Sun Liping’s “Three Simple Points” About Reviving the Economy Deleted From WeChat
by Cindy Carter | Mar 4, 2024
On February 28, a post by Tsinghua University sociologist Sun Liping about reviving the Chinese economy was deleted from WeChat, continuing a trend toward increased censorship of articles about the state of the economy. As a...
Read MoreAfrican Union Bans Donkey-Hide Trade in Response to Unsustainable Chinese Demand
by Arthur Kaufman | Mar 1, 2024
At a recent summit in Ethiopia, the African Union (AU) decided to approve a 15-year continent-wide ban on the slaughter of donkeys for their hides. Donkey hides are a key component of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)...
Read MoreChinese State Media, Others Highlight Contrasting U.S. Stances on Xinjiang, Gaza
by Arthur Kaufman | Mar 1, 2024
Several China-focused scholars and other observers have argued that continued American diplomatic, financial, and military support to Israel for its war in Gaza, despite the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s finding...
Read MoreCensored Essay: Peter Hessler Sells His Car
by Alexander Boyd | Feb 29, 2024
Acclaimed writer Peter Hessler is selling his car in Chengdu, after leaving China in 2021 when his teaching contract was abruptly terminated. Online, the sale of his Honda CRV has spurred a series of reflections on Hessler’s...
Read MoreWords of the Week: “Handing Someone a Knife,” and the Flattening of Sixth Tone
by Samuel Wade | Feb 28, 2024
Last month, an otherwise innocuous report at Sixth Tone on cloning of Tibetan cattle referred to the region only by its Chinese name, Xizang, falling in line with a recent push by Chinese authorities. For some, this symbolized a...
Read MoreProvincial “Ideological Liberation” Campaign Calls for “Unswerving Alignment” with Xi Jinping
by Alexander Boyd | Feb 28, 2024
A provincial campaign to jumpstart cadres out of timidity and “formalism” raised hackles online for framing “ideological liberation” as adherence to Xi Jinping Thought. A notice published to a website run by Hunan’s Provincial...
Read MoreMessi Mess Highlights “Fragile” Psyche of Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese Nationalists
by Alexander Boyd | Feb 26, 2024
Argentinian soccer superstar Lionel Messi’s apology to Chinese fans last week for sitting out a friendly match in Hong Kong has done little to quiet nationalist outrage on the mainland. In early February, Messi’s home club Inter...
Read MoreCost of Raising Children in China is World’s Second Highest
by Samuel Wade | Feb 23, 2024
China’s population decline looks set to continue despite the possibility of a traditional Dragon-Year “baby bump” and signs of a post-pandemic uptick in marriage rates after nine successive years of decline. A recent report from...
Read MoreMore Than 100 Arrested Following Dam Protest in Tibetan Region of Sichuan Province
by Cindy Carter | Feb 23, 2024
Chinese authorities have reportedly arrested more than 100 Tibetan Buddhist monks and other residents of largely Tibetan Dege County in Sichuan Province, following protests against a vast dam project that would destroy six...
Read MoreI-Soon Data Leak Provides Glimpse Into China’s Ecosystem of Cyber-espionage
by Arthur Kaufman | Feb 23, 2024
A major data leak of internal documents from Chinese cybersecurity firm i-Soon, also known as Anxun, has shed new light on the inner world of China’s cyberespionage and its state-backed hackers for hire. Among the documents...
Read MoreQuote of the Day: “Fifteen Months Later, Despite 50 Alterations and Deletions, Censors Have Yet to Approve This Film.”
by Cindy Carter | Feb 22, 2024
Today’s quote of the day comes from a CDT Chinese faux “Dragon Seal” visual about acclaimed sixth-generation filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai’s battle to get his latest film “Above the Dust” 《沃土》(Wòtǔ, “fertile soil”) past...
Read MoreCDT EBOOKS
CDT Features
Browsers Unbounded by Lantern
CDT in the News
- U.S. Department of State – China Human Rights Report 2023
- VOA – Fact-checker on China’s Weibo targets US Embassy, Russian state media
- Wadham College, University of Oxford – “It’s the largest underclass in human history…”
- The Wire China – Steve Tsang on How Xi Jinping Thinks
- The Guardian – China Nobel prize winner tarred as one of ‘three new evils’ amid rise in nationalist fervour
- More...