After dinner, Alice, a Chinese immigrant in Australia, sat on the couch and opened the Xiaohongshu app on her phone. After moving to Melbourne from Adelaide last year, Xiaohongshu had been Alice’s go-to for trending restaurants and cafes, and would soon become an information hub for pet care after she adopted a puppy, also through … more
With a population of 1.4 billion, the continent of Africa has a similar number of people to China, although it is approximately three times greater in size. Moreover, the continent has fifty-four countries and boasts the most heterogeneous collection of languages in the world. Such diversity is reflected among the Africans travelling to and residing … more
In April 2024, the Taiwanese drag queen Nymphia Wind became the first East Asian winner of the RuPaul Drag Race.[1] Videos of her in a galactic golden suit went viral, putting Taiwan in the international media spotlight and enshrining her as a sort of queer ambassador for Taiwanese realness to the rest of the world, … more
In April 2024, the Taiwan Constitutional Court held a hearing on whether the death penalty violates constitutional guarantees of human rights. On 20 September it ruled to uphold the death penalty, with some new safeguards around its use. While a coalition of abolitionist non-government organisations (NGOs) and research institutes led by the Taiwan Alliance to … more
With 281 languages from nine language families,[1] China has a high degree of linguistic diversity. The distribution of speakers of these languages is greatly uneven. Of a total population of more than 1.4 billion, 91.11 percent are Han Chinese and speak Putonghua and/or other Sinitic languages;[2] the remaining 8.89 percent of the population, the non-Han … more
Government digitisation initiatives worldwide are infamous for budget overruns, delays and failures to deliver on promises. China is no exception. Hundreds of headlines worldwide have claimed that the Social Credit System will control every step of citizens’ lives. These narratives were rarely matched by the reality. The Social Credit System for the most part does … more
I was one of the organisers of the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement and was sentenced to sixteen months of imprisonment for inciting people to join a seventy-nine-day occupation of some major avenues in Hong Kong. Life in prison was difficult. Food was lousy. The temperature there was unbearably hot summer and chilly in winter. There … more
Chinese digital nationalism is having a moment. One display is a growing nationwide public interest in cultural heritage, a trend that is particularly pronounced among young Chinese. They express their enthusiasm in the romantic consumption of heritage products, such as traditional Hanfu 汉服 fashion exemplified by the traditional skirt known as mamianqun 马面裙 as well … more
In June 2024, a report in the MIT Technology Review shows how AI is reinventing video games. Venture firms are investing in gaming start-ups, many of which utilise AI technologies to create immersive experiences while streamlining game development.[1] AI-augmented games from China have gained commercial success worldwide. Tencent and NetEase, China’s two largest gaming companies, … more
In March 2024, the shocking murder of a 13-year-old boy in Hebei province, allegedly by three classmates, triggered fierce debates on Chinese social media about juvenile crime and the plight of millions of left-behind children 留守儿童. One consequence of China’s mass rural-to-urban migration since the 1980s is an increase in family separation and a rise … more
