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Mao’s Great Famine

In the late 1950s, thousands of Chinese farmers starved to death while toiling on massive irrigation projects, under orders to meet Mao Zedong’s outlandish expectations for growth. Most laborers didn’t speak up because they feared the authorities would label them rightists.

By Geoffrey Cain
The Christian Science Monitor

Nov 2, 2010

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The comic books that brainwash North Koreans

SEOUL, South Korea — Heinz Insu Fenkl, a literature professor at the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz, has cracked one secret to understanding the bizarre regime of North Korea: by reading its comic books.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Oct 25, 2010

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Vietnam in the aftermath of Ketsana

DANANG, Vietnam — “Attention passengers. This is your captain speaking. We’re starting our descent into Danang, with heavy winds and rain. Things could get bumpy. As always, we thank you for flying with us.”

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

May 30, 2010

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Modern shamans all the rage in S Korea

SEOUL, South Korea — When I told my friends I would visit a Korean shaman, or mudang, their responses weren’t exactly reassuring. One Korean university student explained to me that evil spirits would hijack my body, prompting me to slit my wrists and drink my own blood until I became a minion of Satan. “Are you nuts? They’re evil!” another friend exclaimed.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

May 30, 2010

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Will Korean manhwa replace manga?

SEOUL, South Korea — In his bag, Park Jae Dong always carries a fine-point ink brush. The mellow, aging artist speaks in few words, preferring to communicate through Korean cartoons, or manhwa, which have gained such popularity across Asia in recent years.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

May 30, 2010

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Vietnam’s forgotten victims

DANANG, Vietnam — At 46, each year of misery seems to have etched new wrinkles around Tran Thanh Dung’s angry gaze. When he was child in the early 1970s, Tran says he witnessed U.S. soldiers shoot his parents — both of whom were communist Viet Cong soldiers during the Vietnam War. Bent on revenge, he joined the guerrilla group within hours.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

May 30, 2010

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Floating toilets to clean up Cambodia’s act

KAMPONG LUONG, Cambodia — Residents of this “floating village,” a spine of stilted shacks and huts crammed atop a tributary of the Mekong River, depend on the water below them for cooking, bathing and gathering fish for meals.

By Geoffrey Cain
PRI’s The World

Apr 19, 2010

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Nothing to Envy

Many Americans may remember peering at a famous satellite photograph of the two Koreas – prosperous South Korea lit up by cities and commerce, juxtaposed with the eerie black void of North Korea.

By Geoffrey Cain
The Christian Science Monitor

Feb 25, 2010

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