· July, 2012

Stories about China from July, 2012

China: Bizarre Power Triangle – Sina, the Government and Netizens

  31 July 2012

Ever since the advent of Internet in China, the Chinese government has either tried to embrace it or control it. The upsurge of social media in the country has introduced two other characters into the story-Chinese netizens and leading Internet company Sina. Find out more about this often bizarre power triangle.

China: ‘Violent’ Pipeline Protest in Qidong

  29 July 2012

Violence that broke out during a protest against a pipeline construction project in China's Qidong province has split opinion online. The project would channel wastewater from a Japanese owned paper mill into the sea and has raised environmental concerns.

Language War in the Hong Kong Book Fair

  25 July 2012

A Cantonese-Mandarin language war broke out in a talk given by movie director Pang Ho-cheung for the 2012 Hong Kong Book Fair. To serve the big mainland Chinese market, the organizer arranged the talk to be in Mandarin. This provoked the anger of Hongkongers given they are the majority of...

China: Chinese Alcohol

  24 July 2012

Derek from 300 shots at Greatness explains to his readers the ingredients behind different types of Chinese Baiju (Chinese Vodka).

China: Ai Weiwei's Tax Evasion Case

  20 July 2012

In April last year, prominent artist Ai Weiwei was detained by the Beijing authority without giving any reason and eventually state-run media said that he was under investigation for tax evasion, bigamy and ‘spreading porn. In June 2011, Ai was asked to pay 12 million yuan ($1.85 million) in back...

China: Blogger Shorts SINA to 8% Shares Plunge With a Tweet

  18 July 2012

On July 16, famous Chinese blogger Isaac Mao wrote on Twitter that he would be shorting $SINA everyday, in reaction to SINA Weibo's (a Chinese microblogging platform) deletion of his user account. His message was delivered to investors from all around the world and next day SINA's NASDAQ listed price dropped by 8%.

YouTube Show Brings China's Social Media to an English Audience

  17 July 2012

Want to know what’s going on on China’s social media but cannot speak Chinese? Keep on reading, then. It’s been four months since Elle Lee (@ElleIconLee) and Casey Lau (@hypercasey) opened a Youtube channel to broadcast Weibo Today, a weekly online show spotlighting trending topics from China's social networks in English. We talked to Elle Lee about their show.

China: Rage over Chengguan Again

  16 July 2012

Another bloody conflict involving Chengguan has spread around in Weibo last week. This time a woman peddler was hit by a glass bottle by the city management officers at Fuzhou city. To show their support, netizens fought with the web-censor to get the message out. Tea Leave nation has the...

Angola, China: Netizens Discuss New Development Ghost Town

  10 July 2012

The government of Angola hired a Chinese company to build 750 expensive apartments in Kalimba, about 30km outside the capital Luanda. Despite rich natural resources, many people in Angola live in abject poverty and cannot afford these apartments. Will Kalimba become Africa's biggest ghost town?

Foreign Migrant Workers in China

  9 July 2012

French photographer Benoit Cezard has taken a series of photos in which Caucasians pose as migrant workers, such as such as street vendors and sanitation workers in China. Jing Gao from Ministry of Tofu translated the story and netizens’ reaction on the photo presentation.

China: Fist-fight Dating

  9 July 2012

The argument between two prominent microbloggers, Wu Fatian, a male pro communist party academic and Zhou Yan, a female liberal journalist had ended up in a fist-fight dating in a park in Beijing, attracting many to attend, including artist activist Ai Weiwei. The female has won, then police and web...

About our China coverage

Oiwan Lam
Oi wan Lam is the North East Asia editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.