Almost half of all Chinese report feeling “more anxiety,” now than they did five years ago. What, exactly, is driving these concerns, or increasing reports of these concerns? Avid followers of China-related news might immediately think of censorship and other restrictions on freedoms, yet reports show that the main sources of anxiety in China lie [...]
On April 29, 1968, a young Chinese dissident named Lin Zhao was secretly executed by firing squad. In 2013, on the 45th anniversary of her execution, her name resurfaced in the public sphere, as news broke that police had prevented people paying tribute to her at her grave. Lin Zhao was an ardent Communist in [...]
[Note: The following is a Tea Leaf Nation op-ed, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the editors.] On November 29, 2012, at the end of his visit to “The Road to Revival” exhibition, which showcased China’s achievements in modern and contemporary history despite foreign invasions and exploitation, the newly appointed General Secretary of [...]
Welcome to Tea Time Chat, a real-time discussion between Tea Leaf Nation writers about the issues that matter to them. With graduation day approaching at many universities, we took the opportunity to contributors who have attended Chinese universities to discuss their experiences there. This follows a Chat last week in which we asked Chinese students at elite American universities [...]
A rare protest in Beijing involving hundreds of people was documented by photos posted on China’s social media (scroll down to see photos). The cause of the protest was the death of a 22-year old migrant worker, who fell several stories from an apparels wholesale market building in Beijing on May 3. The police declared [...]
Whether or not I deserved the Nobel Prize, I already received it, and now it’s time to get back to my writing desk and produce a good work. I hear that the 2013 list of Nobel Prize nominees has been finalized. I hope that once the new laureate is announced, no one will pay attention [...]
“Tibet is still a very sensitive topic, even if your story is about the environment and not politics,” said an editor, who prefers to remain unnamed, of the environmental section of Southern Weekly, a paper the New York Times has called the most influential liberal newspaper in China. In early April, several satellite images were [...]
Rat meat + gelatin + red food coloring + nitrates = lamb. Have you tried it yet? “This is what a ‘complete’ sheep looks like,” reads a caption under the photoshopped image of a sheep with Jerry from Tom and Jerry as its head. The image was posted by @无锡微生活, an account that focuses on [...]
Welcome to TLN’s inaugural Tea Time Chat, a real-time discussion between Tea Leaf Nation writers about the issues that matter to them. In this Chat, we have asked Chinese students at elite American universities to explain why they chose to attend U.S. schools over their Chinese counterparts. *** Xiaoying Zhou is a student at Yale [...]
In April, China’s central government and provincial authorities released data on the country’s economic performance for the first quarter of 2013. On April 15, the National Bureau of Statistics announced that the country’s year-on-year real GDP growth rate had been 7.7 percent. But something baffling arises when one compares the number published by the central [...]
Guerrilla warfare, Mao Zedong’s favorite modus operandi, is being used against the army he created. And the grassroots warriors have just scored a small victory. China’s Internet users began a campaign earlier this year to post photos of luxury cars carrying special military plates on China’s social media, mainly the sites Sina Weibo and Tianya. Vehicles with easily recognizable [...]
Surviving as a journalist under China’s strict censorship regime is no picnic, but recent moves by the Chinese government have made it clear that lives of journalists in China will more likely get harder. Chinese journalists are some of the most active users on China’s social media — not only can they uncover hidden stories [...]
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