Both Mr and Mrs AsiaPundit are vegetarian, naturally we prefer to use those not-tested-on-animals  and not-made-with-animals products provided by the Body Shop. Mrs AP especially! She’ll be so happy to hear that China cosmetic firms don’t need to test on animals, a loosely sourced Guardian report indicates that body shops do exist in China.

A Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from the corpses of
executed convicts to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, an
investigation by the Guardian has discovered.

Agents for the firm have told would-be customers it is developing
collagen for lip and wrinkle treatments from skin taken from prisoners
after they have been shot. The agents say some of the company’s
products have been exported to the UK, and that the use of skin from
condemned convicts is "traditional" and nothing to "make such a big
fuss about."

The report doesn’t state whether the cosmetic company or the prisoner’s family is charged for the bullet.

The Asian Naturist blog notes a progressive development in cross-Strait tourism, though I doubt that governments on either side have approved it.:

A Taiwanese travel agency is developing a new market: taking nude photographs amid some of the most beautiful scenery in China.
For
some 38,000 New Taiwan dollars - that’s about 1,300 US dollars - you
can book a 6-day trip to Guilin, the city in southern China’s Guangxi
province famous for its tall rock formations and scenic rivers.
The
tour also includes the presence of nude, presumably female, models who
pose by the side of the water with the scenery in the background…
The travel agency
- which is owned by the same media group as the newspaper which
published this report - warns that any photographer wanting to exhibit
the fruits of his labor in a gallery or on a Web site back home has to
respect the law. In other words, the Taiwanese authorities might be
less lenient for scenes of nudity than the Chinese ones.

Oddly, the poorest state in the Malaysian union, and one that has elected Islamist governments, has the highest reported usage of sex toys.

The Malaysian state of Kelantan may be orthodox in many ways - but not in matter of sex it seems, official studies have shown.
Sex-aids and stimulants are more widely used in this Malay state than any other in the country.
These are popular even with women who have reached menopause the studies have
found.
Human Reproduction Specialist Centre head for the National Population and
Family Development Board Dr Mohd Ismail Mohd Tambi said studies showed most
couples here opted for sex aids such as beads, rings and studs.

Dr Ismail said this was because many wanted to experience more pleasure in
their sex lives to maintain a happier marriage.

Thomas Barnett sees a media trend.:

Burst of media OMYGOD! coverage on China because of Hu’s visit

■"U.S.-Chinese trade relations get trickier: Security concerns put pressure on already-testy relationship," by David J. Lynch, USA Today, 13 September 2005, p. 1B.

■"Japan’s Rivalry With China Roils A Crowded Sea," by Norimitsu Onishi and Howard W. French, New York Times, 11 September 2005, p. A1.

■"Mexico Builds Trade Ties With China:  Hu Furthers Quest For Latin Resources," by James C. McKinley Jr., New York Times, 13 September 2005, p. A3.

■"China’s State Secrets Agency Will Guard One Less:  Death Tolls," by Joseph Kahn, New York Times, 13 September 2005, p. A3.

■"China Promotes ‘Peaceful Rise’ to Quell U.S. Fears," by Charles Hutzler, Wall Street Journal, 13 September 2005, p. A15.

At Rank, AsiaPundit is informed that visitors are flocking to the Kuomintang’s headquarters to view Chairman Ma’s asset.:

A painting of KMT Chairman and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou now hanging in
an art gallery on the fifth floor of KMT headquarters in Taipei. The
caption in the China Times explains that this photo has been popular
with female visitors (I guess only straight people go to KMT
headquarters?).
The portrait actually evokes a campaign ad from
the KMT chairman election in July showed a brooding, windswept Ma
staring into the pounding surf on Taiwan’s coast. Maybe he’s thinking
of getting direct links with China going by swimming across the Taiwan
Strait in the buff?

Also from Taiwan the Bureau of Health Promotion has denied that its logo is, umm, suggestive.:

Stop thinking those dirty thoughts, you bad, bad person! That Bureau of Health Promotion logo is NOT a sexually suggestive depiction of threesome–the BHP has even issued a statement about it, OK?

The Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP) issued a statement to clarify the
meaning of its logo after the media described it as sexually
suggestive.

The bureau’s emblem features three stick figures
spelling out the bureau’s acronym — BHP (see inset). A television news
station pointed out yesterday that the figure in the center, with a
protruding stub as the bridge for a capitalized "H," seems to be
engaged in a sexual act with the figure on the right, which is caved in
to represent the curve on a capitalized "P."…
The three characters
on the emblem represent "mutual caring and the promotion of health,"
said BHP. The surrounding circle symbolizes the unending sky and the
bureau’s omnipresence when promoting health concepts.

Do you Yahoo!? … yes? Well stop!

Yahoo is getting burned after a conflict with the Chinese government
over a journalist. According to the South China Morning Post:

Bloggers and human rights groups are calling for a boycott of Yahoo
after the United States internet giant supplied information to the
Chinese central government that led to a 10-year prison sentence for
mainland journalist Shi Tao.
Several posters to internet forums and blog sites criticised Yahoo
for its actions and promised to quit using the company’s services. "I
do not intend to click on Yahoo ever again, and I’m urging everyone I
know to do the same," one internet poster said.
The controversy surrounding Yahoo’s involvement in the case
highlights the risks foreign internet companies take on as they pursue
the lucrative mainland market: complying with the government’s strict
demands on regulation of the internet could end up damaging a company’s
reputation back home.

AsiaPundit is a journalist by profession, although he narrowly missed the pursuit of academia and still always enjoys research blogs such as Harvard Extended and this developing thesis on the Chinese blogosphere.

Kenny Sia has a on what it means to be a patriot, and an excellent round of comments. As a Canadian who is often attacked by fellow citizens for being critical of the government, I’m on the same page. A patriot does not seek to excuse his country’s faults, he seeks to correct them.:

Why should we accept the flaws of this country? Are we saying that
we should accept handbag-snatchers, dirty streets and crazy-ass traffic
officers seeking a contribution to their retirement fund as the norm?
Of course not.
I’m just disappointed that there are people I know who’s saying we
should all just shut the fook up and quietly eat all the crap being
thrown at us JUST because that’s what we grew up with and that’s the
way things work around here. I mean, if I were to follow THAT advice
during my fiasco with the Malaysian Customs, I’m probably never ever gonna get my money back.
No, I will not let you screw me in the ass just because that’s the
way things work around here. If you’re being unfairly treated because
of some stupid policy, stand up and speak up for yourself. Challenge
the authority.
What everyone ought to remember is that love for the country is very different from love for the government.
A lot of shits we had to put up with are the direct result of both the
government’s lack of planning/lack of foresight/lack of common sense
and some uncivilised citizens. Keeping our cities clean is everyone’s
responsibilities, but how many people actually follow that principle?