On this day 25 years ago, the small island region of Macau returned to China after 442 years of Portuguese rule. 🇨🇳🇲🇴

How did it end up being governed by 127 Portuguese governors?

And how does the city make 3x the gambling $$$ of Las Vegas?!

🧵A thread: First up, a quick geography lesson. 🌏

🇲🇴Macau is located on the southeastern coast of China, in the western part of the Pearl River Delta, about 60km from Hong Kong.

🇲🇴The exact coordinates: 22.1987° N, 113.5439° E.

🇲🇴It totals just 33 square kilometers in land area.

Currently in a briefing held by the top five officials of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, including Ma Xingrui (Secretary) and Erkin Tuniyaz (Governor of Xinjiang).

Tomorrow the Governor will hold a keynote speech.

My speech is later in the afternoon.

The Governor’s speech will be about employment in Xinjiang, especially in relation to improving employment prospects and raising living standards.

4.6% is the unemployment rate in Xinjiang, which is lower than the national average (5%), according to the Secretary.

It's time to teach the BBC China crew a thing or two about making thoughtful, unbiased, and worthwhile reports at the site of disasters and tragedies in China.

I, too, have had Chinese citizens and authorities try to stop me filming.

But I handle it differently...

🧵⬇️ 4 days ago, a #BBC reporter in Taipei wrote this tweet, suggesting that I have never covered "serious news stories" in China, and that I shouldn't criticize his colleague, Stephen McDonell.

Surely Andy doesn't know the struggle!

Oh, I do! But I'm not the same as the BBC.

BBC's China "journalist" @StephenMcDonell is having a meltdown over my recent video exposing his fake news tactics and blatant lies in regards to reporting here in China.

In this thread, I'll show clearly why he is a bad actor and why @BBCWorld needs to get rid of him.

🧵⬇️ BBC World's China guy, Stephen McDonell, has turned to his usual tactics after being called out for creating a fake news report at a tragic incident in China.

He resorted to referring to me as "the Party's foreign useful idiot".

But why? Well, here's my original video:

I bought a Chinese EV! 🚗

The process took about two months from agreeing to buy to picking up the car. "Overcapacity" my a55!

So as a foreigner in China, what's the process of buying and registering a car?

Here I'll share my experience. 🧵 I considered about half a dozen Chinese EV brands, including BYD, NIO, XPENG and AVATR.

All of these brands offer amazing products, so in the end I just went with the one I think is the best looking: the ZEEKR 001.

The below isn't my color, but I'm thinking of getting a wrap:

⚠️DISTURBING CONTENT⚠️

Have you heard of "Tankman"?

He's the man who stood in front of a tank in Beijing after the so-called "#Tiananmen Square Massacre" of 1989.

But have you seen the entire clip? What happened to him?

I'm going to show how you were lied to... (1/12) Here is it. The entire clip. You thought it ended differently, didn't you?

You thought he was brutally massacred and that the Western media was just sparing you the trauma of it all.

But now you know, he didn't die. He wasn't even hurt.

Guess what? There's more! (2/12)

🔴CHINESE HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE / WHY YOU SHOULD LEARN MANDARIN

I’ve had a sore throat for about six days. For the past three nights I haven’t been able to sleep much.

I hate hospitals, but I had to go today.

Come with me to a military hospital in Shanghai… 🇨🇳 After describing my symptoms, the lady on the front counter said I should go to the respiratory department.

I registered and paid on my phone.

At 2:15pm I had a number.

Doctor fee: 25 yuan (US$3.45)

CHINA'S ETHNIC MINORITIES, THEIR RIGHTS, AND HOW THEY'RE DETERMINED: A thread. 🧵

⚠️Before you read the thread below, first answer the following quiz, and don't cheat! 🤣

How many ethnic minorities does #China have?

(Video version of this thread here: ) Okay, if you chose 55, you’re right! If not, don’t worry – you’re not alone!

Many in the West think Chinese people are just that: Chinese. That’s technically correct, but looking at it that way oversimplifies just how complex and diverse the 1.4 billion people of China are.

⚠️A QUICK ROUNDUP: China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis was released this morning, with 12 points. A short thread. 🧵

Since day one, China’s position on the Ukraine crisis has centered around peace talks & ending the fighting ASAP (the West has ... largely ignored this). Now it’s super clear, with more meat.

China now also calls on all parties (incl. the US-led West) to promote peace talks and avoid “fanning the flames and aggravating tensions,” to respect the sovereignty of all nations, to abandon the Cold War ...

OHIO: US media are barely covering a massive environmental disaster unfolding there after a train carrying vinyl chloride derailed and exploded.

A journalist reporting the incident has been arrested.

⚠️This disaster would not occur in China. Why? A short thread. 🧵 FIRST AN UPDATE ON OHIO:
⚠️When vinyl chloride burns, is produces dioxin, a potent carcinogen. Despite this, Ohio officials have told residents all is fine.

⚠️Reports suggest handling of the disaster has been poor.

⚠️Locals reported finding dead animals.

Keep reading...