Re-launch pending AsiaPundit will return in the near future in a new and improved format — with new contributors. Thanks for visiting. China Toymaker Gives Children the Evil Eye As a China resident, AsiaPundit takes great care when buying products for his child, generally avoiding foods or toys designed for the local market. While overseas, AP generally trusts that ‘Made in China’ products do meet a higher level of safety standards. Most of the time… “Just in the last month, a ghoulish fake eyeball toy made in China was recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene..” We are not shocked by lead-paint being used on toy trains. But Kerosene-filled fake eyeballs? Designed for children three-and-up? That’s truly a product worthy of Irwin Mainway. Consumer Reporter: … Well, we’d like to show you another one of Mr. Mainway’s products. It retails for $1.98, and it’s called Bag O’ Glass. [ holds up bag of glass ] Mr. Mainway, this is simply a bag of jagged, dangerous, glass bits… Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia links for 2007-06-06 NORTH KOREA - A Chinese tourist eats in North Korea “North Korea is the same as we were before the 1980s; the standards for receiving foreign and domestic guests are completely different. All of their restaurants are state-run, so if we don’t eat at a quality restaurant then it’s a special banquet room, a INDIA - What Lindsay Lohan and Maninder Singh have in common “…a famous former Indian test bowler had been arrested for possessing a small amount of cocaine. His name is Maninder Singh, who reinvented himself into a very popular radio and television cricket commentator.” NORTH KOREA - Bush “screwed up” in acting like a pansy to KJI “There is nothing preventing the North Koreans from getting their money. They only need to send a couple of goons with some briefcases. But no, they want to access to the US financial market. If they want that, fine; let them stop their counterfeiting, links for 2007-05-30 Off The Record » “Rubbing-out” services offered via SMS “One of the interesting things about China is the variety of bizarre SMS-spam messages one receives almost every day. . . Recently I’ve been receiving messages that offer to help “rearrange” people for me. This “rearrange” implies a rearranging CHINA - Suing the Net Nanny “…a Shanghainese man is suing his Internet connection provider China Telecom because his U.S. hosted website was blocked, and China Telecom will not or cannot explain to him why.” links for 2007-05-25 SINGAPORE - Chewing gum laws in Singapore explained (for you foreigners) ” I knew a friend who had a really bright future in engineering, but he was seduced by the lure of the easy money and women offered by the chewing gum trade.” CHINA - The Bubble Theorists Have Shanghai Wrong ” On the whole, the optimism we see with Shanghai stocks look, dare we say, warranted for an economy growing at 10%+ clip (in GDP terms). Specifically, here are some key reasons for being bullish on China and in Chinese exchange traded funds such as FXI.” links for 2007-05-23 CHINA - When Jerry Yang Talks China, Run for the Doors. “Any other executive with a similar track record would have been reassigned, if not fired, long ago.” CHINA - How to write a China article. “You’ve just arrived in your 5-Star room at the Shanghai Hilton and unpacked your fancy new Apple laptop. As you pull the top off the mini bottle of Hennessey XO, you finally turn to your instructions from the editor back home. 2000 words by Monday about the important issues facing China today. Easy.” CHINA - A recruitment ad for virtual cops “For a conservative estimate, calculating at 2000 counties, then the fees spent across the country on hiring new web cops will reach 2,995,200,000 yuan (that is, 2.9952 billion yuan). How much of this expense is necessary?” links for 2007-05-21 NORTH KOREA - North Korean roller-coaster “Check out this point-of-view video of a rickety North Korean rollercoaster at Kaeson Youth Funfair, Pyongyang — a coaster so tame it’s practically a soporific.” CHINA - Did the “Genocide Olympics” influence China? “”The genocide Olympics” is such a brilliant piece of propaganda. It is as un-subtle as you can get, and it looks like being effective.” SOUTH KOREA - Google Korea to censor search results “The last time Google did something like this (i.e., conformed to government requests that allegedly went against its principles), it ended up on the receiving end of intense criticism - including a dressing down at a Senate hearing in the US.” SOUTH KOREA - Colbert does Korean pop “To prove he’s more influential than Rain, Stephen Colbert does his own Korean music video [Comedy Central]. Painful. Very painful. At the same time, it does show Korea’s rising cultural profile—just a couple a years ago, no one would be making joke TAIWAN - Legislature Brawls are Staged “Ralph Jennings reported yesterday what many have long suspected: that the brawls in the legislature are staged so that politicians can get maximum publicity.” PHILIPPINES - More than 140 dead in “peaceful Philippine elections” “Philippine police (are) claiming the midterm polls were peaceful since there were fewer deaths this year compared to the previous elections. But Kontra Daya, a citizen electoral watchdog, is challenging this verdict.” Asia’s top 20 progressives? “World Business names Singapore’s Mr Brown and Malaysia’s Raja Petra Kamarudin, as well as former Malaysian PM Mah thir Mohamad and present Indonesian President SBY as among Asia’s top 20 most progressive.” links for 2007-05-16 HONG KONG - Hong Kong man fined for linking to porn “This is coming hard on the heels of the appeals trial for the only man in the entire world to receive a jail sentence for posting Bit Torrent seeds.” SINGAPORE - Singapore opposition leader discharged from bankruptcy “Veteran Singapore opposition politician JB Jeyaretnam said he had paid off damages in defamation suits brought by the government, which should discharge him as a bankrupt and allow him to run in future elections.” IRAQ - Who Won Iraq? “The answer to “Who won Iraq?” is Iran in the short run, and in the long run, China and India.” THAILAND - Thailand in Bottom 10 on press freedom ” Thailand has been listed by the Committee to Protect Journalists as one of the world’s worst backsliders in freedom of the media in the past five years - turning relative openness into repression and worsening press conditions.” JAPAN - What every girl needs in Japan “Sports equipment manufacturer Cramer Japan has come out with infrared-blocking underwear for female athletes, called “ShotGuard,” which makes it impossible to shoot see-through images of the women. will help women to perform better by eliminating wor links for 2007-04-29 CHINA - MySpace China - “Splittists” to Rupert Murdoch: Thanks for the Addy! “The terms of use and privacy agreements seem more or less identical to the English ones, except the Chinese terms of use have added lines about following the State Secrets Law, impugning the “honor and interests” of the PRC and avoiding “cults and feudal CHINA - “You Will Have To Die For Killing The Puppy!” “After the news story broke on April 26, many netizens were infuriated. By the hundreds, they showed up at the forums to call for respect for life, to establish laws to protect animals, to condemn the “murderers” …” CHINA - Hollywood to boycott China? “One learns, after a few years in the media industry in China, to ignore the chest-thumping threats of media moguls to withhold something from China. This is for good reason: the threats are usually empty.” CHINA - How Things Really Work Around Here: Law and Order in Suzhou ““He” in this instance was a local Mafia tough who found a young Chinese lady’s comment offensive in the bar in which they were hanging with their friends. The young lady happened to comment that a particular photo was quite ugly. The Tough took the CHINA - Wait, so you can actually buy software? That’s stupid. 244: Number of genuine copies of Microsoft Vista sold in China in the first two weeks after its launch. links for 2007-04-27 CHINA - CCTV: One of those Cs must stand for ‘catty’ “Huang Shengyi has a horse face, and big nose. When she smiles, she is fatally attractive.” CHINA - Liu Qi on civic responsibility “Security guards wear service caps and stand in the shade, but they allow strangers to come and go: they exist in name only. Hatred, but never criticism.” SOUTH KOREA - Gross video of still-writhing octopus tentacles for dinner AsiaPundit notes that ‘live’ octopus tastes just likel cooked octopus… only fresher! Yum. CHINA - MySpace China launches, Wendi officially on board “Rupert Murdoch’s wife Deng Wendi has a seat on the board; this is her first official position at News Corp., although people have been speculating about her influence on the company since she married Murdoch.” JAPAN - Likely hoax story on poodles in sheep’s clothing “Thousands of Japanese have been swindled in a scam in which they were sold Australian and British sheep and told they were poodles.” links for 2007-04-26 JAPAN - Researchers break internet speed records “the Internet2 consortium is planning to build a new network with a capacity of 100 Gbps. With the 10-fold increase, a high-quality version of the movie “The Matrix” could be sent in a few seconds.” ASIA - Growing Number of Asian Blogs Offers Alternatives to Mainstream Media “Asia’s blogging community is growing rapidly, as more people get access to the Internet. In countries with a controlled media environment, blogs promote free speech and offer alternative sources of news and information. But some governments in the region links for 2007-04-25 CHINA - SSales Pitch ” I don’t think the folks that hand out the Top Brand designation, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, are trying to push a Nazi agenda. . . . But given that the award is supposed to strengthen Chinese brands for promotion at home and abroad, they might want to rethink their imagery. I can only guess what the folks strolling a showroom floor in Europe or North America will think if they see an S.S. slapped on the side of a washing machine. JAPAN - Know the rules at a Sento 銭湯 Japanese bath house “If you’re making holiday plans to visit Japan this summer, remember to try and fit in a trip to the local Sentō 銭湯, a type of Japanese communal bath house…” CHINA - Internet censorship in China snore … “Tales of Internet censorship just don’t do it for me anymore. What I want to know is what does the Politburo think of proxies? But I would hope that even readers of MSNBC were not spilling their coffee in reaction to the headline “China launches plan to censor Internet”. SINGAPORE - Bak Chor Mee Man 2 “You must pay top dollar for top talent. You must pay top dollar for top talent. Did I mention, you must pay top dollar for top talent?” JAPAN - A Mac nerd among otaku “Going to an anime convention, or con, is a lot like going to a computer show like Macworld Expo.” CAMBODIA - First Love in Cambodia “I thought I’d explore a question that is very commonly asked of a western man intending to marry a Cambodian woman – “Why on Earth would a young, beautiful girl like that want to marry an older, plain-looking geezer like you?”” CHINA - Aussie newspaper kills story about Rupert Murdoch’s wife “Here’s one crackerjack cover story you won’t be reading in Good Weekend magazine any time soon – the revealing inside account of the life and times of Wendi Deng.” CHINA - Banking watchdog vows to sever capital flows of porn websites “A spokesman for the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said Tuesday that the CBRC and other banking institutions will take action to stop pornographic websites from using banks’ settlement platforms and payment tools.” links for 2007-04-18 CHINA/TIBET - Trouble in Tibet “Anybody who doesn’t think China exercises extraordinary control and coercion over what happens in Tibet should try coming here with accreditation as a foreign journalist. It makes one radioactive.” CHINA - Ill-informed Chicago columnist scares the hell out of China “In the end, we will never know how they planned to approach it but suffice to say the senior editors were delighted when “South Korea” was read out at the press conference. Back-slapping and congratulations ensued - one editor said that it would have TAIWAN - The foreign perspective on Taiwan’s Betelnut girls “They’re young and they’re beautiful and when they approach the stopping cars with a big smile you might mistake them for selling sex, but no… they’re selling drugs”. SOUTH KOREA - Does anyone find this cartoon funny? “Naver News posted the following Seoul Shinmun cartoon on its site, here, at 20:48 on April 17, 2007. In its rush to take a jab at the United States, the newspaper posted the cartoon before it knew that it was a Korean citizen who had done the shooting.” links for 2007-04-17 ASIA - Flying Seoul-o “Committed Asia Exile reader Joseh Miller has taken up the challenge by sending me a link to this fascinating page on the website Internet Filter Review. It goes some way towards answering a fascinating and profound question: who are the world’s biggest w INDONESIA - The press still in danger despite ‘Playboy’ ruling “The South Jakarta District Court that acquitted Erwin Arnada, the editor of the Indonesian version of Playboy magazine, deserves some guarded applause.” SINGAPORE -Bad Marketing gimmicks for matchmaking agencies “The New Paper’s headline today shouts “15 China Brides for free” and the owner says it like any other market gimmicks.” CHINA - Chinese PriceWaterhouseCoopers auditors dance! Dancing … Chinese … auditors China strikes against piracy, worsens pollution As China is faced with a WTO complaint alleging that the country is being deliberately lax in enforcing copyright and intellectual property rights, AsiaPundit knew that a crackdown was in the air. And that was even before there were any noticeable toxic emissions: China sets fire to pirated goods in latest crackdown BEIJING (Reuters) - China launched a new nationwide crackdown on pornography and pirated tapes and DVDs on Saturday, setting fire to 42 million offending items, Xinhua news agency said. . . Of the items destroyed, smuggled and pirated audio/video, software, electronic publications made up 30 million, and pirated and illegally published books and magazines totaled 11 million If AsiaPundit were still a reporter he may ask: ‘Were any environmental impact studies done on the effect of burning 30 million discs?; ‘How toxic were the fumes for those unprotected officials and laborers in the above Reuters photo?’; ‘How will this adversely impact the achievement of Premier Wen’s emission reduction target?’ Torching 10 million books that could have been recycled is bad enough, but burning CDs is a spectacularly bad idea. CDs and DVDs are made from mainly plastics and metals, such as aluminum, polycarbonate (a type of plastic made from crude oil and natural gas), lacquer made from acrylic, gold, chemical dyes partially made from petroleum products, and numerous other materials such as water, glass, silver and nickel. When they are manufactured and eventually disposed, they can release chemicals that contribute to global warming and create environmental and health problems. We suspect that the WTO complaint is a deliberate attempt at making China an even more difficult place to live by simultaneously reducing entertainment options and worsening air quality. links for 2007-04-09 CHINA - How China is helping expand European classical music “Communist Leader Chairman Mao banned classical music in China. But in today’s China, classical music is massively growi g in popularity - at a time when its success is in decline in the West. British conductors find to their amazement a more knowledgeab NORTH KOREA - Communist ate my rabbits! “A rabbit breeder who sold 12 of his animals to North Korea so the communist country could start its own breeding program fear they have been eaten by officials.” SINGAPORE - Whore or hero? P orn star Annabel Chong’s life on stage “Few Singaporeans have courted controversy like sex star Annabel Chong, but a new play about her life which opens on Thu sday aims to reveal the person behind the pornography. “251″ is named after Chong’s most famous film, “The World’s Biggest Gang Bang”" ASIA MEDIA - When Speech Can Get You in Jail “To be clear, civil libel is common, and, in many cases, appropriate, even though it has sometimes been misused in Asia to bankrupt political opponents. Criminal libel uses the organs of the state to punish defamation, and in Asia criminal defamation is u SOUTH KOREA - The apotheosis of the American Netizen “Obama is right now a historic figure: For he would now appear to have what my UCLA students term the “Korean Netizen factor” in his camp. This is the relatively new-found power of the Internet to network countless “little” people into money-raising chain CHINA - Pirates are not insulting, say netizens and academics “On Friday, the International Herald Leader reported the results of an online survey in which 61% of respondents felt that Chow (Yun Fat)’s character does not insult China, while 22% felt that it does. There are reports that SARFT shares the minority view JAPAN - Porn trade leads to a military security leak “A Japanese naval officer is in big trouble after he allegedly swapped porn with a mate of his and accidentally also giving away classified information” JAPAN -Pimped rides, otaku style “This is what happens when otaku start pimping their ride.” MALAYSIA - April Fool’s joke on penis enlargement “Doctor-blogger Dr Alan Teh …wrote an April Fool joke to humour his readers the way Google did. The topic was enticing: Malaysian men clamouring for pioneering penis surgery” SINGAPORE - Impossible to get cabs just before midnight in Singapore? “What happens when you get a bunch of bloggers who can’t get cabs just before midnight? They whip out their cameras and write about it.” MALAYSIA - Are Malaysian Bloggers Under Threat of State Control? “Dr Mustafa K Anuar and Anil Netto, coordinators of the Malaysian human rights group Charter 2000-Aliran, say their organization “is deeply concerned by the [Malaysian] government’s potential move to impose mandatory registration of bloggers who use web CAMBODIA - Something Fishy aka Consultants in Cambodia “Give a fishing community $20 million, they’ll eat forever; give it to a consultant, he’ll do something fishy.” links for 2007-03-22 CAMBODIA - Orphanage Tourism in Cambodia “…in many other poorly-run orphanages the traffic of tourists wishing to see kids dance or treat them to trips to the water park results in kids being extracted from school far too often.” CHINA - YE SHANGHAI, GAY SHANGHAI “They’re here, they’re queer, they’re Chinese” CHINA - The perilous nature of Chinese government “policies” in quotation marks “Ah, the power! Oh, the embarrassment! The Guardian had labelled me a propagandist. To think I moved to Beijing to freelance. “ CHINA - BlogSpot blocked again, among others “… the government is once again tightening the screws of internet censorship. Specifically, the new changes are targeted against China’s bloggers and their 34 million blogs. “ SINGAPORE/HONG KONG - Singapore vs. Hong Kong ” It should be noted that the dire tion the city-states are going in seemingly to be the opposite of each other. Singapore is relaxing rules and regulations while Hong Kong seems to want to continue to meddle in economic aff” CHINA - $1.5 trillion, not $1.1 trillion – and rising fast “China formal reserves were a bit under $1.1 trillion – think $1.066 trillion – at the end of last year. No doubt they are close to $1.1 trillion, if not above it, now. No wonder China’s central bank government just made it quite clear that the CHINA - Online Gamers can now pay with their blood “An online game operator has demanded that banned players donate blood to be allowed back into the game. Moliyo, which runs 3D massively multiplayer online game in China, made the demand after banning 120,000 players who attempted to hack th game.” SINGAPORE - Nude painting sold after Singapore prohibits general viewing “A 4-metre-high nude painting barred from general public viewing in restrictive Singapore has been sold for 60,000 US dollars to an art collector.” HONG KONG - Something in the air “Some consultant has done a survey saying that Hong Kong is becoming an ever-worse place for expats, slipping behind Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney and Sierra Leone as a place to live. The city now ranks alongside Jakarta and Port Morseby in the expat stakes. “ SOUTH KOREA - Top Ten Signs You’ve “Koreanized” “The things on this list are all true for me, and I’ve been noticing them lately, when American friends come visit me. For me, it’s not so much what I do, but what I don’t anymore, that sometimes surprises me.” SOUTH KOREA - What NOT to post on your blog in Korea “A 38-year-old office worker got a rude introduction to the perils of blogging when he posted about his pot-smoking experience in the Netherlands on his blog “ SE ASIA - Friskodude: Soon To Be Free? Latest Update on Granny Basher… “He was sentenced to 1 year in jail and 5 years probation. The judge will decide if the time already served (since last July) can be applied to his year in jail.” TAIWAN - Warning: Hello Kitty Plays Hardball in Taiwan “Chaos threatens; tempers are short, but amidst all this turmoil, there is one person you don’t wa t to cross, that person is Hello Kitty…” THAILAND - Male bodies, Women’s souls “The book, using narrative methods, analyzes the experiences of the transgendered (Kathoey / Ladyboy) to challenge the stereotypes they face. In much of the book, the authors prefer to stick to the term ‘Sao Praphet Song’ (Second-type women).” links for 2007-03-08 THAILAND - The Apology Letter ” The back story: A creative friend of his was fired from a Bangkok agenc for calling a client a prick, and wrote this for a poetry reading afterward. A year later, the same agency re-hired him Presumably, the prick was no longer a client.” CHINA - China Fears Citizens Experiencing Free Speech ” one thing most Chinese people do not have is any actual experience with free speech. By denying Chinese people that experience the Chinese government keeps the Chinese people from having any reasonable incentive to strongly question or change their opin links for 2007-03-07 MONGOLIA - Law Firm Clones Famous China Lawyer “Erdem’s highly credentialed lawyer has the exact same credentials as China Law Blog’s very own Steve Dickinson! And to add to this truly mind-boggling coincidence, Erdem’s American lawyer is also named “Steve Dickinson.” “ links for 2007-03-06 TAIWAN/CHINA - Incredibly Stupid Taiwanese KFC Commercial Selected KFC commercials on Tudou: MEDIA - ‘Hate Blacks’ writer dismissed by AsianWeek “The 22-year-old author of a column titled “Why I Hate Blacks” in the regional newspaper AsianWeek has been dismissed, and the paper’s editors said Wednesday that they suffered “a serious lapse in editorial judgment” when they published his column.” BURMA - Don’t like China Daily? Check out New Light of Myanmar “… the team at China Daily can console itself with two thoughts. First, it’s still on the list of China information sources that I give to new foreign hires at my agency. Second, it is an unimpeachable beacon of insight and daring reportage when compare CHINA - Foreign Media Want Red Envelopes Too? “”What do we do when the foreign media demand red envelopes?” CHINA - Ah, Uyghur women are so beautiful! “Any ideas on the success behind the concept of “Uyghur beauty” in the Han mindset? Is this a recent phenomenon, or can we trace this through the Fragrant Concubine and beyond to antiquity?” CHINA - The Chinese Netizens and Internet censorship “The issue of Internet censorship has been on the international Internet agenda for a few years as part of a more general discussion on the topic of media and citizen control on freedom of speech in the People’s Republic of China.” CHINA - Why is China’s government trying so hard to hold down China’s current living standards? “The government of China …seems determined to keep China poorer than it needs for to be. After all, the government of China, not the government of the US, actively intervenes in the market every day to hold China’s living standards down – or, if no SINGAPORE - Singapore adapting to climate change rather than preventing ““Singapore is monitoring the localised impact of global warming on the country.” The report seems to focus on the fact that even if the sea rises upto 70-80cm, then it won’t be a problem as reclaimed land in Singapore is 120cm above sea level.” HELLO KITTY - Kitty on your toast “It’s the answer to your dreams. Wake up in the morning with the face of Kittychan staring up at you from your toast! For just $20!” JAPAN - Japanese Lingerie Thief video “A 45-year-old man was arrested last Thursday in Yamanashi Prefecture for stealing 400 items of women’s underwear from a laundromat during the past 3 years.” links for 2007-03-01 JAPAN - No Humans Were Hurt in the Making of this…. “A zoo worker dressed as an orang-utan falls after being ’shot’ by another zoo worker with a simulated tranquiliser dart as part of an animal escape drill at a zoo in western Tokyo February 27, 2007.” CHINA - Remote control pigeon droids of Shandong ” According to cnnb.com.cn, scientists in Shandong have successfully implanted a microchip and radio receiver in a pig on’s brain, enabling them to instruct the pigeon by remote control to take off, fly in circles and obey other commands.” links for 2007-02-28 EAST ASIA - Asian Manhole Covers… A thing of beauty Manholes, mostly from Japan. SOUTH KOREA - Internet ’smelly-vision’ by 2015, researchers claim AsiaPundit fears that this may mean the scent of bundaegi could far too easily be transmitted outside of Korea. CHINA - Black Tuesday in China AsiaPundit would note that a Shanghai correction was expected — although the global contagion was not. This was not a 1929-style incident. And AP also suggests that ‘Red Tuesday’ is much catchier. links for 2007-02-27 CHINA - Get Paid 300 Rmb per Minute and Get Beaten “Have you ever considered advertising on the Internet for a stand-in mistress that can be roughed up by your wife. Well, a Chinese businessman beat you to it? Or maybe you’re looking for a job that pays you 300 Rmb/minute?” CHINA - FAW interested in buying Chrysler “If FAW should take over Chrysler, the employees will be in for a big surprise. German culture is one thing, but Chinese culture is a whole lot different. And I wonder what FAW will do with Chrysler, because I don’t believe they will simply keep production in the US.” SINGAPORE - Reputation warfare against Singapore “The article goes on to suggest that an effective way to pressure Singapore into agreeing to the extradition campaign would be through a large-scale, coordinated information campaign to attack Singapore’s carefully cultivated international reputation.” links for 2007-02-26 CHINA - Electroshock therapy for China’s “Internet addicts” “The Chinese government is imprisoning and giving electric shocks to people it thinks have become addicted to the Internet.” links for 2007-02-25 NORTH KOREA - Children’s Animation “Seems when they’re not busy making nukes and being a general menace in Asia the fellas up in NoKo bang out their own animated TV shows for the kiddos to watch.” CHINA - 10 Reasons I Hate Chinese New Year “…when I first arrived in China I was thrilled to be celebrating the real Chinese New Year, with real Chinese people, the authentic way. With each passing year my enthusiasm has faded just a bit more, until it became this colorless loathing for the alph THAILAND - Little black dress creates a big scandal “She was reprimanded by her production company and ordered by her university to do community service and make a public apology for her attire. The Culture Ministry also weighed in, calling Chotiros’ choice of dress “very inappropriate” and the wrong messa links for 2007-02-16 CHINA - Camera Phone and Citizen Journalism “Today, Hong Kong’s Chinese newspapers are united - they all use the photos taken by ONE MAN on their front pages! I venture to say that it is unprecedented! Leung Siu-kin, a journalism student, happened to witness a train fire. “ JAPAN - Baidu Thinks It Can Play in Japan ” Facing slower growth and increased competition at home, Baidu.com (BIDU), the dominant search engine in China, is making its first foray overseas. On a call with analysts following the company’s announcement of earnings for the fourth quarter, Baidu Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robin Li said the company will spend $15 million trying to replicate its at-home success in Japan this year.” HAPPY NEW YEAR - Year of Pig signals conflicts before new world order: soothsayers “”It is anticipated that there will be more international conflicts and disharmony, which will even lead to regional warfare, uprising and unrest, or the overthrow of governments in certain countries,” SINGAPORE - Tips On Flying With Singapore Airlines “If you want most of your unreasonable requests to be fulfilled (such as asking for a gin and tonic with triple gin), ask the youngest looking stewardess.” links for 2007-02-15 CHINA - Behind The Reporting On The Case of Chen Liangyu “Even though a ban might be appearing, the reporters continued to collect information and check out the evidence. This went relatively smoothly. After all, we are a specialized financial newspaper and we are experienced in investigating wealthy tycoons.” CHINA - Blogger Wang Xiaofeng sticks it to the man “Wang is not afraid to poke fun at sacred cows or to curse China’s excitable young Internet users. His acerbic style and sense of humor have made him your correspondent’s favorite Chinese blogger. In person, he does not disappoint.” CHINA - Playing straight sometimes misses bottom line ” “I’m telln’ you. You know what you need to do? Make it 10 times that. But when you come to sell me an ad, give me 50 percent off first of all. Then, give me a massive kickback, and I’m gonna book ads like crazy.” He’s like “That’s the way it works, works, don’t you know?” CHINA - Beer in Shanghai, part 2: challenge ” I defy the most sophisticated beer taster to tell any of these beers apart from any others in a blind taste test. It would be like picking up a slice of Wonder Bread and guessing whether it came from Orlando or Dubuque.” THAILAND - The 10 Commandments of Thai love “The wonderfully caring Ministry of Culture has just launched ‘10 Commandments of Love’ in an attempt to prevent teenagers getting too carried away on Valentine’s Day and getting up to hanky-panky in short-time hotels.” THAILAND - Valentines curfew to stop teen sex “A third of Thai teenage girls think Valentine’s Day is an excellent time to lose their virginity, and police in Bangkok are out to stop them. Police in the capital, famous around the world for its fleshpots, will enforce a 10 pm curfew on February 14.” NORTH KOREA - Could hawkishness help North Korea? “If the deal yesterday is implemented, then the world will be better off than after 1994, because the Yongbyon reactor and all other facilities will be dismantled, not just frozen. If it isn’t, then that just proves the neocons right - that Kim wasn’t to be trusted.” CHINA - And the Oscar goes to… “when Awards season comes around, all the rules go flying out the window. It starts when the guy selling pirated discs at the entrance to the subway out of an open suitcase on the sidewalk has a copy of every film that’s been nominated for a Golden Globe. And from then on, I’m able to buy a clear copy of every movie nominated for an award no matter how recently it’s been introduced to theaters. All one has to be able to do is accept the notices scrolling across the screen that say “Property of Rupert Murdoch” or some such thing.” INDIA - Political, religious hardliner groups protest Valentine’s Day “n Rajasthan capital Jaipur, Bharatiya Kamgar and Students’ Federation of India, organisations affiliated to the Shiv Sena and CPI-M respectively, said they would “blacken the faces” of those making public displays of affection.” Special report on China: Know your Frenemy The Colbert Report’s Chinese New Year special report is indeed some of the best television reporting we have seen on China in some time.: PART 1: Happy Chinese New Year. PART 2: Know your ‘Frenemy’ PART 3: Q&A on China PART 4: Sheryl WuDunn on ‘the Frenemy’ PART 5: Get Busy America! links for 2007-02-14 HONG KONG - China changes, not Hong Kong “..most urban centers in this part of the world have changed beyond recognition. China is the extreme case; its Mao-era cities were an unnatural, political aberration, like Pyongyang is today. But for organic urban development it would be hard to beat Kuala Lumpur. Bangkok is not far behind and Jakarta, too, has been transformed. Seoul and Taipei have acquired state-of-the-art subway systems. Only Manila has visibly deteriorated.” NORTH KOREA - US Falls for Phony Fuel-for-Nukes Deal “At the end of the day, the agreement again proves that notwithstanding its huffing and puffing, the US can be played and tricked and eventually worn down–and beaten–at the bargaining table.” CHINA - No queue-barging day “Did anyone see some poor guy at the airport check-in desk get sent peremptorily to the back of the line with a flea in his ear and a muttered “it’s no queue-barging day, didn’t you know?”" NORTH KOREA - Boyish U.S. envoy becomes heartthrob in China “Little known in his home country, the boyish-looking U.S. assistant secretary of state has become a celebrity in China’s capital and not just for his role as Washington’s chief envoy in talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. .. “He’s so charming and attractive,” said Li Kenna, a desk clerk at the five-star hotel Hill stays at in Beijing. “He sometimes asks me how I am in the mornings,” she said. “He’s one of our nicest guests.”" links for 2007-02-12 CHINA - Chinese netspeak: Now, that’s a different language “You may have honed your Chinese language skills for years — or, for that matter, you may be a native Chinese — but when you get into a Chinese web forum, you may feel you have stumbled into a bizarre world where every letter is recognizable but the text as a whole reads like Greek.” CHINA - The Open Letter To Sina.com From The Lawyer-Bloggers “…while Sina.com’s business has been growing, it lacks business ethics. While providing the space for our blogs, it has also seriously violated our freedom of speech.” CHINA - Shanghai struggles to build a livable city “They know me pretty well in this neighborhood, because I like to ride through here a lot,” he says, raising his voice to be heard over the growling motor. “What they don’t know,” he adds with a hint of regret,  “is that I’m also the guy who is going to make this way of life disappear.” CHINA - Video of the Chinese football brawl in England “Notice the nice flying kicks from Chinese players at around 00:22 and 00:24″ JAPAN - Panderers in Japan “Japander:n.,& v.t:. 1. a western star who uses his or her fame to make large sums of money in a short time by advertising products in Japan that they would probably never use. ~er (see synecure, prostitute) 2. to make an ass of oneself in Japanese media.