More Than Skin Deep: Chinese Youth Increasingly Favor Plastic Surgery

To us Chinese, “face” (mianzi, 面子) is something we will fight to death to preserve. “Giving face” (geimianzi, 给面子), or showing respect, is expected in any social interaction. On the other hand, “losing face” (diumianzi, 丢面子) is perhaps one of… Continue Reading

“WK” is for Wukan: Netizens Rebel against Censorship on Weibo

The revolt in the Chinese village Wukan has lasted for a week.  Its main roads blocked by the police, the village is cut off from food and supplies from the outside. However, villagers vow to hold their ground and refuse to talk to the… Continue Reading

Identity Verification on Weibo: The Beginning of the End of (Relative Yet Still Lovely) Free Speech?

Finally, it happened. Let me first backtrack a little bit. Despite the occasional blocking of sensitive terms and topics (read examples here and here), the Chinese government had been quite lenient with microblogging, or weibo, according to the “Chinese standards”… Continue Reading