The Bank of China’s IPO has exceeded expectations, with the lender’s share price rising 15 percent on the first day of trading. As well as being positive for early investors like Royal Bank of Scotland, it is good news for the country’s banking sector. Increased foreign investment should improve bank management and lending practices while the inflow will help its balance sheet.

This has worked relatively well for the Citigroup-invested Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB). :

THREE ILLITERATE peasants are in court this week accused of fleecing 82 million RMB from the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank through the use of forged PLA documents. 66 million RMB has already been frittered away, according to reports.

The black hole in the bank’s finances was discovered at the end of 2004 at its Beijing branch. It turns out that the 82 million RMB loan was signed off by the vice-chief of the branch without going through the required approval procedures. The vice-chief, Yu Tianlai, was sentenced to six years in prison last year. He said that he approved the loan because he wanted to take credit for a particularly large piece of business.

Yu admitted that the money was transferred to something called the Shanghai Zhisheng Chemical Company, which had presented accreditation documents from the Central Military Commission, saying that the company was responsible for decommissioning PLA materiel but needed a mortgage.

The man alleged to be responsible is 51 year-old Liu Shulin, a farmer who became a construction worker in Beijing.

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, economy, northeast asia

In November, prior to his selection as US treasury secretary, Henry Paulson gave an extended interview to Germany’s Der Spiegel, offering some of his views on topics including the US deficits and China’s treasury holdings. While generally optimistic on foreign holdings of T-bills, Paulson is not in denial about the deficit being a problem.:

SPIEGEL: The U.S. economy is increasingly dependent on the willingness of the Chinese and other Asian countries to buy huge quantities of U.S. dollars to keep the currency from crashing. Is America’s monetary independence under threat?

Paulson: I think it’s ironic when the very people who rely on growth in the United States for their exports complain about our deficit at the same time. The majority of the world’s countries depend on America as the most important engine for growth.

SPIEGEL: But this situation - where the world’s poorest nations feed capital to its richest country - flies in the face of all experience. It would be like water running up a mountain.

Paulson: It is as much in China’s interests as those of the U.S. that China invests in the dollar. I would say the same about some of our European trading partners. Moreover, a lot of money around the world is seeking investment opportunities. Growth and returns on capital are important drivers of these inflows.

SPIEGEL: Nonetheless, how do we get out of this situation?

Paulson: The United States can only reduce its budget deficit through further growth and greater spending discipline. Trade imbalances normally take care of themselves over time, as currencies adjust or - as in Europe - there is increased growth. Provided, of course, that we are not going to have trade wars or an increase in trade barriers. Those would be very bad for the world economy.

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, northeast asia

While China’s domestic and export sex-toy trade are thriving, in terms of variety there are still serious gaps in what is available in the domestic market. Dinah Gartner reports on the difficulty of finding a strap-on in Beijing in the not-safe for work Asian Sex Gazette.:

So it was that one evening last month I found myself trawling US and UK sex toy websites with fellow dyke in despair, an American editor for a local entertainment magazine, and known to some as The Stud of Beijing, in the vein (sic) attempt to fill my virtual shopping basket with a pleasing assortment of silicone and leather. The Stud comes with her credit card; I supply the wine.

But we are butt plugged at every turn. The Babes in Toyland website stubbornly rejects our Chinese address; we try calling the helpline - but the phone card we buy from the local shop is domestic calls only; Skype, which China threatens to block, doesn’t work with my 10 yuan microphone; and a US$20 online IDD phone card requires a confusing array of passcodes and we can’t work it.

The Stud sends the phone card company an angry email. Which, of course, is never answered.

The flaccid state of decent dildo availability in China may just stem from a lack of demand. Perhaps mainland lesbians just aren’t that hot for strap-on sex.

Says Elisabeth Lund Engebretsen, an anthropologist researching lesbians in Beijing: “Few people I met had actually had experience with them - they either did not find them, found them too expensive, or didn’t dare go into a shop to buy them.

“One pure T (stone butch) said she’d never wear one as that would make her realise even more that she is not a man, which she wanted to be.”

She says she felt that while dykes here showed some interest in using sex toys they didn’t make much of an effort into getting their hands on the equipment.

Having never been in the market, AsiaPundit has no idea where to buy strap on appendages. However, for those within China who are interested in large artificial penises, they may find a recent exhibit in Nanjing to be of interest.

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, northeast asia

DC Comics is unveiling a new team of Chinese superheros called “the Great 10,” to be written by Grant Morrisson — the eccentric mind behind such heros as Danny the Street.

While the new characters are in the comics to be part of a government-sponsored team, it is not expected that they will please the current government. Two of the team are below:

“Mother of Champions, who can give birth to a litter of 25 super-soldiers about every three days.”
(It seems the one-child policy will not apply to super humans.)

“The Socialist Red Guardsman is a character who used his solar powers to carry out the Cultural Revolution.”
(A Red Guard superhero from the cultural revolution? Yikes!)

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, northeast asia

Japan is introducing new regulations that are being compared to Isaac Asimov’s laws of robotics. Technovelgy .:

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is working on a new set of safety guidelines for next-generation robots. This set of regulations would constitute a first attempt at a formal version of the first of Asimov’s science-fictional Laws of Robotics, or at least the portion that states that humans shall not be harmed by robots.

The first law of robotics, as set forth in 1940 by writer Isaac Asimov, states:

A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Japan’s ministry guidelines will require manufacturers to install a sufficient number of sensors to keep robots from running into people. Lighter or softer materials will be preferred, to further prevent injury.

Emergency shut-off buttons will also be required. Science fiction heroes in stories and movies have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find the shut-off button for various out-of-control machines, so I hope that these buttons will be prominently placed for easy access by concerned humans.

While many may welcome these guidelines, we should be deeply concerned that they may eventually become law. As the above inset illustration shows, rogue states such as Latveria will continue to make evil robots no matter what laws other nations adopt. In light of this, we can be thankful that Pentagon has decided against allowing any gaps to develop in killer robot technologies.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, japan, northeast asia, robots

AsiaPundit is behind the curve on picking up the ‘Bus Uncle’ phenomena. Who is Bus Uncle? He’s the latest accidental internet star — although more in the vein of Dog-poop Girl than Mahir Cagri.

The foul-mouthed ‘uncle’ unloads on Hong Kong teenager Alvin after being asked to speak more quietly on his cell phone on a Hong Kong bus, causing an even greater interruption for commuters, an arrest and merchandizing:

As can generally be expected, Roland has the best summary of links and multimedia..

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, hongkong, northeast asia

John Padsen, the big nose who runs Sinosplice and the invaluable China Blog List, notes that ’round eye’ is not used as a derogatory term for Westerners.:

We English speakers have at our disposal an astounding variety of racial slurs. I don’t need to give a list here; we all know it to be true. I think one of the most interesting slurs is “round-eye” because it seems to be invented by the very group of people to whom it refers.

If you’re not familiar with the term, it frequently shows up on racist websites or websites that play up the East/West divide (but not on certain ones—more on this below). It is also used seemingly innocuously at times. It’s supposed to be a term that Asians use for non-Asians.

It may be obvious to many Asians, but as a white American, I didn’t notice anything strange about the way the term is used until after living in China for some time. The truth is, I’ve never heard any Chinese (or Japanese) refer to whites or any non-Asians as “round-eyes,” in Chinese or any other language. At times non-Asians in China might get called hairy, simian, uncivilized, or even evil, but never round-eyed.

The reason for this is simple. While non-Asians often see Asian eyes as “slanted,” Asians do not see themselves that way. If you ask a Chinese person about the difference between Chinese and white people’s eyes, for instance, they will tell you that white people’s eyes are often blue, but Chinese eyes are “black.”

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, northeast asia

On top of having to worry about being thrown in jail for revealing state secrets — as happened to Shi Tao and Zhao Yan – or on charges of ‘espionage‘ as happened to Ching Cheong, journalists in China have to worry about more mundane concerns.

An alarming report, picked up by Shanghaiist, informs us that journalists in Shanghai have the highest risk of dying an early death from job-related health factors.:

Now take a wild guess: Which occupation is the most dangerous in Shanghai? According to this report (in Chinese) by the Shanghai Evening Post, journalists, corporate managers and scientific researchers are the top ones in danger now.

Why? Xiong Sidong, director of Immunology Institute of Fudan University explains Shanghainese are threatened by a variety of physical ailments and karoshi (guolao si 过劳死 or “death from overwork”). And the three occupations listed above are the most stressful on employees in the city.

According to a recent survey, 79 percent of journalists in the city die between 40-60 years old — the average life span is 45.7 years old! — and another survey by the Chinese Academy of Science shows the average life span for scientific researchers to be 52.23. Some 15.6 percent of them die between the ages 35-54. Also, a survey targeting corporate managers interviewed 3,539 people — the result is not much better. Ninety percent of them think the work pressure is huge, 76 percent think they are nervous at work, and worst, a quarter of those surveyed said they had health problems related to work stress.

While AsiaPundit is deeply concerned that his chosen profession is the most dangerous in his city of residence, he is a touch relieved. AP has been periodically concerned by some of the occupational risks he has seen others take in the city. But upon learning that he is in the most risky profession, he will be more relaxed.

For instance, the next time he sees these window cleaners outside of his 39th floor office — supported by seats of untreated wood — he will no longer have the urge to feel any sympathy.

Instead, AP will now feel comfortable in mocking them for having such easy jobs.

AsiaPundit will now also taunt the construction workers he sees arc welding without protective goggles along Xizang Nan Lu.

Dan, who is also a journalist, should also be more relaxed the next time he gets his air conditioner repaired. It’s not like these guys face the stress of us journalists, corporate managers or researchers.

Note that the study is only limited to urban Shanghai, meaning that journalists should not yet be able to claim that they have more dangerous occupations than coal miners.

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, northeast asia, media

The Los Angeles Times seems to have it in for South Korea this month, first an expose on the carcinogenic nature of kimchi, now Kushibo points to a report noting a correlation between cell phone use and depression among Korean teens.:

The teen obsession with yakking, text messaging and ring-tone swapping on cellphones might mean more than a whopping phone bill. For the most crazed, it’s a sign of unhappiness and anxiety, according to a new medical study.

A survey of 575 South Korean high school students found that the top third of users — students who used their phones more than 90 times a day — frequently did so because they were unhappy or bored. They scored significantly higher on tests measuring depression and anxiety than students who used their phones a more sedate 70 times daily.

The study, presented Tuesday at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Assn. in Toronto, was among the first to explore the emotional significance of teens’ cellphone habits as the device becomes more entrenched in today’s youth culture.

Lower in the article it notes that high cell phone use is not likely a cause of depression but rather a means of dealing with anxiety.:

Dr. Jee Hyan Ha, lead author of the latest report, said heavy cellphone users involved in his study weren’t clinically depressed. Rather, he said, the students probably had some serious cases of teen angst.

The youths may have been unhappy because of a problem in their lives or anxious about their social status. “They are trying to make themselves feel better by reaching out to others,” he said.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, korea, northeast asia, south korea

A Chinese blogger recently overtook Boing Boing for the number one place in Technorati. AsiaPundit believes that was is only the first event in China’s comming domination of the medium. As well as arguably bigger numbers, China’s bloggers have more aesthetic appeal.

For instance, high-profile bloggers in the US have been disparaged for being a bunch of guys in pajamas. In China the popularity contests are being won by hot semi-nude women.:

A recent ‘beauty contest’ for female bloggers has attracted huge attention and aroused fierce controversy in China.

The contest has been criticised as “sexist” and “immoral” after some contestants posted nude photographs on their blogs.

In the first stage of BlogChina’s Beautiful Blogger contest, which was held earlier this month, several million Chinese web users voted for female bloggers whose online diaries are hosted on the BlogChina site.

The 20 highest scoring finalists were brought to Beijing to compete in a more traditional beauty contest, for which BlogChina provided free hair styling, make up and beauty treatments.

As well as physical appearance, the contestants were ranked on a variety of other criteria, including the quality of their blog postings and the popularity of their blogs.

The winner, who blogs under the name Yi Lan, is a business student from Beijing. She received a $2,500 prize.

Additional prizes of $1,250 each were awarded in four runner-up categories including ‘most talented blogger’ and ’sexiest blogger’.

BlogChina announced that more than two million people voted to choose the finalists. However, the contest attracted harsh criticism in some quarters, with accusations of sexism and sensationalism from the media and other bloggers.

One finalist, blogging under the unlikely name ‘Hedgehog Mumu’, posted several semi-nude photographs of herself on her blog. She received the most votes in the public voting, but won none of the prizes in the finals.

AsiaPundit regrets to note that Hedgehog MuMu’s site is currently inaccessible — although this may be due to bandwidth pressures rather than censorship. In lieu further story related photos, AsiaPundit will again present pictures of the other MuMu.:

Technorati Tags: china, east asia, northeast asia

Newsweek reports the Beijing has outlawed Voodoo Dolls, concerned that they promote feudalism and feudal beliefs.:

Not content with jailing subversive reporters and restricting access to prodemocracy Web sites, the Chinese government has turned its attentions to a new destabilizing influence: voodoo dolls. Central government authorities are so bothered by the political implications of the dolls that they banned them entirely from Beijing’s retail stores in April.

The dolls have become increasingly popular among the Middle Kingdom’s misanthropes and trend-conscious teens. Customers purchase a doll (pin included), attach a piece of paper bearing the name of their enemy to the doll and then stab away. Voodoo Dolls Online offers a wide range of dolls in assorted colors. “Do you want to make your enemy feel as if someone is always stalking him behind his back?” reads the caption next to a doll clad in black. ” ‘The Magic Shadow Killer’ will thoroughly destroy his spirit.” Another popular item is the “Little Angel,” which purportedly brings good luck and helps its owner find true love.

Authorities at Beijing’s Industrial and Commercial Management Department claim the dolls encourage superstition and “promote feudalism and feudal beliefs.” When officials first cracked down on the import of dolls from Thailand two months ago, Chinese entrepreneurs filled the growing demand by making the toys themselves, wrapping colorful yarn around wire skeletons and adorning each with a crude felt heart. The toys were a marvel of marketing: told that one doll could not be used to harm multiple enemies, the youths who bought them kept coming back for new ones as their hit lists grew in length. Moreover, some stores offered protective dolls that could ward off attacks from other would-be witch doctors.

The above image is taken from the Virtual Voodoo Doll, which is not yet banned in China. Story tip via China Challenges.

Technorati Tags: china, east asia, voodoo, northeast asia

AsiaPundit does not in any way endorse the below Open Source Intelligence report, provided via China Matters, but as this site has tabloid aspirations it would be irresponsible not to repeat this.:

OSS Note: A major European intelligence service is absolutely convinced that when George Bush was a drunken teen-ager in Beijing with his father the Ambassador, the Chinese were able to arrange extraordinarily compromising photographs, including homosexual photographs with his Chinese male tennis teacher (the boy may have been so drunk he had no idea was what happending) (sic).

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, northeast asia

Although Singapore has restriction on street performers, during AsiaPundit’s 2000-2005 residence in the Lion City he on several occasions had the misfortune to run across Asia’s most annoying busker. How he ever received a license to ‘perform’ in the city state still amazes.

AP first sited this amazingly annoying man in an underground tunnel at the Orchard Road MRT stop, scaring small children and accosting pedestrians. In early 2005, he was again sited at the eastern station of Tampines. Singaporeans can be thankful that the lunatic finally made it all the way to Changi Airport…

As AP plans on making a brief return to Singapore, he is pleased to discover that this talentless freak is no longer in the country and is now haunting Taipei’s trendy Ximending shopping district. Via Anarchy in Taiwan, a video and comment:

Ok, I have to start this by saying that I am trying to keep an open mind about performance art and abstract art, but has anyone else seen this guy at Ximending with the moose hat? He is a foreign guy and kind of appears homeless, so I’m trying not to be harsh. BUT, he is either crazy or just plain the weirdest man I have ever seen trying to pan for a few dollars.

He puts on his moosehat, covers his face a bit, and has a couple of cat dolls around his hands. He proceeds to meow and fudgeall that I know through a microphone. Just animal noises and crap. I honestly can say I don’t get it, but it looks plenty retarded, so perhaps I’m not supposed to get it. Literally he just goes…..meow, meow..mea , meo, meeee, meows for hours!!!!

The above clip doesn’t quite capture the true nature of the man. Firstly, he has either lost the ’squeaking’ bunny slippers or the sound isn’t coming through on video, Secondly, he isn’t deliberately terrorizing small children — possibly due to the time of day, but it was something he used to do regularly.

AP has assumed that this lunatic was distinctly Singaporean, but is now suspecting that he may actually be raising enough cash from his ‘art’ to travel the region. Has his madman appeared elsewhere in the region?

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, northeast asia, singapore, southeast asia, taiwan

This is an intriguing experiment, but to suggest that a highly controlled Pyongyang bureau will make the Associated Press the envy of other news organizations is very much overstating things.:

APTN, the television arm of the Associated Press news agency, has become the first western media organisation to open a bureau in Pyongyang.

This is a remarkable coup and will make AP the envy of other international news organisations which have been trying without success to open an office in North Korea, which generally bans journalists from the country, especially Americans.

APTN’s director of marketing, Toby Hartwell, told NK Zone that the bureau will be manned by three local North Koreans who “will adhere to the AP’s reporting standards.”

Negotiations had taken four or five years, and the AP had received guarantees from North Korean officials that they would allow regular visits by their journalists and news executives.

“We will be robust in what kind of cover we expect” from the three North Korean staff, a producer, a cameraman and an office assistant, said Hartwell.

Opening the bureau was “a first step, but a significant one,” he added.

If AsiaPundit’s memory serves him correctly, the only two foreign news organizations permitted to have bureaus in North Korea have been China’s Xinhua and Russia’s Tass. Both are state news agencies, and don’t stray too far from their own state positions. But they are staffed by Chinese and Russian journalists who would unlikely face much in the way of reprisals from North Korea itself.

It will be interesting to see what sort of copy the local staff will produce for AP. But as this is a country that jails cheerleaders, AsiaPundit is not expecting it to be be of much news value.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, north korea, northeast asia

Today come two views on China’s trade surplus, and the US deficit, that are worth paying attention to. One arguing that there may be a serious problem with China’s statistics (surprise) and the other suggesting that China’s surplus is a positive thing for America.

Standard Chartered economist Steven Green, one of the best China hands at any investment bank, offers a rather frightening essay in Businessweek suggesting that the majority of China’s 2005 trade surplus was, essentially, hot money.:

The export of fake goods out of China is commonplace whether you are talking about designer bags, blockbuster movie DVDs, or “Mont Blanc” pens. Many European and U.S. holidaymakers take these knock-offs home with them — some of them knowing they’re counterfeit; others are unaware. Underground Chinese firms spirit such goods out of the mainland on a much larger scale.

Now we may we have identified another fake: the supposedly gargantuan global trade surplus China enjoys with the rest of the world. Much of China’s trade surplus in 2005 was not trade at all, we think, but rather capital inflows (perhaps as much as $67 billion) disguised as trade. If so, this has major implications for China’s trade policies, the yuan, and the way the U.S. deals with China.

Also worthwhile is P.J. O’Rourke’s latest offering, in which he provides his typically acerbic musing on the surplus and other aspects of his recent three-week visit to China.:

There is no such thing as a trade deficit. It doesn’t matter if America imports all of its goods from China and exports nothing but pieces of paper. The Americans want the computer monitor, and the Chinese want handsome portraits of Benjamin Franklin. No coercion is involved. Nobody is making Americans buy Chinese goods. It’s not like the Opium Wars when the British forced the Chinese to accept shipments of, shall we say, pharmaceutical imports. Maybe the Chinese will fight a war with America–the Consumer Electronics War of 2007, with Chinese gunboats cruising the fountains in America’s malls. But it hasn’t happened yet.

I look around my house, and everything except the kids and dogs was made in China. And I’m not sure about the kids. They have brown eyes and small noses. All the Chinese got in return were those pieces of paper and an occasional 747 and some Microsoft software. Even if the software is illegally copied 1.3 billion times–and it was, I saw it on sale–China is getting the short end of the stick. This is another economic principle that America’s policymakers can’t get through their lumpy, bruised skulls. Imports are good. Exports are bad. Imports are Christmas morning. Exports are January’s Visa Card bill.

AP very briefly met O’Rourke on his trip and he did offer an improved view of Shanghai — which he described in his 1989 text ‘Eat the Rich‘ as the “worst of both worlds.”

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, economy, northeast asia

Just a year after preventing China from buying fungible resources, the US Congress has won another victory against the Red Chinese menace. The State Department will no longer be able to use IBM-branded computers on its networked systems.

In the face of pressure from Congress, Foggy Bottom decided that the state-linked Lenovo is too much of a security threat to be used. The Shanghaiist, using citations from the NY Times, sees this an example of idiotic xenophobia.:

Fears and concerns that exist only in the minds of a deluded few (or many?) on Capitol Hill, as most industry watchers agree that the placement of any malicious hardware/software is extremely unlikely. But, that didn’t stop House members from patting each other on the back.

“Frank R. Wolf, the chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the budget appropriations for the State Department, Commerce Department and Justice Department said the security concerns about the State Department’s use of Lenovo computers had been brought to his attention by two members of the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a bipartisan group appointed by Congress. “They deserve the credit for this.”"

Credit for what? For showing zero faith in the State Department’s IT security staff in detecting possible implanted “mal-ware”. Or was it for further cementing America’s reputation abroad as an overly paranoid, increasingly xenophobic and completely out of touch nation in disarray? If so, thanks guys! A job well done indeed!

China is the final assembly point for a wide number of laptops and electronic devices, including AsiaPundit’s iBook. AP recommends that Congress consider all of these devices an equivalent security threat and removes all networked devices assembled in China or with major components made in China. This may not help with real world security concerns, but it should protect the country from the Cylon menace.

in Beijing’s tech corridor of Zhongguancun, Tyler Rooker notes that making a PC these days is like making a TV, and sees how China may have cause to revisit its desire to ditch Microsoft.:

The reason the State Department chose Lenovo in the first place is that there is a competitive bid process, and Lenovo’s computers were the cheapest, the fastest, and the best value. In times of budget deficit and current account deficit (not to mention trade deficit), the State Department should be commended. But it is being condemned.
Back to China. Why would the government fund its own Linux-based operating system and programs? Among many reasons, one is that there are existing fears about Microsoft and Dell, both American companies, that their software code and computers, respectively, contain secret code and hardware that will email secrets to Washington. What a far-fetched, feckless fear, I used to think.

Do you care about the status of the islands known as Dokdo. If you don’t you likely belong to the 99.994 percent of the world’s population that is not South Korean. GI Korea tested searches for the islands on Google trends:

I have been playing around with and it is an interesting tool to see who from what countries are searching for certain terms. After playing around with this for a while I thought what a great tool to use to once and for all see if anyone else in the world gives a crap about the Dokdo Islands controversy. Judging from the results you will see that .

AsiaPundit was intrigued by the findings, but thought to be fair that a test should account for language barriers. The Japanese name for the disputed set of rocks is Takeshima, However — and surprisingly — a test for that search term :

Oddly, Koreans are not only the most likely to care about Dokdo, they are also the only ones searching for Takeshima.

Technorati Tags: asia, dokdo, east asia, japan, korea, northeast asia, takeshima

Two of the best China-focused blogs combine for the newest episode of Danwei TV.:

This installment of the Hard Hat Show features Roland Soong of ESWN, guiding us on a short literary quest in Hong Kong.
We are looking for real places that feature in Eileen Chang’s (张爱铃) novella Love in a Fallen City (顷城之恋) which is set in Hong Kong. We find one of them in a rather surprising part of the island.
This is quite a tricky tale to tell in video: it’s about literature and writing, but conveyed with the superficiality of the the moving image. Any mistakes or problems are Danwei’s: Roland was an excellent guide.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, northeast asia, hongkong

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has just been published in Japan.:

The book, believed to have been written on the eve of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and titled “Devil’s Dance” in its Japanese translation, hit stores around the nation Friday.

Jordan banned the book on the grounds it could damage ties with Iraq, but pirated copies of the tale of an Arab tribesman who defeats foreign invaders became a bestseller in Amman.

The original manuscript was smuggled out of Iraq by one of Saddam Hussein’s daughters, Raghad, and a copy given to Japanese journalist and translator Itsuko Hirata.

“The novel is dated to the times of ancient tribal society but the tribal warfare depicted in the novel is strikingly similar to what happened and is happening in the Iraqi war—totally,” Hirata told Reuters before the book’s release.

“He (Saddam) knew he was heading into a war he couldn’t win, so I think with this book he was trying to make his position clear and send a message to the Iraqi people.”

The book jacket, Mutantfrog notes, says “Worldwide first edition! This is an indictment, and a warning. That Hussein wrote a novel.”

That the dictator is a novelist should not surprise. He was fond of paper. Image and caption stolen from here.

After years of reports that Korean national dish kimchi prevents regular consumers from contracting avian flu and SARS, a study has indicated that the spicy fermented cabbage dish may be linked to ‘the most common cancer among Koreans.”:

The researchers, all South Korean, report that kimchi and other spicy and fermented foods could be linked to the most common cancer among Koreans. Rates of gastric cancer among Koreans and Japanese are 10 times higher than in the United States.

“We found that if you were a very, very heavy eater of kimchi, you had a 50% higher risk of getting stomach cancer,” said Kim Heon of the department of preventive medicine at Chungbuk National University and one of the authors. “It is not that kimchi is not a healthy food — it is a healthy food, but in excessive quantities there are risk factors.”

Kim said he tried to publicize the study but a friend who is a science reporter, told him, “This will never be published in Korea.”

Other studies have suggested that the heavy concentration of salt in some kimchi and the fish sauce used for flavoring could be problematic, but they too have received comparatively little attention.

Even the most ardent proponents say that at times, kimchi might be too much of a good thing.

Nutritionist Park, who in addition to the Kimchi Research Institute heads the Korea Kimchi Assn. and the Korean Society for Cancer Prevention, said that traditionally, kimchi contained a great deal of salt, which could combine with red pepper to form a carcinogen.

As a regular kimchi consumer AsiaPundit is deeply concerned about this report. Moreover, given how much Korean men smoke, he is shocked that gastric cancer is the most common form of the disease.

(Via Japundit)

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, korea, kimchi, northeast asia, south korea

If Jesus walked on water, we must ask whether he was divine or whether he had cool Ninja shoes.:

Testing a driver’s-side air bag, with Ninjas, on TV, in Japan.:
Via Caleb, the adventures of Dr McNinja.:

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, japan, ninjas, northeast asia

Follow the bouncing ball and pledge to defend the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.:

(Via Boing Boing)

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, north korea, northeast asia

The People’s Liberation Army is continuing its recent tradition of posing for silly looking photographs.

Policemen inflate lifebelt before the arrival of the Chanchu typhoon in the Chinese province of Zhejiang.
(Via We Make Money Not Art)

:

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, northeast asia

Michael Turton notes that Taiwan’s Chen Shui-bian - in a survey of civic groups - has an approval rating in the single digits:

President Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) approval rating has dropped to a new low of just 5.8 percent, with 88 percent of respondents dissatisfied with the performance of Chen’s administration over the past six years, according to the results of a survey released yesterday.

The survey was conducted by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) — the Democratic Progressive Party’s ally in the pan-green camp — on 69 civic groups from May 5 through May 12.

The respondents gave the administration’s overall performance a failing grade of 57.5 percent.

Meanwhile Indonesia’s Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has also :

Just 37 percent of the public approves of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s (SBY) job performance, the lowest rating he has registered in his 18 months in office, a poll has revealed…

The economy is the public’s greatest concern, with 73.9 percent saying they believed the Yudhoyono administration had failed to tackle the chronic problem of unemployment.

The poll also found 70.4 percent of respondents felt there had been no improvement in their household incomes.

Over 60 percent of respondents said they had experienced a drop in their purchasing power…

72.2 percent of the respondents said they were not impressed by the work of the economic team.

There is no need to fear for democracy in Asia. SBY’s ratings are still higher than those enjoyed by George Bush. Plus, Singapore’s People’s Action Party is still polling well.:

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