Recently, two videos from Japan went viral on X. 🇯🇵
The only problem: they were actually from China. 🇨🇳
Why are positive videos from China not allowed to exist?
Here's my theory... 🧵
Firstly, my name's Andy. I'm from New Zealand, but I've lived here in China for the past decade.
I speak Mandarin, China and have a masters degree in Chinese language and culture. I spend a lot of time trying to show people the REAL China, which Western media won't show.
Have you seen this meme?
It highlights quite well how some Westerners salivate over any random video they see from Japan, like the place is some sort of heaven.
Often, they realize they were actually watching a video from China, and all hell breaks lose.
That's exactly what happened recently when two videos from China went viral on X.
The first was a street food video shot in Hubei Province, China. The problem? It was passed off as coming from Japan!
So far it has 95k likes and nearly 15 million views on X.
The second viral video showed orderly passengers at a Metro station in China's capital, Beijing.
But, yet again, it was passed off as having been filmed in Japan.
That video has 50,000 likes and 7.4 million views on X.
And, just like the meme I showed you earlier, some X users went absolutely wild when they found out they were actually salivating over a video from China.
Check out this guy's meltdown, which was EXACTLY like the meme! (PS: It's HILARIOUS!)
Why are positive videos from China being passed off as Japanese? And why is Japan allowed to look good in Western people's eyes, but China isn't?
My theory is two-fold:
1⃣ Japan is "the good Asia," the well-behaved Asia
2⃣ Westerners have never seen the good side of China
Ever since Japan surrendered in 1945, that country has been occupied by U.S. forces.
Did you know that Japan has around 55,000 U.S. military personnel stationed there, at 23 major military bases?
Japan has bowed to U.S. pressure and is basically a vassal state of Washington.
What does that mean? Japan, and other "good Asian" countries like South Korea, are allowed to be seen in a positive light in Western media.
Japanese and South Korean pop culture, as one example, flourish in the West.
China, on the other hand, refuses to submit.
China is stubborn. Independent. Strong.
It walks its own path, refusing to bend to U.S. will.
There are no U.S. military bases in China!
So China must be made to look dirty, dangerous, dystopian and dictatorial in Western people's eyes.
A real Western media illustration:
That means any positive portrayals of China, like those videos, must be passed off as coming from "the good Asia," the well-behaved Asia: Japan and South Korea.
It is unfathomable for the average Western to see a clean street food stall or an orderly Metro station as Chinese.
Why?
It's simple: the US-led West, which controls much of China's image internationally, cannot let China look successful, strong, clean or orderly while Beijing refuses to tow the U.S. line and bow down like Japan and South Korea have.
China cannot be seen to succeed.
And Washington goes to great lengths to ensure the U.S. version of China is predominant around the world.
They just recently earmarked US$1.6 BILLION of taxpayers' money to spend on media around the world who are willing to spread anti-China propaganda.
But why is it so easy to dupe ordinary Westerners?
Because U.S. propaganda is so successful, ordinary Westerners have just never seen the real China.
So when they do, it's very easy to convince them that the videos are fake, or that they're actually from Japan!
So what is China doing to counter anti-China propaganda globally?
It's a tough job, but one of the brilliant strategies China is using is visa-free travel, allowing Westerners to come and see the country with their own eyes.
Today, people from 38 countries can come visa-free!
Those countries include Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and several European nations such as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Slovakia, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, among others.
So instead of being duped by U.S. propaganda about China, why not come and visit?
I'm from New Zealand, and have lived here for a decade already. You can trust me when I say that China is NOTHING like you've seen in Western media.
You have been lied to.
Come and see!
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Shanghai is currently holding its largest government meetings of the year, the Two Sessions.
They've announced achievements from last year, and goals for this year.
So what are they?
A short 🧵
Shanghai's GDP grew by 5.4% last year, to 5.6 trillion yuan (about $US$814 billion).
The city's GDP growth outperformed the country's national average of 5%, reflecting resilience in services, advanced manufacturing, high-tech sectors, and infrastructure investment.
The city's research and development spending totaled 4.5% of Shanghai's GDP.
As a comparison, New York typically spends 2.5–3.5%, while London sits around 2-3%.
Last week, after China’s military parade, I did a video about int’l reaction.
After being online for a day or so, the video was deleted by a large Chinese app.
Why?
The reason might surprise you.
A short 🧵
The video was actually about Trump sending a salty Truth Social post asking Xi to give his regards to Putin and Kim, before accusing the three of “conspiring against the United States.”
My video wasn’t just deleted, some apps didn’t even allow me to post at all.
Weibo, Douyin and Xigua didn’t allow the video to even pass the first check. Usually no reason is given, and you need to figure out the reason yourself.
A lot like YouTube who will tell users they violated the rules without pointing to which one.
China just published its annual Report on Human Rights Violations in the United States.
The U.S. constantly tells China what to do and how to do it, so it's only fair China gives some advice back!
A short 🧵 of the human rights low-lights in the Land of the Free last year...
▶️Divide between rich and poor widened
Last year, economic and social inequalities in the U.S. worsened, with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Over 40 million Americans were living in poverty, and 700,000 were homeless.
On top of that, 13.5% of U.S. households face food insecurity, and 13.8 million kids lived in families that didn't have enough food on the table.
▶️Drugs, guns and cops continued to kill
More than 100,000 people in the U.S. died from drug overdose. More than 1,400 children died from gunshot, and 1,300 died at the hands of police.
African Americans were three times more likely to be shot dead by police.
I had a bit of an accident on my electric scooter here in Shanghai. 🏍️
The police suggested I go for a hospital checkup, but I was worried it would take forever.
30 minutes later and I was done, including an X-Ray!
What was the process and cost? A short 🧵
Firstly, I’m totally fine! They wanted to X-ray my ankle, since it was a bit battered under my bike. No problems! The rest was just fairly surface scratching.
A whole group of scooter riders went through a red light, and while trying to stop I ended up on the ground.
I think I hit my head pretty hard, so please wear your helmets folks! (I was.)
The police came and told me to go to the nearest hospital for a checkup.
Being from NZ, I had in my mind that it would take hours upon hours.