· January, 2009

Stories about Chinese from January, 2009

China: netizens regret donations to Sichuan

  31 January 2009

Beichuan County, the hardest hit area in 5.12 Sichuan earthquake, has spent RMB 1.1 million (USD160, 854) on one Land Cruiser, an imported luxury car, which has triggered explosive critique among the Chinese netizens. Blogger 心寒 (Chilling Heart) writes he could not help bursting into rage while many others, including...

China: Sino-French Ties in 2009

  30 January 2009

Mr. Song Luzheng (宋鲁郑), a Chinese blogger who specializes in international politics, recently listed the five factors that have undermined the Sino-French relations (zh). He asserts that it is too hard to improve the bilateral relations to a mutually satisfying level unless the mutual trust is effectively enhanced.

Hong Kong: From Censorship Debate to Critique of Christian Right

  29 January 2009

The debate over censorship of indecency in Hong Kong sparkled by the consultation on the Control of Obscene and Indecent Article Ordinance (COIAO) has developed into a critique of religious /Christian Right politics as the conservative Christians openly demand the extension of COIAO for censoring “speech” or “article” that “instigates...

Taiwan: Books, Writers & Videos

  25 January 2009

China Times in Taiwan announces "Books of the Year" and makes short videos for awarded writers to share their writing experiences and perspectives. Hopefully their ideas will be portrayed through the power of images.

Hong Kong: LGBT content filtered away

  23 January 2009

Leslovestudy conducted a research on the filtering of LGBT content (zh, pdf) in Hong Kong private and public filters. I have post a summary of the report at GV advocacy.

China: CyberGhost VPN

  23 January 2009

GFW Blog introduces a new tool, CyberGhost VPN, for getting around the internet filtering (Great Fire Wall) in China.

China: Obama, can you?

  22 January 2009

Obama has been sworn in as the first African American president, with a popular support peaking at its high.  His inauguration summoned as many as two million people, and his address occasionally interrupted by thunder-like claps and acclaims. The rhythmic incanting “O-ba-ma!” oftentimes burst out of the packed and vital...

China: victims of Sichuan earthquake

  21 January 2009

The victims of the Sichuan 5.12 earthquake are suffering from the chilly winter. A local official says the lowest temperature in the earthquake zone can be 21.1 degrees below zero centigrade. Now how to help the victims pull through the bitter winter remains an urgent and tough task. Last month,...

Taiwan: Prepare for the Lunar New Year

  19 January 2009

The Lunar New Year is right at the corner. The Lunar New Year is an important holiday for family members and friends to get together in Taiwan. To prepare the food and the mood, people like to go shopping before the Lunar New Year. chensumi showed us what she saw...

Hong Kong: Election Consultation Deferred… It's Dog-Speak!

  16 January 2009

If constructive questions like the election consultation became "dog-speak" in the eye of top ruling elites (in the form of Freudian slip), what's the function of the Legislative council? Although LSD's legislators' dog's fight performance is disruptive, can the Legislative council be genuinely constructive with the un-democratic system?

China: Farewell, Bullog

  15 January 2009

The government's clean-up campaign sweeps the internet world, while not only "pornography" is down, Bullog, a popular blog hosting site which plays as a vanguard of liberalism and democracy thinkings, also a front line of government criticisms and plaza of popular opinions, was shut down as well.

China: Blogging for Change

  14 January 2009

Although Bullog.cn, one of the most influential independent blog hosting platform in China, has been shut down under the pretext of internet cleaning of smut, a number of prominent bloggers declared that they would continue to speak. A few days ago, Sohu, a commercial blog hosting company, hosted a blogger...

China: Support National Brand

  12 January 2009

A new website, I wall China, has been set up to support national brand. Netizens are encouraged to vote for their favorite brand. The background music is also very national.

China: Antismut campaign sweeps internet. But any untold purpose?

  10 January 2009

An internet cleansing movement, or antismut campaign launched by the Chinese authority, is sweeping across the internet in recent days, targeting vulgar and obscene content. However, people doubt, it might foreshadow a larger campaign against all the critiques not in the government's favor.

China and Hong Kong: Views on Gaza Conflicts

  9 January 2009

After the first intense air strikes in the Gaza Strip at the end of 2008, Israel continues the attacks on the densely populated Gaza in 2009 and it is expected to cost more Palestinian lives. While there are mass demonstrations against Israel’s military actions in London, Paris, Berlin, Athens and...

Taiwan: Citizens against Gaza Conflict

  7 January 2009

Two pledge and joint signature movements against Gaza conflict just started at almost the same time today in Taiwan. One is initiated (zh) by Chuiyung Cheung(張翠容), a senior HK journalist and well-known blogger (zh) who has visited Gaza and most middle-east countries for many times, and Qiu Yanliang(丘延亮), a ex-political prisoner,...

About our Chinese coverage

Oiwan Lam
Oi wan Lam is the North East Asia editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.