Inkstone
507 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★ - 9 ratingsA daily digest of the top China stories.
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Hong Kong pop star Joey Yung slammed by Chinese fans for surgical mask selfie
November 06, 2019 09:46 - 2 minutes - 1.12 MBA reality of 2019 is that surgical face masks have become ubiquitous across the world. They are commonly used for hygiene, avoiding pollution and, increasingly, fashion. Celebrities like British model Naomi Campbell went viral for her over-the-top airport routine (that involved face masks), while K-pop stars use it as a fashion statement. It can get tricky when the celebrity is from Hong Kong. Cantopop star Joey Yung Cho-yee donned a surgical mask right before a flight and posted a selfie…
Most high-speed railway lines in China are losing money
November 05, 2019 10:45 - 2 minutes - 1.34 MBChina is extremely proud of its growing high-speed railway system, with state media often calling it a “speed booster” for the Chinese dream. But recent financial disclosures showed that more than 60% of the country’s high-speed railway operators have each lost a minimum of around $100 million in 2018 and continued losing money into the first half of 2019. The least profitable operator, based in the southwestern megacity of Chengdu, reported a $1.8 billion net loss in 2018. Operators based…
Beijing expats mourn closure of beloved cafe and bookstore
November 05, 2019 10:39 - 2 minutes - 1.32 MBFor Beijing’s bookish English-speaking expatriate population, the Bookworm was more than a humble cafe full of reading material. It was a cultural destination, a place for live performances and a home away from home. But after being in business for nearly 20 years, its managers announced on Tuesday that the bookstore would close next week – to the shock of its current patrons and legions of former Beijingers around the world. “Despite our best efforts, we appear to have fallen prey to the…
Ethnic minority actress wins support in China for defying cyberbullying
November 05, 2019 10:39 - 2 minutes - 1.25 MBChinese feminists are voicing support for an ethnic Kazakh actress who’s trying to fight against cyberbullying by sharing the malicious comments she has received on social media with her five million fans. Cyberbullying of female celebrities has become more widely discussed in China since 25-year-old South Korean star Sulli, who was unusually outspoken and struggled with online abuse, was found dead in her home last month. Actress Rayza, an ethnic Kazakh born and raised in Beijing, is best…
Big name fashion labels move manufacturing out of China
November 04, 2019 10:29 - 5 minutes - 2.62 MBSince the start of Donald Trump’s presidency, famous brand names such as Uniqlo, Levi’s, Crocs, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger have moved their entire manufacturing base out of China. Politics is not the only factor – rising labor costs and an increasing reluctance in China to produce low-cost goods were prompting the sourcing caravan to move on even before the trade war began. But there is no doubt Trump sped up their departure. “There is a real sense of panic,” says Sean Coxall, the…
Chinese vapers upset by online sales ban of e-cigarettes
November 04, 2019 10:29 - 2 minutes - 1.23 MBChinese vapers are defending the health value of e-cigarettes, after the government further tightened sales of vaping devices in the country. On Friday, the country’s tobacco regulator announced a ban on online sales and advertising of e-cigarettes as part of a campaign to prevent minors from accessing vaping products. The new rule brings e-cigarettes under a sales and advertising ban similar to tobacco. With more than 300 million smokers, China is seen as a potential growth driver for the…
Seaweed is the star ingredient in new Alzheimer’s drug approved by China
November 04, 2019 10:13 - 5 minutes - 2.36 MBThe world’s first new drug for treating Alzheimer’s disease in nearly two decades, based on seaweed, was approved by the Chinese government this weekend. The drug, Oligomannate, could represent a breakthrough in the global effort to develop treatments for the neurodegenerative disorder, which has no cure and is predicted to affect 150 million people worldwide by 2050. The National Medical Products Administration, China’s drug regulator, said Oligomannate had been approved for the treatment of…
Beijing subway plans to ‘sort passengers’ with facial scan
November 01, 2019 08:41 - 2 minutes - 1.23 MBWhen you take the subway in cities across China, you often have to go through a security check before being allowed to board the train. The checks can vary from a simple bag search to going through an airport-style scan in metropolises like Beijing. The procedures were implemented after a 2014 knife attack at a railway station in southwest China, in which 31 people were killed. This week, an official in charge of Beijing’s subway network made international headlines when he revealed a…
Tough US visa rules could benefit China’s tech industry, says investor
October 31, 2019 10:13 - 3 minutes - 1.4 MBChina’s tech industry could benefit from a US government crackdown on foreign influence, which is taking a toll on ethnic Chinese researchers, according to a top investor. “While the US is driving talent away, it is the perfect time for us to race to bring them back to China,” said Ning Tao, president and partner of Sinovation Ventures, one of China’s leading venture capital firms with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI). This talent, she said, would be the key asset in fueling China’s…
Nurses share star’s medical waste online in case spotlighting fan culture
October 31, 2019 10:13 - 3 minutes - 1.49 MBA hospital in eastern China has suspended 11 medical staff for leaking photos of medical waste, including a needle and drip bag, from Mando-pop star JJ Lin, in a case that highlights obsessive fan culture. Following a concert last Saturday, Lin visited the Zhenjiang First People’s Hospital in Jiangsu province after feeling ill, according to local media. But after he was discharged, photos of the needle and drip bag used by him began circulating online. Some of the posts jokingly suggested…
Cracked: China shuts down glass bridges over safety concerns
October 31, 2019 10:13 - 1 minute - 846 KBGlass bridges have mushroomed across China in recent years, offering adventurous travelers an adrenaline rush as the country tried novel ways of boosting tourism. But after a series of accidents, the northern Chinese province of Hebei has officially shut down all 32 of its glass walkways and bridges for safety checks, according to the Beijing News. The attractions had been suspended since March 2018. At least four other Chinese provinces also closed its glass bridges and ordered safety checks…
Halloween protests to test Hong Kong’s ban on masks
October 30, 2019 11:12 - 1 minute - 566 KBMasked protester or trick-or-treater? Hong Kong’s police may soon have to spot the difference to enforce a recent ban on face masks intended to end months of civil unrest. The Hong Kong police force has planned to deployed water cannons and 3,000 riot officers to prepare for potential clashes on Thursday night. Hong Kong has been gripped since June by demonstrations sparked by opposition to a now-withdrawn extradition bill that has resulted in frequent street violence and confrontations…
Domino’s and Pizza Hut are offering boba pizza in Taiwan
October 30, 2019 11:12 - 2 minutes - 1.26 MBThe sweet, chewy boba balls are not only in your bubble tea, they could also be on top of your pizza. Domino’s and Pizza Hut are offering pizzas topped with boba in Taiwan, the birthplace of the original bubble tea, also known as pearl milk tea. The boba pizza is already being sold at Domino’s on the island. It costs NT$199 ($6.50) to have a “brown sugar boba pizza” delivered. It’s topped with black boba, white mochi balls, honey and cheese. Customers can pay extra for extra cheese. …
Chinese city passes landmark law to promote breastfeeding
October 30, 2019 11:12 - 3 minutes - 1.48 MBA megacity in south China has become the first in the country to pass a law promoting breastfeeding, which remains unpopular despite the myriad proven benefits of human milk. The law, passed in Guangzhou, requires public places such as train stations, museums and parks to set up dedicated lactation rooms, or face fines. Employers must provide breastfeeding mothers with a one-hour daily break to feed or pump. It also bans hospitals and medical institutions from taking money from or…
Doctor says 67-year-old mother in China conceived naturally
October 29, 2019 11:00 - 2 minutes - 1.05 MBA woman reported to be China’s oldest mother gave birth last week at the age of 67. If the claim is substantiated, the woman, surnamed Tian, would have overtaken the previous record held by a woman who gave birth at the age of 64 in 2016. But that woman, from the northern Chinese province of Jilin, reportedly conceived her child from in vitro fertilization. It was not known whether she had used her own eggs or eggs from a donor. Celebrities such as Janet Jackson and Brigitte Nielsen have…
Chinese city vows to make school easier. The problem? Parents
October 29, 2019 11:00 - 3 minutes - 1.74 MBAfter years of foot-dragging, one of China’s biggest cities finally made much-needed changes to its school curriculum: easier classes, fewer tests and no more after-school tutorial classes. The recent reforms made in some public elementary and middle schools in the eastern city of Nanjing are part of a long-standing national campaign. They’re meant to reduce the pressure cooker-like academic atmosphere for students as young as six years old. But the new educational philosophy is facing strong…
Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong barred from election
October 29, 2019 11:00 - 2 minutes - 1.21 MBHong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been banned from running in local elections next month, a move that could further fuel public anger at the city’s limited democracy underpinning months of social unrest. Wong was the only candidate disqualified from the polls, to be held on November 24, on the basis of his political stance. “The ban is clearly politically driven,” Wong said. “My disqualification will only trigger more people to take to the streets and vote in the coming…
Xi Jinping sent Chinese investors into blockchain frenzy
October 28, 2019 09:17 - 2 minutes - 990 KBChinese stocks associated with blockchain jumped after President Xi Jinping extolled the technology popularized by Bitcoin. Dozens of Chinese financial and technology firms making use of the digital database rose to their daily 10% limit on Monday. It was the first day of trading in China after Chinese state media reported on Friday evening Xi’s speech urging the development of blockchain technology. Xi’s remarks represented a stamp of approval from the highest level of China’s government of…
Saving Hong Kong: Start by ending collusion with tycoons
October 28, 2019 09:17 - 6 minutes - 2.88 MBHong Kong must reform its economic policy to restore social calm. While political issues are important and should be addressed, economics is critical to any lasting peace. The essence of Hong Kong’s current economic policy, which is billed as a laissez-faire nirvana, is a regressive tax in the form of high land prices. It strangles the middle class. When economic growth is fast, it obscures the negative impact of the policy. But prolonged slow growth exposes the corrosive effect the policy…
Chinese animal rights groups outraged about arrival of baby elephants
October 28, 2019 09:17 - 3 minutes - 1.38 MBAnimal protection groups in China have expressed sadness and disappointment about the arrival of some 30 baby African elephants from Zimbabwe, in a case that has caused outrage among global wildlife campaigners. The wild-caught baby elephants, estimated to be between two to six years old, arrived last week at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport, according to two animal rights groups. The elephants are believed to be undergoing one month of inspection and quarantine at an unknown location before being…
Mainland Chinese who oppose Hong Kong protests aren’t brainwashed
October 25, 2019 11:38 - 6 minutes - 3.11 MB“You have been brainwashed since young.” This is the most frequently heard accusation against someone born and raised in mainland China. Of late, especially, it is targeted at those who oppose the protests in Hong Kong that had been triggered by a now-withdrawn extradition bill. People in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States and elsewhere who support the months-long anti-government protests are outraged that many mainland Chinese take issue with the protests. They believe China’s “Great…
Chinese colleges want to fail more students (that’s a good thing)
October 25, 2019 11:38 - 3 minutes - 1.73 MBA college in China has expelled 40 students for slacking off. That’s a rare move in a country where millions of students who start college every year are almost guaranteed to graduate, thanks to what analysts say is a lax culture that breeds lazy students. The expulsions underscore a renewed effort by Chinese universities to improve the quality of education amid a slowing economy and changing demands for the workforce. “To graduate from college is like a breezy walk in a park. That has to…
UK truck deaths shock the Chinese internet
October 25, 2019 11:38 - 3 minutes - 1.54 MBThe deaths of 39 people in a refrigerated truck in the UK have sparked heated discussion in China about the arduous, sometimes ill-fated journeys taken by migrants seeking a better life. The British police said the victims, 31 men and eight women, were believed to be Chinese nationals. The Chinese embassy in London said their origins had not been confirmed. The suggestion from the British authorities that the victims could be illegal migrants risking their lives to be in the UK left many…
Who really wins if protest violence continues in Hong Kong
October 24, 2019 10:34 - 5 minutes - 2.56 MBWhile Hong Kong’s political crisis is often seen as a major challenge to China’s leaders, a recent trip to Hunan province has brought home to me the Chinese state’s adeptness at turning the situation to its advantage. Given the Communist Party’s tight control over the media behind the Great Firewall, the Hong Kong narrative the party has created in the hearts and minds of Chinese citizens is basically: thank goodness I don’t live there. In fact, the violence in Hong Kong benefits Beijing. …
It’s time to admit most traditional martial arts don’t teach you how to fight
October 24, 2019 10:29 - 5 minutes - 2.32 MBI still remember my first ice hockey fight. All the movies I’d watched as a kid, where highly choreographed fight scenes looked like expertly planned dance routines, had horribly lied to me. By the time I realized I was in a fight, at the tender age of 16, it was already half over and I’d taken three or four solid shots to the face and my jersey had been pulled well over my head, rendering me blind. The experience was jarring: unfiltered chaos, blurred vision in one eye from an errant thumb…
Tech bro gets caught stealing pork as prices soar in China
October 24, 2019 10:29 - 2 minutes - 1.03 MBA tech bro with a steady, well-paid job is the latest person to get caught stealing pork in the south of China, as prices soar in the country due to the spread of African swine fever. The man, surnamed Guo, admitted stealing 4.4 pounds of pork left unattended in a woman’s bike basket in the city of Foshan. It was the latest in a rash of reports about petty thefts of the staple as an epidemic devastates pig herds across the country. According to surveillance camera footage posted online, the…
This place has the world’s most expensive parking spot
October 23, 2019 11:37 - 2 minutes - 998 KBA parking place in Hong Kong was just sold for nearly $1 million, making it the most expensive parking spot on earth. The parking bay at The Center, a 73-story Hong Kong office tower that held the 2018 world record as the costliest commercial building ever sold, changed hands recently for HK$7.6 million ($969,000). Johnny Cheung Shun-yee, one of the 10 investors in the consortium that paid $5.15 billion last year for The Center, told the South China Morning Post that he had sold the last of…
Six Chinese men jailed for a hit job that was subcontracted five times
October 23, 2019 11:37 - 2 minutes - 1.32 MBA Chinese court has sentenced six men to prison over an unsuccessful assassination job that was subcontracted a total of five times, in a case that a legal expert said was emblematic of deep-rooted aversion in the country towards litigation. The men were convicted of attempting to murder a businessman in the southern city of Nanning, the Nanning Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement. The story started in 2012, when property developer Qin Youhui was sued by a business partner…
Boycott, what boycott? NBA season opens with a bang in China
October 23, 2019 11:37 - 2 minutes - 1.32 MBAfter weeks of uncertainty and calls for a boycott of the NBA in China, basketball fans showed up online in droves to watch a season opener between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers. According to Tencent Sports, the league’s exclusive streaming partner in China, 25 million viewers watched the live stream, dispelling any speculation of a popular backlash against the NBA. By comparison, 21 million Chinese viewers watched the second-to-last final game of the previous season…
China is breeding an army of beetles to fight a ‘terrifying’ pest
October 22, 2019 10:53 - 4 minutes - 2.27 MBScientists are breeding millions of beetles for a battle against a weed that threatens to choke rivers across China and clog the country’s famed Three Gorges Dam. Alligator weed is native to South America but was introduced to the Yangtze River in 1937 by the occupying Japanese as a feed crop for their horses. After the second world war, it was grown across southern China for animal feed, garden greening and herbal medicine. It was not until the 1980s that researchers realized what people…
Ali Wong’s rules for work, love and life
October 22, 2019 10:53 - 5 minutes - 2.37 MBComedian Ali Wong entered my life this summer when I desperately needed her. I had returned to work three months after the birth of my fourth child. In a routine familiar to many working moms, every few hours, I excused myself to go to the nursing room to pump. Somehow, I got the idea to watch something funny as I pumped to boost my supply. It worked! For many weeks, I watched Wong’s two stand-up Netflix specials Baby Cobra and Hard Knock Wife on a loop. Last week, the talented Chinese…
China’s pork shortage puts dog meat back on the menu
October 22, 2019 07:13 - 3 minutes - 1.82 MBLike most small restaurants in this rural part of Wanan county in the eastern province of Jiangxi, the Little Wealth God does not have a menu. Diners go directly to the kitchen to pick vegetables, fish and raw meat, and let the chef know how they would like them cooked. But due to its spiraling price, China’s most popular meat, pork, is nowhere to be seen. Instead, many locals are opting for a traditional dish that had lost appeal until recently. “Why not choose dog meat if you want some meat…
Hero of China’s rural HIV crisis is immortalized in a play
October 21, 2019 11:08 - 5 minutes - 2.36 MBWang Shuping, a doctor who helped expose a tainted blood scandal in rural China in the 1990s, passed away in Salt Lake City at the age of 59 last month. Family and friends have paid tribute to the whistleblower, who had to leave China in 2001 after being forced to close her lab in the central Chinese province of Henan, the epicenter of the blood selling crisis. Wang’s life has been immortalized in a play, The King of Hell’s Palace, which had its world premiere at the Hampstead Theatre in…
Chinese film fans upset by Bruce Lee-related film ‘ban’
October 21, 2019 11:08 - 4 minutes - 2.08 MBWhen news spread that Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was being pulled in China because of controversial scenes involving Bruce Lee, Chinese film fans reacted with collective disappointment, not support. Many Chinese netizens said they backed Tarantino’s freedom of artistic expression and hated to see another movie being “banned.” The film was due to be shown in mainland China on October 25. “Almost all the movies I planned to watch this year have been pulled,” read a…
Why Hong Kong needs to start talking about 2047 now
October 21, 2019 11:08 - 5 minutes - 2.69 MBThe status of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is set out in two slogans: “one country, two systems” and “50 years no change.” There seems to be an assumption that the two are linked, that nothing must change in the Hong Kong system for 50 years, but that after 2047, the capitalist system will be replaced by the socialist (communist) system. This is assumed to mean the Basic Law will expire, Hong Kong will become just another city within China, with mainland Chinese laws applying…
Communist leader purged for opposing Tiananmen crackdown finally laid to rest
October 18, 2019 09:15 - 2 minutes - 1.1 MBThe late Chinese Communist Party leader known for his sympathy toward China’s student protesters in 1989 was finally allowed to have his tomb – 14 years after his death. Former Communist Party general secretary Zhao Ziyang, who in 1989 opposed a military crackdown on the protests, was buried together with his wife on the outskirts of Beijing on Friday, a day after the 100th anniversary of Zhao’s birth. Friday’s ceremony followed long, drawn-out negotiations between Zhao’s family and the…
‘Abominable’: The hidden cost of playing by China’s rules
October 18, 2019 09:15 - 3 minutes - 1.57 MBOne after another, international brands from the NBA to Dior have had to apologize for offending Chinese sensitivities. But one country’s political correctness can be another’s taboo, as the fallout from the animated film Abominable has shown. The DreamWorks co-production featuring a yeti in the Himalayas has found itself at the center of a geopolitical dispute over the vast waters of the South China Sea. Several Southeast Asian countries with competing claims with Beijing in the resource…
Publisher warns of ‘fictional’ expert in Trump advisor’s anti-China book
October 18, 2019 09:15 - 4 minutes - 2.15 MBPresident Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro faked an expert in his anti-China books, and the volumes’ publisher wants readers to know it. All reprints of Navarro’s supposedly non-fiction Death by China will “alert” readers that the Harvard-educated economist Ron Vara quoted within its pages is fabricated, according to Pearson, which owns the book’s publisher Prentice Hall. The 2011 book, which levels a laundry list of accusations against China’s trade practices, including deliberately…
Organizer of Hong Kong’s ‘peacenik’ protests is attacked again
October 17, 2019 09:16 - 3 minutes - 1.6 MBThe Hong Kong activist attacked with hammers and spanners is a veteran democracy campaigner and openly gay LGBT rights activist. Jimmy Sham, 31, was attacked on Wednesday night for the second time in less than two months, just days before the organization he leads organized another mass anti-government rally. Sham is the convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, which has organized some of the largest democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong’s history. Although Sham is not leading the entire…
China bans sales of black T-shirts to Hong Kong amid unrest
October 17, 2019 09:16 - 2 minutes - 1.1 MBThe Chinese government is cracking down on sales of black clothing to Hong Kong. Black T-shirts, jeans and face masks have been a signature look of the anti-government protesters taking to the streets of Hong Kong week after week since June. The blocking of shipments of protest outfits highlights the Chinese authorities’ efforts to undermine the increasingly violent protest movement, which demands greater accountability and electoral reform. According to a July notice issued by the Guangdong…
Dior apologizes for omitting Taiwan in China map
October 17, 2019 09:16 - 2 minutes - 1.27 MBLuxury brand Christian Dior has apologized after it used a map of China that did not include Taiwan in a campus presentation, joining a growing list of foreign companies running afoul of Beijing’s political correctness. In a statement issued early Thursday, the fashion powerhouse says it “strictly upholds China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “cherishes the Chinese people’s feelings.” Chinese authorities have forced international companies, such as airlines, to follow its…
From the NBA to Winnie the Pooh, China isn’t acting like a confident nation
October 16, 2019 10:02 - 5 minutes - 2.52 MBThe attack on Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s tweet (“Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong”) put China’s vision for a new world order in stark relief for an American audience, showing the lengths to which China will go in its campaign to squelch free speech. Xi Jinping’s administration is doing to foreign businesses what it has long done to domestic dissenters: punishing those whose words stray outside ever-narrower red lines. Airlines have had to redraw maps. T-shirt slogans…
Trying for a baby? Study finds pollution is linked to miscarriages
October 16, 2019 10:02 - 3 minutes - 1.76 MBAir pollution doesn’t just damage people’s lungs. Breathing in polluted air is linked to a greater risk of miscarriages, according to a new study. The research by Chinese scientists, published on Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability, examined data from more than 255,000 pregnant women living in Beijing over an eight-year period. Researchers found a significant correlation between pollution levels and “missed abortions” in the first trimester, a common form of miscarriage that can go…
Hong Kong leader dodges protest demands in policy report
October 16, 2019 10:01 - 2 minutes - 1.17 MBHong Kong’s leader offered no immediate solutions to resolve continuing unrest in her first major policy speech since anti-government protests broke out in June. Calling the crisis in the former British colony “the most formidable challenge” since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Chief Executive Carrie Lam ruled out giving in to more demands from protesters. Large-scale demonstrations began in June in opposition to an unpopular bill feared to erode the political firewall between Beijing…
A few pixels on a Chinese map sank ‘Abominable’ in Vietnam
October 15, 2019 10:55 - 3 minutes - 1.65 MBAn animated family film about a fluffy white yeti has been caught up in an international territorial dispute. The movie, Abominable, has been reportedly pulled from cinemas in Vietnam because of a brief scene featuring a map showing China’s disputed claims in the vast and resource-rich South China Sea. The map offended the Vietnamese government for including the so-called “nine-dash line,” which is used by Beijing to illustrate its claims in the contested waters, Reuters reported on Monday. …
China’s show of military might risks backfiring
October 15, 2019 10:55 - 4 minutes - 2.24 MBChina’s military parade on October 1 – one of the largest in human history – to observe the 70th anniversary of the communist republic’s founding was largely aimed at a domestic audience. But the bigger impact of the massive display of Chinese military hardware was on the world stage, particularly on its neighbors and the US-led West, whether it was intended or not. Beijing proclaimed that the parade was showing a “peace-loving and responsible China.” Nevertheless, the widely asked question…
NBA not quite out of the woods in China yet
October 15, 2019 10:55 - 3 minutes - 1.43 MBA week into a crisis in China caused by a controversial tweet, the NBA may have found some hope for a turnaround. Online giant Tencent, the league’s exclusive streaming partner in the country, resumed live streaming NBA pre-season games on Monday, just days after it suspended streaming of exhibition games between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets. But it’s not yet business as usual for the NBA in China. Tencent has scheduled the majority of the pre-season games to be streamed in…
Hong Kong police to probe sex assault claim against its officers
October 11, 2019 11:06 - 2 minutes - 1.35 MBHong Kong police said they would investigate a claim of sexual assault made by a female college student arrested during anti-government protests. The woman, Sonia Ng, revealed the allegation and her identity on Thursday night during a town hall-style meeting with the president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she is an undergraduate studying early childhood education. Ng, who was arrested in August, was the first protester to waive her anonymity in order to accuse the Hong Kong…
The xenophobic undercurrents of the Hong Kong protests
October 11, 2019 11:06 - 6 minutes - 2.79 MBLate last month, Jiayang Fan, a Chinese-American journalist, was harassed and interrogated by some demonstrators after she spoke Mandarin while covering the anti-government protests in Hong Kong. Derogatory insults and accusations like “yellow thug” and “commie agent” were thrown at her. “My Chinese face is a liability,” she tweeted, “just got asked if I’m from the US and am a reporter why I have Chinese face.” On September 18, the 88th anniversary of the Japanese invasion of northeastern…
Chinese NBA fans refuse to sever ties to the league
October 11, 2019 11:06 - 3 minutes - 1.8 MBIt’s been a tough week for NBA fans in China, who feel torn between their favorite sport and expressing loyalty to their country. Days before Thursday night’s pre-season game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets in Shanghai, many were worried the game wouldn’t happen at all. But despite online calls for a boycott, the fans showed up, filling up the 18,000 seater Mercedes-Benz Arena, even if they were feeling emotionally conflicted about being there. Just watching the game…