In The News

A Little Red Dot and Tension Across the Taiwan Strait

Lee Hsien Loong August 23, 2004
During his first National Day Rally speech, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced and expounded upon the continuance of Singapore’s “One China” policy in the wake of his non-official visit to Taiwan. Tracing the root of the policy back to Singapore’s independence in 1965, Lee emphasized his nation’s desire for good relations with both Taiwan and the mainland. At the same time, he...

好莱坞何以主导美国影院?

Christina Klein August 17, 2004

Why Does Hollywood Dominate US Cinemas?

Christina Klein August 17, 2004
As the foreign film market in the US continues to shrink, American distributors play increasingly larger roles as cultural gate-keepers. However, says Christina Klein, professor of literature and comparative media studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the newest generation in commercial Asian cinema eludes simple classification. Challenging older notions of foreign films as...

Rolling Stoned

Seema Sirohi August 10, 2004
Hollywood’s casting of two Asian Americans in lead roles has caught the attention of the non-US press. Writing for Outlook India, Seema Sirohi says that “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle,” which features one Korean American and one Indian American as its protagonists, “makes cinematic history as the first mainstream film with not one but two Asian leads as real as any other twentysomething...

Can America Regain Its Soft Power After Abu Ghraib?

Joseph S. Nye, Jr. July 29, 2004
One of the heaviest costs of the Iraq War has been the loss of America’s reputation worldwide, writes Harvard professor Joseph S. Nye, Jr. The image of America as an arrogant, global bully is increasingly commonplace around the world. The abuses at Abu Ghraib prison have exacerbated this negative perception of the US, and contributed to the decline of America’s 'soft power'. For...

'Bad Press' Causing Headaches for Beijing

Paul Mooney July 22, 2004
Although SARS may have served as a wake-up call to China's leaders on the importance of free speech and openness, over the past year and a half Beijing seems to have been backsliding. Writing from Beijing, Paul Mooney notes that one newspaper was shut down in March 2003 for criticizing Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin for being autocratic. Another paper's editors were...

Exporting Animation a Huge Japanese Success Story

Hiroko Nakata July 7, 2004
The export of Japanese animation series, particularly to the US, continues to grow both in terms of hours of animation and number of series. Along with related products such as video games and toys, export of these programs has brought considerable lucre to the island nation. Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! have become household names in many American communities, but the Japanese language vocabulary of...