China will soon be receiving some unusual visitors:

I will be going to China during September to lecture at the Dalian World UFO conference. Apart from covering my research, my new book "Hair of the Alien"
and the Australian UFO experience, my key interest will be examining
the UFO experience in China. In earlier posts (see May 2005 archive) I
described some of the material sent to me by the active Beijing based
UFO researcher Zhang JingpingMeng Zhao Guo.

This is serious, and if anyone is interested they can apply here. The invitation letter states.:

All delegates need to inform the conference regarding their landing time and transportation means before coming to China, the conference will arrange the receiving of delegates.

The Communist Youth League is sponsoring an anti-Japanese video game (Interfax via Bills Due):

Shanghai.  August 23.  INTERFAX-CHINA -
PowerNet Technology, a Chinese online gaming firm, has developed a new
online game in cooperation with the China Communist Youth League (CCYL)
named "Anti-Japan War Online," which will begin commercial operation by
the end of 2005, a PowerNet official said Tuesday.
"The game will allow players, especially
younger players, to learn from history. They will get a patriotic
feeling when fighting invaders to safeguard their motherland," a
PowerNet Project Manager, surnamed Liu, told Interfax.
The background for "Anti-Japan War
Online" is the Japanese invasion of China during World War II, from
1937 through 1945. Players are able to play simulations of key battles,
but will only be able to play as the Chinese side. Players will also
not be allowed to kill other players in the game.

Those who are worried that this will enourage anti-Japanese sentiments among the youth need not worry too much. Game play will be limited to three hours (Interfax via CDT):

The Chinese Government unveiled a new system Tuesday to prevent
individuals from playing online games for more than three consecutive
hours, which must be installed for every online game in the country.

"This timing mechanism can prevent young people from becoming
addicted to online games," Kou Xiaowei, Deputy Director of the
Audiovisual and Internet Publication Department of the General
Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), said during a press
conference.

Occasionally, there is something interesting to read in the Shanghai Daily.:

Many Shanghai men are making a highly unusual request: They want
young women wearing halter tops and miniskirts to cover up in the
subway.
It’s not that local males aren’t attracted to the opposite sex. The
problem is that they’re too attracted, and their obvious state of, er,
arousal is getting them in trouble in the confines of Shanghai’s
crowded Metro system.
The victims of sharp glances and sharp elbows, many guys are telling
city newspapers that they girls should stop showing so much skin, even
though skimpy tops and short skirts are comfortable antidotes to the
sultry weather….
"I’ve tried to maintain a distance from women wearing halter tops,
but it’s difficult to avoid bumping into them in you’re jostled by the
crowd," he said.
"One woman stepped on my foot in retaliation. My intentions were innocent, but she didn’t believe me."
Medical experts agree that Mother Nature is often a difficult force to overcome.
"It might be considered sexual harassment if a man has a certain
reaction while standing close to a sexy girl. But it’s a normal
reaction, especially for young men," said Dr. Qi Guangchong, an expert
on men’s health at Jianqiao Hospital.

Bingfeng brings us news of a new Chinese invention, the love making chair.:

MeZhongTai has a good write-up on Donald Rumsfeld’s presscon on Taiwan’s debate of arms purchases, and notes that the Defense Secretary has probably again made some trouble for the State Department:

While speaking of the ROC arms purchase that has been languishing in
the Legislative Yuan due to Pan Blue stonewalling, Rumsfeld commented: "I’ve always believed that countries — sovereign nations have to do what they decide to do."

Some poor diplomat is going to have to restate the "US supports the ‘one China policy’" spiel again. As my (made in China) talking Rumsfeld doll says, "That’s diplomacy and I don’t do diplomacy."

Lloyd’s is standing by it’s risk rating on the Malacca Strait, as it should:

The Joint War Committe of the Lloyd’s Market Association, an advisory organization for insurance companies, announced last week it will stand by a report drafted by Aegis Defense System, a London-based security consultancy.
Aegis
had released a report in July with quite a dim outlook on security in
the Malacca Strait, which resulted in insurance companies designating a
"war risk" rating for the trading route crucial to East Asian
economies. In turn, ASEAN countries and shipping companies throughout
East Asia have been riled. With insurance rates going up, shipping
costs have reportedly increased significantly.

The risk of terrorism in the Strait has been something I’ve written about frequently, and the risk has been noted by the International Marine Bureau’s piracy center and numerous international intelligence agencies. Indonesia and Malaysia, which have admitted the risk, have refused repeatedly to allow non-littoral states to participate in anti-piracy patrols. Singapore, the other littoral state, has sought assistance. If increased insurance costs for Malaysia and Indonesia are what’s needed to convince them that safety is more important than national pride than so be it.

I hope that the Homeland Security department doesn’t read Gaurav Sabnis’ blog. If they do my duty-free single malts will probably be repackaged in plastic bottles:

We are allowed to carry bottles….glass bottles in our cabin baggage.
Doesn’t anybody feel bothered by this? The 9/11 hijackings were carried
out using box cutters. You know what is a more potent weapon than a box
cutter? Anybody who has seen a fight sequence from a Hindi film which
takes place in a college canteen or a restaurant will know the answer.
A glass bottle, broken such that its jagged edges turn it into a weapon.

If my next bottle of duty-free Glenmorangie comes in anything other than a corked glass bottle I’m blaming you Gaurav!
Feedback and links have been very positive for AsiaPundit’s China econonic roundups, so much so that  I’ve considered doing an India economic roundup. I’ve decided against it. If you want an India economic roundup just read the always excellent Indian Economy Blog.

Speaking of Indian economics, 80% of Indian children lead SUCKY lives.:

Though Africa (especially lately) is the continent many of us associate with poverty and desperation, Asia has double the number of “severely deprived” children.  I’m ashamed of my ignorance of this fact.  It’s so easy to focus on Bangalore and Gurgaon, on starbucks-esque “third places”, on “desirable” India.  I heard so much about India’s fabulous new middle class, I forgot that.

I also admit that in ‘world-class’ Shanghai I very rarely consider how many Chinese children live sucky lives.

Further on the Indian economy, does it need a touch of objectivism?:

Now although I’m one of those Desi dudes who cites Atlas Shrugged as an all-time favorite, I’m far from a Randroid.  I readily recognize that being too literal runs headlong into a more, uh, empirical assessment of the human condition.
But, I’m also more than willing to give Rand credit - especially
writing in the 1940s and 1950s - for being far more right than wrong
and a rather courageous contrarian against the intellectual zeitgeist
of the time.  The example of the License Raj - India’s economic regime
“progressively” enacted a scant few years after Atlas Shrugged was
published (1957) proves her eerily, almost literally prescient.

Oh crap. All of my friends in Singapore are going to be arrested and forced to work in telemarketing.:

I am not sure if many of you realise this, but if you own an iPod or
an MP3 player in Singapore, and you ripped music off your OWN CDs, you
are actually breaking the law in Singapore.

After the papers reported about the 3 guys who got arrested for
illegal filesharing under the new law, there was this FAQ that was
quoted off the IPOS site (Intellectual Property Office of Singapore).

Q. How do I know whether the songs in my computer or MP3 player are legal?
A. If you didn’t buy it from a legal site like Soundbuzz, it
is probably illegal. Plus, when you buy a CD, the rights only apply to
the CD; this means you cannot rip songs out and make them into MP3s for
your player.Generally, it’s advisable to check the terms and conditions of
use before you make a copy of the songs. — SOURCE: INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY OFFICE OF SINGAPORE"

mr brown’s also tipped me to the cyborg name generator which links nicely with my TypePad profile:

I’m a giant robot built by Sony. My hand went bad, so I cut it off at the wrist. I woo women with my sensuous trombone playing.
I’m a mild-mannered reporter.
I’ve been mistaken for various celebrities, including: Kiefer
Sutherland, Hugo Weaving, Leonardo DeCaprio and Iggy Pop. None of them
look alike, but I live in Asia, so we all look alike.

Cool, Singapore is having a Sex Expo (Sexpo?). Maybe someday it will have free and fair elections.:

Look at the words used to describe Singapore,
’staid’,'tightly-controlled’, ’stuffy’ are just a few. Do these words
refer to the political situation or your right to buy an erotic toy?
The idea that these images can be shaken off by turning to the lowest
common denominator is just cheap….
The staid image is an image of the political
situation. Allowing an erotic toy will not somehow undermine that
image. It will merely cheapen it.

Taiwan doesn’t just make laptops and iPods. It makes creepy wheelchairs.:

bet there’s another thing you didn’t know. Those wheelchairs you saw in the 1980 horror opus The Changeling–do
you know where they came from? That’s right! Taiwan. I say
wheelchair"s" because even back in 1980 Hollywood saw Taiwan’s
Innovalue and commissioned them to make a series of wheelchairs for the
film, which starred George C. Scott. One for stunts, one to look old in
the attic scenes, one for the flashbacks, etc., etc. And they did it
all for half the price of what it would cost in the States, just like
many big U.S. electronic companies are finding when it comes to R&D.

If you’re in Laos, your body belongs to the state.:

"Sexual interaction with a Lao citizen who is not your lawful spouse is prohibited; breach of this law carries a $500 fine."

Okay, after you stopped laughing, let’s look at this thing a bit closer. It seems that Lao citizens lent their rights over their own bodies to the government, no? I guess the Lao PDR tries to maintain a "pure" Lao blood, minimizing the entry of the "inferior" Thai genes only to relationships that carry the government-approved piece of paper. Maybe they would do away with that too, if they could. For now, this law effectively turned nearly all Lao women and men to the likes of pricey prostitutes.

HK Dave at Simon World has a post about Chinese and Indian models.:

No, no, not the type that pose in swimsuits and lingerie - I speak of
their models of development. Before you close this browser window
though, consider that the relative success or failure of these two
great Asian nations may very well determine the course of the 21st
century

I closed the window.

But I bookmarked to read tomorrow. Click through and read it all and you’ll be a day ahead of me.