It seems that Huanqiu Shibao’s headlines are increasingly drawing upon the angst and ardor of the “netizens,” or wang min / 网民 of China. Such as the top headline for the day, 环球网友正签名谴责美国对台军售, or “Huanqiu Netizens Sign a Petition Telling America to Cease Military Aid to Taiwan,” which drags one to a big new page indicating that Google was just kid stuff. Now we seem … Continue reading 网民网民网民：Netizen Niblets from Huanqiu
Within its given limits, the Chinese press can be really freewheeling, an exercise for the reader in handling contradictions. Joint statements of Sino-Canadian cooperation sit alongside justifications for executing another three Xinjiang rioters. Little thumbnail photos of South Korean women’s nightclub attire glow next to Sun Yat-sen-esque oil paintings of Zhou Enlai. If you can’t handle dissonance, it’s best not to look. Today’s web version … Continue reading Huanqiu Impressions
While Americans are stuffing themselves with large quantities of bird meat (or, in my case, giant bowls of Vietnamese soup), another hunt for protein is on in Antarctic waters by Japanese ships. The L.A. Times has an excellent blog post on this topic, dating from November 19. CNN covers the annual controversy from Tokyo in a 2008 report: Meanwhile, the American satirists Matt Parker and … Continue reading Hatoyama Fails to Pardon: Japanese Winter Whale Hunts Underway
Amid the highly-charged atmosphere of autumn 1950 in Beijing, seeking out any and all “enemies of the people,” the city courts put a Japanese on trial for espionage. Almost fifty-nine years later (e.g., this past June) I happened to meet a bureau chief of a major Japanese news agency who was doing some research on a similar topic in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archive. … Continue reading Japanese on Trial in Beijing, September 1950
