Asia Blog: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

The popular US sport of sexting is becoming illegal in China, with Henan province instituting harsh penalties of 10 days in jail and a fine of 500 yuan. According to Penalties ordered for dirty texting in China Daily, the new law is to curb text message spam, banning “sending an erotic, insulting or threatening messages, which interrupt receivers’ normal lives.” Zhang Kai, 26, was quoted as being pro the measure:

“I’m totally for the rules. It’s uncomfortable to get dirty text messages from male friends and even more gross when they are from strangers. But I’ll take them as jokes and reply if they are from my female friends.”

Members of the communist party in Shenze country in Hebei have been diligent in stamping out ‘inappropriate’ text messages:

“Obscene information not only harms the people’s soul but harms the people’s morality as well,” it quoted the party rule as saying. Since July 10, Shenze party officials have held 480 meetings to discuss the harmful effects of obscene messages.

In the United States of America, sexual harassment via text message (or any other method) is already illegal, because it’s harassment. So, a law specific to the deliver of the harassment is not necessary. However, if in China text message spam is growing problem (as say MSN spam is here), then something like this would be useful in shutting down mass spam enterprises.

Jinan University (暨南大学) has a new redesigned website that is identical in appearance to Cornell University’s. Check out the comparison screenshots below, and the electronic plagiarism will be easily apparent to the naked eye:

Jinan University home page

Cornell University home page

From what I can find about it online, Jinan University is a small liberal arts college in China, equivalent to a third-tier, mediocre school here in the US. That they have completely ripped off Cornell’s beautiful web design for their own homepage is not particularly surprising in light of the lowly status 暨南大学.

The actual copying is incidental, as Jinan has copied design elements by style, and missing many of the subtler details of the Cornell site. Their images are blurry, aliased, and with halos. Their menu links are cramped and undistinguished; they have no rollover elements. Even their main content doesn’t lay out well on the page, sliding this way or that. So the only question left is why would a third rate school do a poor copy Cornell’s design for their English pages? It just doesn’t make sense, especially as the Jinan Chinese pages are in their own style.

Thank god Shanghaiist can bring some context to the following photo which has been circulating the internet the last week. They point to the Xinhua’s photospread which has appropriate captions:

Members of China’s armed police demonstrate a rapid deployment during an anti-terrorist drill held in Jinan, capital of east China’s Shandong Province July 2, 2008, roughly one month ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Yes, it’s a publicity stunt done by the police for a PR drill in light of the upcoming olympics. Note that the Segway devices are capable of 13 mph out of the gate, and ones used for anti-terrorist deployment are probably modified for a higher speed. 20mph is something that humans can’t sustain with all their gear for very long, so using Segways might not be such a bad idea!

Tomohiro Kato from Shizuoka, a man the media first incorrectly reported as a Yakuza gang member, drove a mid-sized truck into pedestrians in Akihabara, the main electronics shopping district of Tokyo on Sunday. The New York Times reports that seven people died from the stabbing rampage, while another 11 were injured.

The truck used by Tomohiro Kato

The man who committed the “stabbing rampage” was Tomohiro Kato. He lived by himself in a small apartment, and had grown tired of life. Kato told police that he had grown “tired” of life, “hated the world” and had gone to Akihabara to kill random people. “Anyone was O.K., I came to Akihabara to kill people. It didn’t matter whom I’d kill,” he said. Kato wore a beige suit and black-and-white sneakers, and was armed with a 12″ survival knife.

Tomohiro Kato being captured by police

There is more coverage at Japan Probe, who’ve compiled a good list of links and news stories about this incident. It goes to show that even in countries that ban guns–like England and Japan–crimes, killing sprees, and murders can still be committed. And if knives are banned, only criminals will carry knives…

Update: Mashable reveals that the killer “twittered” his attack plan on a Japanese forum:

“I’m going to Akihabara to kill people. If my car is destroyed I’ll use a knife. Goodbye everyone.”
“I’m tired.”
“It’s time, I’m leaving.”
“I’ve entered Kanagawa [prefecture, en-route to Tokyo], I’m taking a rest.”
“I’ve reached Akihabara. Today it’s a pedestrian area, I think.”
“It’s time.”

… 26 bombs exploded killing six in a coordinated attack by gunman in Southern Thailand. The attacks appeared to target Chinese citizens celebrating the new year in all the Muslim provinces of Thailand.  I didn’t know there was a civil war going on there:

Akara said that besides disrupting the New Year festivities, the rebels wanted to show the international community that the Thai government could not control the situation in southern Thailand, thus underlining the rebels’ legitimacy as separatists.

I’m not sure civil war really ever solves problems.  Generally it’s the bloodiest, most horrible, kind of war because you are fighting your own people.  If your mother one day says, “I like things the way they are, I don’t want to split” she’s suddenly your enemy and your revolutionary friends are obliged to tear her apart.