· March, 2009

Stories about Chinese from March, 2009

Hong Kong and the Philippines: Satire or racism?

  31 March 2009

A Senate leader in the Philippines just filed a resolution condemning a Hong Kong writer Chip Tsao for his article “The War at Home” in HK Magazine (originally published on 27 of March). Now the article has been taken down in the website but the Senate Resolution also asked the...

Taiwan: Our land and the Statute of Rural Renewal

  29 March 2009

The scenery of Taiwan's countryside as simple and stunningly beautiful as depicted by the above popular lullaby will soon be vanished. Small rivers will be replaced by sewage pipes, hills will be flattened, and there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of factories and sumptuous villas rise in the middle of farmland. Of course, there will be potted plant inside the walls of these villas, but there won't be egrets or even sparrows anymore.

China and Hong Kong: Can Shanghai be a new international financial center?

  27 March 2009

On 25 March 2009, Xinhua News reported China’s State Council has endorsed a statement to urge Shanghai to be developed into an international financial center by 2020 in order to keep up with “China’s economic influence and the Chinese yuan’s international status”. The idea generates discussion in the Beiyouren Forum...

China: Names to be remembered

  24 March 2009

The death toll and identity details of school children victims in the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake last year has been sealed in a black box by Chinese government officials, like a state secret. Last December, Ai Wei-wei, a most respectable intellectual and blogger, decided to compile the names of school...

Hong Kong: Vindication of June 4 in Question

  22 March 2009

2009 is the 20th anniversary of June 4 Tiananmen Massacre. If there were reincarnation, people who had been killed then would be twenty years old this year. Some of them would probably become university students, who are usually regarded as conscience of the society. Sadly this year, at least two...

Taiwan: Diplomatic Officer's Blogposts Ignite Ethnic Controversy

  21 March 2009

Bloggers and netizens in Taiwan found that Kuo Kuan-ying, an information officer in the Taiwan diplomatic service in Toronto, who blogs under his pen name Fan Lan-chin, publishes insulting posts which has provoked more controversy and debate of Taiwan's long unsolved ethnic hatred.

Hong Kong: Ng-hao big-naug or you are dead!

  19 March 2009

On Tuesday, March 18, a local police shot at a Nepali homeless man twice at close range and one of the bullets end up in the head, leading to the man's death. The police report soon after the shooting said that the police officer went to check out the hillside...

China: Goodbye Grass Mud Horse

  18 March 2009

Last week the story of Grass Mud Horse has traveled to the U.S.A via the New York Times and re-imported back to China with new ideas for reproduction, such as the marriage of two legendary creatures: Grass Mud Horse and FaKe Squid into FaKe Mud Horse. As imagethief pointed out,...

China:Parliament ridiculed for its fancy proposals

  17 March 2009

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's parliament of more than 2,000 delegates, ended in Beijing on 12, March, with pledges to help maintain steady and relatively speedy economic development in 2009.  Top national leaders such as Hu Jingtao, Premier Wen Jiabao were present at the closing ceremony. (Xinhua)...

China: Student Forced to Quit School Due to Blogging?

  17 March 2009

A Beijing Foreign Studies University female student wrote in her blog on 16 of March that she was forced to quit school because of her blog post that criticized the department of education. However, is she telling the true? What is the other side of the story? more via ESWN's...

Global recession and its discontents

  13 March 2009

Today the world seems flat. From Asia and Africa to Europe and the Americas, the people of the world are experiencing the traumatic effects of a global economic recession. This post is an attempt to describe the social impact of the great financial crisis as seen and felt by ordinary citizens around the world.

Taiwan: Easilly unfollow your twitter friends

  13 March 2009

Programmer, blogger, and musician Tzangms(小海) released his latest web tool that lets you unfollow your twtter friends quickly and easilly. “Because twitter was super slow during that time, so I wrote this easy unfollow tool hoping that everyone can unfollow their dearest twitter friends to save twitter from collapse.”(zh)

China is Unhappy

  13 March 2009

One of the author of 1996 bestseller China Can Say No(中國可以說不)Song Qiang, has recently published a new book, China is Unhappy (中國不高興), with other well-known writers. The first book appeared after the bombing of China consulate general in Yogoslavia by the NATO that enraged Chinese people and led to a...

China: Online Democracy

  11 March 2009

Uln from Chinayouren takes a tour around the Internet to see how netizens respond to the recent NPC-CPCC meeting and online chat between legislators and netizens.

China: Green GDP suspended

  11 March 2009

Bullogger reposted a local news about the central government's decision to suspend the release of Green GDP index in China in order to stimulate the economy (zh).

Hong Kong: End of HSBC myth?

  10 March 2009

Yesterday (March 9) HSBC Holding, Europe's biggest bank, and an Elephant in Hong Kong Hang Seng Index plunged 24% to HK$33, its lowest level since 1995. Since the beginning of financial crisis, many Hong Kong people believe that the city will not be hit directly by the tsunami (partly because...

China: Banning Shanzhai Culture?

  9 March 2009

Ni ping (倪萍), a famous CCTV host actress and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) put forward a suggestion for banning “Shanzhai phenomena” (山寨現象) in the recent CPPCC meeting. The term Shanzhai becomes popular last year when a netizen, Lao Meng, decided...

China: Most wanted fugitive now blogging?

  9 March 2009

Road to the most wanted fugitive As the mastermind of the largest smuggling ring ever, whose enterprise amounts to 10 billion dollars, Lai Changxing is a legendary criminal, also a controversial public figure in China. Before he fled to Canada when the central government was determined to root out his...

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