· January, 2011

Stories about Chinese from January, 2011

Taiwan: Animal protection “cockroaches” on Facebook

  30 January 2011

Boogier warns facebook users to think twice before clicking “like” or “share” button on those pitiful stories and photos of stray dogs and poor dog carers. He criticizes this kind of tactics used to allure people by fake animal protectors-who he'd rather call “cockroaches”, and argues that more dogs are mistreated because of...

Taiwan: Ma Ying-jeou on Facebook

  28 January 2011

President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan(Republic of China) opens his official facebook fan page today. At the “About” session it says that the goal of the fan page “…is not to be trendy, but to exchange ideas with all of you, share experiences through wall posts, think together, click ‘like’ for...

China: A Subversive New Years’ Video Card

  26 January 2011

C. Custer from ChinaGeek translates and analyses a subversive New Years’ video card, “Little Rabbit, Be Good!”. The video addresses most of the social conflicts happened in the past few years, such as poisonous milk, forced demolition, and etc.

Taiwan: Dacheng Wetland, not a wetland?

  25 January 2011

Citizen journalist Zhu Shu-juan(朱淑娟) reports that even though all reviewers from the Wetland Review Committee of the Ministry of Interior suggested Dacheng Wetland in Changhua County to be listed as national or even international wetland, due to resistance from local politicians and consortia who support petrochemical project to be built there,...

China: Robot animation for the holidays

  25 January 2011

Robot planet Haven sees its worst energy crisis in a millennium. Only “chosen one” superboy Molin holds the keys to restore balance, but will he succeed? “Legend of Molin” is a new 3D animation which will run in the prime time slot on CCTV-1 throughout Spring Festival; part one aired...

China: P2P service down for copyright compliance

  25 January 2011

When leading Chinese P2P website VeryCD was shut down in 2009, it was back online the next day. This time, it appears the network won't be back up until all copyrighted materials are removed: ‘The days of “free” movie downloads for Chinese users,’ writes [zh] tech blogger William Long, ‘are...

Taiwan: Greenpeace member arrested

  24 January 2011

Tipsuda Atichakaro, a Thai member of Greenpeace's flagship Rainbow Warrior, was arrested in the first protest in Taiwan during the ship's East Asia tour to protect the ocean. Taiwan environmental activist wobblies67 tweets that “…a member was arrested by the police and is now under investigation at District Prosecutors Office. Our lawyer friend says...

Taiwan: Product placement and the petrochemical industry

  21 January 2011

If a petrochemical company treats bloggers to a cushy on-site tour, do posts that follow count as corporate astroturfing? What, as some have alleged, if the excursion was funded by the government? And, what if the bloggers weren't shown the whole story?

China: Falun Gong Tiananmen immolation incident ten years on

  21 January 2011

Following up discussions over why China sees so many acts of self-immolation but none of the response seen in Tunisia, Stainless Steel Mouse notes [zh] that ten years have passed since five Falun Gong protesters led a deadly protest in Tiananmen Square: ‘it didn't lead to a Falun Gong uprising,...

China: CNNIC releases new Internet statistics

  20 January 2011

Tech blogger William Long has parsed some key stats from a new CNNIC report: With 457 million Internet users, China now comprises 23% of the global online population and 55% of Asia's. Also now in China: 63 mil microbloggers, 49% more online shoppers than last year and a 41% drop...

Taiwan: Don't be a lousy traveler

  19 January 2011

Blogger Mochadango(抹茶糰子) who lives in Kyoto, Japan, condemns the ignorance and nearly-criminal acts(zht) of a Taiwanese traveler who recently took photos and videos of other travelers while taking a hot spring bath during his tour in Japan, though he claimed to have permission. The traveler(screen name:we5376301) uploaded the photos and...

China: Mapping labor unrest

  19 January 2011

Cornell PhD student Manfred Elfstrom has started a website to map instances of labor unrest across China on the Ushahidi platform.

China: Presidents Hu and Obama set to talk

  18 January 2011

Chinese President Hu Jintao arrives in Washington, DC today for face time with President Obama. How would you start off a dinner like that? And currency revaluation? One Chinese blogger suggests the renminbi is already worth more than you might think.

China: No more award and prize!

  17 January 2011

It is clear that the Chinese government is not happy about the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. However, it is beyond normal people's imagination that the propaganda machine would turn its resentment into the censorship of the terms "award" and "prize".

China: Social media for social change

  13 January 2011

It would be innocent to think that social media can lead to revolutionary changes in China, but we should not underestimate the potential of micro-power for social progress, China media expert Hu Yong comments.

Taiwan: Petrochemical industry pays for blog posts

  12 January 2011

Michael Turton writes about how the Taiwan Green Party accused the government of paying bloggers to write about a visit to petrochemical plants. Green Party member Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) says the practice is greenwashing [zh-tw] and accused the government and corporations of forming a “$5,000 Party” (五千黨) [zh-tw].

China: Microbloggers meet their maker, but is he the only one?

  11 January 2011

Writer Ran Yunfei examines the scorching welcome China's most public Internet censor received when he tried to start microblogging last month, and looks at what this means for the future of companies hosting such services as well as despised government officials themselves.

China: Brutal Eviction

  6 January 2011

The photo circulated among Sina microbloggers shows how the developer damaged the building structure in order to force the residents on the 6th floor to move out.

About our Chinese coverage

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