RFA Unplugged

Archive for July, 2007

Tibetan envoy hopeful of change in Beijing's attitude

The Tibetan government-in-exile is still hopeful of continuing negotiations with Beijing about the future of Tibetans inside China, which has ruled the Dalai Lama out of Tibet’s future. The Dalai Lama’s special envoy, Lodi Gyari, took part in a round table discussion on RFA’s Tibetan service recently. In it, he spoke about the current state [...]

Sorrow, ah! sorrow: Cardboard buns and the prison undercurrent

Click here to hear the theme song for this post On July 8, Beijing TV’s Life Channel program <Degree of Transparency> aired the report on “cardboard buns” and gained broad social attention. The Beijing city Industry and Commerce department and the Food Safety Administration paid high attention and formed law enforcement teams to check the [...]

Li Bai: Drinking alone

I’d like to add my version of Li Bai’s well-known poem to a long and venerable list of translations gathered here by Rus Bowden: Drinking alone Here among the flowers I have a flask of wine To pour out just for me: no company tonight. I raise my glass instead to the bright moon, And [...]

North Korea: The politically incorrect, but delightful, Korean Wave

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBO4mTnOFcY] Here is a series of translations by Grigore Scarlatoiu of recent RFA Korean service(KR) reporting on the phenomenon known as the “Korean Wave”, or Hallyu. Above, an extract from episode 1 of “Winter Sonata”.

China: The perils of academic journals

 MANDARIN: China and Control of Publishing (07/09/07) Reporter: Ding Xiao Length: 4:29 Registration numbers for periodicals are firmly controlled by the Press and Publication Administration. It denies such numbers for periodicals that should be published but gives such numbers to periodicals that should not be published. The reality of China is that registration numbers for [...]

Babelicious poetry forum seeks Tibetans

I recently received an e-mail from a fellow poet, Rus Bowden, pictured below; he and I used to post on the Atlantic Monthly writers’ forum before it was closed. He has a keen interest in the literary Web, and has gone on to do very interesting things with poetry online. Here, he shares his ideas [...]

Newsdesk: Student riots in Shandong province

HONG KONG–More than 2,000 students in the northern Chinese province of Shandong rioted last week over plans to change their accommodation just ahead of the exam period, a student told RFA’s Cantonese service. Video taken by a student on the scene, showed students of Zaozhuang College protesting the changes. Posters demanding compensation for the upheaval [...]

China Netcom tracks URLs of broadband users

UPDATE: ADDS comment from Rebecca MacKinnon, Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong‘s Journalism and Media Studies Centre.   “The data retention and sharing with the law enforcement situation there isn’t much different than in many places. The only difference relates to what is considered a crime, how loosely the information is given out [...]

Analysis: China's media law on unexpected public incidents

MANDARIN: Law on Handling Unexpected Public Incidents (6/24/07) Reporter: Yang Jiadai Yang Jiadai: The draft of the Law on Handling Unexpected Public Incidents was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for its first review in June 2006. At that time, the Office of Legislative Affairs of the State Council defended an [...]

Panel discussion: Shanxi brick kiln slave scandal

MANDARIN: Brick Kiln Slave Labor (06/18/07) Length: 4:40 Reporter: Shen Hua Shen Hua (SH): According to Chinese media reports, Wang Dongji, father of Wang Bingbing, owner of the black brick kiln in Caosheng Village of Hongdong County in Shanxi Province, served as the delegate of the Hongdong County People’s Congress for two consecutive terms and [...]