1/ This story has generated vitriolic backlash in China, and reporting it turned out to be more difficult than I imagined. A Tweet thread 🧵on reporting in China these days:
Last year, we lined up interviews with factories and government noodle officials (yes, they exist)
Last year, we lined up interviews with factories and government noodle officials (yes, they exist)
https://twitter.com/EmilyZFeng/status/1483632947370467331
2/ The (entirely private) factories told us later they in fact needed provincial propaganda department approval to do any interview. This is not true. China's own laws from its State Council say foreign journalists merely need interviewee consent. ipc.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wgjzzhzn/2…
3/ Soon, Guangxi propaganda officials called me and offered to accompany us on a snail noodle tour. I politely declined. Within literally an hour, every single factory and government official who'd agreed to an interview had canceled on us. Sadly, this is the norm these days.
4/ We were not deterred. After all, I love snail noodles. So I went to Guangxi w/ @nprworld and had a great time and talked to lovely people.
Here's how some Chinese outlets reacted: 'Anti-China foreign citizen of Chinese descent infiltrates Guangxi:"
k.sina.com.cn/article_595346…
Here's how some Chinese outlets reacted: 'Anti-China foreign citizen of Chinese descent infiltrates Guangxi:"
k.sina.com.cn/article_595346…
5/ Actually, I take that back. We had a great time in Guangxi except for the police checks at 1 AM every night from unmasked officers "for Covid control," plainclothes following us, filming us, and at one point, effectively locking one of our interviewees in his office.
6/ Anyhoo, today there are numerous state pieces, including from the Guangzhou provincial daily, on my apparent hatred for Chinese food and a nefarious plot to smear China through snail noodles. 6parknews.com/newspark/view.…
7/ I do find the Chinese comments on such stories worthwhile.
My favorite: "npr网站有全文 写的很正面 lz是英文差还是翻墙?"
6parknews.com/newspark/view.…
My favorite: "npr网站有全文 写的很正面 lz是英文差还是翻墙?"
6parknews.com/newspark/view.…
8/ The hurdles to writing what was a fun and enjoyable story for me were perplexing, but also, sadly routine and sometimes far more extreme for actual, hard-hitting reporting that Chinese and foreign journalists still manage to pull of here. END
Whoops wrong URL. Comment is here: kantie.org/topics/huaren/…
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