Yesterday was the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. If social media in China and the United States is any indication, netizens around the world are very much aware of ...
Voices – Kai-Fu Lee Says Facebook Employees May Flee Post-IPO
With Facebook making its initial public stock offering today, some Chinese netizens ...
Voices — Hong Kong Will Light China’s Way
Well-known environmentalist and frequent micro-blogger Liu Shengjun’s (@刘胜军改革) plane just touched down ...
Today’s Most Viral Image: Chinese Civilization at Its Zenith, or Nadir?
The Tang and Song dynasties are going digital. With over 8,900 re-posts ...
Freshly Brewed
Journalist Muses Online About Researching Chinese Citizen Deaths, Netizens Aghast
They always say you should follow your dreams. Remember that time you told your parents you wanted to spend a year backpacking around Europe? That may have felt bold, but try this on for size: Announce publicly that you plan to research China’s thorniest social issue, compiling the names and information of all citizens who [...]
Today’s Most Viral Image: The Joy Of Being Average
Chinese parents, some say, need to lighten up. It now appears that thousands of them agree. This story of the joys of mediocrity was reposted approximately 135,000 times during May 16, making it Weibo’s most viral image for that day according to Hong Kong University’s Weiboscope. Weiboscope displays the most widely-reposted images among prominent users. What [...]
Chinese Netizens Still Spoiling For Fight With Philippines
China risks entering a geopolitical minefield as it confronts the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Dao), a group of disputed reefs and islets in the South China Sea. Tempers were clearly fraying as the maritime stand-off dragged on into its sixth week, with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying warning that China had “made all [...]
Prosecutor Calls Out Yunnan Public Security Official: Where’s The Proof?
Gather ’round; front-row tickets to this spat are free to all users of Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform. In a rare public war of words between government officials, the Shaoxing City prosecutor’s office in Zhejiang Province used its official Weibo account yesterday morning to ridicule a public safety officer in distant Yunnan province. The angry [...]
Op-Ed: To Understand China-Philippines Dispute, Look to Japan and Korea’s Tussle
[Note: The following is a Tea Leaf Nation op-ed, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the editors.] The recent dispute over “illegal fishing” off the Scarborough Shoal between China and the Philippines calls to mind the Dokdo/ Takeshima dispute between Korea and Japan in the East Sea. Just as the Japanese flaunt historical documents [...]
Images — Chinese Creativity
Weibo user Jason Peng (@赵鹏自媒体) has just posted two hilarious images of Chinese creativity. The first is a clever laborer catching some Z’s. Peng writes of this man, “No matter how rough the circumstances, it cannot limit the light of creativity.” Quick, someone promote him! The second image is a sandwich bag, ingeniously modified so [...]
Today’s Most Viral Image: Open Secrets
Cha-ching! With over 20,000 reports, a list of some of the United States’ richest (and poorest) public servants is Sina Weibo’s most viral image of May 15, 2012 according to Hong Kong University’s Weiboscope. Weiboscope displays the most widely-reposted images among prominent users. What is this image? These names may look familiar–it’s a list of [...]
Chinese Netizens Say Time To “Clean Up” Foreign “Trash”
Foreigners, watch out. Beijing police have sent a shot across the bow of the city’s estimated 120,000 non-Chinese residents, some of whom are in the country illegally. After a video of a British man apparently sexually assaulting a Chinese woman caught fire on Weibo, Beijing police have announced a campaign to “clean up” (清理) unwelcome [...]
Millions of Chinese Netizens Pour Hearts Out: Loving Mom Is Bittersweet
Loving someone is always complicated. This may be doubly true for Chinese netizens on Mother’s Day, which China celebrated on May 13. On Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, two mom-related topics sat in the top 10 “hottest” topics at day’s end, evincing the deep love, and in some cases deep shame, that Chinese netizens feel when [...]
Today’s Most Viral Image: The Horrible Foreigner
It’s a classic narrative. Foreigner comes to China; is enchanted; learns fluent Chinese; makes meaningful and lasting connections with host country. makes complete fool of self; terrorizes local population; is beaten and arrested; is then pilloried the world over. What does this image mean? This image is a still from a wildly viral video (viewable here). [...]
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Online, Being Gay In China Gets Much “Respect,” But Less “Acceptance”
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Voices – Kai-Fu Lee Says Facebook Employees May Flee Post-IPO
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Injected Watermelon Rumors Highlight Chinese Consumers’ Dilemma
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Voices — Hong Kong Will Light China’s Way
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Netizen Tweets Onboard Train: “I Suspect This Baby Is Kidnapped. Help!”
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Chinese Talk Show Host to Conan O’Brien: It’s Your Move Punk
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Chinese Netizens Say Time To “Clean Up” Foreign “Trash”
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Netizens React to Government Crackdown on “Rumor-Spreading” Sites
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Weibo Rumor Watch — Coup in Beijing?
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China’s Netizens Plead With Government Not to Repatriate North Koreans
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Jordan: Talk is cheap. It's easy to be an internet tough g...
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David Wertime: A good comparison, and one I should have probably ...
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wumingshi: "What is so dangerous about Pu’s project?" A more...
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Miller: It's a real shame the government hasn't matured pa...
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59/5: The provision you cite to, from the United Nations...
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