When it was announced in 2023 that the African Union would become a full member of the G20, I darkly joked on a podcast that the AU’s entry into the body could very well mark the moment the G20 lost its status as one of the most important global coordination forums. Mark my words, I said, soon The Economist will be like “Uhhh, the G20 is OVER – it’s the ...
Category: Social Media
Chinese Social Media Mocks India’s ‘Semiconductor’ Stock Mania
Chinese social media has been buzzing with disbelief and humor over India’s latest stock market frenzy, RRP Semiconductor Ltd., a company whose skyrocketing stock is almost entirely divorced from its real operations. The share price of RRP Semiconductor has surged by an eye-popping 55,000 percent over ...
Kidnapping of Chinese Influencer in South Africa Sparks Alarm Over “High-Profile Travel”
A kidnapping in South Africa has sent shockwaves through China’s internet, not only because a Chinese traveler was violently targeted, but because the scheme appears to have been orchestrated with help from a Chinese national. The victim, a top travel influencer with more than 26 million ...
Manager at Chinese Factory in Kenya Fired After Viral Worker Assault
A manager at a Chinese factory in the Kenyan city of Eldoret had his contract terminated and could face additional disciplinary action, including deportation, after a video of him assaulting a worker went viral.
Japan Protests at Chinese Diplomat Threat Over PM’s Taiwan Comments
Tokyo said Monday it had lodged a protest over a Chinese diplomat's online threat of decapitation made after remarks on Taiwan by Japan's new prime minister. In a now-removed post on X, the Chinese consul general in Osaka Xue Jian threatened ...
Inside China’s African Rail Projects: A Translator’s Unexpected Video Diary
A young Chinese man working as a bilingual English–French translator on Guinean infrastructure projects has found an unusual way to connect with Chinese youth. On the video platform Bilibili, he opened an account to document life on construction sites. To his audience’s surprise, his videos reveal rare, ...
China Sends Pointed Message with South China Sea Flag-Raising
The Chinese Coast Guard held a flag-raising ceremony to mark China’s National Day off the Scarborough Shoal, a zone in the South China Sea also claimed by the Philippines. The ceremony, which was broadcast on the state TV channel CCTV and social media, seemed designed to ...
Chinese Online Outrage Over $80 Billion Zambia River Suit
More than six months after 50,000 liters of toxic water from a Chinese-run mining site spilled into Zambia's Kafue River, there's still no resolution to what's become a massive environmental crisis. The government is siding ...
Social Media Users Backed by the Chinese State Ensure Heated Exchange Caught on Video Stays Viral
A viral video that captured a heated exchange last week between one of China's most acclaimed foreign policy scholars and Israel's defense attaché in Beijing spiked in viewership over the weekend as ties between the countries further deteriorated. The dispute between Yan ...
Chinese Military Blogger Reviews Vietnam’s Parade on the Eve of Beijing’s Own
On the day before China’s September 3rd military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory in World War II, Vietnam staged its own large-scale celebration in Hanoi for the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day. On a Chinese WeChat public account focused on military ...
A Turbulent Week for China-Africa Media Narratives
Over the past week, sharply contrasting images of Chinese engagement in Africa surfaced online. Anger erupted on social media over the release of yet another violent video that shows Congolese soldiers brutally beating local miners purportedly at the behest of Chinese ...
“1001 Days of Pouring Concrete in Africa”: A Chinese Engineer’s Memoir Sparks Debate Online
A recently published memoir titled 《在非洲打灰的1001天：一个现代化的故事》 (“1001 Days of Pouring Concrete in Africa: A Modernization Story”) has ignited widespread discussion on Chinese social media. The author, Cao Fengze, holds a PhD in civil engineering from Tsinghua University and previously served ...
Are We Becoming Like the Taliban? Chinese Feminists Grapple with Women’s Rights, Afghanistan, and the Moral Policing
This week, a wave of outrage swept across China’s internet, not just over a university scandal, but over something deeper: growing anxiety that China’s society could be slipping toward Taliban-style moral authoritarianism. At the center of the storm was a disciplinary ...