Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Monday and Thursday, providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Please send me an email if you would like to be notified of new editions. Previous editions can be found here.

This edition contains riots in China, kimchi, Chinese women's attitudes to sex, tourism in the wrong places, a pre-emptive strike on Australia, Quentin Tarantino's scriptwriter and another use for Coke, plus plenty more.

Hong Kong, China and Taiwan

• There has been several ethnic based riots in China in the last few months. There were riots in Henan and in Inner Mongolia, although the band involved in the latter is "ugliest collections of musicians ever assembled since the Traveling Wilburys. Perhaps even the Moody Blues." Fabian has more.
• China is clamping down on its leaky capital account.
• Playing cat and mouse with China's media censors. It's easy to write articles in Chinese papers: just take a travel guide and type.
• Chinese women like sex.
• Hostage negotiation Chinese style.
• A kinder, gentler kind of authoritarian.
• The Great Wall of Silence about suicide.
• Despite their protestations to the contrary, China's economy is still very much a planned one, not a market one. But at least in small ways the rule of law is starting to take hold.

Korea and Japan

• "Korea without kimchi is still Korea".
• As Korea gets richer, its people travel far and wide. Perhaps too far.
• What happens to North Korean defectors after they arrive in the South? (Although some get 30 days in the brig...but some question the timing).
• Meet Charisma Man...more examples here. Maybe he should start with this line.
• Diplomacy might not be working, but the South and North can at least talk about business.
• Korea's successful soccer team in the 2002 World Cup seems to have had a little help.
• Pampered protected pooches.

SE and Other Asia

• Amongst others a Filipino has been taken hostage in Iraq.
• Mahathir interfering in the internal affairs of another country? It might be against "Asian values" but it didn't stop him.
• Singapore's bloggers were written up in The Straits Times. Hicky was interviewed for the piece, as was Mr. Brown.
• Indonesia launches a pre-emptive strike on Australia.

Miscellany

• Quentin Tarantino's going local. He could get these guys to write the script.
• The mouthless cat turned 30. She turns up in interesting places and of course she's got a blog.
• Another reason why Coke is it.