Tea Leaf Nation

Whatever serious political signals that Xi Jinping’s first trip abroad as China’s new leader may have sent, Chinese Web users have recently focused on someone else: their new First Lady. Everything about Peng Liyuan seems to have fascinated users of Chinese social media, from Ms. Peng’s designed-in-China clothes and handbags to her mannerisms to her [...]

Yesterday, a group of prominent Chinese citizens issued an open letter to China’s government calling on it to sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. While open letters are a venerated form of protest and speech, this group made waves when they chose to share their message on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter. As [...]

News of an earthquake in North Korea spread quickly in China, with parts of the country actually experiencing the effects of the quake itself. Shortly after news of the quake was reported, it became apparent that it was man-made – a nuclear test. Chatter on Chinese social media quickly took off, many speculating about the [...]

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 [...]

At 11:51 AM on July 21, the Weibo (Chinese Twitter) account  called “Safe Beijing” (平安北京) advised its three million followers to “take caution outdoors today!” Over the course of the day, the falling rain would grow into the worst rainstorm to hit Beijing in 60 years, eventually killing over 70 people and causing millions of [...]

Yesterday was the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. If social media in China and the United States is any indication, netizens around the world are very much aware of that fact. Just 20 hours ago, the U.S. State Department (@StateDept) made, if not a wave, then a Twitter ripple when it tweeted a reminder [...]

Historian Lei Yi (@雷颐) tweets re: China’s veto of the U.N. resolution to call for the resignation of Bashar al-Assad of Syria – “Getting on the wrong side of the entire Arab League for al-Assad, who does not have much connection with [the Chinese government] itself? It is not that stupid! The veto vote it [...]