China Feature: American Dream? Why Some Chinese Mothers Are Giving Birth in the US (Lin)

Facing economic challenges in mainland China, some newly-married couples from wealthy families have looked elsewhere for a better future for their unborn children: one with quality medical services, educational opportunities, and the security of good, healthy food.

For several years, Hong Kong --- formally part of China, with a similar culture and a lower cost than alternatives --- was the preferred location. However, in October 2011, residents began to protest against the increasing number of pregnant women from the mainland, whom they claimed were taking benefits without paying taxes. They called on the Hong Kong government to stop issuing birth certificates to the “foreign” newborns. Since 1 January 2013, the hospitals will no longer accept bed reservation for babies whose parents are neither local residents.

Those Chinese who did not want to give up the dream came up with a solution: why not go to the US? However, they are now finding that there is not necessarily a clear boundary between an American Dream and an American Nightmare.

Click to read more ...

China Feature: Week in Review --- From A Dispute With Japan to A Japanese Apology (Lin)

---

China Objects to US Comments in Diaoyu Islands Dispute

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Sunday that Beijing is "firmly opposed" to comments made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about China's dispute with Japan over the Daioyu Islands.

Click to read more ...

China Feature: Week in Review --- Pollution Chokes Beijing, Censorship Chokes a Major Newspaper (Lin)

---

In a possible test for new Chinese leader Xi Jinping's views on media freedom, the political effects continue from censorship of the leading newspaper Southern Weekend, after authorities banned a New Year’s editorial, “Chinese Dream, A Dream of Constitutionalism”.

An open letter signed by prominent academics has called on a top propaganda official in southern China to resign over allegations that he unjustifiably censored the comment.

The letter by the academics threatened to undermine the Communist Party’s effort to put away the editorial, but authorities have held the line. Southern Weekly was forced to announce that the published editorial was not tampered and apologise for some "spelling mistakes" in a rush work. The Central Propaganda Department ordered mainstream media to carry an official editorial from the Global Times, a party-controlled newspaper, saying any reference to wide-spread version of “constitutionalism” had been a mistake and also spoke of manipulation by outside powers. When Beijing News refused to carry the official editorial, it was threatened with dissolution.

Click to read more ...

North Korea Music Video Special: From "Horse-Like Lady" to the Leader's Girlfriend?

The 2005 smash hit "Excellent Horse-Like Lady"

---

North Korea's hot gossip starts with a mystery woman and gets better....

Click to read more ...

China Snapshot: Beijing Puts 1st Woman Astronaut Into Space

---

Christina Wang and Iris Gao write for EA:

China made history last Saturday when it launched a spacecraft sending the nation's first female astronaut into space.

The Long March 2F rocket, carrying the manned spacecraft Shenzhou IX, took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province in northwestern China. Inside the capsule was Liu Yang, 33, with commanding officer Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang.

At the sending-off ceremony, Wu Bangguo, the head of China's legislature, saluted the three astronauts, "The country and the people are looking forward to your successful return."

Click to read more ...

China Snapshot: How Public Pressure Dismissed Officials and Caught a Serial Killer

Chinese TV broadcast on the hunt for the serial killer in Yunnan Province

---

What makes this more than a dramatic serial-killer case? The pressure of the public.

The investigation to catch the murderer was spurred by the outcry of the victims' families, who said that police ignored their pleas for help and prevented them from contacting the media. Far from deferring to authorities,, the complaints of the relatives led not only to a belated investigation but to the dismissal of some of those officials.

Click to read more ...

North Korea Video Feature: The Wonderful World of the Regime's YouTube Channel (McFadden)

Disney, Take Note --- the North Korean regime's cartoon animals portray conflict and re-unification

---

One of the more striking cartoons features a young boy, who falls asleep while doing his math homework and dreams of blowing up American warships and landing craft with missiles. While the other boys in his dream are successful at hutting their targets, the main character does not know how to zero in on the proper coordinates because he did not learn from his homework. When he wakes from the nightmare, he immediately returns to his studies.

Click to read more ...

China Snapshot: Manila and Beijing Clash Over Territorial Waters (Wang/Gao)

A Filipino protester burns a Chinese flag

---

On 11 May, Filipinos gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy in Manila, protesting "the overbearing actions and stance of the government in Beijing, which behaves like an arrogant overlord, even in the home of its neighbours". The incident provoking the demonstration was a clash in waters claimed by both countries.

On 8 April, a Philippines warship and two Chinese patrol boats confronted each other off the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island for China; Kulumpol ng Panatag for the Philippines) after the Philippine navy tried to arrest two Chinese fishermen. The Philippine side claimed these Chinese fishing boats were in their waters; the Chinese disputed this.

Click to read more ...

China Video Snapshot: Fishermen Clash with South Korean Coast Guard

Background to this month's incident: an Al Jazeera report on conflict between Chinese fishermen and South Korean authorities in 2010

---

On 30 April, a Chinese fishing boat was intercepted by the South Korean coast guard. During the subsequent clash, three Koreans were injured, one fell overboard, and three more hid in the water. Eventually, the Chinese crew was subdued, and nine crew were arrested.

Christina Wang and Iris Gao write their first article for EA WorldView:

Click to read more ...

MENA Feature: Made in China --- The Arab Spring's Mobile Technology (LeVine)

---

Arab activists could not have achieved their stunning successes without Blackberries, iPhones, laptops and the other weapons of contemporary revolution. But what few have noticed - or at least wanted to think about --- is that the spread of these technologies across the Arab world is the result of intense and often crushing exploitation of the millions of workers on the other side of Eurasia who produce the devices that have enabled the revolutions. The economies of scale and efficiencies in production technologies that have put prices for computers, HiDef video cameras and smart phones within the reach of middle and working class Arabs have pushed the workers that produce these products to the edge.

Mohamed Bouazizi was the last of three Tunisians who committed suicide in 2010 in protest against a life without hope. In Egypt, four self-immolations preceded the call to Tahrir on January 25, 2011. In China, 18 workers at just one Apple production complex attempted suicide in 2009-2010. Many more have threatened suicides, and hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers have staged labour actions to protest on-going violations of workers’ rights throughout the country.

Of course, millions of workers have little choice but to go to that edge - according to numerous reports by Chinese and foreign activists, journalists and human rights groups, workers will grudgingly accept mandatory and unpaid overtime, 18-hour days spent standing until legs swell, the use of toxic chemicals and other violations of international (and often Chinese) labour laws. They do so because the wages, however low by Western standards, are better than what could be earned in other jobs. But this doesn't justify the conditions under which they are forced to work, or the fact that they suffer as corporations like Apple are making unprecedented profits from the devices these workers build.

Click to read more ...