Beijing Olympics 2008 in 10 Days Time....!!!!!!

I am so super excited about the Beijing Summer Olympics 2008 coming up on 8 August 2008, which is in ten days time, being next Friday!!

Despite not being from the PRC, it is still the land of my ancestral land, the land of my ancestors and thus I am nevertheless proud of China finally having a chance to host the Olympic Games. This is a great opportunity for China to showcase to the world what it has achieved in the three decades since its opening up and reform policy which officially came about in Dec 1978 (this yr will thus be a significant year for China with the Olympics and open and reform 30th anniversary)....And China has indeed reformed and changed remarkably in these three decades!!

I mean i was shocked to see pictures and photos of Chinese cities being so developed, like Japanese cities or South Korean cities. I mean that would have been expected for large cities like Beijing and Shanghai but I simply did not realise that even the smaller cities or places which aren't very well-known (to foreigners but of cos still very well-known to Chinese people) such as Chongqing and Dalian and Wuhan have amazing skylines and are highly developed now. I mean i saw the main shopping district in Chongqing in a photo taken from my dad's camera when he was there and it was simply amazing, like Ginza in Tokyo...i couldn't believe it...and many cities now have either mass rapid systems or lightrail such as in Wuhan and shiny new towering buildings everywhere you look! At least from the pictures they seem that way...This is when I realised that China WAS indeed gonna be the next superpower with its cities now being at least similar in appearances to Japanese cities and clearly already having overtaken South Korean urban centres such a Seoul.

I mean it would have been to be expected that major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai would have amazing urban development and make-overs but in the past months judging from photos and news reports, it seems like even the second-tier cities such as Nanjing, Chongqing, and Wuhan and even the lower level ones such as Nanning or some other obscure ones are better developed than I expected. Maybe some will counter with evidence of shocking hidden poverty levels and the widening urban-rural wealth gap found in China behind the facade of is astonishing development but one must realise that any country has these problems and China isn't the exception. Even America and other developed countries such as France and Germany have gaps in the wealth distribution and to give one example, when Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans, I was simply shocked to see the images of poor African Americans dripping wet with their belongings in hand waddling to safety..i mean all the images of America that i had seen till then was one of relative wealth and large malls with comfortable, if not stylish, lifestyles. Hurricane Katrina revealed to me the other side of America, the poorer Southern States as well as the still segregated nature of American society based on racial lines where the blacks were still economically marginalised as compared to the whites. So if even a country as wealthy, as without having a war been fought on home soil for the last 100 years, a country which is the world's largest economy, can have such a huge poor-rich divide, based significantly on race, then the situation in China doesn't really look that bad...

Also, I think too much attention and criticism has been heaved on China and its human rights record...i mean do these people even pay as much as half the amount of attention on other countries which have the same level of human rights abuses,etc or even worse such as India, Malaysia, Vietnam, or Pakistan?? The criticism on China is very selective I feel and very political i believe...i mean in terms of human rights, the freedom of speech, and democracy, I strongly believe that a country like Singapore ranks worst than China in terms of overall democracy and freedom of speech but no one really ever criticises Singapore bcos its western and speaks english and not 'politically important' nor 'threatening enough' to warrant all the attention being heaped on China in recent yrs...i mean heck, the situation in Malaysia (not a place which comes under the radar in western eyes) is so much worst than in China with even worst censorship of the press, draconian laws making homosexuality illegal (re: current Anwar gay sex scandal anyone??), laws which effectively limit freedom of religion even more than whats happening in Tibet but yet I hear no world leaders saying anything about the situation in Malaysia...nor Africa...nor North Korea (besides the nuclear crisis cos it concerns them but no one really talks about whats happening inside N.Korea without somehow linking it to the nuclear crisis issue)...

So as u can see I hardly bat an eyelid when some media start the entire China human rights record is bad banter cos i am aware its much worse elsewhere... and China's human rights record, is improving, as far as I can see...the question being whether fast enough....

Further, there's been attempts to boycott the Beijing Games which is simply silly...i mean utterly ludicrous...i mean, if the human rights record of a country was made the standard bearing point on whether a country should be awarded the Games then I can confidently tell you, very few countries would have been eligible during the course of the Olympic Games. I could give many examples but only three will suffice to illustrate how the current attempts to link the human rights record of China or its support for the government in Sudan to the Olympics is simply a double standard and completely discriminatory.

A first example would be the Moscow Games held in the 80s. Russia at this time was still a dictatorship and many millions were living in harsh economic conditions with the secret police everywhere and hundreds upon thousands of Russians in gulags for political or economic crimes but still it was awarded the Games...another example is the Melbourne Games of the 50s. This was a time when Australia was still under the White Australia Policy which was essentially a racist policy based on White Supremacy and Aborigines weren't even considered citizens in their own land and Australian women did not get equal pay nor could they enter certain professions yet..but once still yet again, Australia was awarded the Games...and then there is the 1964 Tokyo Games when at the time, Japan had not (and still does not) admit its historical atrocities committed during WW2 and payed no compensation to any of the colonies and countries which it invaded and occupied during the war. Despite the millions whom died in slave labour such as at the Thai-Burma Death Railway or the thousands of women raped in Asia by the Imperial Japanese Army during WW2 and the lack of Japanese atonement for it, less than 20 years after WW2 ended, the Japanese were nevertheless allowed to hold the Olympics...

So thats why i'm not convinced when ppl say we should boycott the Games in Beijing due to its human rights record cos, quite frankly, the Olympics has been held in countries with less than flattering human rights records and to single out China's record as somehow so distiguishably worse is unconscionable and less than warranted to say the least.

So, I'm fully supportive of the Beijing Olympics, and mind u, i'm not one of those Chinese nationalistic youth, given that i'm not from China, been western educated since i was in kindy school and believe Taiwan already is an independent sovereign nation in its own right, the ultimate opposite of what you would classify as 'pro-China' or 'Sinocentric'..hahaha...

Below are some articles on the Beijing Olympics as well as contemporary China which i found on the web whilst surfing around:) Enjoy the read!;)

Dinah Gardner
17 July 2008
China’s bluenosed authorities set out to make sure Olympics visitors only have the approved kind of fun Two rather odd pieces of news were circulating in China last week, at a time when increasingly nervous authorities grow more prudish about the possibility that somebody, somewhere, will do something that embarrasses the country in advance of the US$42 billion Olympic Games, which are due to start in August.

The first, carried by Xinhua as a photo story, was of the rather buff Guangdong TV news presenter, Ou Zhihang, doing naked pushups in front of Chinese landmarks. He was snapped in the buff in front of the Bird’s Nest (Beijing’s main Olympic venue, the National Stadium), on the top of the Great Wall, and what should have been very early in the morning in Hong Kong’s Golden Bauhinia Square among others. “I love my country, I also love my body,” Xinhua cites him as saying in his blog. “I contrast my tiny body with the ‘miracle of the world’ through the popular exercise – push ups.”

One can only be thankful he chose the push up and not the squat jump.

Xinhua, though, got it wrong. Ou explains on his blog that the photos were taken last year as an experimental project with a number of famous artists. The images have recently been hijacked by bloggers mocking the official handling of the mysterious death of a teenage girl which had sparked riots in Weng’an County, Guizhou province, last month. Bloggers started using the catchphrase “doing push ups,” to poke fun at the official explanation of her death which stated the 15-year-old girl was not raped and murdered as rioters claimed but had drowned herself while her male friend did push ups nearby. Ou distances himself from the online protest saying “I love my motherland,” and that the purpose of his naked push up collection -- is opposite to that of the bloggers.

The odd thing is Xinhua still published the photo story despite its sensitive political connotations, albeit without any context.

At the same time Ou’s bare buttocks were pumping on China Daily’s Web site, agencies reported that the government was getting skittish about the country’s night-time entertainment industry. As part of a campaign against drugs and prostitution, staff at karaoke bars and nightclubs will be required to dress more conservatively and install see-through windows in private rooms to deter any hanky-panky. These measures weren’t specifically for the Olympics though, venues have until October 1 to comply.

However, the drive against sin – and any kind of fun at all – during the Olympics is very much in progress.

It started months back, with two major annual music festivals – the Midi Rock Festival and Chaoyang Park Music Festival -- going under. Organizers said the police couldn’t guarantee security with the extra work they needed to do preparing for the Games, which is more or less a face-saving way of banning them. Back in April, Maggie’s, a seedy bar famous for its Mongolian working girls, also padlocked its front door just weeks after forking out for a renovation. However that may be less to do with the Games than with some dodgy goings on in the underworld. Urban rumor has it that the bar shut shop after two of its hookers were found brutally murdered with their livers cut out. The Den, another working girl favorite, and Hooters next door are firmly in business, at least for now.

Police have been making regular raids on bar districts such as Sanlitun, warning club owners that during the Olympics it’s lights out at 2 am. Destination, the city’s only gay club, has had to block off their dance floor. The sight of hundreds of gay men clad in white singlets flirting on the street in the early hours of the morning was too much for the PSB. The club was told it was too small to be a club and it had to enlarge before they could let the gay boys dance again. The city’s main gay sauna was raided a couple of months back when some of the workers and patrons were detained for several days and only released after paying “fines,” according to an aids activist. Destination and a string of straight clubs lie alongside Worker’s Stadium, one of the Olympic venues. Because of this, club owners believe they may have to close down altogether during the three weeks of Games because the police are worried about security.

Another sensitive area is the diplomatic quarter of Jianguomen; police are naturally jittery about protecting all those embassies. Slap bang in the middle is Ritan Park, whose popular lakeside café bar, called The Stoneboat, lures expatriates and local Chinese alike with its live music – folk, jazz, maybe a little guitar solo or two. But because of “security concerns” the Stone Boat is now no longer allowed to hold concerts.
The main Olympic Village is way out in a bleak residential area near the north fourth ring road. There’s not much there to close down except for a wishful thinking TGI Friday’s and some hastily erected teahouses.
The entertainment magazines are pulling their hair as they can’t find anything fun to put in their events listings for August apart from the Olympics themselves.
“After three gruesome days of being passed around the diplomatic switchboard and playing telephone hide-and-go-seek with marketing execs, the list of confirmed Olympic events consists of precisely two items, both courtesy of the French embassy,” writes one of the main rags, City Weekend, on its website. The two events are a French cultural fair and “Marco Polo,” the ballet.
There is of course China’s “biggest ever Olympic Cultural Festival” to be held concurrently with the Games but it hasn’t seemed to generate much interest. Which is a shame as it will no doubt incorporate “harmonious” dances by happy ethnic minorities.
And as for the city’s gay boys: they may have lost their dance floor to the Olympics but at least they are free – with Xinhua’s blessing – to ogle Ou’s bare behind as he clenches in front of the Bird’s Nest.

Monday, July 21, 2008
Birth of a massacre myth
By GREGORY CLARK
With the Beijing Olympics looming we see more attempts to remind the world about the alleged June 4, 1989, massacre of democracy-seeking students in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
The New York Times, which did so much to spread the original story of troops shooting student protesters there with abandon, has recently published several more articles condemning the alleged massacre, including one suggesting there should be an Olympic walkout. Other media, including Britain's usually impartial Guardian and Independent, and Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, have chimed in. None are interested in publishing rebuttals.

This effort is impressive, especially considering the overwhelming evidence that there was no Tiananmen Square massacre. A recent book by Madrid's ambassador to Beijing at the time, Eugenio Bregolat, notes that Spain's TVE channel had a television crew in the square at the time, and if there had been a massacre, they would have been the first to see it and record it.
He points out angrily that most of the reports of an alleged massacre were made by journalists hunkered down in the safe haven of the Beijing Hotel, some distance from the square.

Then there is Graham Earnshaw, a down-to-earth Reuters correspondent who spent the night of June 3-4 at the alleged site of the massacre — at the center of Tiananmen Square — interviewing students in detail until the troops finally arrived in the early dawn. He too failed to see any massacre. As he writes in his memoirs, "I was probably the only foreigner who saw the clearing of the square from the square itself."

Earnshaw confirms that most of the students had left peacefully much earlier and that the remaining few hundred were persuaded by the troops to do likewise.
His account is confirmed by Xiaoping Li, a former China dissident, now resident in Canada, writing recently in Asia Sentinel and quoting Taiwan-born Hou Dejian who had been on a hunger strike on the square to show solidarity with the students: "Some people said 200 died in the square and others claimed that as many as 2,000 died. There were also stories of tanks running over students who were trying to leave. I have to say I did not see any of that. I was in the square until 6:30 in the morning."

True, much that happened elsewhere in Beijing that night was ugly. The regime had allowed prodemocracy student demonstrators to occupy its historic Tiananmen Square for almost three weeks, despite the harm and inconvenience caused. Twice, senior members of Deng Xiaoping's regime had tried unsuccessfully to negotiate compromises with the students. Unarmed troops sent in to clear the square had been turned back by angry crowds of Beijing civilians.
When armed troops were finally sent in, they too met hostile crowds, but they kept advancing. Dozens of buses and troop-carrying vehicles were torched by the crowds, some with their crews trapped inside. In the panicky fighting afterward, hundreds, maybe even thousands, of civilians and students were killed. But that was a riot, not a deliberate massacre. And it did not happen in Tiananmen Square. So why all the reports of a "massacre"?

In a well-researched 1998 article in the Columbia Journalism Review titled "Reporting the Myth of Tiananmen and the Price of a Passive Press," the former Washington Post bureau chief in Beijing, Jay Mathews, tracks down what he calls the dramatic accounts that buttressed the myth of a student massacre.
He notes a widely disseminated piece by an alleged Chinese university student writing in the Hong Kong press immediately after the incident, describing machine guns mowing down students in front of the square monument (somehow Reuter's Earnshaw chatting quietly with the students in front of the same monument failed to notice this.
Mathews adds: "The New York Times gave this version prominent display June 12, just a week after the event, but no evidence was ever found to confirm the account or verify the existence of the alleged witness."

And for good reason, I suspect. The mystery report was very likely the work of U.S. and British black information authorities ever keen to plant anti-Beijing stories in unsuspecting media.
Mathews adds that Times reporter Nicholas Kristof, who had been in Beijing at the time, challenged the report the next day, but his article was buried on an inside page and so "the myth lived on." (I once tried in vain to rebut a 2004 anti-Beijing piece by New York Times opinion-page writer David Brooks, who claimed blandly that 3,000 students were massacred in the square.)

Another key source for the original massacre myth, Mathews says, was student leader Wu'er Kaixi, who claimed to have seen 200 students cut down by gunfire in the square. But, he notes, "It was later proven that he left the square several hours before the events he described." Mathews also lists an inaccurate BBC massacre report, filed from that out-of-sight Beijing Hotel.
The irony in all this, as Mathews points out, was that everyone, including himself, missed the real story. This was not the treatment of the students, who toward the end of their sit-in had deliberately courted trouble. The real story, as Earnshaw also notes, was the uprising of the civilian masses against a regime whose gray hand of corruption, oppression and incompetence ever since the Cultural Revolution days of the late 1960s had reduced an entire population to simmering resentment.

It was the concern over this proletarian rebellion rather than hatred of student calls for democracy that explains the ruthlessness of the regime's subsequent crackdown on alleged perpetrators. I can confirm some of this, having visited China frequently since the early 1970s.
Despite having organized single-handedly over Canberra's opposition an Australia table-tennis team to join the all-important "Ping-Pong diplomacy," I too suffered harassment from bloody-minded, single-track authorities. Meanwhile, one had only to walk around the back streets, in Shanghai especially, to feel the palpably sulfurous mood of the frustrated masses.
But that was China then. Today we have a very different China, and one far too important to be subjected to black information massacre myths, particularly since the world seems very happy to forget the very public massacres of students that have occurred elsewhere — Mexico in 1968 and Thailand in 1973, for starters. There, we saw no attempt by the authorities to negotiate problems. The troops moved in immediately. Hundreds died.

Photos have helped sustain the Tiananmen massacre myth. One showing a solitary student halting a row of army tanks is supposed to demonstrate student bravery in the face of military evil. In fact, it shows that at least one military unit showed restraint in the face of student provocation (reports say only one rogue unit did most of the evil that night).
Photos of lines of burning troop carriers are also used, as if they prove military mayhem. In fact, they prove crowd mayhem. Meanwhile, we see little photo support for the other side of the story.

Earnshaw notes how a photo of a Chinese soldier strung up and burned to a crisp was withheld by Reuters. Dramatic Chinese photos of solders incinerated or hung from overpasses have yet to be shown by Western media. Photos of several dead students on a bicycle rack near the square are more convincing.

Declassified reports from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing at the time, and which used to confirm the Earnshaw/Hou accounts of square events (they have since been heavily censored), still carry a summary that mentions how the murder by students of a soldier trying to enter the square had triggered violence in the square's periphery.
Damage from the Tiananmen myth continues. It has been used repeatedly by Western hawks to sustain a ban on Western sales of arms to Beijing, including refusing even a request for riot-control equipment that Beijing says would have prevented the 1989 violence.

Gregory Clark is vice president of Akita International University and former China desk officer for Australia's Foreign Service. A Japanese translation of this article will appear on www.gregoryclark.net Note: All sources quoted above are available on the Internet, under Tiananmen.

China Polishes Glorious History for Olympics
REUTERS
1,000 volunteers flocked to the Taimiao Temple in the Forbidden City in Beijing, China on July 19. In front of the temple, a shrine to the emperors who ruled the country, they shouted slogans such as "Successful Olympics!" and "Go, China!"
The Beijing Olympics, which will open 10 days from today, is not least a stage for the Chinese to market their tradition and culture. The Chinese are determined to revive the glorious history of Chinese empires and re-emerge as the "center of the world," much like the Middle Kingdom.

Chinese traders rise again
Qianmen Street, one of the three landmarks of Beijing alongside the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Gate will be restored to an early 20th century streetscape in early August. "Laozihao" or time-honored brands which contributed to turning the street lined with long-standing stores into a prosperous area a century ago have made a comeback.
Chinese authorities will give subsidies to the owners of about 20 of the brands so they can prosper on this street recalling the last years of the Qing Dynasty. They include Quanjude, a roast duck restaurant that opened in 1864, Tongrentang, a herbal drugstore, Zhangyiyuan, a shop of high-brand teas, and Goubuli, a dumpling restaurant.
China wants to globalize these traditional brands. Quanjude, which has already been listed on the stock market, has declared it will become China's McDonald's by standardizing its recipes.

Reviving a history of victors
The time-honored brands are not the only things that are being restored. The Yuanmingyuan or Old Summer Palace, which was built in 1725, will be reopened after five years of restoration work on Tuesday. The palace was used by Yongzheng, the emperor during the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, as his office and garden. It fell into ruins after it was plundered by the allied forces of the U.K. and France in 1860 following their occupation of Beijing. Restoration began in 2001, when China won the bid to host the 2008 Olympics. The palace will now be restored to its original state despite the opposition many people expressed when the work began.
The Taihedian or Hall of Great Harmony, the biggest hall inside the Forbidden City where the emperors held their coronation ceremonies, was already reopened on July 16 after about two years of restoration. All the work is aimed at presenting foreign visitors during the Olympic events with memories of the empire. Many predict that the opening ceremony on Aug. 8 will focus on the heyday of the Tang Dynasty and its huge empire dating from 618 to 907 A.D.

Confucius and socialism
China has put Confucius at the head of the project to revive its glorious history and link the past with the present. Out of about 200 Confucian shrines across the country, the Confucian Temple in Beijing has recently been renovated, its sign reading, "Thanks to the effect of Confucianism, China's GDP in 1800” -- middle of the Qing Dynasty -- accounted for 33 percent of the entire world’s GDP, far outdistancing that of the whole of Europe at 28 percent and the U.S. at 0.8 percent."

The Confucian Temple in Beijing has separate exhibition halls displaying Confucian precepts, such as "Shaokang" (well-off society) and "Yirenweiben" (making people the center), which modern Chinese communist leaders such as Deng Xiaoping and current President Hu Jintao have favored.
Behind the face of Confucius, who has been reinvented as a kind of Chinese superstar, a home-grown, reform-minded socialism has been promoted.
Daniel Bell, a professor of political philosophy at Tsinghua University, says China is changing into a “Confucian socialist republic."
(englishnews@chosun.com )

A'Mouth-watering' and insightful Aljazeera program on Beijing's culinary delights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AEGRHMOdlg

Can't wait for the opening ceremony!!!:):) Just 10 more days to go, wooohhhooo!!!!

Sydney Italian, Writer's, Jazz,....and Film Festival:)

Above: I wandered past this at the Strand Arcade.....i loved the Chinese-style cheongsam lady poster and the entire Chinese style look (the poster as the backdrop n fan w red lantern) of the window decor and thus took some photos of these...

I went to the Sydney Italian, Writer's, Sydney Jazz and Blues, as well as the 55th Sydney Film Festival in the past month or so...Sydney being one of the world's pre-eminent and cosmopolitan cities, hosts a myriad of festivals throughout the year...

Here's the updates of the events: :)

Coffee/Cocoa with Blueberry Cheese Cake with cream AND ice-cream at a cafe in Newtown...

cos one person wanted just the cheesecake by itself, whilst i wanted with cream and another person wanted with ice-cream, we ended up with the above;)

1) The Sydney Italian Festival:

I went to the Sydney Italian Fiesta with my housemates back in late May and superbly and immensely enjoyed our time there....there was plenty of great food, great music, and great atmosphere with flags fluttering around overhead us...There was even a wonderful little joyful skit at the end....later, we had a quaint nice dinner on Stanley Street at this warm intimate restaurant which served delicious food, with a price tag that was...but the lighting and atmosphere was great i think...good place for friends to have a nice little dinner as well as for romantic couples..:)

2) The Sydney Writer's Festival: I went to this writer's speech and book-signing event at Ultimo Community Library for Jan Wong's 'Red China Blues'. She is a Canadian-Chinese author from Montreal whom was at the Sydney Writer's Fest to promote her new book 'Beijing Confidential'....I enjoyed her talk greatly as she reminiscined on her time in Beijing as a starry-eyed Maoist in the early 1970s when she travelled to Beijing and was one of only two foreigners to study at the prestigious Peking University...

I promptly bought her first autobiography 'Red China Blues' after the session and had her autograph it for me...my very first book autographed by the author on the first page!!:) It was a great read too!!

3) The Sydney Jazz and Blues Festival, Darling Harbour:

This is the annual Jazz and Blues Festival in Sydney and i went this yr, but it was not particularly fantastic...or maybe i expected too much, though it could have been the dreary weather as it was raining quite heavily that day...but nevertheless a good experience...

4) The Sydney Film Festival:

This is the 55th anniversary of the Sydney Film Festival. I applied and became an official volunteer of the Film Festival given my interest in films and i thought it would look good on my resume having been an official international film festival volunteer. It was a good experience, counting ballots for voting forms, ushering people, answering patron enquiries, and having access to the cinema hall where your usual cinema-goers would not have access to....also met the director of 'Tokyo Sonata' a Japanese film and 'Up the Yangtze' by Canadian-Chinese director Yung Chang..went to a director's talk and got to see Yung Chang up close....i even asked him a couple of questions if i rem correctly!:):)

We volunteers also received complimentary tickets for the closing night film 'Persepolis' which is an animated motion picture on the life of a 9 yr old Iranian girl during and the immediate aftermath of the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Below: An old-time favourite feature of my blog-Food Pix!!!!:):)

Above: Miso Tofu with Rice and Nichigo Press, the Australian Japanese Newspaper, which i try to read to keep up my Nihongo level (despite making no progress since i've never found the time to actually get down to it!!) at a japanese restaurant somewhere in the city...

Below: Sashimi Don, Raw Fish on Rice with Miso Soup at Ramenkan, Haymarket.....

The Third Anniversary...我的部落格三周年....ブログの三周年....

Above: A Photo from my Childhood; a primary school trip to the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force Base) in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia, circa pre-1995...i love the blk and white photo but i dun know y its not in colour cos i'm sure they had colour photos by the mid-90s!! But i love the black and white feel, feels like a photo from the 50s or 60s, right??

Last month, May, marked the Third Anniversary of this blog...i missed out on posting on my 2nd anniversary so i thought i wouldn't miss out this time!!

Time flies quickly by, i've experienced alot and changed alot in that time and so has my blog...in the beginning, I didn't write much personal stuff or anything much about my life...then I started to include more things on my life and became more frank in giving my opinions on issues,etc as I've always wanted to present a good image of myself online and censor alot of what information i think i should and can share with readers, and what i would rather leave out...entering the second year, I posted my first sad personal post and since then, have posted a handful more only...I've also added an abstract profile pic of myself as well as a class photo from my childhood primary school days as well , a revelation quite groundbreaking in my opinion..I will however still keep my private life and any downside of my life out of this blog but I shall continue to allow the rare one or two posts in the future as i've done in the past years...cos i know readers ( and i know as a reader, i do) want to read about the real life of bloggers and enjoy frank and personal anecdotes of their life and do not wanna just read polished up images in blogs...so i shall continue to balance the need to set boundaries on my private life and what i can share with fellow readers as well as reveal the rare post or two which i feel my readers should know n should be able to share with me..

Also, I've changed the format and look of my blog in celebration of the third year anniversary and as you can see, the blog looks distinctively different now, and has had an extensive update and upgrading of functions, designs, and pictures, including a new header. I thought the blog needed a much-needed upgrade on functions as well as a whole-new look after 3 years of looking pretty much the same and hope readers like the new look!:)

I shall continue to upgrade and tinker with my blog for the next weeks to improve on it and will also be adding links to blogs, and other sites i visit or find useful (when i changed and upgraded my blog, all the previous blog/site links were deleted) in the coming wks...

Lastly, like I did on the occasion of my blog's 1st Anniv. please feel free to leave a comment with your email address or blog link if you would like to know me on a personal level or would like to have email correspondence with me. Like on my 1st anniv., I will be very willing to meet, email, and get to know my readers so do leave me a comment stating ur wish, dun worry, i shall delete all contact details when i copy them down (and if u own a blog, all u need is to direct me to ur blog email address!!) I only do this once a yr cos usually i dun correspond on a private level with readers/bloggers unless I email them directly cos i wanna know them or also read their blogs, or on an ad hoc basis at my discretion. And cos i missed out on my 2nd anniv. post, this is the first open invitation to all (bloggers, readers, passerbys) whom i shall reply ALL, in 2years...so grab the chance, or you'll have to wait another yr or 2!!!! I'd love to hear from you.:):)

I hope my blog life will have many more years to come...here's to Chinese Chic..!:)

Postscript: Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 has opened in Sydney!!! ( Finally! It opened 3 wks ago) I went to try it out this Fri night and boy was it packed!!! U wouldn't believe it! Cos i didn't make a booking (despite my fren asking me to cos i didnt think it'd be that popular) we had to wait 1 1/2 hrs for a table for 3 and it was still sharing with other ppl! I know, 1 1/2 hrs!! Thankfully my friend went first and got a waiting ticket and the food more than made up for it....gosh, i'll definitely be having Din Tai Fung like at least once a month now!! It's at World Sq second level, opens 7 days dinner time 5 30pm-9pm or 9 30pm depending on weekdays or fri/sat night. It was full of Asians/Chinese cos its on the 2nd level and not in the busy area n white aussies prob dun know how famous it is..we even spotted a HK famous director with his entourage eating there, talking with the owner of the Sydney branch..he is 高志森, Ko Chi-Sum, anyone heard of him?? food pics at my online photo album!!

Post-Postscript: I was also invited by my reader, aimlesswanderer, to go rock-climbing at St Leonards on Sunday (gosh!...i spent so much this week, din tai fung, karaoke, rock-climbing, lunch at italian place after rock-climbing...must save now..haha)..I had a great time and would like to thank him for the invitation, i just hope i didn't do too badly!! I enjoyed myself tons n am looking forward to going with him again in the next few mths time....he also bumped into a friend's friend of his at the rock-climbing place, and that friend brought along another friend, and boy, was he cute!! Hehehe..so i guess that was a bonus of this rock-climbing experience, there was even one time when we were standing right beside each other and he was so friendly (he didn't know me) started a (albeit v. short) conversation on how it wasn't tiring holding on the ropes and then later agreeing with me that it indeed was! hahaha...i was hoping he'd talk to me given that he knows his fren knows aimlesswanderer and he sure did, he was cute...yes, aimlesswanderer, i didn't mention this to u at the rock-climbing thing cos i didn't wanna freak you out, believe me, i was concentrating then , i wasn't looking at guys, just that friend's friend's friend of yours...haha, what was his name again?? gosh, he was super cute ( i think he's aussie chinese??), had a good body, and a nice, friendly personality:)

Race, Interracial Relationships, and the Dynamics of Power...

I've been wanting to post about this topic for ages, but didn't because I didn't want to offend anyone. But given that its my 3rd yr anniversary now (for my blog, i mean) i've decided to finally write this post. I have gradually loosened up on what I write about anyways and have written more frankly and included more information about myself since when i first started this blog and so feel its time i write completely honestly and frankly about ALL issues from now on. I will speak my mind honestly and won't censor just because i dun wanna offend readers cos i feel just becos i dun write about it doesn't mean i dun think that way and my fearing readers will hate me because of my personality and/or opinions on certain issues should no longer be a barrier towards me writing honestly on issues and topics ( i shall however, continue to keep my personal life out of my blog, except for the rare occasional post which i've done in the past 3 yrs, merely a handful really..)

Well, the thing is, I've a big problem with interracial relations based on a commonly associated 'dominant' race such as Caucasians, and a commonly associated 'weaker' race such as South East Asians or South Asians...And I mean I ONLY have a problem when its a WHITE MAN, no problems if it were a white female with an Asian, Indian, etc male...to be honestly truthful, I find it disgusting and feel like vomiting whenever i see white men with younger asian women (or younger asian gay men/boys)...i mean how disgusting is that??!

I know, I seem like such a prejudiced horrible biased person and i do feel bad feeling this way but i can't help it!! I am always embarassed when i tell friends this and am so afraid they'll dislike me after, but hey, at least i'm being honest heh? My biggest problem is with the age gap and the income/power disparity between the white man and the other Asian half...i mean u see so many old white men (not to mention unattractive) with younger (like 10,20-30 years younger!!) beautiful asian women and even more common asian gay men everywhere, its like the older powerful deep-shit ugly white male getting the oh-so-submissive oriental china doll, wtf??!! I mean why in the world would the asian like the white guy? I can understand the white guy going for the asian, given the youth of the asian but why vice-versa??

I pin it down to what i call 'the white disease syndome' . Basically, it works like this, with all the positive images of white people in the media and the world's richest countries still being predominantly white, it influences the way non-whites perceive whites as more desirable, more good-looking, more attractive and so non-white, short of being able to 'become' white themselves, seek to marry or be in a relationship with white ppl to elevate their status...of course, all this is subconscious and I am in no way suggesting those with white men are actively scheming to get into a relationship with them, just that the fact that they can find old, not particularly rich white men attractive is a result of their subconscious having been influenced by the media and their environment. It also shows the power dynamics at play whereby its almost always a white MALE (men being associated with power and domination) with an Asian female or younger gay male playing the bottom role (being associated with submissiveness and docility).

I used to dislike these white men immensely, i mean how dare they take advantage of asian younglings? But then its become more complicated as i've matured and i now no longer blame them that much...i mean who wouldn't want a younger looking attractive mate when given one?? All men do, not just white ones.....and further, i also feel the same way about richer asian men (japanese, taiwanese, korean) practically buying (oops, i meant 'marrying') poorer asian women (vietnamese, filipinos, etc) and know they're just the same as white men with asians younger than them...but in the former case, its one where the poorer asian women are clearly in it for the money, to give themselves a better life as well as provide a better living condition for their families by sending money home whereas in the latter case, its the asians willingly submitting themselves and falling for these ugly white men...i just find the latter case more disturbing...and i should blame the younger asians for this since there is no reason for them liking ppl like that but yet i've met many whom are nice people and profess they've never wanted or actively limited themselves to white men...its just so confusing....i used to know this gay guy, he's from china and poor but very nice, hardworking, works to support himself, studies hard, and he had a white bf in his 40s and then later broke up and found another one in his 50s (even worse!!) but he told me he wasn't submissive in bed all the time and never restricted himself to white men, or older ones for that matter...and i've found many tell me they've never found white men particularly attractive or found asian men unattractive and its just so confusing!! It simply didn't fit my theory of the 'white disease syndrome' at all!! And so now i'm thoroughly confused and still dislike these relationships but having conflicted feelings cos i actually like the people in them ( well, i've only known the asian partners so i like them more)...

I actually don't have a problem if its an average looking white male with another asian female/male IF there's not such a huge gap in terms of their looks, age, or other terms such as income levels...so I think i've to make that clear...so a 27 yr old average/good looking white bloke with another 24 yr old asian female (or gay asian man) isn't a real problem for me...although it'd be nice if it wasn't ALWAYS the white male with the asian girl...u see it everywhere, be it in China, Japan, or South Korea...the white man with an asian girl in tow..but its improving though, cos it used to be that an unsuccessful pretty poor average to poor looking Caucasian male English teacher in Japan or South Korea could get a nice looking asian female, but thats changing now...
asian women tend to be more selective now and expect more...

However, with the gay front, its still the case of the older richer white man with the younger comparatively poorer asian boy/man...which is pretty sick in my opinion...i read that in Japan, those white guys whom couldn't get the sexy studs back home can easily bed (or at least have a chance to chat) with a sexy japanese gay guy in the bars...and nothing is more obvious on the power dynamics and racism in these relationships than this article i read about how ugly old white men in gay clubs in Canada now usually have more success getting darker skinned asians, those from thailand, vietnam, indonesia,etc than fairer skinned richer asians, such as chinese, japanese, and s.koreans...i mean how obvious is that on the racial point i'm making??

And furthermore, i heard that older white men whom wouldn't even dare to chat up some young uber cute-looking guy bck home in the States, or wherever, have the courage to approach young good-looking asian men in the clubs, i mean if not race, then what???

Of cos, these asians are to blame too, its like prostitution, when the lowest denominator is set low, the entire group of people (even those whom dun have the white worship thingy) suffer...i mean it makes some white men think that ALL asians find them attractive despite the age, appearance gap...

Please note that I'm fine with white-asian relationships where there's no huge disparity in age, appearances,etc and similarly, condemn richer asian men (chinese,japanese,etc) with poorer asian women (vietnamese, filipinos,etc) and so its an exploitation issue i'm pointing to, not a white men issue cos if it were a chinese or japanese man, i'd still be unaccepting of it.

I once again apologise in advance if i've offended anyone and simply wished to state my opinion and maybe have a discussion with readers on this admittedly controversial but yet much-needed issue..and given the gradual progression towards a more open attitude on writing on my blog and on this 3rd year blog anniversary, I thought the time was now right...

I know some people will nevertheless still call me racist, but let me ask a simple question:
Which is more racist, relationships based very much on the preference of race despite huge gaps be it age, appearance or financial power, or the frank perception of whats really at play in these kind of relationships and finding the pattern working here?

Feel free to leave comments, I'd love to hear what others think and particularly from white men (or richer asian men) in relationships like this.:)

The Tibet Issue, Media Coverage, and My Thoughts..西藏和媒体報道...チベットとメデアーの報道...

I didn't really want to post this as I've never really posted on anything which was such a politically sensitive and highly charged topic (if you count out the WW2 and Japan posts which i write frequently on...haha) but I thought I would anyways cos I wanna let out what I feel about this issue.

This would also be the second China-related post I've done in my entire blogging life (after my recent trilogy on Taiwan) and my very first post on China itself, given that Taiwan is a China-related topic but certainly isn't part of China, being a sovereign nation in itself.

I wasn't really interested in the whole Tibet uprising in its early stages but as the media attention continued, the torch relay protests expanding, counter-protests by Chinese, and the boycott of Carrefour as well as the 'I Heart China' campaign on MSN, I decided to read up on the facts and the media reportage. I managed to watch a whole lot of youtube videos on CNN, BBC, and Taiwanese, HK, and Japanese media reports on the incident and how they reported it. I also read the collection of media articles by both Western and Chinese journalists on the Tibet riots and after all that, never felt as confused as I do now. I mean I've always been pretty pro-Tibet and although I've always been opposed to Tibetan independence, I've always been sympathetic to their plight and feel that more can be done to address their grievances as well as to give them more autonomy, such as in the Hong Kong case...maybe another SAR region for Tibet whereby Tibetans govern all domestic matters leaving only diplomacy and military matters in the control of the Central Government in Beijing??

But after seeing the videos and media articles, I was abit shaken by the Western (and Taiwanese and Japanese too!!) media bias as I always had great confidence in these media sources and felt that they could ALWAYS be trusted on any China-related issues as opposed to the mainland Chinese media which as everyone is well aware, is highly controlled and restricted in its ability to report without a bias towards favouring Beijing's official line. But this Tibet incident really made me less accepting of Western media outlets now and reminded me of the need to always accept all news critically, whether from Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, or Western media....no media was totally fair, unbiased, or objective in its nature.

To be fair, the western media, after strong protests from Chinese netizens (which form a powerful force now) shifted their pro-Tibet biased reporting and were generally more balanced in reporting the Tibet issue and the uprising towards the end of the affair.

I am glad the Chinese have been protesting as I do feel their grievances are valid...and it showed me for the first time that the Western media could be biased as well according to what people wanted to see....for instance I've heard that Western reporters like to go into China and interview people about freedom of speech, human rights, etc and when they don't get the responses they 'want to hear' they get dissapointed. eg.: We are suffering in China, there is no freedom of speech in China, the one child policy is horrendous and i suffered alot, or gays have no freedom in China and we are persecuted, etc...you get the picture..

On the current issue of Tibet, initially there was absolutely no report of Tibetans looting, burning, and even killing ethnic Han Chinese in the uprising...all you got was Chinese tanks going in and crushing the rebellion...of course, later on, we came to know much of the destruction wrought by the Tibetan rioters...basically Chinese stores were marked and looted and destroyed and Chinese people were attacked on the streets with rocks and stones thrown at them...all for being ethnic Chinese...and the chinese media also reported ethnic chinese hiding in their homes and speaking in hushed tones for fear that Tibetan rioters would hear their Mandarin dialect and attack them in their homes...in fact, I think there was an improvement with the Olympics truly having made China more democratic than before...i mean Western tourists (actually all foreigners) were allowed to stay in Tibet throughout the worst of the uprising and even one Western reporter was officially allowed to go into Tibet and report by the Chinese government...I mean they could have easily cancelled his pre-approved permit....later, the Chinese govt even organised an officially approved foreign journalist group tour of Tibet and allowed monks to interrupt the session for over 15 mins during the process and speak their mind...people say the monk's interruption embarrassed the chinese govt, but really these ppl have no idea of the power and dictatorship of the chinese govt, if it had wanted to prevent these monks from reaching the reporters, it could easily have done so, and not allowed them to stay for 15 mins..the chinese govt could have easily locked them away somewhere or even if they managed to come drag them out in 5 mins at max and not allow for the Tibetan monks to vent their anger for a whole 15 mins before being hauled away by authorities...this is an important improvement and I think we should give encouragement and approval where its due instead of complaining endlessly about how bad the Chinese government is.

Then not only were foreigners allowed to remain (unlike in 1989, when all foreigners and reporters were kicked out of Tibet and where the government crushed the revolution from day one) but the government allowed the Tibetan rioters to rampage thru the city of Lhasa for 2 full days before clamping down, and even then, it was reported the People's Liberation Army units were not fully armed and it was clear that the government was well aware of international attention on how it would handle the situation and thus was keen to avoid a repeat of the 'Tiananmen Incident' of 1989 where it crushed student dissent and calls for democracy. I mean i found the government really improved this time round precisely due to the Olympics and so Western and Japanese reports of the government 'mercilessly' crushing down on the uprising is hardly true... i mean even pictures of tanks being brought in is reported as crushing the uprising...i mean the rioters have caused havoc on the streets and are looting shops and harming people based on their ethnicity, what do you expect any sane government to do?? Just allow the riots to go on??? Similarly when police arrest people suspected of being involved in the rioting, the media in the west and in taiwan and japan make it seem like it was 'crushing down on dissent', i mean even in the West, you would still arrest people for destroying public as well as private property right?? Why does it all of a sudden become 'undemocratic' when it happens in China?

Similarly, I've seen British and French police manhandling protesters during the Olympic torch relay (often very violently and with much force) but I don't see media reports of 'police brutality' when this happens in the West....and of cos, if it happens in China it becomes exactly that..I think sometimes theres a double standard working here...

Similarly, when Tibetans and their supporters chant 'Tibetans are being killed' or there's 'cultural genocide' in Tibet, its simply misinformation and platantly untrue. Chinese authorities do NOT go around killing off Tibetans in Lhasa or in Tibet as if it were a modern-day 'holocaust' and extermination process nor is Tibetan culture banned or purposely sidelined. In fact, the Chinese authorities actively promote Tibetan culture and its language for tourism purposes as tourism revenues are vital for the economy of Tibet and for keeping stability in place...where's the 'cultural genocide'? Even street signs and govt buildings have Tibetan script written on them which was something that surprised me, heck, many nations do not have such progessive minority policies in place and I think China should be given due credit for its minority policies...even in Malaysia whereby 40% of the population is non-Malay (the majority population) minority scripts such as Chinese or Tamil are not used on road signs nor govt buildings...of cos minority words are used but always in the majority script, China also uses Tibetan names written in Chinese but puts up Tibetan script above the Chinese thus allowing for dual writing systems on its public roads...hardly 'cultural genocide' no?? And further, this is done for all of China's autonomous regions (as far as i know) whereby minority groups with large populations reside...so for example in Yanbian in the north, bordering N.Korea, Korean script is used alongside Chinese on roads and public buildings (again; correct me; if i'm wrong)...Tibet forms an autonomous region of China and thus is allowed greater autonomy than the rest of China...so it isn't fair to say that Tibet is so 'mercilessly oppressed' when its not...in fact, being a minority such as Tibetan is much better in China than being a Han in some significant respects...eg: minorities in China are free from the one-child policy meaning a Tibetan can have more than one child whilst an ethnic Han Chinese cannot, and also extra marks are added on to the all-important university entrance exam scores such that minorities such as Tibetans and Mongols and Koreans can get into university places easier. Now, this type of 'affirmative action' policies in favour of minorities (i've heard of Chinese friends whom say people actually want to be listed officially as a minority race if they have some minority blood in them just to get the benefits) is prob never reported in the West cos it doesn't fit into the 'big bad stereotype' of China.

I am not trying to help China or the Chinese state but i just feel in terms of minority policies and Tibet it isn't as bad as its made out to be, IN MY OPINION. (very important qualification as this is just my personal opinion, a subjective opinion, cos i'm sure there'll be others who disagree strongly with me and say its living hell in Tibet) That, however, isn't a blank check for the Chinese authorities to ignore the grievances of the Tibetan people cos something is obviously failing in its Tibet policy for this uprising to have occured and thus its Tibetan policy MUST change. I believe the Dalai Lama is not to blame for the riots and attempts by the Chinese to tarnish his image incessantly has failed and so they should start a dialogue with him constructively and stop painting him as a 'devil'. I think its counterproductive and given that the Dalai Lama is merely asking for more autonomy for Tibet (he has never once asked for full Tibetan Independence) China can clearly negotiate and hold talks with him. I don't understand why it isn't willing to do so when the Dalai Lama's demands are not impossible to meet. Similarly, whilst the Western and Japanese media could well do more to highlight the damage to Chinese and Hui (another minority group living in Lhasa) livelihoods and casualties during the Tibetan uprising recently, the mainland Chinese media should also not ignore the causes and grievances of the Tibetans of the recent uprising and not simply highlight Chinese loss whilst ignoring the arrests of Tibetan monks peacefully protesting, as well as the sincere demands of the Tibetan people for greater autonomy.

Lets just hope there is a peaceful solution to this issue and some kind of meaningful and peaceful dialogue will assume between the Dalai Lama (whom i respect greatly) and the Chinese govt after the recent Tibetan uprising.

Sydney Life and Food Photos 2008....雪梨近日生活.......シドニーの最近の生活....

Just some photos of my life and foodie pix from recently....

Above: My favourite Bacon n Scrambled Eggs on Toast at my favourite cafe in Sydney...forgot the name of the cafe, haha..i just know how to get there, its in the downtown cbd area in sydney..

Above: Some street performance near Hyde Park....

Above: Thai-Style Hainanese Chicken Rice at Chat Thai, one of my fav Thai places in Sydney...its really really good n yummy there and they have tons of thai desserts which you can't really find elsewhere...like the mango n sticky rice thing, coconout with durian paste, and many many more...

Above: Taiwanese Bento (Fried Pork Ribs with Rice Bento)...

Above:Taiwanese side dishes from Cho Dumpling House, tofu with octopus:)

Miso Restaurant, World Square....nice Japanese spot, price is reasonable n food great...i especially like the side dishes they give, which can be seen above (the three small bowls).

The train station for the Royal Easter Show...it was built for the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 actually and the Olympic Stadium,etc are now used for other events such as the Sydney Royal Easter Show...
Above: Station exit towards Royal Easter Show.

Below: Fireworks at the Royal Easter Show.

I also went to the Royal Sydney Easter Show during the Easter hols..it was pretty boring actually except for the show at the very end which was quite spectacular with race cars, dangerous stunts, and what i liked the most, the fireworks, cos it was the very first time I could see fireworks up close whilst in the comfort of my seat...since as u know, usually firework displays during NYE or other times are usually seen in crowds and where u have to wait like 2 hrs in advance just to get a good viewing spot...but not this time! I could enjoy it sitting comfortably in my seat..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxg76BPOMdM&feature=related


Besides eating n hanging out with frens, I also caught up with some old classmates of mine and had some reunions of sorts...like i posted, i caught up with some people in KL on my recent trip to KL and when i came bck, I also met up with a friend from my primary school days, someone I hadn't seen in more than 12 yrs...met up in newtown (as he lives there..) and had thai food...he's changed alot n we're very different but i am glad to catch up on our respective lives since our primary days...I also managed to meet up with another old classmate of mine, this time from secondary school days as she so happened to come to Sydney on a business trip...caught up on old times at a Thai restaurant just off Oxford St, it was as if time stopped as we reminiscined and updated each other, she hadn't changed one abit either personality wise or even physically!! It was as if the 8 yrs that had gone passed was a mere 8 months,haha:)

Above and Below:

At 'bills'....the famous sydney restaurant chain for organic breakfast and hot ricotta cakes with maple syrup...went there twice, highly overrated in my opinion with the ricotta cakes being tasteless n bland...but apparently its world famous for some reason...yawn...

Below: Art gallery of Nsw...i took some (forbidden) pics inside of the paintings using my cam's special 'museum' mode...hahah...

Below: Japanese tea ceremony inside the Asian Art Gallery section...

Above and below: Photos of the paintings and art displays inside the Art Gallery of NSW which is situated near The Domain (a nice little public field)....

Above: At Young Alfreds at Customs House, Circular Quay with my japanese language partner helping me out with my Japanese.

Below: Sushi Tei near Wynyard Sta. Reasonably priced food, great atmosphere, good looking ppl and so a fantastic place for people-watching...(haha...alot of cute Australian-Chinese and Indonesian-Chinese guys and girls like to come here, i noticed...)

Above: Thai Festival held during Songkran at Darling Harbour...loads of thai food, performances,etc...i really really liked the hand-painted umbrellas, so tempted to buy one, basically the decorations u see on the umbrella above were all drawn on-the-spot from scratch!! I' m not kiddin!

Above: Sukiyaki Nabe at Sushi Rio near Darling Harbour.
Above: My favourite Penang 'specialty biscuits' called Beh Teh Saw by Him Heang which is like the most famous store in Penang.

Above: Loved it at first sight...VERY suitable for someone like me...ppl are always surprised and amazed at how messy my room is...they just don't expect it looking at me...haha..

Below: Spanish Food n Dancing at The Spanish Club near World Square....the food is pretty good n they have a Spanish performance on weekends too:)


Yum Cha at 同楽轩, Pitt St...the place is　usually packed but the food is not fantastic n quite expensive too..

More pix at my online photo album: http://hcpen1111.buzznet.com/user/photos/recent/

Till my next post...:)

Gay News Around Asia-Pacific/Early 08…亚洲同志新闻/ 5月号….アジアゲイのニュース

This is another update for my ongoing series called 'Gay News around Asia-Pacific'....now, my purpose for this is to highlight whats going on in LGBT issues in Asia and the Pacific so as to provide gay asians out there some positive role models and news to counter the perception amongst some gay asians (usually those english speaking ones and whom are into western media) that big strides are being made in the West in terms of gay rights and gay visibility in the media when in fact big advancements also being made in Asia (well..Asia is a big place and so theres huge variations but at least for the Chinese speaking world) Asians whom happen to be gay should also be proud of the advances in LGBT rights being made in the media and in society in our own area. I think its important and will be interesting for my straight readers too! However, in this post i shall talk abit about my thoughts on lesbians, as well as include a section on gay western media as I've recently come to actually like some of the western gay media (which isn't surprising given that i hardly watch any western entertainment, much less those with gay content)

Anyways, first off, I would like to provide some links for ppl whom understand Mandarin on shows that dealt with LGBT issues in the Chinese media in recent yrs. Many of these shows were very well known talk shows and the way they handled the issue was extremely positive and in a positive way....there were many many many shows but I've only managed to find a couple of shows which are able to be watched online so here goes:

Mainland China:

The mainland Chinese shows really surprised me as I always thought that China was much more socially backwards and less open towards gay issues, but not so!

Below is the link to two shows that dealt with the issue, both broadcasted on Phoenix Cable (which for those of u whom aren't familiar with the China scene, is apparently the most famous cable network in China with a wide reach audience and widely watched in mainland china) on the famous talk show 鲁豫有约. Now, any topics on this show will reach a huge audience as its arguably Phoenix's most well-known and most watched talk show program. One episode dealt with lesbians and another with gays in China. They even showed a gay couple whom adopted a son from a relative and now the son is an adult, calls one his father and the other his 'uncle'. They even attended his wedding (he's married to a woman with a child now) as the 'parents' at a Chinese Wedding Ceremony!!! I know, how totally 'unbelievable'!! To think that there are same-sex families with children now in China and even being able to attend their son's wedding as the parents was totally unbelievable to me...i mean at a traditional chinese wedding, the arrangement of seats and order in which and in what capacity hosts speak is all-important which meant that allowing both men to sit at the main table and to be recognised as the parents to me was a social breakthrough and very significant. Of cos, the parents did think about whether one of them shouldn't go up on stage so as not to embarass their son in front of the hundreds of wedding guests(some didn't know yet) but their son insisted that both men should attend his wedding as his 'parents'...awwww..how sweet...anyways, there are other shows dealing with gays too (at last count, Ru Yu You Yue has dealt with lgbt issues in two episodes and another show also on phoenix cable called 冷暖人生has done three shows on it, there maybe more, but these are just the ones i caught) , so watch them for urself: http://www.youku.com/playlist_show/id_1254788.html

So yeah, mainland China is surprisingly open about lgbt issues now, at least in the media, with the above tv programs as well as the China Daily (which is state-owned and tends to reflect the government's viewpoint and their position on certain issues, either political or social) article on gays being extremely sympathetic and positive on gays published earlier this yr asking chinese people to accept gay people and not to be prejudiced or discriminate against them. (article in my earlier post here:http://chinesechic.blogspot.com/2008/04/gay-and-women-issues-for-april.html)

Taiwan:

Well, its no surprise that gays and lesbians are highly visible in Taiwanese media, it being arguably THE MOST GAY-FRIENDLY country in Asia. Below are links to a show by Li Qing, one of the top female talk show hosts in Taiwan dealing with an episode on 'gay life' and bringing in ordinary taiwanese gay and lesbians to talk about their lives, their hobbies, hangouts, and love life.

Link here:http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/DorNUIzI1zs/

Even for those whom don't understand mandarin, its interesting to still have a look as they show gays and lesbians on one side and you can see many don't look gay at all, thus helping to dispel myths and stereotypes amongst average ppl (and taiwanese society)about what gay people look like....

Here's a link to Cai Kang Yong's long-running show (now ended and something akin to Larry King on CNN in terms of both prestige and the well-known status of that show) and the show where he interviewed Li Qing in 2004 shortly after her 'past' was exposed in an expose by one of the gossip mags in Taiwanese. The thing i liked about this interview and which also reflects how much Taiwan and Taiwanese media had changed was that Cai himself, the host, is openly gay and also happens to be one of the top three male talk show shows/writers/celebrity in Taiwan and he was interviewing Li Qing, which is arguably currently one of the top female hosts in Taiwan and a male-female transgender person! So you had an openly gay top talk show host man interviewing an openly transgender woman on a top talk show in Taiwan, how cool's that!! Link:http://tv.mofile.com/Z8WQB8NG/

http://tv.mofile.com/BTHNHKPU/

http://tv.mofile.com/R4DWXJY9/

What touched me alot about the interview was how Li Qing talked about her experiences to get to where she is now, one of the most successful talk show hosts in Taiwan, married to her husband, and extremely wealthy (she's estimated to be worth alot of money!). And the best thing was god really blessed her, you'd think being a middle aged transgender female, she wouldn't be able to succeed in an industry where looks are so important (and she did despite being born male AND no longer young when she became this well-known) and also be able to marry a guy whom loves her and is actually more than 10 yrs younger than her!!

She really bits all the odds and provides a positive role model for lgbt and especialyl transgender people....i mean heck, even 'natural' women would have trouble succeeding in the entertainment industry if they entered in their mid 30s or find a man willing to love a woman more than 10 yrs his senior, but Li Qing did!! And what touched me the most was how Li Qing's husband accepted her 'past' (she only confessed after marriage, apparently he wasn't aware of her 'past' before marriage) and the day she told him (cos she was getting popular and rumours were already abounding that the papparazzi in Taiwan was going to 'out' her...so she knew she had to tell her husband truthfully lest the consequences if he were to find out in a gossip mag and not by her) he didn't even need like a day or two to think it over BUT said immediately 'so what? i've always liked the present you, i don't know about your past and i don't think i will ever understand ur past. what matters now is ur present.' oh my goodness....he's sooooo loving and kind, what a great man!!!!!!! I mean ur wife just tells u that she used to be a man and you dun even care? Man, everyone should be so jealous of Li Qing to have such a wonderful husband like that, one whom doesn't care that his public figure wife is not only 10 yrs and more older than him but is also a transgender woman...since then of cos his pictures have been published and he has been 'outed' as well... as the husband of the transgender talk show host...but from what i gather, the 'outing' of Li Qing not only didn't affect her celebrity status, it even helped her become even more famous!! it seemed like with the saturated taiwanese entertainment tv show market, what could be better than a beautiful transgender host! But one thing i like is her 'transgenderism' has not affected and been made a 'selling point' of her shows and guests and topics never touch on her transgender identity...basically if u watch her shows, they never talk about her transgender nature and everyone refers her as 'Li Qing Jie' which means 'Sister Li Qing' and the transgender bit is simply not made an issue of which is pretty mature considering how it could have been exploited by unscrupulous Taiwanese producers (well known for producing shows whereby women are made to wear bikinis and play 'games' of throwing water,etc so that u get to see as much nipple imprints or 'peeking out' as possible...ewwww.i hate those shows, so degrading towards women...)

Lesbians:

I've always liked lesbians cos i'm a big time feminist and so i'm sure we'll have much in common, e.g. why's all these pretty girls hanging out,attached, or married to big, fat, unstylish looking straight men whom dun care peanuts about their looks??! Like huh? Hahaha...i know i'm abit mean but this is what i always think when i walk around and see all these nice pretty girls with less than impressive looking straight men...like hello? its not fair! And I of all people should be saying whats that cute guy doing with that girl! Cos i like guys (obviously!) and so should be jealous of the women but surprisingly, for me, its ALWAYS the other way round...u can see how shallow straight (well gay ones too) men are... i mean everytime i see a couple, i can always tell why the straight guy is with the girl, i mean just in terms of looks, the girls are always invariably better looking, nice make-up, at least take care of how they dress, i mean i can tell what the guy is attracted to ( i am sure she's got a great personality,etc...but even just in terms of looks u can tell how the girl could attract the guy...) BUT in terms, of guys, i am always wondering 'what does she see in him? It must be the personality cos i sure don't find him physically attractive....yea. so after all that rant i would have alot of common topics to talk about with lesbians...haha...any asian lesbians reading this, esp those in Sydney, do drop a note, i'd love being friends:)

And also one thing i can't stand is my gay friends whinging about how tough its like been gay, how its easier for girls cos in Asia women can hold hands, go arm in arm shopping, be all touchy with each other and its completely fine....i mean heck, stop complaining! Its ten, no, hundred times better being gay than lesbian ok!! Yea, so u can't go shopping hand in hand with ur boyfriend whilst the lesbian can with her g/f without stares from strangers but gay men are still priviledged by the very fact that they are still MEN and being a man in Asia can mean more and bring more priviledges than any impairment that being gay brings. Firstly, men earn more, gay or otherwise, so gay men almost always earn more than women, even straight ones!! So a gay man will actually still be more well-off financially than a straight woman, and much less a lesbian!! Then, there is the fact that gay men occupy many of the top positions in society such as managerial positions, in government, etc which lesbians don't and furthermore, gay men have so-called 'gay occupations' which are environments which are highly tolerant of gay men, eg. flight attendant, make-up artist (almost fully gay i would say), fashion designers, magazine editors, the entire creative industry basically, hair dressers, shoe makers, women's products, the list goes on...now, name me a lesbian occupation? I can't think of one...well, maybe women's soccer..hahaha...but how many one to become a soccer professional...

Then even in the lgbt arena, almost all the gay magazines which are famous and all gay media and outlets such as gay bars first and foremost target and are for gay men...i mean some gay bars don't even allow women in, so no lesbians as well and due to the financial constraints of lesbians, they simply don't have that much money, unlike gay men whom earn more and can afford to open gay bars, gay pubs, set up gay businesses and gay media....which all target gay MEN and some wholly so to the exclusion of lesbian women...i mean i was literally amazed when two yrs ago i checked out this very well known gay asia friendship web portal with info on gay pubs,bars,etc in each asian city and the page for singapore (this portal is singaporean owned) under lesbians showed up zero, ziltch! places for lesbians to hangout and relax with their friends whereas there were like 5 to 6 different places/discos/parties for gay men..it was simply amazing for me and i was quite appalled...and Hong Kong has these gay boat parties whereby 20 or so privately owned luxury ships are pooled together for this annual boat party for gay men and once again whenever i see the advertisements for this event every yr on this SG gay website i visit (where i get some of my info for my knowledge of gay and lesbians issues) i always wonder why a similar event is never held for lesbians? Of cos, i could guess the answer, it was cos gay men, like all men, are simply richer and more financially well-off compared to lesbians and could actually afford or own some of these luxury boats in the first place...lesbians simply didn't have the means...

I mean even the well-known circuit parties held across Asia in recent yrs in places like Bangkok, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Taipei, almost 80% and above are gay men only events...i mean what about the lesbian sisters? I rem once an organiser said its cos lesbians don't like to party and I was like WHAT??! So why do u still see so many straight gals enjoying themselves and having a good time at all the straight venues? If straight gals like to party, i'm sure lesbians do too..its almost like what the japanese said in response to why during the colonial era, japanese were given white rice to eat during state banquets whilst koreans were given oats and wheat in colonial Korea. "Its cos Koreans Don't eat white rice, you see" was the response given by one japanese colonial administrator. haha..yeah, RIGHT.

And even in the western media (its much better in chinese media, although its apparently the same in korean media and slightly so in japanese media) lesbian characters aren't many and the current 'gay phenomenon' occurring in TV with a deluge of gay themed shows and characters are really all gay MALE characters...i mean think of all the famous US TV shows and think of how many have lesbian characters or lesbian couples??

Its just sad really that in the media, in terms of gay venues ( i mean gay bars are only for gay men and women who love them, what about lesbians?? ever wondered where they went???) and financial power, lesbians are ignored, and left to the sideline whilst gay men take centre stage...i mean heck even in gay pride parades, its the gay men (in their teeny tight shorts!) gyrating their hips that are the highlight of the shows and what people have as an image of gay parades..lesbians come second, just like how women come after men even in the straight world ...in fact, in Tokyo, the annual glbt pride parade has a problem with lesbian attendance, something like 80% of all parade marchers are men and the floats are almost all gay male floats...this shows the problem in much of gay Asia in that often, being a woman is much more of an issue than being gay...Japanese lesbians, like their straight counterparts, simply don't have so much money to hire the floats and also feel like they cannot attend such public events as conveniently as the men can...

I just want to highlight what many asian gay men (and their western counterparts too, i believe!) seem not to realise (or care) , that is that as much as gay men like to complain about homophobia being stronger with straight guys,etc that women get it easier cos they can be intimate in public, gay men still get the nicer part of the cotton candy stick whilst lesbians have it much worse, in terms of media publicity, financial power, top positions held in both the public and private, as well as places and publications which are made specifically for lesbians as opposed to the vast rainbow of choices for gay men. I already see some gay men questioning; sometimes asking questions like 'What about the lesbians?' This questioning of their own priviledges is an important first step towards recognising as well as addressing these inequalities and sexism which exist in the gay community just like it exists in the straight community too.

Western Media:

Recently, I've come to watch some western gay media and was surprised at how i liked some of it, well...a few, some i really disliked and thats one thing about western gay media, movies,etc...it just isn't for me, many of the storylines really, REALLY PANDER to gay men and their fantasies to the point where it doesn't make sense and is just plain wishful thinking.. i mean, thats why i enjoy asian gay movies, tv series,etc cos they are more realistic, less in-your-face and more subtle/romantic in my opinion. Shows with gay characters now include: German TV 'Forbidden Love''s Christian and Olliver gay couple, Ugly Betty , Brothers and Sisters,etc...frankly i watched abit of the above and really didn't get them(with the exception of Brothers and Sisters, which has its flaws. but watchable) I mean how come they made Alexis seem so evil in Ugly Betty when she embarasses her family at the show by revealing her identity? And also how silly is it for Christian to 'suddenly' realise he is gay after he is kissed by Oll? i mean he is already in his thirties and obviously loved gf until then...and its like..huh? Its just playing to gay men's fantasies of turning a straight man 'gay' ...with one kiss..hahaha..BAD storyline....which is why i don't watch gay western stuff...i hated 'Brokeback Mountain' for the record, yes i hated it, it made me feel so disgusted and revolted, it elicits in me a response whenever i watch gay themed western movies (which is only like 2 movies,excl. comedies like i Now Pronounce u Chuck and larry, haha) which are feelings of disgust..i know!!! (i know ppl loved brokeback but not me...i mean even the tagline ' i don't know how to quit you.' which was oh-so-romantic to many sounded to me like 'i don't know how to quit your ass' to me...gosh i think ppl are gonna hate me for saying what i said, but thats what i truly think about that movie...and most of gay western media, its all about sex, i really don't see much love or feelings in them at all..)

But heres the good stuff:

Margaret Cho...I LOVE her:

Margaret Cho Gay Daddy:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPEY2FMtFjU

Margaret Cho and "No Gays in Korea":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NV-W18I1ms

Margaret Cho Str8/Gay Males:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOR35NIrxa4&feature=related

Margaret Cho on 'Ellen':http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsbbNtvjNDw

Comedy Central and Other Funny Gay Clips (e.g. Chaser's war on Everything):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgc_Y-yOD24

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=156320&title=mass.-hysteria&tag=generic_tag_gay_marriage&itemId=107934

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSm8QbFlXJ8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htoFesSla0g&feature=user

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrXkSPWtRAU&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkpH6WerfKMPoltergay French Film Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpG_9mAs-agQueens Spanish Film Trailer (gay theme)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtVqItYqOs0 Larry King on CNN (Transgender interview-gosh, the lady is so pretty!!)

Actually up till now, the only gay themed western show i liked (given that i disliked brokeback mountain, qaf,etc) would be ATWT's Luke & Noah storyline...i know...to think i actually enjoy an American soap!!

Oh yeah, i LOVE Oprah too...she's simply fantastic!! She has a huge gay male following n and is extremely pro-gay in her attitude and has done many shows dealing with gay issues in a positive light...here's her profile on wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey and a show she did with Ellen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqfEapyCDsc

I'm surprised also at the number of gay stars whom have come out openly about their sexuality in recent yrs in the West: Jodie Foster (!), Lance Bass of some boyband fame, Luke Macfarlane (Brothers and Sisters), TR Knight (Greys Anatomy) and many more........

other Asian Media:

I've been dealing with the Chinese media as well as Chinese society more in my recent posts on gay issues in Asia so I thought I'd include this clip showing a gay-themed Korean ad, quite funny, it would only appear funny if u are savvy enough, hahaha..otherwise you probably wouldn't get it!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OohCJMUWRlE&feature=related

Chinese MV's with Gay Theme:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2FAB508AAB808321&page=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDWFx3HvTFc I Love this Song..the lyrics are beautiful and the mtv is too.....especially the lesbian couple, they look soooooo sweet together!!!:):) The singer's Malaysian by the way, and highly supportive of gay rights, given his record of performing at gay venues as well as promoting gay themes in his album:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_sQaiSRYD4 This isn't a gay-themed song but i just love it!! Anyways, there is a lgbt connection cos the singer Lee Hom has constantly been voted by gay Taiwanese men as one of their top dream boyfriends, he's very popular with the 'gay clique' across the Chinese world in Asia.

Anyways, i won't be posting on gay issues for awhile now, since I've done quite abit for now, so for those of you not keen on gay stuff, there'll be less, at least for the coming few months..:)