China Newsbase
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The China News Database was last updated at 08:27AM on December 31, 2023.
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153 articles matching the search query.
Cross-dressing star banned from Chinese TikTok for ‘vulgar’ content
China’s war on “effeminate” men continues as another gender bending influencer is removed from Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Is animated hero Ultraman too violent for kids in China?
Ultraman is a Japanese cartoon character who has captivated Chinese children since the 1980s. Now he has been purged from the Chinese internet after a government report called him “violent and criminal.”
Idol worship and fan culture in China, explained
The fan economy drives a big part of China’s entertainment sector. But several recent high-profile cases of toxic fandom have caught the eye of the state’s internet watchdog.
WeChat terminates LGBT+ accounts of Chinese college students in overnight crackdown
One of the few bright spots for civil liberties in China in recent years has been a growing public and official acceptance of the LGBT+ community. But the government now seems determined to put a stop to that.
Hong Kong’s Apple Daily shuts down as police target editors
With its founder in jail, bank accounts frozen, and editorial staff at risk of arrest, the blows fell fast and hard against the territory’s 26-year-old pro-democracy tabloid.
China’s state broadcaster isn’t keen on cleavage
CCTV is determined to police the way entertainers dress. The latest example: the digital alteration of a promotional photo of an actress that showed just a hint of cleavage.
Hong Kong expands film censorship under national security law
Any movie, whether foreign or domestic and even regardless of content, can now be barred from screening in Hong Kong if local censors feel its showing could endanger national security as defined by Beijing.
The ‘Friends’ reunion airs in China — without Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and BTS
Pop quiz! What do Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and BTS have in common? If you didn’t immediately answer “They are on the wrong side of the Chinese government, of course,” then perhaps you want to follow China news more diligently.
Following nationalist backlash, Chloé Zhao finds no place in China for her ‘Nomadland’
The first female Asian director to win a Golden Globe award is being feted in the U.S. but censored in her native China.
China bans BBC after CGTN taken off air in Britain
The BBC’s TV news broadcasts have never been available to ordinary Chinese households, but you could watch them via satellite in five-star hotels and luxury apartment complexes. No longer.
Clubhouse blocked in China after uncensored chats attract thousands — everything you need to know
The invite-only audio-chat app offered a rare chance for Chinese-language speakers around the world to connect. But just days after thousands joined discussions about Xinjiang, Taiwan, and other sensitive issues, the app was blocked by China’s Great Firewall.
Chinese police raid pirate website that offers crowd-sourced translation
Police in Shanghai have raided one of China’s most popular websites for downloading subtitled, uncensored foreign films for IPR infringement.
China’s COVID-19 response: A year of ‘government secrecy and top-down control’
China’s initial failure to respond quickly to COVID-19 as it emerged in Wuhan was due to a “political logjam,” the New York Times reports. But the AP reveals that political controls have only tightened in the time since, with new research on the origins of COVID-19 monitored and subject to approval by a task force set up by Xi Jinping.
China sentences citizen journalist to four years in prison for challenging COVID-19 response narrative
Zhang Zhan, a freelance video journalist who documented the early days of Wuhan’s lockdown and criticized the government’s response, was convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
More than just censorship: How China shaped public sentiment in the early days of COVID
The Chinese government hired private companies to “flood social sites with distracting chatter,” among other tactics to tamp down public outrage during the worst parts of the coronavirus epidemic in China.
Cyclopes on My Doorstep
A translation by Sinologist Geremie R. Barmé of a new essay from persecuted law professor Xu Zhangrun, who is the object of an extraordinary hi-tech surveillance campaign.
Our future tech dystopia begins in China
Kai Strittmatter’s recent book, “We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China’s Surveillance State,” examines how the Chinese government is using technology to censor, surveil, and control its population. Does it read like a warning, or merely a glimpse of what awaits us all?
Pokémon announces name changes in China, likely to appease local censorship
Japanese computer game company Nintendo has made some changes to its popular Pokémon game, apparently to appease Chinese censors.
China removes popular historical dramas from streaming services
Without any notice or official explanation given by the platforms, the shows’ abrupt disappearances have caused an outpouring of anguish among viewers, speculation as to why they were removed, and questions if the removal was an indication of a broad crackdown by Chinese censors on the genre of period dramas.
Censoring a pandemic — the banned words of WeChat
China has censored private messages and public posts on WeChat since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A new report looks at what words have been verboten.
