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by David Wertime on May 7, 2012

Netizens Not Sold on Possible Future Leader Wang Yang

First it was the prodigal melon; now it’s the airborne pepper. On Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, a discussion recently erupted about potential high-leader-in-waiting Wang Yang after a university student in Guangdong (@思想聚焦) recalled a 2006 story in which Mr. Yang threw a farm-fresh pepper at a subordinate. As the story goes, while party chief of Chongqing [...]

by David Wertime on May 5, 2012

Infographic: How to Crash a Foreign Embassy

Ah, memories. Chen Guangcheng’s daring escape from house arrest in Shandong province to U.S. protection in Beijing is by no means the first instance of a dissident crashing a foreign diplomatic outpost for protection. In fact, it’s been happening in China, and elsewhere, for over one hundred years. In 1898, two reformists pursued by the [...]

by Jimmy on May 4, 2012

Chinese Netizens to United States: No Need To Apologize for Chen Guangcheng

Don’t look away, even for one minute. Events have taken a dramatic turn in the case of Chen Guangcheng, the celebrated rights lawyer-turned daring escape artist-turned diplomatic impasse. Much of China now knows that after his daring escape from house arrest, Chen spent six days in the United States embassy before being reunited with (some [...]

by David Wertime on May 2, 2012

“Leaving of My Own Volition” Meme Explodes Courtesy of Chen Guangcheng

When the going gets tough, the tough speak in code, at least on China’s Internet. It’s quitting time in China, and thousands of netizens are announcing they are leaving work “of their own volition.” But this happens every day. Why choose today to say so? Faced with overzealous censors, netizens on Weibo, China’s Twitter, are [...]

by Ehr Kwong on May 1, 2012

Translation: Bo Xilai Was Known As Icarus Figure

With all the furor over Bo Xilai, his family and the suspicious death of Neil Heywood, Tea Leaf Nation brings you a look back at the political calculations that lay behind Bo’s controversial reign in Chongqing and his daring gambit in the form of the “Smash Black – Sing Red” campaign that was to pave [...]

by David Wertime on April 30, 2012

The Limits to Chen Guangcheng’s Diplomatic Impact

Chen Guangcheng, a blind villager who learned law while moonlighting as a masseur, had already changed China. Now, some believe he may change the world by precipitating a diplomatic crisis. On April 28th, word got out that Mr. Chen, a self-taught lawyer who fought for the rights of the disabled and dispossessed, only to be [...]

by Jimmy on April 29, 2012

Video — High Stakes Mating: Men v. Women

Are men without money no better than garbage? Many Chinese women seem to think so, at least in this video. With that opening salvo, the battle of the sexes is well and truly on as men accuse women of materialism and women blame men for lack of ambition – a microcosm of modern China’s relationship [...]

by Jimmy on April 28, 2012

Netizens Light a Flame for Escaped ‘Bare Foot’ Attorney

High value target in China slips past tight security cordon and makes way to U.S. embassy in dramatic escape. Sound familiar? No, not Wang Lijun redux. This time it’s Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚), a celebrated human rights lawyer in China who has slipped the bonds of his extra-legal detention in Shandong province and allegedly made his [...]

by Sascha Matuszak on April 26, 2012

Journalism 2.0: Microblogging the Lede

On February 9th, Wuhan Evening News published a story entitled “Young Mother Nurses 6-month Baby Into Cerebral Palsy,” that described a distraught mother who turned to infant formula to cure her child, based on the advice of a local doctor that her breast milk was the culprit behind her baby’s illness. The newspaper article set [...]

by David Wertime on April 26, 2012

A Case Study of Chinese Netizen Attitude Towards Homosexuality

It’s not easy being gay in China. China’s first gay pride week was not held until 2009 in Shanghai, and even then the Christian Science Monitor reported that police discouraged venues from hosting it. A Qingdao University survey of gay men from 2010 found 62% hid their homosexuality. In 2011, LGBT groups boycotted the social-networking [...]

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