstruction assistance projects inspired by art and design.
South Korea: Blogger's Phone Review Deleted by Samsung
In South Korea, an influential blogger's review on a Samsung smartphone was removed due to pressure from the manufacturer. Internet users have harshly criticised the nation's biggest conglomerate, Samsung Electronics and Naver, the nation's biggest web portal, for censoring the blogger.
East Timor: Cartoons on Development and Everyday Life
The website Sapo.TL features a photo album from an exhibition [pt] in Lisbon with a selection of illustrations from the portuguese architect and cartoonist João Baptista. Baptista created the blog Timor Cartoon, five years ago, and has published since then dozens of cartoons about the development and everyday life of...
China: Police Violence and Public Anger
C. Custer from China Geeks translated two ordinary news stories and netizens’ reaction about police violence and public anger.
North Korea in the Grip of South Korean Soap Fever
South Korean soap operas have gained a huge popularity in North Korea nowadays, even to create new slang among teens, Hanciema posted on the new trends in one of the world's reclusive state.
South Korea: Tweeters Helping Residents Suffering from Water Cut-off
As more than a half million residents in Gumi area in North Gyungsang Province have suffered from a water cut-off for over four days now, South Korean Tweeters went to help the distressed residents by supplying bottled water and wiring money gathered via Twitter. One of influential Twitters, @mediamongu posted...
Italy: How technology can help manage emergencies
In a crisis, how can Web 2.0 be of use to social movements and what practical help can it offer to facilitate collective action? In reality, there is no shortage of platforms which, established on a voluntary basis, using free software, harness the internet and mobile phones to gather and share information, sourced...
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