Viola Zhou @violazhouyi Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Viola Zhou

@violazhouyi

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tech reporter @restofworld . formerly @viceworldnews @scmpnews . 📧 viola @restofworld .org. dm for signal etc.

Hong Kong / NYC

https://t.co/wfvLYm5gAx

Joined November 2012

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

5 months

This summer, @NilChristopher and I traveled to Sunguvarchatram, India, to find out how Foxconn prepared for the upcoming launch of iPhone 15. This supply chain shift brought Chinese and Indian workers together in an unlikely way 🧵 via @restofworld

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Inside Foxconn’s struggle to make iPhones in India

Chinese engineers are flying to India to train the next generation of iPhone builders.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

1 year

Chinese internet trolls are changing their profile pictures to white American cops and adopting names such as “Sheriff Roberson,” so they could harass black influencers. via @restofworld

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Chinese internet trolls are adopting American racism to taunt Black users

Users are harassing Black creators with profile pictures of white police officers.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

The Utah County has accidentally become a wedding haven for same-sex couples from China during the pandemic. Tho not legally recognized in China, the Zoom weddings have allowed couples to celebrate their love with family and friends, with just over $100.

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Same-sex couples from China are getting married in Utah over Zoom

Utah County introduced weddings over Zoom during the pandemic, unintentionally providing a valuable service for China's LGBTQ+ community.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

#Exclusive Chinese short-video apps are quietly cracking down on influencers in Africa, who have built fortunes producing racist, misogynist content, after BBC investigation Racism for Sale triggered outcry across Africa via @restofworld

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Racist videos about Africans fuel a multimillion-dollar Chinese industry

"Chinese people love watching how other places are not as good as China."

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Viola Zhou

2 years

“I beg you please..I really understand what I did wrong now.” WeChat is asking some users to submit handwritten letters before it agrees to unlock their banned accounts. Users shared with us what they’ve spent hours writing: via @restofworld

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Viola Zhou

3 years

Pianist accused of soliciting prostitute looks like this in the latest ep of hit Chinese reality show.. this kind of total erasure is happening so often that everyone finds it perfectly normal.

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Viola Zhou

4 years

Talked to Chinese rappers about why they are not supporting #BlackLivesMatter , despite playing black music for a living. censorship, state narrative against civil activism, racism all contribute to the disconnect between hip hop and its black roots

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Viola Zhou

3 years

Companies are now under pressure to choose between buying Xinjiang cotton and getting boycotted in China. HK-listed @ANTAsportswear just issued a statement on Weibo: we have always been using Xinjiang cotton..

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Cantonese livestreamers say Douyin, China’s most popular video app, is cutting them off for speaking an “unrecognizable language,” and making them switch to Mandarin via @restofworld

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Influencers say China’s TikTok is banning Cantonese speakers

Douyin and other social media companies are under pressure to censor content in non-Mandarin languages.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Many hamster owners have posted their locations and the number of extra pets they could take in, reminding me of the time when people offered accommodation to protesters kicked out of their homes

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Viola Zhou

5 years

After hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the extradition law, one Hongkonger, actress Charmaine Sheh, liked an Instagram video showing the massive crowd. She would come to regret it.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

More young women in China are looking to date men who are feminist allies, but young men are lagging behind them in gender ideology. Talked to some women who have given their (ex-)boyfriends and potential dates the Yang Li test via @viceworldnews

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Chinese Women Are Dumping Their Boyfriends Over a Feminist Comedian

Young men and women in China are increasingly divided over feminism.

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Viola Zhou

4 years

btw people in mainland China also have no access to TikTok

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Viola Zhou

3 years

Snowden followed Wang Xing in quoting a Tang dynasty poem on Qin dynasty tyranny: the thousand-year tradition of using historical events/texts to make veiled criticism of the government continues today, because censorship has also continued to the present

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Here’s the Story Behind Snowden’s Mysterious Chinese Tweet

The former NSA contractor and whistleblower was following a long tradition of coded dissent.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

Behind #Shein , the beloved brand for American Gen-Z shoppers, are Chinese workers struggling to cope with the speed in stove-like workshops. Such an important investigation by ⁦ @peiyue_jess ⁩

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The Shady Labor Practices Underpinning Shein’s Global Fashion Empire

The Chinese startup has won over Western shoppers by churning out trending styles at ultra-low prices. But at what cost?

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Viola Zhou

1 year

One black user on Xiaohongshu, Mitchell Sherman from Minnesota, has been attacked by accounts with profile pics depicting the Confederate flag and Derek Chauvin, the former officer convicted of killing George Floyd.

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Viola Zhou

4 years

This story is almost completely buried by state media and Weibo. Only noticed it thanks to a few doctor friends sharing it privately on WeChat.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

screenshots of Snowden's tweet is blocked by Douban and WeChat today. Douban also bans other Snowden tweets, but allows the poem itself. WeChat allows other Snowden tweets, but bans images containing the poem..social sites making their own guesses on where the line is.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

I just joined @VICEWorldNews as a writer based in Hong Kong, with a focus on Chinese-speaking communities. Excited to be working with a passionate team across Asia and beyond!

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Viola Zhou

18 days

TSMC makes the world’s most advanced chips in Taiwan. Geopolitical shifts are pushing it to set up a new factory in the American desert. It needs to bring its cutting-edge tech but also a notoriously harsh, military-style work culture to the U.S. 🧵

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Inside TSMC’s struggle to build a chip factory in the U.S. suburbs

Missed deadlines and tension among Taiwanese and American coworkers are plaguing the chip giant’s Phoenix expansion.

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Viola Zhou

1 year

We have seen at least hundreds of such accounts on Douyin, Kuaishou and Xiaohongshu. Two participants told us they changed their names “Louisiana Officer Hamoleite” and “Florida Sheriff Jack No. 7654” recently to protest against black immigrants in China.

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Viola Zhou

1 year

As Covid spreads fast inside Foxconn’s mega-factory in Zhengzhou, some workers are assembling iPhones for 10 hours a day despite having a fever. “I had trouble breathing by 7 pm,” one said. via @restofworld

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As Covid-19 surges in China, sick Foxconn workers are still making iPhones

Sick workers say they're being asked to stay on the assembly line as Foxconn ramps up iPhone 14 Pro production.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

I’ll be joining @restofworld soon as a China reporter! Super excited to work with talented tech reporters from around the world, and look deeper into the fascinating Chinese internet/tech industry 👩🏻‍💻🎉

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Viola Zhou

3 years

A member of China’s women’s national soccer team, Li Ying, came out to the public on Weibo this week, becoming of the few (if not the only) openly gay state-employed athletes. She later deleted the post, after receiving hate comments but also much support.

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Viola Zhou

1 year

#EXCLUSIVE Cheating professionals in China are taking advantage of at-home testing, introduced during the pandemic, to help students obtain near-perfect scores in exams such as TOEFL, GRE, and even LSAT, our investigation has found. via @restofworld

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“Online testing is a joke”: How Chinese students cheat on U.S. college entry exams

For just $5,000, students can buy their way to acing English exams.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Wrote about Douban, the creative communities that came out of the founder’s pro-diversity idealism, and how they are being targeted by tightening censorship via @restofworld

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China’s most chaotic social network survived Beijing’s censors — until now

Douban’s tight-knit communities have finally made it a target of Beijing’s tech crackdown.

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Viola Zhou

4 years

last year 21-year-old Guo joined pro-Beijing rallies against HK protesters in Melbourne, but being stranded abroad during the pandemic has completely changed her view. “now I understand why there are people criticizing our government” via @InkstoneNews

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Pro-establishment politicians are quick to adopt Chinese state media language. 躺平 is not even a popular term in Hong Kong

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Viola Zhou

3 years

Chinese youths have embraced more gender-neutral celebrities to challenge patriarchy, but the state regards that as a threat to its hetero-masculine national image h/t @tingguowrites via @VICEWorldNews

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‘Sissy Pants’ Celebrities Banned in China

Beijing fears that feminine men would hurt the country’s ability to fight, experts say.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Talked to a kidney disease support group in early 2020 when Wuhan patients were denied dialysis treatment due to the lockdown. Today the person reached out saying the same thing is happening to patients in Shanghai. And the same desperate calls are popping up on Weibo

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Some couples organized cocktail parties, with Utah officiants showing remotely on a big screen, others got married in their living rooms after midnight.

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Viola Zhou

4 years

Women account for a majority of the front-line medical workers taking care of coronavirus patients. But few of those in decision-making positions have thought about what kind of period products women would need while wearing hazmat suits

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Viola Zhou

1 year

Covid scare, swearing and scolding from “line leaders,” and lucrative pre-New Year bonuses — a series of upheavals at the world’s biggest iPhone factory captured global attention this winter, we documented what life was like inside via @restofworld

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“iPhones are made in hell”: 3 months inside China’s iPhone city

Workers describe a peak production season marred by labor protests and Covid-19 chaos, right as Apple reconsiders its China supply chain.

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Viola Zhou

5 months

Read more in our story, about how iPhone’s made-in-India shift is changing the lives of individuals and their families. Reported from Chennai, Bangalore, Hong Kong, Taipei. Edited by @schoenmakersk , and fact-checked by Yifan Yu.

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Inside Foxconn’s struggle to make iPhones in India

Chinese engineers are flying to India to train the next generation of iPhone builders.

restofworld.org

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Viola Zhou

3 years

Kris Wu has now been arrested for rape, according to Beijing prosecutors, although details of the allegations are unknown. We may see a historic rape trial soon.

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#MeToo Hits One of China’s Biggest Celebrities. The State Is Taking Credit.

A megastar fell from grace over rape accusations. Now China is scrambling to steer the narrative in its favor.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

Our story via @VICEWorldNews

H&M Is Getting Canceled in China For Not Using Xinjiang Cotton

State-backed boycott is forcing companies to pick a side.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

To some Chinese, the Taliban takeover smells like a perfect opportunity to get rich. I talked to businessmen who are looking to make a fortune by bringing goods like electronics, fertilizer and plastic packaging to Afghanistan via @VICEWorldNews

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As Afghanistan Falls to Taliban, Chinese Entrepreneurs Are Eager to Rush In

Where the U.S. sees defeat, they see an opportunity to strike gold.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

“I’m just happy that I can help them satisfy what their hearts are telling them..” said 69-yr-old officiant Ben Frei. “I find it interesting that we have it on our books that it’s okay, and we are a very conservative state.” via @restofworld

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Same-sex couples from China are getting married in Utah over Zoom

Utah County introduced weddings over Zoom during the pandemic, unintentionally providing a valuable service for China's LGBTQ+ community.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

do all female twitter users get these? the one that wishes maggots in my stomach is the least disturbing

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Viola Zhou

1 year

Unclear what triggered the protest but many have posted nationalistic comments pledging to defend the purity of the Chinese nation. Nearly 1 million users joined a “反对崇洋媚外” challenge before it was taken down by Douyin. Read more

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Chinese internet trolls are adopting American racism to taunt Black users

Users are harassing Black creators with profile pictures of white police officers.

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Viola Zhou

5 months

Outside of the story, my favorite quote is from Ishwar, an engineer from northern India at a different Foxconn plant. When we offered anonymity, he said he wanted to be named. “It’s my freedom of speech.” btw Ishwar is getting married, but he hasn’t yet spoken to his fiancé.

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Viola Zhou

5 months

I have never seen an iPhone, one woman told @NilChristopher , but I have seen it in parts. Like China’s 90s factory girls, they are sleep-deprived, often miss periods and, sometimes, collapse at work. The air-conditioning is too cold. The targets are overwhelming.

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Viola Zhou

5 years

Stupid it may seem, this ad offers many things China’s middle-class women really want: a spacious apartment, healthy (not necessarily delicious) meals, and a good-looking partner who is willing to do household chores

@HiddlesFashion

Hiddles Fashion

@HiddlesFashion

5 years

Tom Hiddleston commercial for Centrum (China)

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Viola Zhou

2 years

imagine if the chinese internet can talk about Peng Shuai’s accusations like how we talk about Leehom Wang

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Yaling Jiang

2 years

The news comes at a time as #LeeJinglei ( #Wangleehom 's ex-wife) educates Chinese internet about gaslighting.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

I accidentally got addicted to Word of Honor while reporting on China’s craze over subtle-boys-love dramas. Spent way too much time on fan forums studying romantic hints, and now reading the original novel.. #workrelatedinjury #kswl

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Boys Keep Flirting With Each Other on Chinese TV But Never Fall in Love

In a country with an insatiable appetite for queer content but a government that censors LGBTQ stories, China’s boys’ love dramas toe a fine line.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Eileen Gu is a rare charming, confident female star in China who uses her state-backed platform to encourage girls. But as Chinese women look into her privileged upbringing, they start to question if she is too rich, or too American, to be their role model

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Chinese Women Look at Eileen Gu and Do Not See Themselves

Is Eileen Gu, a skiing superstar born and raised in San Francisco, the right role model for Chinese girls?

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Volunteers set up Facebook and TG groups dedicated to rescuing abandoned hamsters. Some went scouting alleyways and trash collection points. Hundreds of people signed up as potential adopters via @viceworldnews

People Are Throwing Out Their Pet Hamsters After Hong Kong Orders Mass Killing

An animal rescuer said she found abandoned hamsters in their cages on the street and in alleyways.

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Viola Zhou

5 years

We followed a self-organized first aid squad during the Saturday protest in Yuen Long. Their main job is helping protesters wash their eyes after tear gas shots:

@InkstoneNews

Inkstone

5 years

When they’re off their hospital shifts, some medical workers in Hong Kong join protests to provide first aid to demonstrators

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Viola Zhou

5 months

Everyone we met on this trip, from the Henan expats to the Tamil women, is migrating to make money but also to see the world. “Have you eaten yet?” an Indian worker will say in Chinese. “I already ate,” a Chinese colleague will reply in Tamil.

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Viola Zhou

5 months

The factory jobs are tedious, exhausting, but the same jobs also allow young women to escape from family control and delay marriage. With their iPhone money, the women bought their own cheap Xiaomi phones and are building their own village houses.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Contact tracing has exposed China’s class divide by revealing snapshots of people’s lives in great detail. While the man was hopping between late-night construction gigs, another person (likely a white-collar worker) visited luxury stores, posh restaurants and a skiing resort

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Alan Wong

2 years

Chinese contact tracing accidentally revealed a migrant worker's extraordinary hardship, and it's making people think about inequality. By @violazhouyi @VICEWorldNews

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Viola Zhou

9 months

On apps such as Perfect In-Laws, Chinese parents advertise unmarried children by listing out their degrees, income, home ownership. Once a match is made, the parents will talk to each other first. Some state they only want virgins for their adult sons.

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Desperate Chinese parents are joining dating apps to marry off their adult children

As marriage rates dwindle, China’s dating app industry taps into growing parent anxiety.

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Viola Zhou

5 months

We met engineers from rural China, who were carrying a passport, taking a flight, and traveling abroad for the very first time. We also met young, Indian women who were migrating to the city for the first time. They are ferried into the factory every day to assemble iPhones.

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Viola Zhou

8 months

#EXCLUSIVE China’s data annotation companies have partnered with vocational schools, recruiting student interns to do the most tedious, lowest-paid work in the AI industry, our investigation has found. w/ @CaiweiC via @restofworld

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China’s AI boom depends on an army of exploited student interns

As part of China’s digital underclass, vocational school students work as data annotators — for low pay and few future prospects.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

A male artist in China secretly filmed 5,000 women and ranked them by their looks. In response, a 23-year-old female artist ranked established male artists by their genitals (based on their facial/finger features, unscientifically)

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Female Artist Hits Back at the Male Gaze By Rating Men’s Penises

Chinese women are shaming penises in retaliation for an art project rating women’s attractiveness.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

These vloggers had for years entertained millions showing Africans receiving Chinese aid, adopting Chinese culture, and acting as Chinese men’s on-screen lovers, while earning millions of dollars from advertising, virtual tips, and livestreaming e-commerce

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Viola Zhou

4 years

This new Chinese reality show bears a striking resemblance to ⁦ @QueerEye ⁩, except it has no mention of homosexuality.

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Viola Zhou

4 years

If I’m only reading Weibo and WeChat, I would probably have no idea there’s an election going on in Taiwan.

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Viola Zhou

5 years

Interesting poll conducted among 464 mainland students (mostly undergrads) at CUHK: 37% agree police used excessive force vs. 32% oppose; 26% agree with five demands from protesters vs. 31% oppose; 37% say the protests made them more pro-democracy/liberty

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Viola Zhou

3 years

Finally got to translate “yyds,” probably the most popular Chinese internet slang of 2021. And Bilibili just said it would ban NMSL as an insult

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Chinese State Media Want People to Stop Using Internet Slang

Beijing wants young Chinese to acquire its conventional linguistic taste.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

@Nike is now on the top of Weibo trending list, due to its statement on Xinjiang

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Chinese users have also shared similar letters they submitted to platforms like Weibo and Xianyu. The use of these apology letters (��证书), usually demanded by parents or teachers, shows the power these social media monopolies wield over citizens.

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WeChat users are handwriting apologies to get their banned accounts back

The Tencent app is so essential to life in China that banned users will go to great lengths to be reinstated.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

The woman told Xinhua she was taking her sick daughter home at the time, bc she didn't know how to access healthcare in the city where she worked. The baby died half a yr later, so did her 3rd child. She later had three more children, they are all well now

@SpokespersonCHN

Hua Chunying 华春莹

@SpokespersonCHN

3 years

This picture taken 11 years ago during the #SpringFestival travel season at a train station. It struck people's eyes as the young mother taking her child home with the weight of supporting her family on her back.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Contact-tracing records from China’s latest outbreaks are again reminding middle-class Chinese of what life is like for the less privileged. A Shandong couple drove a motor tricycle to a factory at 7.30am and came back at 9.15pm every single day for two weeks, did nothing else

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Viola Zhou

3 years

Wrote about the enormous pressure on Chinese women to stay thin, which is driving some of us into body image anxiety, depression and eating disorders via @viceworldnews

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A Thin Fad Is Becoming Life-Threatening for Chinese Women

Pressure to be thin is threatening the physical and mental health of an entire generation of Chinese women.

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Viola Zhou

5 years

I watched the first episode of China’s Karl Marx anime — produced by the Communist Party’s increasingly creative propaganda apparatus

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Vloggers and fans’ “racial gaze” is built on global inequality, a desire to see Chinese nationals winning over “white saviors” in projecting influences in the Global South. w/ insights from @EKMatambo , @shengz_writes , Kun Huang. Read more

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Racist videos about Africans fuel a multimillion-dollar Chinese industry

"Chinese people love watching how other places are not as good as China."

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Viola Zhou

5 months

In India, the Chinese employees got to get off work early, take tea breaks, get henna painted during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The first iPhone 15 shipment was blessed by a puja ceremony, as someone smashed a coconut and a pumpkin on the ground.

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Man blesses his truck with a pumpkin and arti pooja , Vishwakarma Ayudha Puja ceremony , India...

Download this stock image: Man blesses his truck with a pumpkin and arti pooja , Vishwakarma Ayudha Puja ceremony , India - B480NC from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos,...

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Viola Zhou

3 years

and discussions about Clubhouse getting blocked are getting blocked.

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Viola Zhou

5 months

Indian food, tho, is just impossible to comprehend for those from rural China. They eat at a Chinese canteen, and make hotpot, suan cai yu, hulatang (lots of Henanese deployed from Zhengzhou). When traveling, they stick with KFC and McDonald’s.

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Viola Zhou

5 months

While Indians complain of stress and speed, Chinese find their colleagues slow, uninterested in targets and bonuses. Impatient Chinese hurled insults, Indians began working overtime. “we’re bringing involution to India 卷到印度” a Chinese guy joked.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

def not representative of everyone but many, many young Chinese internet users believe Russia started the assault out of self-defence, and that the U.S. is the true culprit behind this crisis via @viceworldnews

Here’s How China Reacted to Russia’s Attack on Ukraine

Beijing has blamed the United States for stirring up tensions.

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Viola Zhou

2 years

top trending post on Weibo is a full Chinese translation of Putin’s emotional speech declaring military actions against Ukraine, which attracted a wave of sympathy and support. some commentators said they were moved to tears bc China too is under security threats from the West..

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Viola Zhou

2 years

Young Chinese used to dream of working for a top internet firm. But now their jobs, along with the high salaries, IPO plans and free snacks, are disappearing. Spoke to more than a dozen tech workers about what this shift means for them via @restofworld

The dream is over for China’s tech workers

A government crackdown and economic downturn have led to massive layoffs, but some are relieved to exit the grueling ‘996’ work life.

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Viola Zhou

3 years

Some Chinese internet users are calling on social media platforms to ban South Korean mukbang host Hamzy, after she allegedly liked comments offensive to Chinese people on YouTube

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Viola Zhou

5 years

The protest isn't about HK independence, but due to censorship, few people know what it IS about. Many mainland Chinese only have a vague idea that the protesters (just like those in the Umbrella movement) are not very fond of China.

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Viola Zhou

5 years

A young HK woman teared up while telling me what it was like to be greeted by an airport protest upon arrival home. “Everyone is so brave” via ⁦ @InkstoneNews ⁩

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

3 years

Fans say they see themselves in Lelush’s life, as they too are trapped in exploitative contracts, forced to take jobs they don’t like, and are looking for every chance to slack at work.. but they also take pleasure in forcing him to work more

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How a Russian Man Is Forced Into Stardom in China

Chinese fans have taken joy in watching a Russian man reluctantly rise to stardom.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

2 years

so we looked into why a bunch of restaurants, cafes and clothing shops in China are marketing themselves as “Syrian debris style” via @viceworldnews

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Influencers Are Flocking to ‘Syrian Style’ Cafes That Look Like They Have Been Bombed

One such restaurant has a “refugee barbecue area,” where sad music is played in the background.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

2 years

These social media restrictions could contribute to the death of minority languages. “Ultimately, languages are made to die when they are actively denied structural support to serve as a core way to both express our own identities and connect with others,” says @DGTam86 .

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

3 years

Cindy, 21, said she joined Douban to follow celebrity news, but ended up reading a lot about society’s exploitation of women in feminist groups. She came to believe that women should fight the patriarchy by refusing to date men or have children

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These Chinese Women Vow Never to Marry or Have Sex With Men. Then Censors Stepped In.

A small, fringe group of feminists in China faces a crackdown.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

2 years

Shanghai people are battling food shortages by organizing new supply lines through WeChat: a consultant is getting frozen dumplings for 130 households, an Olympic souvenir seller is procuring vegetables, a designer is buying oat milk for 30 neighbors

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

2 years

Now with the crackdown prompted by @RunakoCelina ’s impactful work, these influencers had to stop livestreaming.“Mr. Hello” said Lu Ke’s acts had hurt innocent men like himself. “I educate them just like a parent. How is that racial discrimination?”

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

2 years

China’s web novel business model, minus censorship on sex scenes, plus global workforce and readership = a multinational gig economy for werewolf romance. Story w/ @megatobin1 via @restofworld

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Werewolf erotica is the latest global gig work trend

Platforms are hiring gig workers around the world to write steamy romance novels for English-speaking readers.

restofworld.org

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

3 years

Wow Kris Wu has been detained on suspicion of rape. Probably the fastest/strongest law enforcement response in all of China’s prominent #MeToo cases. Partly bc he is Canadian and not part of the political establishment, also a result of the outpouring of support for the victims

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

2 years

“Chinese culture is not only about teaching chopstick use..but more importantly, changing how one thinks..diligence, kindness and gratitude are traits of the Chinese people,” he calls himself 言传身教 - teaching by word and deed

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

5 years

Supporting Beijing is a must for celebrities working in mainland China. Sheh used to star in TVB dramas, but now her income mainly comes from the mainland. She just got a huge career boost thanks to the hit period drama Story of Yanxi Palace.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

4 years

Wrote about @wangzhongxia 's story, from a rebellious college student in Beijing to an exiled activist and then a paramedic transporting Covid-19 patients in New York via @InkstoneNews

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

2 years

The cruelty committed to the chained woman is related to gender, class, ethnicity, mental illness. But as Xianzi said, the struggle with sexual exploitation and the government’s reluctance to help is shared by the broader female population in China.

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Chained Mother of 8 Exposes Horrors of Human Trafficking in China

The story of a woman kept in a shed like a neglected pet raises questions about girls who’ve disappeared into unknown fates.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

2 years

Accepting non-Han immigrants is a divisive topic in China. In a country with highly restrictive immigration policies, naturalized athletes are sometimes criticized for speaking poor Chinese or allegedly being exempted from the dual citizenship ban

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China Recruits Foreigners to Boost Its Winter Olympics Performance

A country with highly restrictive immigration policies is handing out citizenships to improve its Winter Olympic prospects.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

5 years

It's interesting that despite Beijing's propaganda that the MAJORITY in HK/TW love China, mainland nationalists know it is not true, given there are so many "chaos" in both places. That's why they become so paranoid with the political stance of every single celebrity

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

4 years

The woman recorded the convo after the alleged sexual assault, found herself a lawyer, continued acting nice to get the prof to acknowledge the assault on WeChat, and made everything public on social media. That’s how much it takes to bring down a somewhat-powerful Chinese man.

@InkstoneNews

Inkstone

4 years

Accusations against the professor has reignited a discussion about the lack of institutional protection against sexual misconduct in China

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

3 years

A big part of this discussion on Chinese social media is about the celebrities who are currently representing those brands (some of them A-list idols), and fans are now waiting for them to announce a breakup with the companies

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

3 years

Just like how Kris Wu’s case was framed as one about pop stars’ moral decadence, authorities linked the Alibaba case with bad company culture and businesses getting out of control. The women’s solidarity campaigns at the center of these cases are being taken out of the story

@dong_mengyu

Mengyu Dong

3 years

In my first piece for @restofworld , I wrote about how censorship has prevented a broader discussion of #MeToo following the Alibaba case. I also wanted to take a moment here to talk about Alibaba’s internal BBS, without which I doubt the case would have made headlines.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

3 years

things that didn’t make it to the story: some journalists had to apologize to their sources bc the stories they interviewed them for will never get published. sports reporters have prepared Olympics features and booked hotels in Tokyo, they probably won’t be there.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

3 years

Queerbaiting is still very profitable in China. Celebrities love playing the subtle gay card 卖腐/装姬, and acting in boys’ love dramas is a guarantee for fame. But it’s a different story to actually live as a gay person

@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

3 years

Censors’ existence is so widely accepted that viewers marvel at every intimate scene, leaving comments like “Youku you are really bold!” “I don’t deserve to watch this!” This is already the closest thing to queer representation in China’s state-sanctioned pop culture.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

2 years

Wrote about Austin Li, China’s most powerful livestreaming salesman, how his disappearance upended the daily shopping of million of fans, and what his low-key return says about fame and politics in China. w/ @megatobin1 via @restofworld

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The mysterious reappearance of China's missing mega-influencer

When China’s top livestreaming salesman, Austin Li, vanished over a tank-shaped ice cream cake, many fans thought he was gone for good.

restofworld.org

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

5 years

The "separatist" accusation could ruin it all, just like how Denise Ho was banned from performing in the mainland. These days HK/TW celebrities mostly stay silent on local politics, and sometimes publicly declare their love for China, to make sure there's no confusion

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

2 years

Wrote about how Chinese cinema is entering the era of Wu Jing, who plays the kind of hyper macho “real men” that represent today’s strong, confident China (just like what Hollywood did for America) via ⁦⁦ @viceworldnews

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This Guy Is China’s Answer to Captain America

It’s tough guys versus “sissy pants” men.

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@violazhouyi

Viola Zhou

3 years

A wave of celebrity statements just came in, announcing their breakup with brands including Nike, CK, Converse, Tommy Hilfiger. Dilraba Dilmurat, the most popular Uyghur actress in China, cut ties with Adidas. With updates:

Nike and Adidas Face Boycott Calls in China Over Xinjiang Cotton

Global fashion brands may soon have to choose between pleasing China or the West.

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