Category: South Asia

No more wedding photos of bride and groom clinking wine glasses. No wedding veils. No extravagant banquets or over-the-top flower arrangements. And no pictures of the bride lighting the groom’s cigarette. All those smack of anti-socialist attitudes, and don’t embrace traditional North Korean ideals, authorities in the country say. Instead, women should dress in traditional if colorful attire (men can wear Western suits), and weddings should be humble, “patriotic” affairs that are less wasteful as the country suffers chronic food and fuel shortages, sources in the country told Radio Free Asia. Photos of the bride and groom clinking glasses, the bride lighting the groom’s cigarette, and the groom lifting his bride in the air have all been highly discouraged in the new North Korean wedding guidelines.  The wedding guidelines, which also tell newlyweds to avoid sunglasses, clothes emblazoned with foreign letters, large flowers worn on the bride’s head and long vehicle processions, were announced in recent community lectures, a resident of the South Hamgyong province said on condition of anonymity to protect her safety. “The core content is that weddings should be frugal, and done in [the North Korean] way,” she said.  Those who are seen to be violating the “noble morals of socialist lifestyle” were threatened with unspecified punishments, she said. Brides should not wear a veil while donning traditional Korean wedding attire. ‘Unpatriotic’ Even in North Korea, weddings have become an occasion to show off wealth and status, and authorities appear to be alarmed about that.  Also, many weddings were postponed during the coronavirus pandemic, so officials held lectures on acceptable wedding practices in anticipation of a nuptial surge this spring, the sources said. “The lecturer talked about how some people set up lavish wedding banquets or show off their power and status or arrange for a long procession of cars when the groom takes the bride away,” the first source said.  “Acts like these, they said, are unpatriotic because they waste fuel and food during this difficult time,” she said. North Korean wedding guidelines advise against marrying couples wearing sunglasses at their ceremony. Wedding photos should also be formal to avoid displaying behavior that isn’t considered appropriate, the lecturers said, according to the residents RFA spoke to. Attendees were told to avoid taking wedding photos that are not in the North Korean style, “such as of the groom holding and lifting the bride above his waist, or of the bride and groom clinking wine glasses or of the bride lighting a cigarette for the groom,” said the source.  Marrying couples are urged to refrain from wearing any clothing featuring visible foreign characters or brand logos at their ceremony. In nearby North Hamgyong province, these lectures focused on being humble in what types of poses are used in wedding photos, and spent a considerable amount of time discussing the choice of flowers during weddings, a resident there told RFA. “Many years ago, the authorities issued guidelines on the size of the flowers that the bride and groom should wear on their chest and hair at weddings, as well as what they should not do when taking pictures,” the second source said. “We should not decorate the chest with flowers larger than 7-8 centimeters (3 inches) and on the head, no more than 15 (6 inches).” She said that every flower shop has a picture showing the government’s standards for the size of wedding flowers. North Korean workers are discouraged to miss or leave work early to attend a wedding ceremony. Don’t miss much work Also, wedding attendees were told to miss as little work as possible, the first source said. “Young people attending a wedding were advised to go after work,” she said. “And groups of 10 or more young people should not follow the bride and groom when they are on their photo shoot.” The lecturers threatened to punish couples who violated the standards, but didn’t specify what their consequences would be. “The intention is to impose punishment according to recently adopted laws,” she said. Brides are discouraged from wearing large flowers in their hair or on their chests.  The source may have been referring to the 2020 Rejection of Reactionary Thought and Culture Act, which lays out punishments for various cultural offenses such as spreading South Korean or foreign cultural practices. The law does not specifically list which acts are considered “reactionary,” the Seoul-based Korea Joongang Daily noted in a report published shortly after it was passed.  But authorities have used it to prevent people from dancing in a “capitalist” way, speaking or writing “like a South Korean” or lending money at high interest rates.  North Korean wedding guidelines warn against newlyweds showing off wealth with long vehicle processions.  Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster. Illustrations by Amanda Weisbrod.

UPDATED AT 06:30 a.m. ET on 2023-04-07 Beijing on Friday announced further sanctions against the Taiwanese de facto ambassador to the United States following the meeting between Taiwan’s president and the U.S. House speaker, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said. New “punishments” with immediate effect have also been imposed against two organizations, the Taiwan Prospect Foundation and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats. China also announced sanctions on U.S.-based Hudson Institute, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, and their four senior officials.  Bi-khim Hsiao, Head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S., as well as her family members, will be “strictly” banned from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said. Hsiao’s financial sponsors and related businesses will also be banned from “cooperating with mainland organizations and individuals.” “All other necessary punitive measures will be taken to ensure lifelong accountability according to law,” the spokesperson warned. Hsiao, who is being labeled “a diehard Taiwan independence separatist” by Beijing, responded on Twitter: “Wow, the PRC just sanctioned me again, for the second time,” referring to China by its official name the People’s Republic of China. Last August following a visit by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, China imposed an entry ban on Pelosi and her immediate family members, as well as Hsiao and six other Taiwanese officials and lawmakers. The measures are believed to have little impact as Hsiao does not travel to China and her family has no business interests in the mainland. Taiwan’s foreign ministry reacted by saying the move “exposed the irrational and absurd nature of the communist regime.” It described President Tsai’s visit as “a complete success,” and called sanctions an “overreaction to further suppress our country’s international space.” ‘Resolve, will and ability’ Similar sanctions were also imposed on two Taiwanese organizations – the Prospect Foundation and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats – for their involvement in promoting Taiwan independence “under the guise of academic and research exchanges.” “No individual or force should underestimate our strong resolve, will and ability to safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the spokesperson of the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office said. China lists Taiwan as one of its provinces but Chinese courts do not hold jurisdiction over the island. In a statement, the Prospect Foundation said it regretted the Chinese move, saying it would “set up obstacles for China’s communication with the outside world.” It called on Beijing to reverse the move as soon as possible but added that the foundation would not change its principles of upholding “the spirit of academic independence and the principle of safeguarding Taiwan’s sovereignty, conducting exchanges and cooperating with the outside world,” because of China’s announcement. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, second from right, welcomes Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen as she arrives at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., April 5, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu The Chinese Foreign Ministry also imposed an entry ban on four senior executives of the Hudson Institute and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, which hosted Tsai Ing-wen during her recent stopovers in New York and California.  “Universities, institutions and other organizations and individuals in China are prohibited from conducting exchanges and cooperation with the two U.S. institutions,” the ministry said in a statement. On Thursday, Beijing vowed to take “strong and resolute measures” against Taiwan and a Chinese carrier group is currently operating in the waters east of the island. The aircraft carrier Shandong is in the West Pacific for the first time – its regular operation area is the South China Sea. It is equipped with a large number of warplanes on the deck, including J-15 multirole fighters, Z-18 transport helicopters and at least one Z-9 reconnaissance helicopter. The Chinese Foreign Ministry repeatedly condemned the meeting between Tsai Ing-wen and Kevin McCarthy, as well as the Taiwanese president’s stopovers in the U.S. Beijing said Washington and Taipei have “crossed the line” and “seriously infringed upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Meanwhile, former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou returned from a trip to China Friday, warning that the policies of Tsai Ing-wen’s government have escalated tensions with Beijing and the island will in future have “a choice between peace and war,” the Reuters news agency reported. Ma is the first former president to visit China since 1949. His Kuomintang party hopes to regain the presidency in next January’s election on a  campaign of increased cooperation with Beijing. This story has been updated to include comments from Taiwan’s foreign ministry and the Prospect Foundation. Edited by Mike Firn.

In Brief Following Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s stopover in New York City en route to Central America, reports by official Chinese media outlets described her as being “embarrassed” when upon arrival she “was coolly received” by crowds of protesting Chinese who looked at her like a “rat in the street.” Such reports quoted The Wall Street Journal as saying that she “is keeping largely out of the public eye” and used short video clips that ostensibly showed Tsai “having to quickly duck into a hotel through a side door” in order to avoid the crowd.  Such claims soon spread widely across the Chinese internet and were reprinted by most national and provincial media outlets, including China Daily and Global Times. Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) verified that the above descriptions misrepresented and distorted Tsai’s arrival and subsequent time spent in the city, after checking with on-site eyewitness reporters in New York City.  In Depth  Tsai stayed in New York City from the afternoon of March 29 to the morning of March 31, as an initial stopover during her planned 10-day diplomatic visit to Taiwan’s allies in Central America. The Chinese government strongly condemned Tsai’s transit through the United States and organized groups of overseas Chinese within the U.S. to protest it. Tsai arrived at the Lotte Hotel in Manhattan at 4 p.m. on March 29. AFCL learned from a number of on-site reporters that 400-500 protesters organized by China had gathered in an open space across from the southwest side of the hotel. In between chants of “Down with Tsai” and  “Taiwan independence is a dead end,” the protestors waved Chinese flags and intermittently sang Chinese patriotic songs.  Meanwhile, north and south of the hotel’s eastern entrance, about 100 to 200 people holding Taiwanese flags gathered in support of Tsai, chanting “Go Taiwan” and “Long live the Republic of China.” Two factions of people gather on the east [left] and west [right] sides of Tsai’s hotel on the afternoon of March 29. Credit: RFA While the two factions occasionally bandied words and competed to see who could shout their slogans the loudest, local police and special duty officers prevented a repeat of the clashes that marked Tsai’s previous transit through New York in 2019. Did Mainland Chinese media provide the full picture of Tsai’s hotel arrival? No. Mainland Chinese coverage of Tsai’s visit only shows voices and images of the opposition protests, with official reports of the event describing her as a “street rat” that “everyone shouted at.” At around 3 p.m. on March 29, a crowd of pro-Mainland ethnic Chinese demonstrators arrived outside the hotel where Tsai Ing-wen was staying and soon began protesting across the street. Credit: Screenshot from a World Journal report Subsidiary media outlets of CCTV and People’s Daily re-used a photo taken by journalist Zhang Wenxin in a World Journal report as evidence that Tsai received a cold reception by overseas Chinese. However, photos of Tsai’s supporters also taken by Zhang and published in the same article were not used by mainland media. Did Tsai quickly duck into her hotel through a side door? No. A segment from a widely circulated video produced by the CCTV subsidiary social media account Riyue Tantian appears to show Tsai and her entourage quickly entering the Lotte Hotel. The corresponding voiceover narration reads, “To avoid the tidal wave of protests, she had to quickly duck into the hotel through a side door.” Screenshot of the Riyue Tiantan report. After examining both the layout of the Lotte Hotel and the full video the clip was edited from, AFCL found that Tsai neither dodged the crowd nor entered through a side door. Rather, she entered through the hotel’s front door.  After getting out of her car at the hotel’s main entrance, Tsai waved to supporters who had gathered to welcome her, voluntarily approached the crowd and shook hands with several onlookers before making her way to the hotel amidst the crowd. A clip from Riyue Tantian, pro-Beijing news outlet on the popular Chinese social media platform Wechat edited out the first half of the video in which Tsai shakes hands with her supporters. Several Republic of China flags being held by her supporters can still be seen reflected off glass doors captured in the second half of the video. The first half of the “deleted” scene: Tsai Ing-wen exits her car, walks toward a large crowd gathered outside the front of her hotel and enters after passing through throngs of people. Did Tsai mostly keep out of the public eye while in transit? No. A Wall Street Journal report on March 30 stated that, “President Tsai Ing-wen is keeping largely out of the public eye.” In addition to changing “president” to “Taiwan’s leader,” the Chinese translation of the article published on March 31 used slightly different wording to describe Tsai’s trip, claiming that she “virtually didn’t appear in the public eye.”   AFCL confirmed through interviews with journalists and citizens that Tsai attended several public events over the three days and two nights she was in New York. On the evening of March 29, for example, Tsai gave a speech at a banquet hosted by local Chinese. She delivered her speech in a mixture of English, Mandarin and Minnan to an audience of 700 attendees and media representatives. Tsai later politely mingled with many of the guests.   Tsai Ing-wen speaks at a banquet for overseas Chinese. Credit: RFA On the morning of March 30, Tsai went to Brooklyn to talk with young entrepreneurs of Taiwanese descent, including Lillian Lin, co-owner of Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry. Lin told AFCL that during her meeting with the president at a cafe, Tsai tasted their shop’s dried pineapples while listening to the story of how Yun Hai brought local Taiwanese produce to sell outside the country. After leaving the cafe, Tsai briefly interacted with people and media waiting outside for her, giving a thumbs up as some onlookers shouted, “Taiwan No.1.” At noon, Tsai went…