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☆ What Chinese Outrage Over ‘3 Body Problem’ Says About China
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The first five minutes of the Netflix series “3 Body Problem” were hard to watch. I tried not to shut my eyes at the coldblooded beating of a physics professor at the height of the Cultural Revolution in 1967. By the end of it, he was dead, with blood and gruesome wounds all over his head and body. I also felt compelled to watch it because of how the series, a Netflix adaptation of China’s most celebrated works of science fiction, has been received in China. China doesn’t have many such hugely successful cultural exports.

Persons: China’s, Barack Obama Organizations: Netflix Locations: China

☆ Filmmaker Draws Censors’ Wrath: ‘A Price I Have to Accept’
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China’s film industry was operating under a planned economy when Wang Xiaoshuai graduated from Beijing Film Academy in 1989. His directorial debut, “The Days,” about a despondent artist couple, was screened at film festivals in Europe in 1994. They barred Mr. Wang from working in the industry because he had screened “The Days” at foreign film festivals without their permission. Mr. Wang, like many other artists in China, found ways around the ban, and he went on to become one of the country’s most acclaimed directors as the restrictions loosened. When he screened his latest film, “Above the Dust,” at the Berlin International Film Festival, his company got a call from China’s censors.

Persons: Wang Xiaoshuai, Eager, Wang, “ Organizations: Beijing Film Academy, British Broadcasting Corporation, Berlin Locations: Europe, China

☆ A Window Into Chinese Government Has Now Slammed Shut
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For more than 30 years, the Chinese premier’s annual news conference was the only time that a top leader took questions from journalists about the state of the country. It was the only occasion for members of the public to size up for themselves China’s No. It was the only moment when some Chinese might feel a faint sense of political participation in a country without elections. On Monday, China announced that the premier’s news conference, marking the end of the country’s annual rubber-stamp legislature, will no longer be held. The search term “news conference” was censored on Weibo, and very few comments remained by Monday evening Beijing time.

Organizations: Democratic People’s, Weibo, Monday, National People’s Locations: China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Weibo, Beijing

☆ Émigrés Are Creating an Alternative China, One Bookstore at a Time
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On a rainy Saturday afternoon in central Tokyo, 50 or so Chinese people packed into a gray, nondescript office that doubles as a bookstore. Like them, Ms. Qiu had lived as an immigrant in Japan. Public discussions like this one used to be common in big cities in China but have increasingly been stifled over the past decade. The Chinese public is discouraged from organizing and participating in civic activities. In the past year, a new type of Chinese public life has emerged — outside China’s borders in places like Japan.

Persons: Qiu Jin, Qiu, ” Locations: Tokyo, Japan, China, China’s

☆ What a Viral Post on Giraffes Says About China’s Fed-Up Investors
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After that, he shut down his trading account and started investing in Chinese funds that track stocks in the United States. Many investors have instead flocked to the exchange-traded funds that track foreign markets and that have been performing much better. But Chinese investors are experiencing something especially alarming: financial losses in the markets, declining home values and a government that doesn’t want any public discussion of what’s happening. With their frustrations piling up, Chinese investors recently found a way to vent that wouldn’t be quickly censored. The giraffe post has been liked nearly one million times since Feb. 2, much more than what the embassy’s Weibo posts usually get.

Persons: Jacky Organizations: Weibo, U.S, Embassy Locations: United States, China

☆ Taiwan’s Democracy Draws Envy and Tears for Visiting Chinese
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At the Taipei train station, a Chinese human rights activist named Cuicui watched with envy as six young Taiwanese politicians campaigned for the city’s legislative seats. A decade ago, they had been involved in parallel democratic protest movements — she in China, and the politicians on the opposite side of the Taiwan Strait. Cuicui was one in a group of eight women I followed last week in Taiwan before the Jan. 13 election. Her goal is to help mainland Chinese see Taiwan’s election firsthand. The women went to election rallies and talked to politicians and voters, as well as homeless people and other disadvantaged groups.

Persons: Cuicui, —, ”, Annie Jieping Zhang Locations: Taipei, China, Taiwan Strait, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong

☆ Why More Chinese Are Risking Danger in Southern Border Crossings to U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Li Yuan | More About Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Gao Zhibin and his daughter left Beijing on Feb. 24 for a better life, a safer one. By the time they touched American soil in late March, Mr. Gao had lost 30 pounds. The most harrowing part of their journey was trekking through the brutal jungle in Panama known as the Darién Gap. Mr. Gao said he thought she might have drunk dirty water. Dragging themselves through the muddy, treacherous rainforests of the Darién Gap, they took a break every 10 minutes.

Persons: Gao Zhibin, Gao, ”, Xi, “ Organizations: Mr Locations: Beijing, Panama, China, U.S

☆ They Propelled China’s Rise. Now They Have Nothing to Fall Back On.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Li Yuan | More About Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Zhang left his village in northeastern China a decade ago to work as a welder in a big city, jobs were plentiful. He pays $55 a month in rent for a tiny studio apartment but pinches every other penny. The morning we talked, he said he’d had a bowl of instant noodles, one of two meals he eats a day. Mr. Zhang’s family grows corn on a tiny patch of land, generating about $200 a year. At 28, Mr. Zhang, who asked that I use only his surname, is not married and does not plan to have children.

Persons: Zhang, he’s, he’d, “, ” Locations: China, Guangzhou, Beijing

☆ Chinese Mourn the Death of a Premier, and the Loss of Economic Hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Li Yuan | More About Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

They posted videos on social media of the time he promised that China would remain open to the outside world. They even noted the economic growth target for the first year of his premiership: 7.5 percent. The death Friday of Li Keqiang, 68, prompted spontaneous mourning online. Mr. Li served as premier, China’s No. Among many Chinese, Mr. Li’s death produced a swell of nostalgia for what he represented: a time of greater economic possibility and openness to private business.

Persons: Li Keqiang, Li, Li’s, Xi Locations: China

☆ China May Ban Clothes That Hurt People’s Feelings. People Are Outraged.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Li Yuan | More About Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the 1980s, people in China could land themselves in trouble with the government for their fashion choices. Flared pants and bluejeans were considered “weird attire.” Some government buildings barred men with long hair and women wearing makeup and jewelry. Patrols organized by factories and schools cut flared pants and long hair with scissors. The Communist Party was loosening its tight control over society little by little, and the public was pushing the limits of self-expression and individualism. The battle over the height of women’s heels and the length of men’s hair embodied the struggle.

Organizations: Communist Party Locations: China

☆ She Rose From Poverty as China Prospered. Then It Made Her Poor Again.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Li Yuan | More About Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two years ago, as she walked through a hospital hallway in handcuffs and shackles to get tested for Covid, Sun Junli felt ashamed and defeated. The poor village girl in northwestern China had become a successful businesswoman. In 2018, state-owned banks abruptly stopped lending to her business, a chain of cafe restaurants, and the pandemic destroyed her cash flow. By May 2021, Ms. Sun had lost her restaurants, and she was serving 16 days in detention for owing her employees about $28,000 in wages. “We all came from nothing and worked hard to create wealth,” Ms. Sun said.

Persons: Sun Junli, Sun, Weeks, “, ”, Ms Organizations: Toyota Camry Locations: China, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province

☆ China’s Problems Are Real
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( David Leonhardt | More About David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China’s economic problems can seem sudden and surprising. The real estate market is in a serious slump. Unemployment among young adults has surged above 20 percent — and the government has responded by suspending the release of that statistic. “The most terrifying thing is that everyone around me is at a loss of what to do next,” Richard Li, the owner of an auto parts business who has closed two of his four stores, told my colleague Li Yuan. My main argument is that China’s problems are not, in fact, new.

Persons: ” Richard Li, Li Yuan, “, ”

☆ As China loses its spot as the top US trade partner and faces a slowing economy, Chinese consumers and business owners are worried: 'I can't see any way to make money in this country'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Chinese business owners and consumers told The New York Times they're concerned about the economy. China is dealing with declines in manufacturing and trade as well as record-high youth unemployment. Larry Summers said last week China's economic proespects had been "greatly exaggerated" in the past. Summers said China's economic prospects, previously considered very good, had been "greatly exaggerated," and that he think the US gross domestic product "will exceed China's for another generation." The Times reported consumers and business owners in China were worried because they could not see how the economic downturn would end.

Persons: Larry Summers, proespects, Li Yuan, Richard Li, Summers, Insider's Cork Gaines, Andy Wang, Xi Jinping, Wang Organizations: New York Times, Service, The New York Times, Times, US, Washington Post, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Locations: China, Wall, Silicon, Washington, Mexico, Austria

☆ As China Falls Into Deflation, the Mood Turns Dark
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Li Yuan | More About Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Consumer prices in China fell last month for the first time in more than two years. Chinese banks extended $47.5 billion of new renminbi loans, tumbling 89 percent from June — and half the amount of a year earlier. China slipped into deflation after the government’s draconian “zero Covid” policy drastically suppressed consumption and business activity last year. With anxiety running high, people are already saving more and spending less. He bought apartments in two complexes in 2019 and the developers of both stopped building after running out of money.

Persons: —, Chenggang Xu, ”, “, Liu Organizations: Stanford University, Toyota Corolla Locations: China

☆ When Tragedy Strikes in China, the Government Cracks Down on Grief
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Li Yuan | More About Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Many innocent lives were lost to tragic events in China in the past month. So far we haven’t learned a single name of any of them from China’s government or its official media. Despite an outpouring of public grief and anger around the country, the government never released their names. Social media posts sharing their names and tributes to their lives were censored. Then there were the people — probably dozens, possibly hundreds — who died in severe flooding in northern and northeastern China in recent weeks.

Persons: — Locations: China, Covid

☆ What Cuisine Means to Taiwan’s Identity and Its Clash With China
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Li Yuan | More About Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Taiwan is a self-ruling island of 24 million people that is officially known as the Republic of China. About only a dozen countries recognize it as a nation because China claims it as one of its provinces. Taiwan is called “Chinese Taipei” by international organizations and at the Olympic Games. The ambiguity of Taiwan’s nationhood contrasts with a growing Taiwanese claim of identity. For many people, it’s through food, one of the things the island is known for, aside from its semiconductor industry.

Organizations: Olympic Games, National Chengchi University Locations: Taiwan, Republic of China, China, Taipei

☆ Beijing Offers Love, but Chinese Entrepreneurs Aren’t Buying It
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Li Yuan | More About Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the darkest moments of the financial crisis in 2008, former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao lectured a group of U.S. government officials and business executives in New York. “In the face of economic difficulties,” he said, “confidence is more precious than gold.”The Chinese economy then was teetering. Today it’s sputtering, facing the dimmest prospects in decades, and China’s leaders are learning the hard way exactly what Mr. Wen meant. Beijing unveiled a 31-point set of guidelines on Wednesday to bolster the confidence of the private sector. But in private, others I interviewed dismissed the party’s pep talk in words that can be best translated as, “Save it for the suckers.”

Persons: Wen Jiabao, ”, Wen Organizations: “, Communist Party Locations: New York, Beijing, Hong Kong

☆ No Job, No Marriage, No Kid: China’s Workers and the Curse of 35
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Sean Liang turned 30, he started thinking of the Curse of 35 — the widespread belief in China that white-collar workers like him confront unavoidable job insecurity after they hit that age. In the eyes of employers, the Curse goes, they’re more expensive than new graduates and not as willing to work overtime. He has been unemployed for much of the past three years, partly because of the pandemic and China’s sagging economy. If the Curse of 35 is a legend, it’s one supported by some facts. That is a double whammy for workers in their mid-30s who are making big decisions about career, marriage and children.

Persons: Sean Liang, Liang, ” Locations: China

☆ China’s Young People Can’t Find Jobs. Xi Jinping Says to ‘Eat Bitterness.’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The few offers she has gotten are internships that pay $200 to $300 a month, with no benefits. Over two days in May she messaged more than 200 recruiters and sent her résumé to 32 companies — and lined up exactly two interviews. “A decade or so ago, China was thriving and full of opportunities,” she said in a phone interview. Yet the Communist Party and the country’s top leader, Xi Jinping, are telling them to stop thinking they are above doing manual work or moving to the countryside. They should learn to “eat bitterness,” Mr. Xi instructed, using a colloquial expression that means to endure hardships.

☆ Why China’s Censors Are Deleting Videos About Poverty
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Li Yuan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A singer vented the widespread frustration among young, educated Chinese about their dire finances and gloomy job prospects, like gig work. “I wash my face every day, but my pocket is cleaner than my face,” he sings. Censors blocked discussions about him, and local authorities were stationed outside his house to prevent journalists from visiting his wife. In 2021, its top leader, Xi Jinping, declared “a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty.” Yet many people remain poor or live just above the poverty line. With the country’s economic prospects dimming and the people’s increasing anxiety about their future, poverty has become a taboo subject that can draw ire from the government.

☆ Rights group says several Chinese 'white paper' protestors still in detention
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Several demonstrators who were apprehended for publicly protesting China's then-ongoing zero-COVID policy remain in detention, face charges or have not been heard from, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday. Many demonstrators held up blank sheets of white paper, which became a symbol of their discontent. Some protestors also shouted slogans calling for the ouster of President Xi Jinping or the ruling Communist Party. In Shanghai, the whereabouts of two protestors who demonstrated on Wulumuqi Road, Li Yi and Chen Jialin, are unknown, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch said "a few" protestors were released on bail.

[1/3] Philippines' President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos are photographed with China President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Li Yuan during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, January 4, 2023. Office of the Press Secretary/Handout via REUTERSSummary Philippines, China sign 14 bilateral dealsXi pledged solution on plight of Filipino fishers -MarcosChina promised cooperation, investmentBEIJING/MANILA Jan 4 (Reuters) - China is ready to resume oil and gas talks and manage maritime issues "cordially" with the Philippines, China President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, according to Chinese state television. Xi was speaking to his Philippines counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who was on a three-day visit to Beijing. The Philippines had previously raised concerns over reported Chinese construction activities and the "swarming" of Beijing's vessels in disputed waters of the South China Sea. While the Philippines is a defence ally of the United States, under previous leader Rodrigo Duterte it set aside a territorial spat over the South China Sea in exchange for Chinese investment.

Then, two men led Mr. Hu — who appeared reluctant to go — out of Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. Was Mr. Hu, 79, suffering from poor health, as Chinese state media would later report? When the aide finally succeeds in coaxing Mr. Hu from his chair, Mr. Li, the No. As the two aides begin guiding Mr. Hu away from his seat, the older leader stops to say something to Mr. Xi. The state broadcaster’s news program that night showed footage of Mr. Hu voting, and then his empty seat later in the ceremony, without explanation.

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