The widely-publicized Party expulsion of Bo Xilai has not just made China’s netizens angry; it’s made them tired. Commenters have called for a final reckoning with the awful legacy of Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution in …
Read MoreWith Bo Xilai’s Ouster Official, Chinese Netizens Ask What (Really) Happened
The purge is on. Bo Xilai, a former Chinese power-broker whose family’s rise was torpedoed by a weakness for bribery, backstabbing, and killing people, is now out—or as the Chinese might say, “ao te” (奥特)–of …
Read MoreHow China’s “Reincarnation Party” Takes Aim at Online Censors
We often refer to Sina Weibo as “China’s Twitter” here on Tea Leaf Nation, but the analogy is not a perfect one. Weibo has many innovative features that Twitter lacks, and offers even more premium …
Read MoreSpotted on Weibo: Everybody’s Doing the Split
Two days ago, a photograph of a girl wearing a white vest and ballet slippers and doing a 45-degree split in her dorm room went viral on the Chinese Internet. It led to what Sina …
Read MoreVideo: TLN Editor and Author Discuss Diaoyu Dispute on Huff Post Live
The protestors may have gone home for the time being, but the dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands are far from over. TLN author Helen Gao and editor David Wertime were joined by NYU professor …
Read MoreMorbid Humor Abounds in Slaughterhouse Known as the Chinese Stock Market
Q: The chairman of the CSRC (China’s equivalent of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) and the chairman of a public company in China both fall into a river. You only have one rock, who …
Read MoreChinese Citizens Demand to Know Why One of Web’s Most Frustrating Sites Cost 300 Million RMB to Build
It’s a digital disaster. With a Chinese travel crunch looming, China’s online ticketing system is quickly turning into a boondoggle of historic proportions. It all started with a holiday. Lunar New Year in China marks …
Read MoreDirector Reveals Mystery of China’s Film Censorship System on Weibo
“No film is safe, no film investment is safe, no director’s creation is safe [under China's film censorship framework],” said director Lou Ye (@导演娄烨) in a recent interview with Sina, a Chinese Internet portal, that …
Read MoreGrowing Up a Chinese Patriot, Then Heading West in a Changed World
I have hundreds of memories of the ceremony, the earliest of which took place in the playground of my elementary school: A dirt opening ringed with cypresses and gingko trees, a small brick-and-concrete platform, and …
Read MoreChina’s Online Commenters Greet First Aircraft Carrier With Doubt, Disdain
China has just taken another step in the direction of becoming a military power. On Tuesday, it put into service its first aircraft carrier, named the “Liaoning” after China’s northeastern Liaoning Province. According to the …
Read MoreProtests Roiling, China’s Mainstream Media Showed an Alternate Reality
It’s already entered the annals of China’s brief but rich Internet history: On Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, posts showing massive anti-Japan protests in China went viral on September 15th and 16th. Out in the real …
Read MoreSpotted on Weibo: … Oh, I Get It.
This image will either make no sense or perfect sense to our dear readers.
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