State TV has been pulling a set of historical dramas from their channels because they were having a negative influence on their audiences, according to state media. Journalist Zhang Lijia, the author of Lotus, a novel, a bestseller on prostitution in China, understands the ratio behind this action, she tells in the South China Morning Post.Read More →
Google’s effort to enter China’s censored search market has failed a second time, first in China itself, now because of opposition in the US and Google staff. Former communication director Kaiser Kuo at China’s leading search engine Baidu looks back at how the internet company failed at its first move back in 2006, for the MIT Technology Review.Read More →
Chinese media got orders to avoid bad news on the economy, but according to financial analyst Sara Hsu, signs indicate that China is unofficially in a recession. Spending has gone down despite encouragement from the government to spend more.Read More →
Google needs a strategy to enter China if it wants another one billion users, but that is not going to be easy, says business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order in the Hindustan Times. Especially since China’s search engine Baidu is way better in speaking Chinese.Read More →
China passed this week the threshold of 802 million users and with less than 60% of citizens online, growth is not stalling. And while China’s government has a reputation of controlling the internet, that growth can jeopardize control, says business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China’s Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order, to the South China Morning Post.Read More →
Foreign brands know they need Tencent’s WeChat to sell their products to Chinese consumers, but working with WeChat mean dealing with blocks, says marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok, author of Unlocking the World’s Largest E-Market: A Guide to Selling on Chinese Social Media at AshleyTalks. Not only they have to deal with official rules, also Tencent does not like links to its direct competitors like Alibaba. How to deal with them?Read More →
Journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, interviewed the sociologist Guo Yuhua, a known critic of the government. One jewel in the interview on how she was able to open an account on WeChat, despite the governmental censorship, for the NY Review of Books.Read More →
In China, Tencent’s WeChat became the leading messaging apps, but – unlike many think in the West – it is not government censorship that kept international competition at bay, says WeChat expert Matthew Brennan in The National. Also in other countries, local messaging app prove to be stronger.Read More →
Author and journalist Zhang Lijia, who recently published Lotus: A Novel on prostitution in China, will move to London from Beijing early May. Currently, she is finishing her upcoming book about left-behind children from migrant workers in China.Read More →
Bibles have been legally available in China, both in print and online. But a recent crackdown by the authorities on online bibles might signal a wider crackdown, writes journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, for the New York Times.Read More →
China’s internet authorities have strengthened the rules on VPN’s – popular tools to jump the country’s online censorship. Nevertheless, getting online with a VPN is still relatively easy, says internet expert Matthew Brennan to The News Lens, but he is not giving a guarantee that will still be the case in one year time.Read More →
As China prepares for the second term of president Xi Jinping, the world wonders what is behind his acts. Political analyst Victor Shih, author Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflict and Inflation takes at the Guardian a helicopter view on Xi’s anti-corruption drive, his global aspirations and plans for the future.Read More →