In a recent essay, Lu Dewen (吕德文, Lǚ Déwén)—a sometimes controversial Wuhan University sociologist whose research focuses on rural governance—argues that bureaucratic formalism, meaningless busywork, and technological hegemony...
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扬州 东关街, by song zhen (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Read MoreMao Anying, Mao Zedong’s son, was killed by American bombers on November 25, 1950 while fighting in the Korean War. A persistent, unfounded, rumor (officially tagged as “historically nihilist”) holds that the younger Mao gave...
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Le bouilleur d’eau, by Gongashan (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Read MoreIn the latest installment in our interview series focusing on Tibet, we talk to Tenzin Norgay, a Research Analyst at the International Campaign for Tibet, where he has written reports on surveillance, propaganda, and the...
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Great Wall, by cotaro70s (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Read MoreIn this poetic essay, first published in Matters, author Lola muses on the various types of walls that restrict our freedom of speech, thought, movement, and association: I cannot fight the wall I only dream I could (from...
Read MoreExpectations were low going into this week’s meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping on the side of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco. Since their last meeting in Bali one year ago,...
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Untitled (Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, Guangzhou), by Xiquinho Silva (CC BY 2.0)
Read MoreAs Chinese state media tone down their anti-U.S. rhetoric and promote the Weibo hashtag #感受中美民意暖流# (#Experience the Warm Current of Public Opinion on Sino-American Relations) in recognition of the Xi-Biden meeting on the...
Read MoreThis week, Xi Jinping is visiting San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. It marks his first trip to the U.S. since April 2017, and his first meeting with Joe Biden since last year’s G20 summit in...
Read MoreA fawning Xinhua article on Xi Jinping’s concern for citizens affected by natural disasters has become the latest piece of “low-level red, high-level black” propaganda. Intended to tout Xi’s steadfast leadership, it...
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Save the last dance, by Gauthier DELECROIX (CC BY 2.0)
Read MoreIn online slang, “rushing the tower” (冲塔 chōngtǎ) means posting politically sensitive commentary knowing full well that it will be censored, with potentially worse consequences ranging from account deletion to detention....
Read MoreHangzhou’s Center for the Practice of Whole-Process People’s Democracy has become the butt of online jokes about China’s lack of democracy. Whole-process people’s democracy is Party-speak for the deliberative elements of China’s...
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