As many China-watchers know by now, a recent earth-shaking report from U.S. cyber security firm Mandiant has alleged that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is behind many cyber attacks against American organizations. It’s a complex and grim issue, to be sure. For those looking for a more irreverent take on the news, Taiwan-based Next Media [...]
Tea Leaf Nation’s David Wertime spoke on January 22 at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. The topic: “Redefining the Quote: Using the Social Web to Gauge Grassroots Sentiment in China.” Our thanks go to the fellows and staff at Berkman for the kind invitation. Please have a look.
“I had no idea it would become so big,” said Jesse Appell, director and producer of the now-viral “Laowai Style” Internet video. The video—a parody of Gangnam Style—was shot in one day, with no budget. Within twenty hours of its posting, “Laowai Style” had 60,000 views on Youku, China’s Youtube, and was featured on the [...]
Steve Jobs, after all, was also a “tweaker” and “tinkerer.” But does the “tweaking” found throughout China–whereby iPhones can be had for a song, complete with two SIM card ports and a removable battery–savor of true innovation? Does China urgently need to reform the way it enforces its intellectual property laws? What’s fair, and what’s [...]
It’s performance art, parody, social media genius, and a desperate cry for help all in one. If any further proof of social media’s power were necessary, it’s arrived: An underpaid Chinese migrant worker has made a viral video in which she mimics an official in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) while asking for her [...]
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 David Denoon and University of Pennsylvania professor Avery Goldstein on Huff Post Live to discuss the historical underpinnings of the [...]
When it comes to the conflict between China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands, who speaks for today’s China? Is it the Chinese protesters who have smashed Japanese-made cars and attacked Japanese stores and restaurants in the mainland? Is it the netizens who have urged calm and restraint? Or those netizens who say they are [...]
A horrific forced abortion in China, and its fallout, has become an international scandal. On June 2, officials from Zengjia, a town in Shaanxi province in Central China, forcibly aborted 23-year-old Feng Jianmei’s seven and a half month old baby after the family failed to pay the 40,000 RMB (about US$6,000) “fee” that local officials [...]
Editor David Wertime joins BBC World News to discuss the likely impact of Sina Weibo’s new user agreement, which was implemented on May 28, 2012. You can read Tea Leaf Nation’s complete analysis of the likely impact of the agreement here.
At Tea Leaf Nation, we try to keep things (relatively) highbrow, or at least strive not to descend into outright vulgarity. But who are we to overturn the will of the netizen masses? With over 23,000 re-posts, this short movie of a randy young canine is Sina Weibo’s most viral image of May 23, according [...]
We’ve seen this train wreck before. Contestant arrives full of outward confidence; contestant claims prowess in a foreign (non-Chinese) language; contestant is mercilessly criticized and suffers emotional breakdown. The latest episode of “Only You” has aired on Tianjin television, and the results are not pretty (see video at bottom). “Only You” (非你莫属) is an “Apprentice”-style [...]
Our dear readers can be forgiven for thinking that Chinese politics is complicated. When it comes to the epic fall of Bo Xilai–covered extensively by Tea Leaf Nation (see our most recent posts here and here)–the uninitiated may feel that it’s too late to jump in. Not so. The good people at Taipei-based Next Media Animation have [...]
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