Imagine coming from China to study in the US as an aspiring journalist—a very competitive industry, where you'll have to research, interview, write at a very high level in a foreign language. Everything is stacked against you...🧵 apnews.com/article/nebras… Some sources/readers will immediately take you less seriously if you have a foreign accent, or even look foreign, have a foreign name; more so if you happen to be female too. And being Chinese will frequently lead to false assumptions about your motivations and abilities.

Like many protests that have taken various forms in China in the past ~20 years, those unfolding now…
1. Should erode the idea that young Chinese (who tend to drive these movements) have largely been pacified by the CCP or made blindly supportive of it... 2. Should not get people’s hopes up that it will ultimately yield any real political change, much less threaten the CCP’s hold on power.

China's official youth unemployment is 18.4%. Job market flooded w/ unprecedented surge of new grads (10.8m, beating last year's record by 1.7m). One recruiter said entry-level job market is worse than Financial Crisis; new jobs down 20-30% from last year. reuters.com/world/china/re… Many people are seeking higher degrees in hopes of avoiding gap in their resume, but they're likely kicking the can down the road to a potentially even worse situation. A lot of people did that early in covid, which is now contributing to the unprecedented graduate numbers.

Great to see @yuxin_gao writing again, on how the massive expansion of college enrollment in China and subsequent devaluation of degrees partly planted seeds of "lying flat" and the feeling by many youth that the endless rat race won't get them anywhere. foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/23/chi… Worth remembering that expansion started largely for political reasons during Asian Financial Crisis against strong objections from education officials, who warned as early as 1999 it could give students expectations for jobs the economy couldn't provide. journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.108…

Emotive nationalism is a reliable and relatively safe way to go viral on China's heavily censored social media platforms – something some "influencers" are well aware of. They don't need to be paid by the government. They can make six figures on their own. bbc.com/news/world-asi… That doesn't mean they're not true believers – most undoubtedly are to a large extent, including the foreign apologists who've hit it big on Chinese social media platforms, but...

First “hurt feelings” transgression of the Tokyo Olympics happened halfway through the opening ceremony, as NBC uses an “incomplete map” of China. The second happened moments later when NBC commentator Savannah Guthrie talked about how China is under “international scrutiny from human right organizations” and Western governments for HK, Uighur, and minority treatment as the Chinese team walked out.

I continue to be perplexed by the overseas dissidents and others who think Trump is their great hope to bring about the fall of the Communist Party in China. Not sure what he's done to budge the Party's hold on power by one inch. Trump has provided a steady stream of examples of dysfunctional “Western democracy,” which aide in the CCP’s ongoing effort to convince its people that one-party rule is far more preferable.

“I mean, this was an RV park…”

My look at the strange case of two Chinese U. of Michigan students arrested earlier this year in Key West, who now sit in federal prison on 9 and 12-month sentences.
foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/28/chi… The island where they were arrested at the Naval Air Station Key West has housing/recreation for active & retired military. It has sports fields, a karaoke bar, restaurant, childcare, housing & camping areas, but nothing apparent you’d think of as “military installations.”

Worth noting that these are actual people about to have lives disrupted, and that not all state media journalists are propagandists. Many are earnest recent grads with limited options for staying in the US AND being able to do some semblance of journalism.

https://twitter.com/ericfish85/status/1234545349303455746

Once, a reporter from one of these 4 outlets in the US (who'd recently graduated from a US J-school) asked me to comment on a story about media in China. I was only willing to give a quote about the restrictions/harassment foreign journalists in China face...

There are multiple possible factors for WSJ reporter expulsions: the racist headline that was officially cited, the US designating 5 state media outlets foreign agents, an ongoing effort to cull foreign media coverage in the country. But there's something else I'd note... The CCP has pretty successfully shaped public opinion against what it routinely depicts as “biased” and “hostile” Western media. And with censorship, it can make sure most people can’t read and judge for themselves. foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/04/chi…

Reading takes about how coronavirus is presenting the Communist Party with a crisis of legitimacy and could challenge its rule is giving me déjà vu from the 2008 Melamine scandal, Wenzhou train crash, Wukan protests, Beijing floods, Southern Weekend protests, Tianjin explosions… Coronavirus is much worse than any of those things and we still have no idea how bad it’s going to get – obviously it’s a catastrophe and a huge challenge to Xi the Communist Party – but I’d be surprised if Xi and the CCP don’t come out of this just fine.

Just heard from someone I know with a business in Shanghai that helps prep Chinese students who are planning to study in the US. The parents are freaking out right now over yesterday's news that Trump considered halting student visas to Chinese citizens. Usually her top students want to go to the US, but a lot of parents today are asking about options in the UK and Canada. "Before I didn't think it was a big deal, but now we don't know how low Trump will go," one said,