Cai Siyun
Once a Hub for Debate, China’s Tianya Returns to a Transformed Online Landscape
After more than three years offline, China's once-freewheeling Tianya forum officially resumed operations on June 1, marking the return of one of the country's most influential early internet platforms. The relaunch, however, was met with...
China Shuts Down the Last Route for Retail Investors to Buy US Stocks
China's securities watchdog, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), announced on May 22 that it would confiscate all proceeds it deemed unlawfully earned by three of the country's best-known cross-border online brokerages: Tiger Brokers, incorporated...
Viral Video Shows Chinese Children’s Snack Killing Ants Within Minutes
A child in Hainan dropped some crumbs from a packet of shredded dried meat, a cheap, widely sold snack marketed to young children. Ants found the crumbs first. Within minutes, every ant that had eaten...
CCTV Hot Mic Moment During Trump-Xi Summit Sparks Online Frenzy
An apparent audio mishap during the closed-door portion of the high-stakes Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing has ignited a slew of comments and backlash among netizens after Chinese state broadcaster CCTV accidentally aired part of Xi...
China State TV Anchor Endorses ‘Lying Flat’ Days After CCP Declared It a Foreign Threat
Guan Qing, an anchor at Henan Broadcasting and Television, a regional state broadcaster in central China's Henan province, posted a short video this week under the title Life Action Guide. Dressed in a pink blazer...
How Cai Qi Went From a Reform-Minded Official to Xi Loyalist and Hardline Party Enforcer
A recent profile published by The Economist has renewed attention on senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official Cai Qi, whose growing influence inside Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s inner circle is drawing scrutiny from analysts. The...
China’s Population Crisis Deepens as 24 Provinces Shrink and Kindergartens Close
On April 29, all 31 of China’s provinces released their resident population data for the end of 2025, revealing a widening demographic downturn across the country. Roughly 80 percent of provinces reported population declines, with...
China’s Ministry of State Security Claims Foreign Forces Are Behind ‘Lying Flat’ Youth Trend, Prompting Online Backlash
On April 28, China's Ministry of State Security, the country's powerful domestic and foreign intelligence agency, published a short video on social media with an extraordinary claim: young Chinese people are refusing to work, marry,...
Beijing Bans Drone Sales and Flights as DJI Pulls All Products From Capital Stores
Beijing's new drone rules, published by CCP state authorities and set to take effect May 1, designate the city's entire administrative territory as a restricted airspace zone. Any outdoor drone flight now requires advance government...
China Protest Video Goes Viral After Man Recites ‘How to Kill a Bird’ in Shenyang
On the evening of April 15, a man stood in the middle of Zhongjie, a pedestrian shopping street in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province in northeastern China, and recited poetry through a megaphone. When...
China Credit Card Market Contracts as Banks Cut Products, Spending Falls, and Defaults Rise
China’s banks issued fewer credit cards in 2025 than in previous years, and newly released data points to a broad pullback across the sector. Total credit card circulation fell to 696 million by the end...
China’s Most Famous Property Developer Pan Shiyi Calls His Own Industry a Ponzi Scheme
Pan Shiyi, the founder of SOHO China and one of China's most recognizable property developers, has published a long public essay describing the country’s real estate sector as a Ponzi scheme. Writing on Weibo, a...