China’s Fast Growing Film Industry
The discussion on the expansion of the entertainment industry in China and differences between audiences in the U.S. and Asia
Japanese Demons and Crotch Bombs: The Tense State of Asian Cinema
Movies from South Korean, China, and Japan have become increasingly nationalistic, thanks to ongoing territorial disputes and the 70th anniversary of World War II.
Chinese Television Program Features LGBT Rights Panel
In any authoritarian country, controlling the flow of information is always key to the survival of the regime.
Media
09.03.15
Chinese Web Users Aren’t Blaming Detained Journalist for Market Panic
China’s stock markets have been in free-fall for some time. Now, so is a financial journalist who had the temerity to write about them. On August 31, Chinese journalist Wang Xiaolu confessed on state-run China Central Television (CCTV) to writing...
Media
08.27.15
Chinese Media Jumps on Tragic Virginia Shooting
On the morning of August 26, a reporter and a cameraman for a local Virginia television station were fatally shot during a live television...
Media
07.28.15
Clickbait Nationalism
On July 16, the lower house of the Japanese Parliament passed a set of new...
China's '300': When Spartans Meet the Beijing Police
Half-naked models, dressed as Spartan warriors were subdued by Beijing police after a marketing stunt, promoting a salad delivery service.
The China Africa Project
07.23.15
A Kenyan Columnist’s Provocative Views on the Chinese in Africa
In Mark Kapchanga’s view, the West, particularly the media, really does not understand what the Chinese are doing in Africa. Kapchanga, a provocative Nairobi-based journalist and columnist, isn’t shy in arguing his case that on balance China’s...
Media
07.20.15
Taming the Flood
In August 1975, Typhoon Nina, one of the most powerful tropical storms on record, surged inland from the Taiwan Strait, causing floods so catastrophic they overwhelmed dam networks...
Alibaba to Invest in China Business News
E-commerce giant to pay about $200 million for a 30% stake.
Sinica Podcast
04.07.15
Cyber Leninism and the Political Culture of the Chinese Internet
from Sinica PodcastKaiser Kuo and David Moser speak with Rogier Creemers, post-doctoral fellow at Oxford with a focus on Chinese Internet governance and author of the China Copyright and Media...
The China Africa Project
03.30.15
A Chinese Perspective on the #RacistRestaurant Scandal in Kenya
The Chinese restaurant in Nairobi that barred Africans after 5pm sparked a frenzied week of news coverage on both local and international media and, of course, on Twitter. The actions of this small, inconsequential restaurant seemingly took on...
Media
03.09.15
China’s Real Inconvenient Truth: Its Class Divide
China is talking about its pollution problem, but its equally serious class problem remains obscured behind the...
Sinica Podcast
03.09.15
Under the Dome
from Sinica PodcastUnder the Dome, Chai Jing's breakout documentary on China's catastrophic air pollution problem, finally hit insurmountable political opposition last Friday after seven days in which the video racked up over 200 million views. The eventual...
Who’s Afraid of China’s Economy Slowing? Not Alibaba’s Jack Ma
"If China still keeps 9 percent growth of the economy there must be something wrong. You will never see the blue sky. You will never see quality. China should pay attention to the quality of the economy," he said in a question-and-answer session...
Vets Battle to save Stricken Panda in Shaanxi
Vets are racing to treat a 5-year-old panda diagnosed with canine distemper at the Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Research Center.
Sources: Nicolas Cage’s ‘Outcast’ Has Chinese Release Date Delayed Again
There have been a host of theories about why Outcast is being delayed. Some distribution sources said in September that YFG was unhappy with the number of screens made available for the film.
China’s 109-Year-Old Dissenter Is Still Fighting for Democracy
Born when a Qing dynasty emperor was on the throne, the man who helped invent the Pinyin writing system used for transliterating Chinese worldwide turns 109 on Tuesday. But Zhou Youguang's outspoken support for democracy means his writings are...
Prince William Attacks China over ‘Ignorant Craving’ for Ivory
According to excerpts of his speech released in advance, Prince William, who is due to go to China early next year, will say: “Some endangered species are now literally worth more than their weight in gold."
Chinese Online Giants Eating Into U.S. Dominance of Digital Media
China now accounts for two of the six companies with the highest online media revenues and four of the 10 fastest-growing, according to a report from the global research and advisory company Strategy Analytics.
Thousands of Local Internet Propaganda Emails Leaked
The archive includes correspondence, photos, directories of “Internet commentators” (网评员), summaries of commentary work, and records of the online activities of specific individuals, among other documents. Over 2,700 emails are included in the...
China Watchdog Says TV Censorship Rules Should Apply Online Too
A more censorious environment coincides with a boom in tie-ups between China and Hollywood. HBO and Tencent have agreed to make HBO content available on a broad basis in China, including shows like The Newsroom, Boardwalk Empire, Rome and Band of...
Gregarious and Direct: China’s Web Doorkeeper
When a major Chinese-American Internet conference convenes in Washington on Tuesday, a middle-aged Communist Party propaganda chief will be seated amid a room full of tech industry executives, American officials and web luminaries.
Paper Published by Communist Party Endorses Charge Against Veteran Journalist Gao Yu
Gao, 70, denied the charges in a closed-door hearing on Friday. She faces a maximum sentence of death. The document in question is believed to outline curbs on the spread of Western civil liberties in China.
Newspaper Calls on Chinese Academics to Cut the Criticism
Liaoning Daily, a Communist Party-run newspaper in northeast China, published the article, “Teacher, Please Don’t Talk About China Like That: An Open Letter to Teachers of Philosophy and Social Science,” last week in response to a...
In China, Blunt Talk to Reporters on Access
Mr. Xi’s comments come as several journalists for The New York Times and other news organizations have been forced to cover the country from outside its borders, after producing articles that were embarrassing for the Chinese leadership...
Obama’s Three-Day Visit to China: Charlie Rose
On “Charlie Rose,” a conversation about President Obama's three-day visit to China. The president arrived on Monday morning. We are joined by Edward Luce of the Financial Times, Orville Schell of the Asia Society and Chengi Li of the John L....
Obama’s Focus in China Is on Leader, Not Public
The White House has also changed its approach to the Chinese news media. In 2009, Mr. Obama gave an interview to Southern Weekly, a newspaper based in Guangdong Province that is known for pushing the limits of China’s censorship rules. The...
Ten Fun and Fascinating Facts About Xi Jinping
While I can’t do justice to all the material presented in Xi Jinping: The Goverance of China, here are some things I learned from reading through Xi’s musings and the musings of others about him.
Taiwan Puts Curbs on Study in China, WeChat for Top Officials
Taiwan and China have fostered closer commercial ties recent years, and since 2008 have signed some 21 trade agreements. But both sides remain at loggerheads over Taiwan’s political status. Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province that must...
Key Points in China’s Flood of Legal Reform Rhetoric
One core focus of the plenum documents is extra-judicial interference in the work of the courts, which is a source of intense public dissatisfaction with China’s legal system. Notably, they call for the establishment of “circuit courts” operating...
China: Facebook Not Banned, but Must Follow the Rules
“Foreign Internet companies entering China must at the base level accord to Chinese laws and regulations,” Lu Wei, the director of China’s State Internet Information Office, said. “First, you can’t damage the national interests of the country....
China Quietly Gives Global News Awards
Although the WMS was, according to Chinese state media, “co-launched by Xinhua News Agency and other major media organizations around the world,” the event has always been solidly China’s prerogative.
‘People’s Democratic Dictatorship’ Wrongly Targeted
A CPC-owned magazine published an article recently, saying it is wrong to negate or replace the people's democratic dictatorship with the rule of law.
China Media Criticize North Korea’s Nuclear Program
Suspicious of North Korea’s “flip flop attitude” and its motives, an article in the Beijing News reminds that one should observe North Korea’s actions instead of its words as Pyongyang's foreign policy is “usually inconsistent”.
Journalists in China Describe Extortion
China’s corporate landscape is pitted with scandals involving corruption and news media have become a part of the problem by turning self-censorship and skewed reporting into a source of revenue.
China’s Xi Jinping Seeks Launch of New Media Clusters
Xi said that the new groups should be “diversified,” “advanced,” and “competitive” and said that state authorities should properly integrate and manage traditional and new media.”
The China Africa Project
06.02.14
CCTV Africa: The Frontline of Soft-Power Diplomacy
Since its launch in 2012, CCTV Africa has grown considerably in its distribution and programming. However, the central question remains as to whether or not anyone is actually watching, to justify the massive investment undertaken by the Chinese...
Sinica Podcast
03.07.14
Wealth and Power: Intellectuals in China
from Sinica PodcastThis week, Kaiser and Jeremy are joined by David Moser and Orville Schell. While long-time listeners will of course know of David Moser as one of our favorite resident sinologists, if you haven’t also heard of Orville Schell we think you should...
“Most Well-Known and Beloved Chinese Role Model”
Chinese tycoon wants to buy the Times; is he ploy by the CCP, or just crazy?
Late to the Party? The U.S. Government’s Response to China’s Censorship
When China denied veteran journalist Paul Mooney’s visa request in November, neither the State Department, Administration officials nor anyone on Capitol Hill said anything publicly about a U.S. citizen appearing to be punished for his speech....
China’s Government Is Scaring Foreign Journalists Into Censoring Themselves
The story of self-censorship in China is a quieter tale of unwritten articles, avoided topics and careful phrasing.
Conversation
04.16.13
Why is China Still Messing with the Foreign Press?
To those raised in the Marxist tradition, nothing in the media happens by accident. In China, the flagship newspapers are still the “throat and tongue” of the ruling party, and their work is directed by the Party’s Propaganda Department....
Conversation
02.01.13
China’s Cyberattacks — At What Cost?
James Fallows: Here are some initial reactions on the latest hacking news.
- We call this ...
Google Concedes Defeat in Chinese Censorship Battle
U.S. company quietly drops warning message that Chinese users saw when searching for politically sensitive phrases
How Ordinary Chinese Are Talking And Fighting Back
Roughly 400 million Chinese use Weibo, China's Twitter, and often do so to expose corruption.
Forced ‘Vacation’ for Man Who Broke Dumpster Death Story
The journalist who publicized the deaths of five young boys in southwestern China last week, has been forced to take a “vacation.”
David Barboza Answers Reader Questions on Reporting in China
The Times’s Shanghai bureau chief, David Barboza, reported last week that close relatives of Wen Jiabao, the prime minister of China, hold billions of dollars in hidden riches. Here are his answers to questions from readers prompted by the...
NBA Plans Basketball Facility in China
The 120,000-square foot NBA Center in Tianjin port near Beijing will house basketball courts, a fitness center and a restaurant and be part of a mixed-use development with housing for 150,000.
Books
10.09.12
Developmental Fairy Tales
In 1992 Deng Xiaoping famously declared, “Development is the only hard imperative.” What ensued was the transformation of China from a socialist state to a capitalist market economy. The spirit of development has since become the prevailing creed of the People’s Republic, helping to bring about unprecedented modern prosperity, but also creating new forms of poverty, staggering social upheaval, physical dislocation, and environmental destruction.
State Media Call For “Rational” Patriotism
After two days of violent anti-Japanese protests in China stemming from a territorial dispute over a chain of islands in the East China Sea, media in China are now calling on the public to remain calm and “rational,” apparently concerned about...
Foreign Journalists in China Targeted by Malware Attacks
Foreign journalists in Beijing have been targeted by two very similar malware attacks in just over two weeks in the lead-up to China's once-in-a-decade leadership transition. The emails - one appearing to come from a Beijing-based foreign...
Decoding the ‘Voice of China’ Through Media Reports
As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wraps up meetings today in Beijing, it’s hard to say how her most recent Asia-Pacific trip has gone. And that’s partly because interpreting media reports from the Chinese side is more art than science....
The Most Famous Chinese Blogger and Racecar Driver You've Never Heard Of
Americans today seem to know a lot more about China than they used to, as evidenced by their familiarity with more Chinese names than just Mao Zedong and Jackie Chan. Americans who have only a passing interest in China will often ask...
Editor's Suicide Prompts Reflection, Reproach
News of the suicide last week of Xu Huaiqian (徐怀谦), the chief editor of the Earth (大地) supplement of the Party’s official People’s Daily, has prompted a burst of discussion on Chinese social media of the extraordinary pressures facing journalists...
China Editor's Suicide Sparks Web Debate
The suicide of a senior editor working for China's Communist Party newspaper has sparked strong reaction from Chinese cultural and media circles and on the internet. Xu Huaiqian, 44, was editor-in-chief for the Dadi (Earth) supplement of the...
Tibetan Blogging: Tweets from the Plateau
In a recent posting on her blog, Tsering Woeser accused the authorities in Lhasa of carrying out racial segregation, welcoming Han Chinese visitors to the Tibetan capital but not Tibetans. “Has the world forgotten its boycott of governments that...
China's Party Papers, Losing Touch?
The influence of China’s Party-run newspapers has been sliding steadily for almost two decades now. Ever since the mid-1990s, these “mouthpieces“, operated by top Party leaders at various levels of China’s vast bureaucracy — and full of tinder-...