· December, 2008

Stories about Taiwan (ROC) from December, 2008

The Death of Ai Iijima, the End of an Era

For many men in Taiwan, this Christmas Eve was a day of regret and disappointment. It is not because that at this eve some of us would need to spend a significant amount money to please our lovers--thanks to the endless bombing from merchants and commercials. And neither it is because that others would be upset due to lack of lovers for the holiday--yes, for most people, Christmas in Taiwan is more like Valentine's Day--perhaps the forth or the fifth one. It is that in the era of closure on any discussion of sex issues, an ex-AV porno Japanese actress who accompanied us during much of our private time, and later successfully transformed into an entertainer in show business, was found dead in the afternoon at her house in Shibuya, Tokyo: her name is Ai Iijima.

28 December 2008

Northeast Asia: 2008 Review

The northeast Asia region is becoming more integrated politically, economically and socially. State leaders from China, Japan and South Korea recently signed a Joint Statement for Tripartite Partnership to address...

27 December 2008

Taiwan: Charter 08 and Taiwan

David on Formosa commented on Charter 08 along with quotes from Taiwan News and Financial Times. At the end he said: “In realising the dream of a free China lessons...

25 December 2008

Taiwan: Pandas arrive at Taipei Zoo

Two pandas arrived in Taiwan yesterday from China and are now in quarantine at Taipei Zoo. They will go on public display in late January. Michael Turton explains the pandas...

24 December 2008

Taiwan: Winners of Citizen Journalism Award

Peopo, a unique and successful citizen media project presented by Taiwan's Public Television Service(PTS), just announced the second Citizen Journalism Award winners. The five video reports are about the disaster...

23 December 2008

When you've been in Taiwan too long

SpinalCord shared an absolutely hilarious but also down to earth article exemplifying the most possible outcome in 261 items if a foreigner stays in Taiwan for too long…

15 December 2008

Taiwan: police evict Wild Strawberries

In the early hours of this morning police forcibly evicted students from the Wild Strawberry movement [report also in Chinese (zh)] from Freedom Square in Taipei. The students had maintained...

11 December 2008

Taiwan: President out of mind?

Social activist Wobblies says on his twitter(zh): “Knowing that Ma refused Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan, I began to think that my father's friend is correct. He said that this...

4 December 2008

Taiwan: Newspaper for the Immigrants

Bao Bon Phuong, a unique immigrant-focussing Vietnamese newspaper celebrates its second year from its first issue in Dec. 2006. On its blog(zh), the editor 張正 Zhang Zheng writes : “Everyday,...

4 December 2008

Taiwan: HIV+ Bloggers’ Love for Life

For most of the bloggers in Taiwan and around the globe, Dec 1st is World AIDS Day, but for HIV+ bloggers everywhere, everyday is AIDS day. Two days ago I yelled on my personal twitter: "Does anyone know any HIV Positive bloggers?" I soon received a reply.

1 December 2008

Taiwan: Flawed advice from abroad

Michael Turton analyses some views of Taiwan from the US establishment. The Far-Eastern Sweet Potato criticises the advice of the European Chamber of Commerce Taipei.

1 December 2008