Earthquakes in Asia

Japanese troops save an elderly man whose hometown has been destroyed by the Sendai earthquake and tsunami, magnitude 8.9, on 11. March 2011.

We have been following the news from Japan (live stream here: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/), and our thoughts go out to all the brave people, civilians and officials, who are doing their best to save lives in the greatest earthquake in recent Japanese history. Earthquakes happen all over the world, and we include here some photos of rescue operations during the last 5 years in Asia.

South Korean rescue workers and dogs arrive in Japan. Source: AFP

Source: Reuters. More images at Tagesschau.de (http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/bilder/erdbebenjapan122.html)

In 2008, a devastating earthquake struck Sichuan Province in China. Here, the famous pandas of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding are being rescued.

The toll on human life was much greater. At least 68,000 people were killed in the 8.0 Ms quake centered on Wenchuan County on 12 May 2008.

Rescue workers help an elderly man.

In contrast to the numerous photos from Japan and China, it is slightly more challenging to find material from the Central Asian countries that have also been suffering from earthquakes during the last decade. These countries have also received less news coverage, globally. Above, rescue workers from the Kyrgyzstan Red Crescent Society pose for a group photo in the Alai region of Osh City in 2008. The town Nura and the village Kura were completely destroyed in the magnitude 6.6 earthquake that was felt in in Tajikistan and Xinjang Uighur as well.

Unicef specialist Yang Zhenbo among schoolkids in Sichuan after the earthquake 2008. (Source: Unicef)

And life goes on. See Claudia Janke's impressive photo series after the earthquake in Pakistan 2005. People rebuild their homes and even have time for a quick smile in spite of their difficult circumstances. But healing takes time and comes with a heavy cost - that's why international mutual help and aid always will be necessary.

EDIT: In 2010, the Yushu earthquake hit the Tibetan plateau with a magnitude of 7.1 Ms. Don't miss these images of Tibetan monks as rescue workers.

(The comparison is pretty pathetic, but Ainur has only experienced one "real" earthquake in her life and can only marvel at the survival stories above. Please correct any mistakes you can spot in this post, as it was written in a great hurry and emotional turmoil.)

Paparazzi photos

After Ainur's Ph.D. promotion (mentioned below), I flew back home to Berlin from Copenhagen. There were two Tibetan monks at the airport, and I got really excited and tried to take photos of them in secret. But it was too dark in the airport and I didn't dare come close enough to make any decent pictures. ;_;
I'm really useless as a photographer, because I never want to bother people and ask them if I can take their picture. In this case it shouldn't have had to be so hard, especially since they both turned and smiled right at me when I first walked by ...

But today I had better luck. On Alexanderplatz I spotted this cute guy with rather Central Asian features:





I wonder where he is from. Of course I didn't dare ask him. Though it shouldn't have been too hard: "Hello, my name is Tinet. I write this blog about handsome Central Asian men. Do you happen to be from Central Asia? May I take your picture ...?"

(Photos by Tinet)

Ola Wong on Mongolian men in Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet

Ola Wong is a Chinese-Romanian guy born in Borås, Sweden, who works as a journalist and has also written a really interesting book about his grandparents ("No, I'm from Borås"). Today an article by him about Mongolian men was published in Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.

Wong describes how the role of the Mongolian man is in a downward spiral. The case of Oynaa's family is one example of many. "The worst thing about Mongolian men is that they drink, are lazy and unfaithful. Then they bring sexually transmitted diseases back home. And he blamed the disease on me, even though I was toiling like crazy to take care of the child, our home and work at the same time", complains Oynaa, a divorced mother whom Wong interviewed in Ulan Bator. After the divorce, Oynaa's husband left her their child and kept their apartment for himself. But Oynaa went on to make a career and is now the manager of a fitness club, while her ex-husband lives off his parents.

"Oynaa blames the problems in Mongolia on the fact that the men are still mentally in the ger - the Mongolian felt tent [in SvD entertainingly enough misspelled as "sour milk tent"], where the warmest half is reserved for the men and the altar. The Mongolian ideal man is a carefree and indolent wrestler type who never takes initiatives or is in any hurry. He should sit there with his legs apart and with his hands on his knees. A woman, on the other hand, should be intelligent, hardworking, good at cooking and cleaning, beautiful, modest, quiet and submissive - all at the same time!"

Wong writes about how 70 % of university students are women. He cites a common explanation for this - that people tend to think that "boys will be all right anyway", while girls are married off to another family, and their parents consider them to need an education to be able to stand on their own legs.
In spite of this, women's influence in the higher levels of society has diminished considerably since "democracy" came along in 1990 - only 7 % of the Mongolian members of parliament are women today.

While this article could have been interesting as a more personal insight into the life of Oynaa's family and many more like them in Mongolia today, Wong goes on to draw simplified conclusions about Mongolian culture and history. "Macho ideals and hard men made it possible for the Mongolians to conquer a world empire under Genghis Khan. But it became a recipe for failure after the fall of the Soviet Union. The men gave up, got wasted and took out their frustration with their fists."
(So, nothing else really happened between Genghis Khan and 1990?)

Instead of drawing slightly orientalist conclusions about Genghis Khan, it should be easy to see the same pattern here as in Russia and many other post-Communist countries, where the transition has hit men harder - many of them drink and get violent in frustration, while a handful go on to rule the country. Women, on the other hand, keep on coping somehow, as they always have.

Certainly, there are exceptions to this bleak picture. And Wong writes about how in order to support men, the Mongolian Men's Association was founded. Since one year it has been obligatory for engaged couples to take at the very least a two-hour class at the Mongolian Men's Association before they are allowed to marry.

So, by and by, I guess maybe even Mongolian men will be able to show a "softer" side. They could start with changing the design of their saddles. The traditional Mongolian saddles are said to be made as uncomfortable as possible, so that the riders "stay hard", like "real men". My arse still hurts when I think about them.

(Photo by me, Ulan Bator, June 2006 - the guy on the photo obviously has nothing to do with the article, except that he is a specimen of The Mongolian Man.)

Pan-Asian single of the week: Alish6ka

Aaaargh! How can this man be so hot?!! Is he human at all??!!! Or is it just this one picture that really brings out his "Schokoladenseite"?

"Alish6ka" is a 22-year-old stomatologist from Baku, Azerbaijan. His horoscope sign is scorpio.
Absoluteagency.com has these weird questions about race, and this is how he answers them:
¤ My race: "Other"
¤ About race: "kak to ne interesovalsa" (somehow that's never interested me)
And those answers make him even hotter. If that's at all possible ...

He resembles the supernaturally beautiful facial composites in the photographer Mike Mike's project The Face of Tomorrow (thanks for the link, Ainur!). Which might not be so strange, as the Caucasus since the oldest of times has been a virtual crossroad of different peoples.

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

Update, June 17th:

Heh, I couldn't resist the temptation of investigating a bit into this "Alish6ka". And, well, my suspicion turned out to be right.

He has a profile on another Russian-language dating site, as well, and there, he has a different photo. In which he isn't as beautiful. :'o(
(But maybe, just maybe, it could be like this: He got tired of all the fangirls mailbombing him, and put all his efforts into attempting the near impossible - making a photo of himself where he looks just 'average'. That way, he might be able to find a woman who will like him for his personality, not just his smokin' hot looks ...)

By the way, there is something irresistibly smexy about russified Arabic names. In this guy's case, his name is probably Ali, but since he's Russian-speaking, his pet name is "Alishka" (the '6' he's included is often informally used as a substitute for the kyrillic letter 'ь', that indicates 'soft' consonants). Then, there is the common practise of adding the Russian suffix "-ov"/"-ova" to surnames, for example "Jafarov", as in the name of an old Azeri acquaintance of mine.

Another flashback of potential Pan-Asian dating that I missed out on ...

I might have a date tonight with a guy from Georgia, and that probably gave me this sudden flashback from a party at Moscow State University, and how I managed to miss out on some potential romance (once again) ...

I was going to leave the party, because I was tired and wanted to get back to my room before they locked up the elevators (at midnight, I think). As I was saying bye to one of my classmates, two young guys approached us and stroke up a conversation.

One of them was broad, outgoing and athletic, not my type at all, while the other one was lean and a bit more quiet and serious (i.e. drop-dead hot stuff!). They were both from Georgia, they said. Although my classmate had enormous boobs, the hot guy was the one who had his sights on me. (Or maybe the other guy was just more dominant, and wanted to hog off those boobs, I don't know ...)

But still, I was so focused on getting back to my room that I didn't realise the great prospects of this encounter, and just left after a short while.

I never saw him again. :o(

Uighurs selling traditional sweet snacks

Uighurs can certainly be found not only in Xinjiang, but all over China and neighbouring countries. Some of them are street vendors or have restaurants. Having studied "the Uighur look" now, I think the indescribably handsome shashlyk-maker I ogled at a grill in Ulaan Bator could very well have been Uighur. (He was dressed in all black and standing at the steaming grill outside in the blistering summer heat, acting all cool and friendly and efficient. Of course, I was once again much too nervous and embarrassed to interview him or ask him to let me take his picture ...)

In Chinese cities, it seems there are quite many Uighur street vendors who sell a kind of traditional sweet cake with nuts and fruit. I found some pictures of it on Flickr:


In Shanghai - by MFinChina. She writes: "A bunch of guys from Xinjiang and their nutloaf. Another person commended me for being brave enough to take their picture -- these guys have a reputation for being tough and harassing lone women (which I have experienced myself), although the Uighur guys who sell meat-on-a-stick near my house are all nice."


In Tianjin - by Matthew J. Stinson.

Samer! has another picture of an Uighur and his loaf, this time from Beijing.

If anyone who happens to read this knows more about these "fruit cakes" or "nut loaves", do tell! They look really tasty. I'd like to go to China just to try this ...

Uighurs in Xinjian

The Uighurs, from whose language the title of this blog stems, are one of the many minorities in China. There are some movements of Uighur separatism and/or Chinese repression against their culture.

Each of these two boys will definitely grow up to be a "chirayliq yigit", handsome young man.


(Photo from AFP via uygur.org)

Georgians on Flickr

One of the Flickr groups focusing on Georgian culture is "The Georgians". Its manifesto: "We try to catch the individuality of a small but outstanding nation: The Georgians."

Here are some samples from the vast image pool. Click on the photos to see descriptions and larger format at Flickr.



Photographers, from top left to bottom right: 1. grijsz, 2. Rapho, 3. & 4. Paata, 5. grijsz, 6. & 7. Paata, 8. shioshvili.

Men of Afghanistan

Wartorn Afghanistan has, in my opinion, some of the most handsome men (and, certainly, women) in the world.

Photographer Michael Luongo has a website with portraits of Afghani men, with the mission of "challenging media sterotypes".





Visit Luongo's website to see more portraits like these: www.menofafghanistan.com They are all available for purchase. He also has a site with more general photographs from Afghanistan.