In the lead up to the "25th Anniversary" of the Tienanmen Square Incident of 1989, we are hearing everything again of how a great sad chapter of Chinese history has been - and continue - to be covered up. A politically activist museum even opened in Hong Kong earlier this month. Old, tired politically activists are freshly interviewed by the major Western media outlets again … [Read more...] about Tiananmen and Freedom of Speech
human rights
A Buried History of Taiwan
This is the preface of the book titled Memoir of Chen Mingzhong (陈明忠回忆录) written by Lu Zhenghui (吕正惠) who is a university professor at Taiwan Tamkang University (淡江大学), the editor was Lin Na (李娜). Chen Mingzhong has been an activist in Taiwan since the 1950s. I feel that this part of Taiwan's history is so well buried that it needs to be better known. In the following … [Read more...] about A Buried History of Taiwan
Taiwan’s Student Mob?
This is a belated post. I have been busy with a project at work the last couple of weeks... Still, I believe what I have to say is still relevant. It appears that the student protest occupying the Legislative Yuan the last 2-3 weeks is coming to an end. Depending on which media you read, the significance of the protest meant different things. Some think this is just a … [Read more...] about Taiwan’s Student Mob?
What is a Holocaust?
Earlier today, I stumbled upon a curious article in the Washington Post titled "This is why Germany doesn't want China anywhere near Berlin’s holocaust memorial". According to the article, President Xi was (in short) barred from visiting German's Holocaust memorial in Berlin because Germany was worried about embarrassing Japan. Here is a copy of the article in … [Read more...] about What is a Holocaust?
The Cultural Revolution and Free Speech
PBS's Frontline recently aired a documentary of behind the North Korea scene. Among all of the images of the expected misery, poverty, hunger, want, there was 1 segment which I thought was greatly overlooked. A quick exchange between a few North Koreans behind closed … [Read more...] about The Cultural Revolution and Free Speech