China

Starting in March 2008, Tibetans across the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan took to the streets to call for religious freedom and an end to oppressive political and social controls and economic inequalities. The People’s Armed Police cracked down, sometimes violently, arresting thousands. Chinese authorities expelled foreign journalists from the TAR, locked

Huifu E Road, by belfast16 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

By inadvertently “saying the quiet part out loud,” three recent media gaffes have touched off public debate on questions usually left unspoken. For some Chinese social media users, these blunders have provided an opportunity to discuss the problems of wage stagnation, official corruption or indifference, politically sensitive dates, and the paradoxes of online censorship and

Perhaps the only remaining traditional fishing dock in the urban area, Shenzhen, Guangdong, by Shooting Kangaroo (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Chinese debate over Japan’s release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has thus far been characterized by disinformation, nationalism, and heavy online censorship. This in turn has fueled fear and uncertainty among the Chinese public, leading to an uptick in anti-Japanese sentiment, harassment and crank-calling of Japanese businesses at home and

Word(s) of the Week: “It is a bit ridiculous, but you must obey.” (是有点搞笑，但是你要服从, Shì yǒudiǎn gǎoxiào, dànshì nǐ yào fúcóng.) A policeman admitting that a traffic restriction “is a bit ridiculous, but you must obey” has gone viral for its unintentionally piquant commentary on life in China.  The phrase comes from a video taken

The sudden and unexplained closure of a number of WeChat accounts dedicated to gay, trans, asexual, and feminist issues marks the latest setback for LGBTQ+ and women’s speech rights in China. The mass account closures happened on the eve of the August 22 Qixi Festival, a traditional celebration of the union of lovers long denied

A Singapore paper’s publication of a blistering opinion piece criticizing Xi Jinping did not escape notice on Weibo, where netizens surreptitiously praised it.  Titled “The Economy Is The Problem, Its Root Is Politics,” the piece was authored by Hong Kong businessman and writer Lew Mon-hung, a former member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference

Wuzhen Old City, Shanghai, China, by cattan2011 (CC BY 2.0)

With hundreds of documented (and censored) online sobriquets, Xi Jinping is arguably the most nicknamed leader in recent Chinese history. To stay ahead of the censors, online Chinese have long resorted to using homophones, variant characters, intentional typos, and a range of typographical tricks when referring to China’s “core” leader. Over time, as evading online

Drummer dream, by Gauthier DELECROIX (CC BY 2.0)

In only his second trip abroad this year, Xi Jinping attended this week’s BRICS summit in South Africa in the hope of scoring a major political victory. The five-member group—comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—announced at the end of the summit on Thursday that it would add six new members as of January