Tea Leaf Nation

On November 20, ChinaDialogue and Tea Leaf Nation hosted what we believe to be the first live online chat between Chinese and U.S. experts on climate and energy policy. Our experts and readers communicated with each other from across the globe in real-time. In the first session on climate and energy policy, political rhetoric, and [...]

This article also appears in ChinaFile, a Tea Leaf Nation partner site. Chinese people translate “New Yorker” into “New York Ke” to designate people living in New York City, including Chinese immigrants. But in Chinese, “ke” means “visitor” or “guest.” It has been a sad word in Chinese literature and poems for thousands of years, [...]

This article also appears on The Atlantic, a Tea Leaf Nation partner site. In late October and early November, a 25-year-old man sought treatment for lung cancer at two hospitals in Beijing and the northeastern Chinese city of Tianjin. After a blood test, he was found to be HIV positive. Doctors at both hospitals refused [...]

For regular viewers of China Central Television (CCTV) who have grown used to its formulaic propaganda, the past week has brought refreshing changes to its news coverage, and China’s astute online commentators are openly wondering–could this be a bellwether for reforms under China’s new leadership? A popular joke summarizes the usual CCTV news coverage in [...]

It’s proof positive that China’s Internet remains a vibrant place. Despite widespread and increasingly multifarious online censorship behind China’s “Great Firewall,” Web users are still writing about political reform–and getting away with it. Take “Alice,” or @向莉alice, a user on Sina Weibo, China’s pre-eminent micro-blogging platform. On August 17, she shared a long-form document (shown [...]

This article also appears on The Atlantic, a Tea Leaf Nation partner site. For those who look for hints of political reforms after the leadership transition in China’s 18th Party Congress, here is a piece of glad tidings: A round of bureau downsizing led by the State Council is likely to come soon. Although not confirmed [...]

This summer, I gave presentations about the American college application process at Company X, one of the largest companies in China that specializes in language training and overseas study consulting. In September, a few months after I gave the presentation, I received a job offer from Company X: “We are very impressed with your academic [...]

Eat your heart out, Jack Kerouac; wanderlust has found its way to modern China. On November 14, a 27-year-old woman from the coastal city of Ningbo made headlines in a local newspaper after coming back from a four-month tour around China. The article describes how she spent 14,000 RMB (about US$2,200) on the whole trip; [...]

An online wit who calls himself “Mr. Ponder” (@琢磨先生) on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, is at it again. After capturing the world’s attention this summer by re-imagining Chinese literature for the micro-blogging age, Mr. Ponder, who in actuality appears to be a career coach named Guo Cheng, has just garnered immense attention from Web users [...]

This article also appeared on ChinaFile, a Tea Leaf Nation partner site. An active Beijing-based micro-blogger named Dongdong Wang (@東東旺) recently tweeted this image on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter: At first glance, it doesn’t look like much: Outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao (left) and outgoing President Hu Jintao (right) appear to share a laugh following a [...]

This article also appeared in The Atlantic, a Tea Leaf Nation partner site. Recently, an essay purportedly written by a sixth grader—an epitome of the “butterfly effect”—went viral on the Chinese Internet. On Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, user @土豆网 posted the photograph below at right. Within several days of its appearance, it had been retweeted over [...]

More and more Chinese students are willing to get grilled by the SATs rather than by the notorious college entrance exam in their own country, known as gaokao; but not all of them choose to apply for American colleges for the same reason. During my first year at Yale, my friend told me that she [...]