Asia Blog: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

Here’s an angle I’ve never heard before: Why the people of China WANT censorship. In his article, he writes:

Nationalistic pride, mixed with a feeling of racial superiority, mixed with the idea that the government is never wrong, mixed with saving face… It is a scary/irritating situation I live with every day. […] When censorship happens, it is not so much the government controlling the people, as it is 1.3 billion people putting their fingers in their ears and saying “Mmmmmm!!!!! I can’t HEAR youuuu!” Not only are conflicting ideas censored, but any negative events or occurrences within China.

It’s a good read, go check it out! While you’re at it, you might also want to read the thesis that Chinese people are naturally superior and hard-working, so SE Asian countries with high numbers of Chinese are naturally more prosperous.  I’m not sure that I believe that one…

There’s something strange about Malaysia. Even though most of its citizens are conservative muslims, the rest are conservative whatever-they-ares. The country is notorious for censorship. Here’s just three random examples from the BBC:

1. Malaysia outlaws unsuitable names
2. Botox ban for Malaysian Muslims
3. Kiss warning to Malaysia tourists

Tourist aren’t allowed to kiss because, “kissing and hugging [isn’t] acceptable to Malaysian citizens” according to Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz. According to the 2004 Global Sex Survey by condom manufacturer Durex, Malaysian’s are the second most-virgin (losing to Vietnam), and the sixth least-sexed. So, if abstinence is the goal of censorship, the banning of public affection, and other laws in Malaysia, it’s probably working.

I wonder what would happen if you correlate things like “standard of living” and “GDP” with sexual satisfaction and cultural tolerance.  It’s probably no accident that well-to-do countries are often made up of more open societies.

According to an article by the Register, 97% of illicit search queries in China, as determined by governmental censors, are filtered by Yahoo.  Sometimes the search engine even imposes a time-out penalty:

In fact, researchers found that searching for “Tibet independence” or “6-4″ (4 June is the anniversary of Tiananmen Square) won’t just give you shonky results but will get you barred from the site for an hour.

I must point out that censorship of the internet is simply fighting a losing battle.  If people are saying that your government sucks, the solution isn’t to prevent other people from hearing them, but to make your government un-sucky.

According the Register, Apple’s contractor in China, Foxconn, has been breaking Chinese labour laws in its iPod factories.  Its employees were forced to work at least 80 extra hours a month, paying the workers the local minimum wage.  And, according to Foxconn, an Apple representative inspected the factories and gave them “the thumbs up.”

Wired has an article with more specifics about the salary that the Chinese women working in the factory make:

According to the report (paraphrased here by Macworld UK), Foxconn’s giant Longhua plant employs 200,000 workers, who work 15-hour days but are paid just $50 a month — miserable even by China’s standards. It claims they work and live in the plant, in dormitories housing 100 people, and outside visitors are forbidden.

However, the large corporations running factories in China and abroad claim to enforce basic standards of living across all of their sites.  And, while these standards are lower than US standards, they are probably above an “acceptable” line by some local measure, or no one would choose to work at the factory.

Danwei has an article describing two advertisements in Chinese newspapers and fliers.  One, from a self-described “healthy individual” offered to sell healthy organs to anyone “in need.”  The other offered to stalk a person, or inflict vengeance in the form of cutting off an arm or leg.

“We can cut hands, feet, or we can ‘do’ someone directly. But that’s the most expensive - it costs 50,000 yuan.”

Sounds like what the Mafia used to do for free in the US.