Asia Blog: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

Businessweek Online notes that China is not only in a building boom, but in an architectural golden age:

The article notes that the boom is occurring virtually everywhere, and then goes on to contradict itself:

Still, it’s Beijing and Shanghai, the nation’s most populous cities, that are attracting the most attention. The roster of talent hired to complete projects in these two megacities reads like a Who’s Who of star architects: Holland’s Rem Koolhaas, Switzerland’s Herzog & de Meuron, and Britain’s Foster & Partners are all completing buildings scheduled to debut by the time the Olympic torch is lit.

Oh well–China is growing in a blaze of pretty buildings.

I’m a big believer in freedom of information, be it intellectual property, political opinions, or crazy rantings. So, it’s a bit upsetting to read about the effort to which China censors online content. Worse is that Google, Yahoo, MSN, and others are working hand in hand to easily facilitate the removal of content “offensive” to the Chinese government.

The argument pro censor necessarily grows from the following theory:

We, the ruling party, know what is better for the people than they do, because we are specially selected as the best and they are the average mass. We therefore are equipped to decide what kind of knowledge is good for them or not.

To casual inspection, this is sound. However, it assumes a hidden precondition, that rulers have some natural right to arbitrarily limit fundamental freedoms of the populace. This is one that America specifically rejects by Constitution and Bill of Rights, granting certain liberties to its citizens that its founders would consider to be universal and necessary.

So, why does writing opinion about Chinese history offend the government? Why does speaking out against the government offend the government? The question of the day is: “If you care about limiting speech, are you more worried about maintaining the political status quo, or serving the Chinese people?” Perhaps the answer is obvious.

My little sister taught me how to make origami paper cranes today, and gifted me with three very beautiful miniature animals:

Three tiny origami animals

The big crane

The small crane

The frog

According to Ars Technica, 221 people and over 600 web sites have been shut down for distributing pornographic or obscene materials. Yes, Chinese porn is a booming business, and one that the government is not willing to support, even tacitly.

The best place to look for information on the XXX adult industry in China is probably Asian Sex Gazette. Apparently, the government has been banning adult keywords from major Chinese search engines:

Baidu chief Bi Sheng told the Chinese state news agency Xinhua that barring the 40,000 keywords is good for blocking about 500,000 porn pages.

The Internet Society of China has recently issued a proclaimation that bars search engines from linking to, archiving, or associating with pornographic or inappropriate content. According to Cai Ming, deputy director of the State Council Information Office, the pact is a self-discipline agreement. Most search engines seem to be complying.

Does this mean that China has no demand for adult materials? With nude lovers’ photos, sex education BBS, and Chinese sex bloggers, it seems as if China has the same fascination with the sexual that America has. Bloggers proclaim the superiority of the Chinese sex drive. Even the government’s response to Chinese sex online should be an indication of the adult enterntainment boom in China–why hunt down something unless there’s popular demand?

I’ll leave you with the following quote:

It has just recently announced that recent research shows 80% of people in Beijing are now having premarital sex. Twenty-two years ago that number was only 15%.