Asia Blog: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

The New Travel Weekly magazine has outraged Chinese by publishing so called “sexy disaster photos.” The magazine has been shut down by government officials in Chongqing until the situation is rectified, calling the photos an “extremely evil social influence.” You can find News thread containing the photos; the magazine’s Editor-in-chief, Editor, and Deputy Editor have all been fired. The photos came at the beginning of the first Chinese national period of mourning since Chairman Mao Zedong died in 1976, and after more than 65,000 (to date) have been officially reported dead after a deadly earthquake struck Sichuan.

As pictured above, the photos feature models made up with stylized blood, titled with the Chinese characters for disaster (灾难), and surrounded by rubble. Certainly, the are in poor taste, and offer nothing substantial to the ongoing crisis. One of the magazine employees, surnamed Cai, said to reporters: “If the outcome of the rectification is satisfactory, it is possible to reopen the magazine. After all, only part of the staff made the decision to print that shoot. It wouldn’t be fair to just close it for good.”

The infamous hate group known as the Westboro Baptist Church recently issued a press release titled “Thank God for the Great Killer Earthquake,” in which they thank God for killing Chinese:

Thank God for the Great Killer Earthquake that He sent to kill thousands of stiffhearted Chinese rebels against God. Our prayer is for many more earthquakes to kill many more thousands of impudent and ungrateful Chinese.

This is why American free speech sucks–it has to allow even vile hate speech such as the above. When 20,000 people die in a random act of nature, Americans everywhere should be sending aid, flying to China to help rebuild with their own hands, or raising support in the USA. Instead, we have handfuls of crackpots producing insane press releases in the name of American conservative Christianity. China, with its distaste for organized religion and hateful speech, would never allow an organization like the Westboro Baptist Church to prosper. To any Chinese that might read this, true Americans and Christians extend love and compassion to you.

For more constructive ways to assist China in its time of need, Shanghaiist has made a nice list of charities you can contribute to, such as the Red Cross.

He most likely decided in 2007 to stop dying his hair black and let the gray show through. The last photo is much larger and shows his face more clearly so the comparison to the others should be made with caution.

This is one part cute and one part sad to watch this Japanese newscaster go from black hair to grey. It’s amazing how much older he looks accented by that hair; note his face changes very little.