Archives

2024

November

More on the results of the US election and the confrontation between China and the USA

How Chinese view the result of the election

April

movies, violence, history, business as usual with some magic mushrooms

February

Following the housing market crush/crash, the stock market is also falling down, down down, Messi missed a game, a Tesla dived into a pond, and Hugo self-censored badly. And a Loong year ahead!!

2023

December

more news on the Chinese economy, rumours on the fate of the ex-foreign minister, war or not, and some egg fried rice trouble

November

More bad economic news for China, while Xi arrived in San Francisco to meet Biden

Putin's visit to Beijing seemed to be a sign that cements the statue of Xi as the wise world leader, while many Chinese compare Xi to the last Emperor of the Ming dynasty. As October rolled on, more violence that traumatized ordinary people. Finally, Halloween is here to save us, ...not.

September

Some internet celebrities in China are making themselves noticed lately. Let's see why. And then Assad.

More throwbacks to the 1950s and 1960s, about scientists who returned to China. And some radioactive surprizes

August

There has been a FLOOD of reports in Western media on the faulty Chinese economy. Our explanation of why it happens and why the central government won't try to save the economy.

We explain why the government's response to the flood is so heartless, tell you a sososo joke, and plays with google suggestions.

The government's treatment of the flood shocked many inside China, and then many more bad news flooded Chinese social media.

July

A foreign minister's mysterious disappearance, first in person, then on the website. And a flood.

June

a sexual harassment allegation rocked the June 4th group.

Is China's economy in trouble? Is Xi going to start a war?

May

Death to Comedy in China, a few black faces, and Cosplay in Xi'an for the China-Central Asia summit.

Xi is destroying woods to grow grains, a judgment in the chained woman case, a sharp rise of violent crimes in China

April

While April flew away, the following events happened: Macron visited Xi, France's Chinese ambassador shocked Europe, Xi finally talked with Zelensky, a well know retired military general rumoured to be sentenced to death, and Dalai Lama got tongue problems.

March

No need for Gartner: AI is superhot in IT right now, and of course, China must do something. So Baidu's bot made a hilarious appearance. Bard has some competition now.

Xi's Moscow visit, the fate of the disappeared Program Think is revealed, the horror movie "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" was taken out from the cinemas in Hong Kong 2 days before the scheduled showing.

The end of the Two Sessions met the Oscar awards. No finger sausage.

We try to explain what is happening in Beijing at the highest level of the government right now. Then it's Mobius' time. Finally, Donnie Yen shows up.

February

One year after the war started, China is tipping its toes in the water

The legacy of dynamic COVID-zero policy on people's medical insurance, Chernobyl in Ohio and Genetically Modified Babies

Spy balloons and UFOs are popping up on earth, and the Xinjiang governor plans to visit EU and UK.

This year, with COVID zero gone, Lunar New Year movies are enjoying a big comeback. Let's talk about the popular ones. This newsletter is 100% balloon free.

The disappearance and death of a teenager student captivated the whole China for three months, today we are telling the story.

January

There is a war about the lunar new year fought by the little pinkies and whoever, plus some cats. And a tiger. And Thai Police.

A few entertainment melons, and some news update

A few notable stories from Chinese Social Media

As COVID pandemic is raging in China, many people are determined to celebrate the new year with fireworks, against government rules.

2022

December

We introduce an anonymous Chinese literature writer through a few translations. And then, some news updates.

a look at the result of last week sudden change of policies.

Finally, on Dec 7th, before Xi left for Saudi Arabia for a three-day visit, the Chinese government released '10 New Rules on COVID control', an official document that meant the end of COVID-Zero policy.

As the government is abandoning the Zero-COVID policy on the surface, chaos arose across the country. Police are arresting and beating up protesters. And Chinese Twitter community is also having a debate/fight.

November

More details and analysis of the protests in China last weekend. And the rumor is finally true!

An uprising in Xinjiang is spreading all over China. It seems the whole country is fed up with zero COVID.

videos of Foxconn workers protesting and police beating them are spreading on Chinese social media and livestreaming website and Twitter.

a quick update

With the way COVID is going and the cement of absolute power of one man, reality finally sank in for many Chinese. We asked ourselves how we got here. I am attempting to answer it.

October

I can't ignore more and more stories of COVID in China. So, let's tell them here in English.

the 20 Big was a massive shock to the Chinese political and economical system. This newsletter tries to explain why.

On October 16th, a shocking video of Chinese consulate in Manchester assaulting HK protesters was loaded on Twitter. It shows how diplomacy works for China.

One man put up protest banners on a Beijing bridge, and he got the censorship scrambling to silence social media in China.

internet censorship is teaching people how to insult our dear Supreme leader, as his third term is approaching.

This newsletter is about a civil case against Richard Liu, founder and former CEO of JD.com, in the USA. It is one of the few MeToo cases from China.

a Taiwanese businessman summarizes how business is in China right now.

September

This newsletter catches up with a few events that happened since 14th of September.

Right now, a Chinese stand-up comedy show is unfolding on Chinese social media. We introduce it to you with a few translated jokes.

It has been a while that we ate melons, isn't it? Recently, some juicy melons are surfacing on social media. It is almost like life still goes on in China.

COVID lockdown and the hunger and death and censorship are what I read on twitter these days. Things are bad, depressing. So, let's take a break and talk about mooncakes, yeah!

These days, a film about the poorest people in rural China is getting more and more attention in movie theaters and social media in China: let's discuss 'Return to Dust'.

COVID zero forever: another issue of COVID stories in China.

August

Some propaganda in China seems to justify closing its door to the world, sparkling some fear. We tell the story of a Chinese scholar who have gone far into the world, as a result of the last 40 years policy of opening the door.

the popularity of our dear supreme leader is plummeting on social media. Here are some censored jokes, Soviet Union style.

Just like everywhere, China has been hit by a heat wave for more than two months: here are some heat wave stories from social media.

A twitter user recounted his conversations with Taxi drivers in China and we feel that it is quite telling of how people live there. So, we translated it for you.

Young Chinese people are very pink, aka patriotic. And this summer, they seemed to go full blown nationalistic.

This summer a story of a very unfortunate man living in the countryside told by his nephew went viral on Chinese social media as a positive energy story. The story itself is interesting and the reason it went viral is also fascinating.

there, I said it. Lately, there is lots of international attention on Taiwan. I think if we all accept that Taiwan is not part of China, the tension will go away...... but many people disagree.

July

[censored] [censored] and more [censored]!

At the end of our last newsletter, we mentioned the property crisis in China. Now we are elaborating a bit and explain why home buyers in 22 Chinese cities are refusing to pay mortgages on stalled projects.

On July 10th, a big crowd of bank depositors protested the rural bank scam. The protest have attracted international attention. We gave you the latest update from Chinese social media.

a Chinese writer living in Japan opened a YouTube channel to discuss cultural matters with his co-host, a Japanese who used to live in China and can speak perfect Chinese. We introduce their program with one episode on the apparent difference between Chinese and Japanese. Hope you find it interesting.

June

Today all eyes are on Hong Kong when Dear Supreme Leader left mainland for the first time in 3 years to celebrate the "rebirth" of Hong Kong.

Two famous Chinese activists' reactions to the US Supreme Court ruling to overturn Row v. Wade on June 24th, that has sent shockwave all over the world.

More Shanghai 'there is no lockdown' absurdity, more 'you need a code' to do this, more poverty, and more jail term.

One of the biggest sign of climate change in China is the floods getting worse each year. In recent days, pictures and videos of flooded towns north of Guangzhou is circulating on social media.

Because of abuse of the health code, the victims of the bank scams got public attention. Now they got a chance to tell their stories.

This newsletter provides update on the Tangshan violence, the victims of bank scam and red health code, and the reaction to the BBC report on Chinese social media exploiting African children

BBC just published an investigation on Chinese social media exploiting African kids with super racist content. So, let's talk about how racists majority of Chinese are.

In our last email, we mentioned the outrage of Chinese social media on Friday because of several videos of a gang violently attacking a girl in a BBQ shop at night. We are updating on this story.

China has no poverty, if you think you have seen it, it is the fault of the one who posted about it. A TikTok executive made it clear to his UK employees that maternity leave is bad and UK people reacted to it.

nowadays on Chinese social media two topics are trending, one parking lot fight that sparked national discussion on ultra-rich and corruption, and the annual event called college entrance examination.

June 4th became a taboo inside China, so much so that young generation violated it without knowing they just did. And often, the consequences were severe.

In this newsletter, we tell you how China is Divided with a few stories.

Shanghai has resumed business as usual, but Shanghai government denied that there was a lockdown. Everything was voluntarily done by the residential committees, a collections of grassroot autonomous organizations, the government claimed.

May

the Zero-COVID policy gave rise to the Independent Clinical Lab (ICL) industry with mandatory tests conducted at massive scales. Now the government are charging some of the companies for wrong procedures and faulty results.

One Twitter user asked in Chinese "When you started believe that there are concentration camps in Xinjiang?" Many people replied. In this newsletter we translated some responses.

two more stories spreading on social media, related to corruption

it seems that the IT industry in China is in trouble, as manifested in two stories.

today we talk about non-COVID related stories, one just happened, one happened in 2011, just to give you some flavour of Chinese society.

Another two stories that were circulating in China.

Another two stories that were circulating in China.

With two stories told on twitter, I hope this newsletter helps you understand how ordinary Chinese people deal with the harsh measurements of COVID insisted by the government.

April

There are a few battle fronts of the COVID lockdown in Shanghai. This newsletter takes you to see the complexity of what is happening.

March

The party controls young Chinese through schools and teachers, while the USA is forcing China to choose a side.

The Omicron variant is ravaging the cities of Shanghai, Shenzhen Guangzhou, and potentially will affect the world inflation.

COVID cases are rising in Shanghai and is testing shanghainese belief that they are better than China. Many Chineses outside Shanghai are doubting.

We just had International Women's Day. Let's talk about the how college students, women and men felt about women's day this year.

We found a very recent description of a tea time with the Chinese police so we translate for you.

a new shocking story on women trafficking surfaced on internet and the government flexes its muscles to tame the public. And a bit more discussion on panda and goose.

in a bid to tell the world how Chinese people think of the Russia invasion of Ukraine, Chinese twitter users started translating the most offensive comments from Chinese social media.

February

The plants know that spring is upon us, the flowers by the local municipal parking lot are blooming. And just like spring, our month end update is here.

a summary of the fifth government announcement on the chained woman and how the Chinese people reacted to it

Summary of official and social media reactions to the crisis, and the news of the death of a ByteDance employee.

On Feb 11th, two women who visited the village of the chained women went silent on social media because they were detained by the police. After public paid attention for their cases, they were released and here are what one of them is saying about the police.

as international attention turned to the 5th wave of COVID in Hong Kong, we are just summing up some social media reactions.

updates on the story of the woman in chain, society's reaction, and trying to explain why women trafficking happens so often in China

Today is Valentine's day. I wish everyone treats their loved ones with generosity and kindness every day, especially the one most important: themself. We are providing an update on the censorship news that we started in our newsletter 33.

let's enjoy the two most popular figure skaters of this Winter Olympics

a collection of controversies and social media discussions on this Winter Olympics. We are only 5 days (out of two weeks) into these Winter Games.

in Newsletters 20 and 33, we introduced greasy men, ordinary but overconfident men, leftover women and square dancing grannies. In this part, we tell you about the story of a woman in chain and how Chinese society reacts to it.

what is new for this Lunar New Year, and some news from the coming Olympics

as promised, this is a report on food, TV performances and social media comments on Lunar New Year.

January

today is Lunar New Year (LNY) Eve. Unlike Christmas (see our newsletter 10, where we described how China is now trying to stop people from celebrating Christmas), there is no controversy about celebrating Lunar New Year... I will report in our next newsletter about LNY on social media. Meanwhile, enjoy the monthly story updates.

in this newsletter we update you on how China is doing with COVID and speculate on the end game the government is playing.

in Newsletter 20, we introduced greasy men, ordinary but overconfident men. In this part, we tell you about leftover women, square dancing grannies

a collection of Chinese internet censorship incidences for fun.

where the technical team found a bug

part 3 of the series about the dispute between Zeng/Hu couple. This time we report comments from Zeng on Hu's response and the reaction from supporters of the two sides.

part 2 of the series about the dispute between Zeng/Hu couple. This time we report what he said.

part 1 of a series about the dispute between the couple Zeng/Hu. In this part, we focus on what she said.

The date June 4th of 1989 is a symbol of democracy for many Chinese. But the people who consider themselves the flag bearers of the movement have gone old, dated and irrelevant.

Chinese people feel more and more isolated as the control of internet by the government is tightneing up.

this story illustrates the power structure of censorship in China

birth rate is low and the younger generation is even less interested in marriage and children. A Chinese economist tries to solve the problem.

Of fraud and how the government is pushing a mobile app to people and people pushing back.

COVID is testing the superiority of the Chinese _dynamic zero_ strategy this weekend.

The comments on Weibo and Twitter shows how the public see what is happenning in Kazakhstan. It might surprise you.

Of course there are still Chinese people who want a change of the political system, but how? There is no answer. With the story of the activist Mengzhu, I am just trying to show how hard it is to try.

Gender issue is complex and we will do a series of stories on it. Today we tell the two stories of "greasy man" and "ordinary but over confident man".

it is a year end romantic comedy movie, but it is more about Chinese middle class, middle aged people and their ideal cultures.

Xi'an is doing worse, mostly because the way power is structured in China, ordinary lives are sacrificed for political goals.

I hope you will know as much about him as I (or any Chinese people) know after reading this.

2021

December

2022 is here.

I used to read too much Chinese Twitter. Then I drank some TCHM and now I started my newsletter.

Some updates on the darkness of small towns in China where laws are used to serve the powerful.

as of 8:30 am on Dec 28th, Martial Law descended on Xi'an. It is as bad as you can imagine.

Chen Quanguo, the Xinjiang party chief suddenly departed and left the whole country wondering: after making Xinjiang a draconian police state, what is he up to next?

Recently in China, a strange online compaign against models with small eyes is waged on the social media. We would like to know what you think.

Lately, the Chinese people have a complicated relation with Christmas, thanks to the all powerful political propaganda.

The Kafkaesque lockdown of Xi'an demonstrated just how effective the CCP is at getting rid of the virus and related information.

Local Chinese propaganda chief threatens to kill his trans daughter, according to her, and disguise her murder as suicide.

Viya, the queen of live-streaming, went offline.

A story about the harsh lockdown ion Xi'An

where we learn about Melon and a divorce

the devastating story of a family, as told by a 15 year old asking for help on social media

I am not Chinese, I am from Shanghai

A 30-year old video game programmer died with his dreams

Where we introduce patriotic meal, a Hong Kong movie star family dealing with their teenager social media posts