Propaganda
North Korea declared the launch of a satellite a success, and state television KCTV ran a brief report confirming as much on Wednesday morning. The video channel of Sina.com, one of China’s biggest internet portals, posted a segment of the news program, in which an anchorwoman in traditional Korean dress announced the news in a [...]
Continue reading
Either People’s Daily has woefully made a fool of itself, or, as a handful of netizens conjectured below, they did this on purpose: The Communist mouthpiece dedicated a 55-photo slideshow to Kim Jong-Un on its website when it seriously reported that the North Korean leader was named by “U.S. website The Onion” as the Sexiest Man Alive of the year.
Continue reading
Below is a list of the so-called hottest English words on Twitter posted onto Sina Weibo by Gao Xiaosong, famous songwriter and media commentator. Some of them, such as niubility and shitizen, have already entered the Internet vocabulary and come into wide use by Chinese netizens. Others are rather new, but the social phenomena they [...]
Continue reading
It is widely understood that the 18th National Party Congress of the Communist Party, except for the closing ceremony where the new lineup of Chinese leadership will take the stage, is nothing but carefully staged show with no substance. But some outright lies, shameless tributes and histrionic playacting may make you laugh and give you [...]
Continue reading
As Americans eyed anxiously the election of their next president, Chinese social media sites have been abuzz over the tight race between Mitt Romney and incumbent Obama. The excitement of the online crowd rose to fever pitch after the results were announced. According to the measurement given by Sina Weibo, Chinese hybrid of Facebook and [...]
Continue reading
Video and photos from Sina Weibo During the past eight-day Mid-Autumn and National Day holiday, China Central Television, the state broadcaster, aired a nine-part special series, titled “Reaching the Grass Roots: People’s Voices From Within”, featuring interviews of ordinary men and women in the streets by asking them if they feel happy. It is said that [...]
Continue reading
Wednesday afternoon, 14 activists from Hong Kong successfully landed on one of a set of disputed islands, over which Japan, China and Taiwan all claim sovereignty, and planted Chinese flags on the island as a gesture of declaring ownership. Chinese media, including the state broadcaster China Central Television, reported and lauded their patriotic feat, while [...]
Continue reading
A compilation of pictures showing Hong Kong students’ growing discontent with being brainwashed with Pro-Communist rhetoric resonates deeply with Chinese netizens. It was shared by over 2,600 Weibo users and received hundreds of user comments. The pictures are screenshots of a television report uploaded by Apple Daily, a Hong Kong-based media group, onto YouTube. The [...]
Continue reading
Note: Gil Hizi is Ministry of Tofu’s contributor. He is also the chief editor of website Thinking Chinese. The stories of Zhang Lili (张丽莉, aka ‘zui mei jiaoshi’, ‘most beautiful/virtuous teacher’), the Harbin middle school teacher who sacrificed herself to save two pupils from the wheels of a vehicle, and Wu Bin (吴斌, aka ‘zui mei [...]
Continue reading
Bad news for internet humor: China is exterminating countless slogans splashed on the walls in rural China, screaming family planning and sterilization and striving to intimidate the population into submission. The Chinese authorities say that in promoting family planning, “Only by keeping abreast of the times and catering to the people can the idea take [...]
Continue reading
Bejing’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has recently released new restrictions for television broadcasters to limit the number of entertainment programs during prime time to two programs per week and 90 minutes per day. Talent shows, dating shows, and talk shows with emotional content are among the restricted programs that are “excessive entertainment” which [...]
Continue reading
From NetEase She lived in peace and obscurity in the southern city of Foshan with her son, her daughter-in-law and her grandson. She worked as a part-time housekeeping maid during the day, cooked for employees at her son’s hardware store at noon, and went out to collect trash in the evening and sell it to [...]
Continue readingChina bullet train crash kills 35; citizens flock to donate blood; state callous, busy with cover-up
Two cars of a high-speed bullet train fell off a bridge yesterday evening in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, killing at least 35 people and injured 200 others. Initial reports suggested one bullet train travelling from the provincial capital Hangzhou derailed at about 8:34 p.m. But later updates said that the train came to a halt [...]
Continue reading
Less than ten days after its opening on June 28, a revamp of Nanjing South Railway Station is under way. Over 3,000 square meters (32,000 square feet) of granite tiles on the north square in front of the railway station has been destroyed, and brand-new granite tiles will be covering the floor after the revamp. [...]
Continue reading
A microblog post on Sina Weibo with three pictures shows that several movie theaters in various cities are vending tickets to other films under the guise of Beginning of the Great Revival (formerly known as The Founding of A Party) so that all ticket sales count toward the single film whereas theaters will not lose [...]
Continue reading
When actress Tang Wei was invited to join the all-star ensemble cast of the epic propaganda film The Founding of A Party, people might have thought that eventually the state regulator had given her the green light to return to the big screen after she was barred from media attention for her sexually explicit performance in the spy thriller Lust, Caution three years ago.
Continue reading
Since the beginning of Operation Odyssey Dawn, Chinese official media and authorities have been denouncing the U.S.-led multinational coalition forces for their intervention into Libya’s internal affairs for the sake of their hidden agenda. In China’s micro-blogosphere, liberal-leaning netizens have pointed out that China Central Television has been skewing the public opinion with their slanted [...]
Continue reading
From IFENG and Sina On March 17, the United Nations Security Council imposed a no-fly zone over Libya and authorized “all necessary measures” to protect Libyan civilians from military attacks. On March 19, British, French and the U.S. forces initiated Operation “Odyssey Dawn” by firing missiles and launching air strikes at Libya. IFENG, official site [...]
Continue reading
An article written by a Chinese reporter Zhou Zhiran (周之然) appeared on the official website of People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece. The loud accolade bestowed upon North Korean people’s “rich and colorful life” and its cheesy writing style soon turn the article and the writer into objects of derision and sarcasm. Excerpts of the [...]
Continue reading
From Boxun A deputy director of China’s Central Propaganda Department bluntly accused Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao of being a troublemaker. According to officials of the Department then at the scene, he lost control when he was reprimanding his subordinate who came from Guangdong to Beijing to brief the boss about the work. The deputy head [...]
Continue reading
