Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
April 21, 2014
Norway restores, donates 1927 silent film to China
BEIJING (AP) — Norway has donated a restored Chinese silent film from the
1920s to China’s national film archive despite a prolonged diplomatic chill
between the countries over the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Two representatives of
the National Library of Norway presented the film to the China Film Archive.
The library said in a statement that it found a damaged print of the 1927
Shanghai Film Company production The Cave of the Spider Spirit in its archives
in 1999 during an attempt to identify around 9,000 boxed reels. The film, based
on a chapter of the Chinese classical folktale “Journey to the West,” was restored
and a copy made. The library said the film premiered in Oslo in January 1929
with title cards in both languages. It is unclear how this version of the film ended
up in Norway or whether other copies still exist. The film exchange marks a rare
point of official contact between the sides.
FERMENTED FISH. A skate seller puts slices of skate into styrofoam boxes for shipment to customers around South
Korea at a fish market in Mokpo, a port city on the southwestern tip of the Korean Peninsula. The aroma of one of south-
western South Korea’s most popular delicacies regularly gets compared to rotting garbage and filthy bathrooms. And that’s
by fans. The unusual dish is typically made by taking dozens of fresh skate — a cartilage-rich fish that looks like a stingray
— stacking them up in a walk-in refrigerator, and waiting. Up to a month in some cases. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Mt. Gox headed for bankruptcy, not rehabilitation
TOKYO (AP) — The Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in Tokyo is headed for dissolu-
tion after a court rejected its bankruptcy protection application. Mt. Gox said the
Tokyo District Court decided the company would not be able to resurrect itself
under a business rehabilitation process filed in February. The exchange’s CEO,
Mark Karpeles, said then that 850,000 bitcoins worth several hundred millions
of dollars were unaccounted for, blaming a weakness in the exchange’s systems.
Later, some 200,000 bitcoins were found, changing the estimate for the lost vir-
tual currency to 650,000 bitcoins although the exact amount is still under inves-
tigation. Bitcoins were created in 2009 as a way to make transactions across
borders without third parties such as banks. Mt Gox. has suggested the bitcoins
were stolen.
Sri Lanka says Canada holds Commonwealth to ransom
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka has accused Canada of using its
funding of the Commonwealth as a political tool by suspending its $10 million
annual contribution while Sri Lanka chairs the group’s secretariat. Canada, a
leading funder of the 53-member Commonwealth of former British colonies, said
it will redirect its contribution to programs that promote the group’s values
because of concerns over Sri Lanka’s human-rights record. Sri Lanka’s Foreign
Ministry accused Canada of taking the step based on “political compulsions,
thereby holding the membership of the wider Commonwealth to ransom.”
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper boycotted last year’s Commonwealth
Heads of Governments Meeting hosted by Sri Lanka and urged an independent
investigation of rights violations during the final stages of the country’s
decades-long civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels.
China Film takes first stake in Hollywood movies
HONG KONG (AP) — China’s state-owned film distributor is making its first
investment in Hollywood movies by taking a stake in two Legendary
Entertainment productions. China Film Co. will make an “eight-figure equity
investment” in two upcoming films, Seventh Son and Warcraft, according to the
Chinese unit of Legendary Entertainment. The exact amount of the U.S. dollar
investment was not specified. Seventh Son is a fantasy adventure starring Jeff
Bridges and Julianne Moore that is scheduled for release on February 6, 2015.
Warcraft, based on a popular video game series, is slated for release March 11,
2016. If approved for release in China, China Film would distribute the movies
under current rules and regulations for foreign films, which are limited to just
34 per year. The deal calls for China Film to be credited on the movies.
Filipino positive for MERS virus home from UAE
MANILA, The Philippines (AP) — A Filipino health worker who tested posi-
tive for the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS) has arrived
home from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to Philippine officials.
It’s the first known case of the deadly virus in the country. Health secretary
Enrique Ona said the Filipino’s blood tested positive but he has no symptoms of
the disease. He has been isolated and people who were in contact with him are
being traced and quarantined. In addition, Malaysian authorities confirmed its
first MERS virus death in Malaysia. Ona said the Philippine man had personal
contact with another Filipino hospital worker who died of the virus in the UAE.
Blood test results in the UAE were released after he arrived in the Philippines
with his family, and authorities immediately informed the Philippine Embassy.
MERS belongs to a family of viruses that includes both the common cold and
SARS, which killed some 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It can cause
fever, breathing problems, pneumonia, and kidney failure. It was first identified
in 2012 in the Middle East, where most cases since have been diagnosed. Glob-
ally, the World Health Organization said it has been informed of 238 laboratory-
confirmed cases, including 92 deaths, since September 2012. While MERS does
not seem to spread as quickly between people as SARS did, it appears to be more
deadly.
South Koreans crave
Asia’s smelliest fish
By Foster Klug
The Associated Press
OKPO, South Korea — The aroma of
one of South Korea’s most popular
delicacies is regularly compared to
rotting garbage and filthy bathrooms. And
that’s by fans.
The unusual dish is typically made by
taking dozens of fresh skate — a cartilage-rich
fish that looks like a stingray — stacking them
up in a walk-in refrigerator, and waiting. Up to
a month in some cases.
“You know when it’s done by the smell,” said
Kang Han-joo, co-owner of a seafood store in
the bustling fish market of Mokpo, a port city
on the southwestern tip of the Korean
Peninsula, a region that’s considered the food’s
spiritual home. As Kang spoke, he sliced small,
stinking, glistening, dark-pink fish steaks
with a large knife and laid them in plastic foam
boxes for shipment to customers around South
Korea.
The smell of the fish, called hongeo in
Korean and usually eaten uncooked, is un-
mistakable, unavoidable, and a deal-breaker
for many. A profound, pungent stink of
ammonia radiates from the animal after it’s
been ripening for weeks. First-timers often
squeeze their eyes shut as they chew. Tears
stream down the cheeks. The throat constricts
with the effort of swallowing.
Kang notes, in a dramatic understatement:
“When it’s fermented a long time, the smell
becomes deeper.”
Americans are still getting used to gentler
fermented Asian foods — spicy Korean kimchi
and Japanese miso, for example — yet many
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Ford to sell Lincoln cars in China for first time
BEIJING (AP) — Ford Motor Co. says it will introduce its high-end Lincoln
brand to China later this year with plans to open eight dealerships in seven
cities. Lincoln is a late comer to China’s luxury car market but Robert Parker,
president of Lincoln China, said the brand is being introduced after much
deliberation and research. He says Lincoln will bring to China models that have
padded backseats because of China’s higher expectations for backseat comfort
and a custom fragrance pleasing to Chinese noses. Parker says he believes there
is strong interest in Lincoln among Chinese luxury car consumers and that the
company aims to open 60 dealerships in 50 Chinese cities by 2016.
South Koreans claim a love, an addiction even,
for this extreme form of fermentation.
Restaurants specializing in the fish can be
found throughout the country. One online
hongeo appreciation society boasts more than
1,300 members.
“Some people start to crave it as soon as they
smell the ammonia,” said Shin Jin-woo, a
seafood store worker in Mokpo. “There’s no
need to advertise how intense the smell is.
Everyone already knows.”
Shin’s store has two fermentation refrigera-
tors. Walk into one and a blast of ammonia
burns the eyes, the nose and sinuses, the
tongue, throat, and lungs. Skate are fer-
mented up to 15 days in the first refrigerator,
where the temperature is 2.5º Celsius (36.5º
Fahrenheit), and up to another 15 days in the
second at 1º C (34º F).
Shops in Mokpo custom-ferment the fish
and ship the results to restaurants and hongeo
fans around South Korea.
The vast majority of the more than 11,000
tons of hongeo consumed in the country comes
not from South-Korean-caught fish, but from
cheaper frozen imports. Shop owners thaw and
clean the imported fish, which can cost up to
five times less than the local version, and place
the hongeo in refrigerators to ferment.
Hongeo’s history is murky, but it emerged in
the days before refrigeration, when food that
could keep for a long time without rotting was
prized. Someone — maybe a fisherman on a
long voyage or a clever, hungry, or desperate
farmer — discovered that skate didn’t spoil as
easily as other fish and a dish was born.
Shop owners say the traditional method of
Continued on page 4
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77.72
4009.9
6.2243
1.8332
7.7545
60.291
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24897
102.39
8046.5
3.2405
96.45
97.65
2.7624
44.438
35.552
3.7502
1.2521
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130.61
30.213
32.182
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