This quintessential Chinese millennial is a seal, and she is adorable

May 25, 2021 by Jason Li

A cute, rotund, cartoon seal clutches things on these two book coveres

Upon first glance, Seal (海豹) looks like just another cute character dreamed up by the internet, lolling about on her futon, joyfully procrastinating with her friends. Seal embodies these positive qualities in her print debut, No Big Deal If You Like Me (喜欢我也没关系), and in the cult favorite Tumblr. But if you dig deeper into the larger…

Continue readingThis quintessential Chinese millennial is a seal, and she is adorable

China Meme Report

Chaoyang Trap: a newsletter about the latest internet memes, media and subcultures in China today

April 28, 2021 by The Editor

Editor’s note: Below are some excerpts from the second issue of Chaoyang Trap about trending memes and subcultures on China’s internet. For more consider subscribing to their newsletter.

Nisu (泥塑) is an online subculture of female fans fantasizing about male celebrities being female, often in the role of a lover, a sister, a…

Continue readingChaoyang Trap: a newsletter about the latest internet memes, media and subcultures in China today

What Lies Behind The Great Firewall: A Vast Great Shopping Mall Internet Complete With Mall Cops Moderators

February 1, 2021 by An Xiao Mina

An Xiao Mina and Xiaowei Wang write in the Knight First Amendment Institute blog:

In the West, we’ve become accustomed to reports of censorship in China as the result of a menacing authoritarian regime that threatens the core tenets of free expression. While a convenient construction, this centers authoritarianism as the guiding force for China’s social media platforms, missing…

Continue readingWhat Lies Behind The Great Firewall: A Vast Great Shopping Mall Internet Complete With Mall Cops Moderators

As The Coronavirus Rages On, Cartoonists Lash Out With Irony, Quiet And Candor

February 10, 2020 by Jason Li

A muscular half person, half snake has wrapped a bunch of doctors and journalists in its arms and is gesturing for them to be silent. — Created by 撒旦君 Sadan via Weibo.

Despite dramatic measures taken to stem the tide, the coronavirus is still spreading across China and the rest of the world. Confined to their homes, independent cartoonists in China continue expressing their views around the epidemic through their works. Some creators have reached a state of detached irony, while others are…

Continue readingAs The Coronavirus Rages On, Cartoonists Lash Out With Irony, Quiet And Candor

21 Chinese Cartoonists Unite in a Dragonball Fanfic to Fight the Coronavirus

January 31, 2020 by Jason Li

A fight sequence between the heroes and villains of Dragonball. Goku starts casting a spirit bomb.

The villain is defeated by the spirit bomb that collects the energy of the people of the earth.

Setting the scene for our current disaster: the coronavirus in Wuhan.

A Hubei hero is trying to cast a spirit bomb but requires more energy. An SOS text message is sent to the rest of the world requesting their help.

People around the world raise their hands to give energy to the spirit bomb, part one.

People around the world raise their hands to give energy to the spirit bomb, part two.

People around the world raise their hands to give energy to the spirit bomb, part three.

People around the world raise their hands to give energy to the spirit bomb, part four.

People around the world raise their hands to give energy to the spirit bomb, part five.

The spirit bomb is cast and destroys the coronavirus demon. — *Created by @涂案Tuan featuring cameos by @西朴SYPO @DADA插画 @哈哈小子KingBoy @s七月q @就是仙人张啊 @TOO谈GoodGu @逆行阿星 @bobobottle瓶子 @中鸟lc …*

Continue reading21 Chinese Cartoonists Unite in a Dragonball Fanfic to Fight the Coronavirus

Photo essay: China Residencies’ 2019 cross-country tour of arts spaces

July 10, 2019 by Jason Li

Montage of our photos of people and art in China

Ahead of its sixth Crystal Ruth Bell Residency program (apply now – it’s fully funded!), the team at China Residencies took a cross-country tour around China to visit art and culture spaces new and old. Below we’re featuring photo highlights from this strip, which have been culled (with permission) from their lovely Instagram account.…

Continue readingPhoto essay: China Residencies’ 2019 cross-country tour of arts spaces

China Meme Report

Acceptable Protest: The 2019 workplace meme that’s thriving on China’s internet

May 21, 2019 by Jason Li

Photo of a booklet of China's labor laws taped onto the glassdoor of Ant Financial — Anonymous selfie of person giving Ant Financial/Alibaba a booklet of China’s labor laws. Source: 996action GitHub repo.

Internet memes about social issues have a spotty history on China’s internet, where netizens have had to evade, obfuscate and mask their posts in an evolving game of censorship cat and mouse. This was the case with the infamous…

Continue readingAcceptable Protest: The 2019 workplace meme that’s thriving on China’s internet

Chinese Comics Review

An illustrated love letter to the Beijing underground music scene

May 7, 2019 by Jason Li

Cover image of Open All The Buddha Boxes (excerpt)

This early excerpt from Open All the Buddha Boxes chronicles the rise of two seminal Beijing bands, Hang On The Box and Chui Wan, as they carve out a space for themselves in and outside of China. We follow members of the two bands as they develop their sounds, identities and aesthetics, and we see how they affect and are…

Continue readingAn illustrated love letter to the Beijing underground music scene

Stop Calling It A Cold War

February 18, 2019 by Graham Webster

From Technology Review’s The US and China aren’t in a “cold war,” so stop calling it that, by Graham Webster:

Unlike the US and USSR, in which science and technology developed on largely independent tracks, the US and China are part of a globally intertwined ecosystem. As an example, ZTE, the Chinese maker of network equipment and smartphones, was…

Continue readingStop Calling It A Cold War

An Anthology of Naked Underground Chinese Comics

February 13, 2019 by Jason Li

I started working with Orion at Paradise Systems a few months ago, and ICYMI we launched a Kickstarter campaign to publish an anthology of semi-illicit, nudity-flaunting comics from China:

Naked Body is a 100-page, full color anthology edited by Yan Cong. It began life a few years ago when Yan Cong was told by…

Continue readingAn Anthology of Naked Underground Chinese Comics

八八吧 · 88 Bar

Tag: China