RFA Unplugged

Archive for April, 2009

Burma, Worst for Bloggers – CPJ

According to the New York based Center to Protect Journalists, Burma is the worst country for bloggers. Vietnam comes number 6 on the list of difficult places for freedom of expression and China number 8. “Bloggers are at the vanguard of the information revolution and their numbers are expanding rapidly,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel [...]

'Deep Scars' Left by Nargis

A year after cyclone Nargis wrecked Burma, hundreds of orphaned children are still a long way from recovering. Monks are stepping in to provide shelter and protection.  Will it be enough for these young lives to grow?

Popular social media tool blocked in China

Plurk, a technology which is similar to twitter and is quite popular in China is blocked. Read about it tomorrow on the RFA Cantonese service. As the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen events approaches the Chinese government may be taking action against social media tools during this sensitive period. Chinese people have recently been quite [...]

Police Swoop on Beijing University

University professor Sun Dong Dong was reported as saying that 99 percent of long-term petitioners —were mentally ill. Not surprisingly, they didn’t like it and let it be known. See the original article

Anniversary Sparks Student Memories

The June 4th, 1989 failed uprising remains one of the most tabou topic in the Chinese press and message boards. As the 20th anniversary of these events gets closer, Chinese students and others want to remember – no matter what.

N. Korean Defectors Bewildered By the South

To flee North Korea and arrive in the rich, wired, consuming culture of South Korea is to feel clueless, fearful and guilty.

Teenagers are particularly bewildered. As part of the newest wave in a decade-old flow of defectors from the North, they arrive stunted from malnutrition and struggling to read.

China 'Rightists' Call for Redress

A group of former “rightists” from China’s prestigious Beijing University has called in an open letter to President Hu Jintao to be rehabilitated following years of political harassment under the leadership of late supreme leader Mao Zedong. It is not the first time they try. Will they succeed this time?

North Korea Defies World Pressure

It must have been the most watched rocket launched ever: South Korea, Japan and the United States – at least – had radars and high-definition cameras scrutinizing the vehicle that might have ended in the water after it passed over Japan.

North Korea Perfects Its Diplomatic Game: Brinkmanship

From the New York Times’ Choe Sang-Hun: North Korea, a dictatorship armed to the teeth but unable to feed its own people without foreign aid, has specialized in provoking the international community for survival.

Demolition Plan for Kashgar, on the silk road

Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have plans to redevelop traditional Uyghur homes in an historic Silk Road city.