In a place where most people have never even seen ballot papers, there's always someone who'll always say that the one-person one-vote is dangerous. The 'good citizen certificates' of yesteryears were the same as now. The (Japanese) devils said, "We can't issue 'good citizen certificates' for everyone, or else the Eighth Route Army would penetrate." I'm not talking about representative systems to you. I'm just telling you that the one-person one-vote is a right right. We're not talking about one-person one-gun here. What are you so afraid of?" more ›

It has not been looking up these past few days for bloggers or twitterers. First there was the bad news on Cheng Jianping being sentenced to a labor camp earlier and then a blogger conference due to convene in Shanghai over the weekend has been forced to cancel. more ›

As summer sets to leave us and stores begin to fill their rails with the latest autumn/winter collection; all of the fashionistas out there can be kept warm in the knowledge that they live in one of the ‘Fashion Capitals’ of the World. more ›

Things just got a little lonelier in the PLA. After an order banning soldiers from blogging or creating websites was passed a few weeks ago, soldiers are now also forbidden from virtual job hunts, accessing social networking sites or taking advantage of one of the internet's finest amenities: online dating. more ›

China is a place where thing can change overnight, and Shanghai is an exemplar of the country's breakneck pace. We've gotten used to it: a bridge by our house was repainted four times, resurfaced by hand (and chisel), and finished in about five days. But unexpected change can surprise us: we woke up this morning to rumors spreading through twitter that WordPress had been unblocked, and a feeling somewhat like yuletide glee descended upon us. more ›

Peter Guo (郭宝峰), a self-described "troublemaker in Amoy (Xiamen)" experienced what everyone who Twitters or blogs in China is not-so-secretly afraid of - one of his blog posts got him in trouble with the police, who threw him in jail. He was one of as many as seven bloggers who were detained after writing about a 25-year-old woman, Yan Xiaoling, who had allegedly been gang-raped and murdered by someone connected to local authorities in Fujian. Guo's crime: reposting something that had already been put on a BBS in Fujian Province, titled "Yan Xiaoling (嚴曉玲) much more miserable than Deng Yujiao (鄧玉嬌)." Deng Yujiao is a waitress turned national heroine who became famous for stabbing an official who may have sexually assaulted her. He then posted a video he had found, completely unedited, in which Yan Xiaoling's mother accused local authorities of trying to cover up the case. more ›

• The fortunate lives of reunited Beichuan Earthquake families [QQ News] A series of photos on the Chinese web of 20 or so families that are now living, reunited and happy, in Sichuan province a year after the devastating earthquake hit.
• Year After China Quake, New Births, Old Wounds [NYTimes] "One year after the earthquake in Sichuan Province killed about 70,000 people and left 18,000 missing, mothers across the region are pregnant or giving birth again, aided by government medical teams dispensing fertility advice and doing reverse-sterilization procedures. Because of China’s policy limiting most families to having one child, the students who died were often their parents’ only offspring. Officials say they hope a wave of births will help defuse the anger that many grieving parents harbor over the collapses of so many schools on May 12, 2008, while nearby buildings often remained standing."
• Report: 10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger [Committee to Protect Journalists] "Relying on a mix of detentions, regulations, and intimidation, authorities in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Egypt have emerged as the leading online oppressors in the Middle East and North Africa. China and Vietnam, where burgeoning blogging cultures have encountered extensive monitoring and restriction, are among Asia’s worst blogging nations. Cuba and Turkmenistan, nations where Internet access is heavily restricted, round out the dishonor roll."

Nominations for the Ninth Annual Weblog Awards will close in around 24 hours. Go make your nominations for Best Asian Weblog and 29 other categories now: http://2009.bloggies.com/ more ›

Thanks to Twitter’s perpetual failures, Lu’s Fail Whale now features on t-shirts and coffee mugs while other artists create kinetic Fail Whale sculptures. more ›

Jonathan Watts, the China correspondent for The Guardian, has recently put in his year so far article about the internet here. It covers a lot of familiar ground and quotes Zonaeuropa and Danwei.org, among others, as sources. One of the most quoted facts in these kinds of articles is the world’s most read blog being “Lao Xu”. Lao Xu is the Sina.com blog of actress/writer/director Xu Jing Lei 徐静雷. more ›