YeinJee's Asian Journal

This patriotic Chinese student is among thousands of Chinese students and expatriates taking part in a silent protest on April 19 against the BBC and other British news organization for their distorted and biased reports on Lhasa riots and the London leg of Olympics torch relay.

I am not really sure how biased BBC was, but this Chinese patriot probably needs to spend more time learning his English…

(Image from Chinadaily)

English lesson of The Day…
Lier: A person who lies down (horizontally, i.e. lies on bed, lies on floor)
Liar: A person who tells lies (not telling the truth)

I make a lot of English grammatical mistakes too, so it’s probably not proper for me to tease this fella; but it’s just funny… imagine you are on international news and the first thing people notice is some bizarre typo.

A Chinese news anchor has created some hot debates in various Chinese forums after she was seen yawning during a live telecast of CCTV’s morning news.

CCTV, or China Central Television, is the major television broadcaster in Mainland China. A few weeks ago CCTV had made a similar blunder with another news reporter seen applying makeup during an evening broadcast.

Most of the netizens are showing sympathy over these mistakes, but are generally concerned that the quality of CCTV news are declining in recent months.

CCTV and the yawning news anchor have both apologised to the public.

First trailer for anime version of “Winter Sonata”, based on the (same title) Korean drama which was a big hit across Asia a few years ago.

The animation project was revealed in 2007, but only started gaining some serious notice in March 2008 after the announcement that Korean star Bae Yong-joon is going to voice his own character from the original drama… he shares a few words at the end of the trailer.

Update May 29 – Choi Ji-woo has agreed to join the project.

Rob Taverner, a 44-year-old British dairy farmer who believes that happy cows produce wholesome milk, has found a rather bizarre way to entertain the cows… by performing Tai Chi in front of the herd.

Rob playing Tai Chi in front of his cows (Image from Metro)

Rob is taking part in a new campaign by the Federation of Organic Milk Groups (FOMG) to ensure maximum levels of well-being in every pint of milk… by practicing the traditional Chinese martial art of Tai Chi.

Rob says… “We’ve noticed a close link between our own mood and the mood of the herd. By practising these moves, we feel calmer and happier and we think the cows are noticeably happier too. And if the cows are happy, healthy and relaxed they produce wholesome milk.” [Taverner's Farm]

I’m not sure if the Tai Chi would make the cows happier, but I know I am after reading this news. Besides, I bet these farmers will have healthier bodies after all the Tai Chi practice.

Never knew that Donald Duck has such a comprehensive family tree…

Donald Duck’s family tree (Image from Duckman, via Neatorama)

Nestle Japan is introducing a new KitKat package that you can post it like a postcard. The back of this KitMail packaging allocates spaces for addresses, messages and stamp. The product will be available in Japan on April 21. [Hat tip to Japundit]

Any Japanese here that want to send me a package? Domo arigato :)

Music video from Korean girls group Jewelry… “One More Time”.

The song is a superhit in Korea at the moment, topping KBS’ Music Bank for six weeks and dominating other music charts on MBC and SBS as well. Their dance moves, dubbed the ‘ET dance’, has become a hit too.

One More Time is from “Kitchi Island”, Jewelry’s 5th album and first since 2005. Two new members (Ha Joo-yun & Kim Eun-jung) are introduced to fill the spots left by Jo Min-ah and Lee Ji-yun. The two original members are Park Jung-ah and Seo In-young.

The song is a remake of Italian singer In-Grid’s “Encore Un Fois”… quite catchy, but I can never understand how it managed to tops Music Bank for six weeks. Love Park Jung-ah’s new hairstyle though.

[Update April 20] It’s #1 for seven consecutive weeks at Music Bank.

Former S.Korean President Roh Moo-hyu has become talk of the town with his post retirement lifestyle.

His official website has became a hit with throngs of daily visitors reading his latest updates, and thousands of travellers are visiting his residing village to catch a glimpse of the former president.

Roh moved back to Bongha Village, near his birthplace, after retiring from the office on Feb 25, 2008. Bongha is a small village with about 120 residents, around 5 hours of driving distance from Seoul.

Roh is enjoying his farmer-like lifestyle and engaged in some environmental projects after his retirement. Although not really popular during his presidential years, his down-to-earth lifestyle has won the heart of some of his former critics.

Most (if not all) of the former Korean Presidents are living in heavily guarded houses in Seoul which are isolated from public access.

[May 2009 update] Roh committed suicide, RIP.