Xi Jinping, the paramount leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), toured eastern Xinjiang on a four-day ‘investigative tour’ in mid-July—his first visit to the Uyghur Region since 2014. On the surface, the trip and its public messaging do not appear to differ much from those of his predecessors. However, the ideological focus of Xi's remarks made there was one promoting a historical narrative of primordial Zhonghuaness in which Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and other indigenes of X...| The China Story
The year 2021 saw a string of high-profile celebrity cancellations, including actor Zhang Zhehan, star of the popular danmei 耽美 (Boys' Love) series Word of Honor, pop star Kris Wu 吴亦凡 who was arrested on suspicion of rape, and actress Zheng Shuang 郑爽 who was fined for tax evasion. The driving force behind this growing culture of extreme celebrity cancellation within China is not always genuine social sentiment, nor the tightening grip of the Party-State; but rather an increasing...| The China Story
Before the Lunar New Year of 2022, a video began circulating on Chinese social media of a woman shackled to the wall by a chain around her neck. The case of Little Plum Blossom has reverberated throughout China in a way that previous cases of human trafficking have not.| The China Story