“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 [...]
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; [...]
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 [...]
At Tea Leaf Nation, we know that Chinese social media is good for more than celebrity gossip and pictures of cats. Not only is it a prime source for breaking news and candid debate; it can also effect significant change in the lives of real people. Need examples? Just read these four incredible stories. 1KG [...]
American reality shows like “Wife Swap,” where two families swap mothers for a predetermined time, have already found notoriety. But did you know that one Chinese reality show swaps children? On X-change (变形计), a program on Hunan Satellite Television, two children swap families for seven days. One child hails from a low-income rural household, the [...]
American reality shows like “Wife Swap,” where two families swap mothers for a predetermined time, have already found notoriety. But did you know that one Chinese reality show swaps children? On X-change (变形计), a program on Hunan Satellite Television, two children swap families for seven days. One child hails from a low-income rural household, the [...]
It’s a classic narrative. Foreigner comes to China; is enchanted; learns fluent Chinese; makes meaningful and lasting connections with host country. makes complete fool of self; terrorizes local population; is beaten and arrested; is then pilloried the world over. What does this image mean? This image is a still from a wildly viral video (viewable here). [...]
It is no secret that thousands of netizens scale the Great Firewall of China, one of the Eight Wonders of the cyber-world, to obtain information from the outside. But are there others trying to get in? Reporter Li Hai (@北京李海) tweets on January 25, 2012: A netizen from the mainland China is “scaling the wall.” While on top [...]
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