AsiaPundit is a lazy sod when it comes to blogrolling, and is actively considering outsourcing the task to someone in China or India. Until then, two new history blogs are worth adding to your reading lists now.

The Sparkplug is a China-focused photo history blog. For an example of what’s on offer, check out this post on the criticism and death of Wu Han.:

The official being criticized at left in this photograph is Wu Han (吴晗), vice mayor of Beijing and the author of the play "The Dismissal of Hai Rui" (海瑞罢官), which was the focus of the internal power struggle leading up to the Cultural Revolution.

As a result, the treatment of Wu and his family was exceptionally harsh.

Wu was often criticized at public struggle sessions during 1966 and 1967. In this picture, it is interesting to note that he is wearing a traditional-style jacket instead of the Zhongshan suit that most people wore during this period. Wu was arrested by the Ministry of Public Security in 1968 and died in prison on Oct. 11, 1969.

As well, visit the new addition to the Frog in a Well history blogs, focusing on Korea. Here is a post looking at the demotion of a history teacher:

[W]hen a Tokyo city councilman in an official meeting said “Japan never invaded Korea,” her history class sent an apology to Korean President Roh Moo-hyan - an action that sparked her removal from her classroom.

[…]

Masuda, who says her two sons have Korean friends, got censured after her class did a study group on Japan’s occupation of Korea. Her social studies class wrote a letter of apology to Roh, and sent it to the Korean Embassy in Toyko. In a cover letter, Masuda said that councilman Koga Toshiaki’s remarks were “a disgrace” by objective historical standards, but “regrettably [they] can be presented proudly as a triumph in the assembly of Tokyo, the capital of this country.”

The class never heard from the Korean consul. But Masuda did hear from the Tokyo Board of Education. Her letter was discovered by a Yasukuni shrine support group and they complained to city officials. Masuda was told that while Mr. Koga did speak in public, it was “inappropriate” for Masuda to repeat his name in a letter that was not private, and a violation of city employee codes.

AsiaPundit admits a Shanghai bias and a focus on the urban coastal centers of China. it’s good  to have a blogger on the opposite end of China. And it’s reassuring that, even with the outbreak of bird flu in nearby Anhui Province, AP is still far from the bird-flu’s most afflicted area.:

Time to break out the champagne. I didn’t think we could do it, but Xinjiang has just been named "the most-afflicted area in the country" (in terms of bird flu) by China Daily. We were awarded the top title after Xinjiang’s seventh outbreak in ten days was announced to have struck a farm outside of Turpan. That’s gotta be some kind of record! I’m going to have to start taking bets on when Korla’s first confirmed H5N1 sighting will happen. My money is on the first of December.

Finally, something that would have been more valuable before AsiaPundit was blocked in China. 

Dongxi Magazine - a newly launched publication China-wide magazine gratuitously publishing words, thoughts, ideas, lists, letters, reviews, poems, translations, short stories, images, photos and artwork - is seeking contributors:

All contributors shall be paid, at the expense of our advertising budget. Fifty RMB per poems, photograph or piece of art, and two hundred to five hundred RMB per short story. We thought we’d best get this juicy tidbit of info out as quickly as possible; hopefully it’s something you can use. As we’re currently working on getting the first issue out, this is the best we can give you for now.

Contact them at dxzine(at)gmail.com or via their website.

Technorati Tags: asia, bird flu, china, east asia, korea, northeast asia, south korea