RFA Unplugged

Archive for December, 2006

Can you hear me, Major Yang?

Problems accessing the Internet in many parts of Northeast Asia following the snapping of undersea data and phone cables in Tuesday’s quakes off Taiwan look set to continue. Repair work on the ocean floor is technically tricky, and some telecoms providers are warning that it won’t be a matter of days. Weiai Xu, writing on [...]

Tiananmen Veteran Chen Ziming Talks to RFA

Chen Ziming formally completed a 13-year sentence for his role in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in October 2002, but remained under close surveillance, with many activities restricted. His political rights were removed for a further four years, and this is the first Chinese-language interview he has given since his release. Together with Wang Juntao, Chen [...]

Pre-war propaganda footage of Cambodia

Phnomenon showcases several examples of pre-war Cambodian government propaganda footage from the 1960s, showing various aspects of the country’s life, including education, industry, Phnom Penh, agriculture, and delightful vintage cars amid a seemingly sunny atmosphere. Via Global Voices Online. The following clip is an airborne tour of the Cambodian capital in the early 1960s: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyqtMnVI1Qk]

Blog-a-belly: Japan's Metabolic Ministers

Two high-ranking health officials in Japan will begin – and blog about – new diet and exercise regimes as part of a campaign to prevent obesity. The two vice-ministers for health, Noritoshi Ishida and Keizo Takemi, have pledged to lose at least five kilos (11 lb) each in the next six months, and will record [...]

Tall Tales From Turkmenistan

UPDATE: President Niyazov, who ruled energy-rich Turkmenistan for more than two decades, has died since we posted this. The 66-year-old had suffered from heart disease and had been operated on in Germany in 1997. After the ice park and the book-shaped library, President Saparmurat Niyazov has continued with his recent role as the Turkmen father [...]

Hunger Strike to Save Star Ferry

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz9iHhJNCLo] Global Voices Online has full coverage of the Star Ferry hunger strike in which hundreds of demonstrators campaigned to save this historic icon of the former British colony’s history from demolition to make way for a new highway and central business development. Sadly, the clock tower that once graced the Star Ferry terminal in [...]

China Will Shoot Escaping Tibetans, Local Officials Tell Resident

Escapees betrayed for a few hundred yuan… Chinese officials in the Himalayan border regions near the Nepalese border have warned local residents they will shoot any Tibetans attempting to flee the country, one resident of the region has told RFA’s Tibetan service. “It has been officially publicized. They said that nobody can leave,” one resident [...]

Shahrazad – Uyghur music video

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaezJkxb9YE] This video clip of a group of three ethnic Uyghurs from Uzbekistan, who have become one of the most popular pop acts among Uyghurs in their homeland (now known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China), has stimulated quite a feisty debate about Chinese rule in the comments section. Uploaded by Michael D. [...]

Whither China's civil rights movement?

As we move into the holiday season, broadcasters around the world are turning their attention to the traditional year-ender. These retrospectives of the year’s events are a handy way of filling large chunks of airtime so the holiday shifts can be run with a minimum of staff. But they are also a rare opportunity to [...]

Chen Guangcheng believes in the system

What’s quite amazing, in terms of the human story of civil rights activists in China, is the emotional impact they must have on anyone within the system that they come into contact with.