Tag Archives: Asia

Documentary: Rise And Fall Of Mongolia’s Empire

DW Documentary (September 10, 2023) – Mongolia. For most of us, a name that brings to mind the powerful empire of Genghis Khan. This film is a journey through Mongolian history and into modern Mongolian culture. It offers fascinating insights into the little-known central Asian nation. Mongolia, a country rich with forests, deserts and steppes, borders Russia to the north and China to the south.

But its chief influences today come from South Korea and the West. Director Robert H. Lieberman and filmmaker Deborah C. Hoard introduce novelists, journalists, politicians, activists, poets, painters and a comedian, all of whom shed light on the young republic – and its young population. Historians, archaeologists and local residents tell the story of the vast empire.

The eastern European and Asian territory captured by a fighting force of united Mongol tribes was the largest contiguous land empire in the history of the world. The film looks the beyond the figure of Genghis Khan, the notorious founder of the Mongol empire, and explores the multi-faceted legacy of the realm. It’s a legacy that still makes itself felt in the present day.

#documentary #dwdocumentary #mongolia

Travel & Culture: The Daily Life Of Nomads In Tibet

Tibet Travel / Tibet Vista (August 31, 2023) – A view into the daily life of living at the altitude of 4,800 meters for a Tibetan nomad family.

It is believed that Tibetans are derived from the ancient Qiang People, the nomads of ancient China. It is the intermarriage between the Qiang People and local tribes on the edges of the plateau that led to the beginning of the modern Tibetan people. Due to the severe environment, the extreme altitude and the lack of convenient transportation, Tibetans have long relied on pastoralism for survival.

Previews: The Economist Magazine – August 26, 2023

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The Economist Magazine (August 26, 2023): This week’s issue features Xi’s failing model: Why he won’t fix China’s economy; Biden’s Asian alliance-building; Prigozhin’s death shows that Russia is a mafia state and more….

Why China’s economy won’t be fixed

An increasingly autocratic government is making bad decisions

Whatever has gone wrong? After China rejoined the world economy in 1978, it became the most spectacular growth story in history. Farm reform, industrialisation and rising incomes lifted nearly 800m people out of extreme poverty. Having produced just a tenth as much as America in 1980, China’s economy is now about three-quarters the size. Yet instead of roaring back after the government abandoned its “zero-covid” policy at the end of 2022, it is lurching from one ditch to the next.

Prigozhin’s death shows that Russia is a mafia state

A healthy country uses justice to restore order. Mr Putin uses violence instead 

Yevgeny Prigozhin gives an address in camouflage and with a weapon in his hands in a desert area

As we published this editorial, it was not certain that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s private jet was shot down by Russian air-defences, or that the mutineer and mercenary boss was on board. But everyone believes that it was and that his death was a punishment of spectacular ruthlessness ordered by Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. And that is the way Mr Putin likes it.

Travel: Tour Of Ushguli In The Caucasus Of Georgia

DW Travel (July 30, 2023) – A tour of Ushguli, a village in Georgia. The World Heritage Site sits some 2,200 meters above sea level in the Caucasus Mountains.

Only 70 families live in the village up on the country’s highest mountain – the Shkhara. During the summer, tourists love visiting the village to see its unique tower houses – an old medieval defense method.

Travel: Himalayas Of India

Akshat Kishore Films (June 28, 2023) – The Indian Himalayan Region is the section of the Himalayas within the Republic of India, spanning thirteen Indian states and union territories, namely Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, West Bengal, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh.

“I spent 9 days on a road trip across the Himalayas , going to some of the most remote and least explored regions in India, travelling upto 17,000 feet above sea level and down to -10°C. These areas included Upper Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Kargil and Kashmir.”

Wetlands: Wild Birds Of The Ganges River In India

BBC Earth (June 1, 2023) – The Ganges River fills to capacity during monsoon season, flooding the wetlands that surrounds its banks. Not only do these wetlands foster an ideal habitat for wild birds, but they also create perfect the conditions for cultivating rice with their mineral-rich soil.

Ganges River, Hindi Ganga, great river of the plains of the northern Indian subcontinent. Although officially as well as popularly called the Ganga in Hindi and in other Indian languages, internationally it is known by its conventional name, the Ganges. From time immemorial it has been the holy river of Hinduism. For most of its course it is a wide and sluggish stream, flowing through one of the most fertile and densely populated regions in the world.

Wildlife Documentary: ‘Secrets Of The Elephants’

National Geographic (May 21, 2023) – Elephants are powerful, loving and wise, but we are only starting to unlock their deepest secrets.

The ground-breaking, award-winning natural history franchise Secrets Of returns with its next installment, Secrets of the Elephants. From Academy Award®-winning filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer-at-Large James Cameron, the series travels the world — from the Savannahs of Africa to the urban landscapes of Asia — to discover the strategic thinking, complex emotions and sophisticated language of elephants, shaping a unique and dynamic culture.

Narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman and featuring renowned National Geographic Explorer and elephant expert Dr. Paula Kahumbu, the four-part series not only reveals the extraordinary lives of different families of elephants but also highlights how similar they are to us. Secrets of the Elephants will change everything you thought you knew about elephants forever.

#SecretsOfTheElephants #FullEpisode #NationalGeographic

News: Russia Strikes Kyiv Ahead Of ‘Victory Day’, U.S. – South Korea Alliance

The Globalist, May 8 2023: New drone attacks from Russia ahead of May 9 ‘Victory Day’ celebration, U.S. and South Korea bolster nuclear deterrence against North Korea, and other top news.

News: Germany’s Scholz Visits Kenya, Coronation Of Charles III, NATO In Asia

The Globalist, May 5, 2023: As Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, heads to Kenya, we check in with journalists in Nairobi and Berlin, Chatham House’s Quentin Peel outlines how King Charles III’s coronation will be covered outside the UK, and Nato plans to open its first office in Asia.

Plus: Monocle Radio’s Andrew Mueller offers an irreverent round-up of the week’s news.

News: Taiwan’s Ma Ying-Jeou Visits China, French Protests, Tiktok Concerns

March 27, 2023: Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou visits China. Plus: the latest on the civil unrest in France with Agnès Poirier, Josh Cowls on the Tiktok controversy and a look ahead to Monocle’s April issue.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.