‘I have saved up 50,000 yuan, planning to buy a house in Hegang. I will budget 30,000–40,000 yuan for the house itself, and the remaining 10,000 for living supplies.’ This post went viral on the Chinese online forum Baidu Tieba in May 2019, attracting more than 10,000 comments and extensive journalistic coverage (Longtoulaoda 2019). In […]
This essay presents a case study of the widely known—and at times controversial—artist Ge Yulu and his interventionist practice. Through an account of Ge’s life and career, including his early years as a grassroots migrant artist navigating precarity in Beijing, the essay explores how radical artistic gestures are gradually tempered, and often reshaped into more palatable forms that conform to institutional aesthetics. At the same time, it shows how a persistent critical impulse—despite the risks of censorship, social marginalisation, and financial hardship—sustains hope and continues to provoke public engagement.
China’s post-socialist modernisation and economic growth in the 1980s and 1990s have led to great political and institutional changes and deepened structural inequalities, creating a large marginalised subaltern group whose lives have been shaped by shifting labour markets and migration policies (Hillenbrand 2023; Pun 2016). Today, the stories of China’s ‘subaltern’ are widely heard, from […]
In the Chinese music scene, women have traditionally been confined to roles embodying elegance and obedience. This is exemplified by groups such as the 12 Girls Band, whose success, built on performing traditional instruments such as the guzheng (古筝) and pipa (琵琶), aligns with societal expectations of femininity, reinforcing Confucian stereotypes of Chinese women as […]
The Chinese diasporic media operates within a fragmented and turbulent environment. It is exceedingly difficult to deliver uncensored, meaningful content that can connect communities and reflect the complex realities of life both within and outside China. Over the past decade, Xi Jinping’s administration has tightened its grip on Chinese society by expanding state control and […]
In late March 2022, Shanghai imposed its strictest lockdowns since the Covid-19 outbreak two years earlier. Amid China’s stringent zero-Covid policy and crackdown on personal freedoms, internet searches for ‘conditions for immigrating to Canada’ surged, drawing the attention of authorities. To circumvent censorship on emigration-related searches, Chinese netizens adopted the code word run (润), whose […]
The People’s Daily (人民日报) publishes important announcements on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It covers high-level politics, economic achievements, diplomatic breakthroughs, and other serious topics. So, on 14 December 1984, a reader might have been surprised to see the paper run the playful headline ‘Interprovincial Dating Project’ (跨省市恋爱协作) (People’s Daily 1984). The article […]
This essay re-examines the Great Translation Movement (GTM) as an activist-journalistic initiative that challenges the authority of the Chinese Party-State by exposing its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Highlighting a problematic aspect of the GTM, it calls into question its oversimplified portrayal of the Chinese people, as it perpetuates national character discourse by attributing societal issues to perceived inherent traits of the populace rather than holding the regime to account. The GTM’s engagement with Chinese political discourse appears to be driven by its coordinators’ alignment with Euro-American right-wing populism, fostering self-racialisation and internalised racism that ultimately distort dissent within China’s political landscape.
This essay presents a historical analysis of the evolving relationship between Chinese news media and the feminist movement over the past three decades. It investigates how Chinese feminists have strategically utilised media platforms to advance their causes and examines the influence of media system transformations on the paradigms of feminist activism. The article argues that young women, empowered and inspired by feminist activism, have emerged as a critical force in sustaining the resilience of journalism.
Amid Europe’s decoupling and de-risking strategies, escalating tensions with the United States, and competition with India for leadership in the Global South, China has intensified its efforts to strengthen relations with the developing world, particularly with Africa. Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, China’s ambitions in Africa are not only to become a dominant financial power, but […]
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