A strange story is currently making its rounds on Wechat, involving a small black dog that turned out not to be a dog at all.
Beijing News reports that a young Chinese man wanted a pet, and, on his limited budget, decided to purchase a small dog from a local dog seller.
At the beginning, the article says, the man found the small animal to be chubby and cute, but the longer he had it, the more he found the dog’s appearance very strange. Besides the fact the dog did not grow any hair, it also did not run like a dog.
With some help of the internet, where photos of the creature were posted, the man then discovered he was not the proud owner of a small black dog. This blog from late September is asking its readers to identify the animal (“Do you know what this creature is?”).
By now, it seems to be clear that the animal is a bamboo rat. In some parts of southern China, the bamboo rat is farmed and eaten.
According to Beijing News, the man has since decided to give the animal away; he was not sure how to raise a bamboo rat.
From passenger shaming to fake elephants – a wrap-up of the top trending topics Beijingers have been discussing this week, by What’s on Weibo for our friends at the Beijinger.
An elephant on the loose in the middle of Beijing? This peculiar news made its rounds on Chinese social media earlier this week, when a supposed police notice stated that the local Beijing Zoo had discovered one of its African elephants had gone missing.
The news, unsurprisingly, turned out to be fake, but the idea of an African elephant hiding somewhere in Beijing’s busy Haidian district became a source of banter on Weibo.
It was not all Beijingers were discussing this week. To see our top 5 of topics, please check out the Beijinger’s blog here.
In early October of 2018, a major manhunt on two jailbreak fugitives from a Liaoning prison dominated the news for days and caused a sensation on the Chinese internet. With the 100,000 yuan (US$14,500) reward notice going viral, it marked the first grand online exposure of the Chinese government’s policy to involve its citizens in combatting crime actively, but many netizens question how safe it is for citizens to meddle in criminal affairs.
News about a prison escape of two convicted criminals captured the attention of netizens for days in the first week of October, with the fugitives’ background information, the thrilling chase, and the 100,000 yuan (US$14,500) reward notice all turning out to be the perfect ingredients to keep people hooked on the story, that also happened to occur during the National Day holiday.
The incident was extra special because it was the first major case in which the Chinese government’s ‘new’ method on battling crime by actively involving the public, received massive attention.
Timeline of the Chase
* Thursday, October 4th, morning:
News comes out that two prisoners have managed to escape from Lingyuan Third Prison in Liaoning province. According to the Beijing Youth Daily, the two criminals stole prison guards’ uniforms and used the attached security cards to get out of the building.
The fugitives, two men by the names of Zhang Guilin (33, 张贵林) and Wang Lei (39, 王磊), were both sentenced to life imprisonment for, respectively, armed robbery and the involvement in kidnapping and murder of an 11-year-old child. Zhang, also nicknamed “Flying Zhang,” gained a reputation for previous prison escapes in 2011 and 2012; the October jailbreak marks his third successful prison escape.
Fugitives Wang (l) and Zhang (r).
*October 4th, morning:
Soon after the criminals escaped from prison, the Lingyuan Municipal Public Security Bureau issues a notice sharing the identity of the fugitives, asking the public to provide clues about their whereabouts. They also announce the clue leading to their arrest will be rewarded with a staggering US$14,500.
The news quickly spreads on Chinese social media, and within no time, the hashtag “Two heavy criminals escaped from prison” #两名重刑犯逃脱# goes viral and receives 170 million views.
*October 4th, 11 am:
The first tip-off: Beijing News publishes crucial surveillance camera footage that was given to police by a small shop in Songzhangzi, only 20 kilometers away from Lingyuan Third prison. It shows the two fugitives buying some food, beverages, and cigarettes, just hours after their escape from prison.
*October 4th, 5 pm:
Wang is spotted at another shop in a village in Pingquan County, in neighboring Hebei province, where he stays for about 10 minutes to buy liquor, beer, mineral water, and sausages.
Police rush to the kiosk shortly after. According to China Daily, about 800 police quickly arrive and nearly 1,000 villagers assist in the manhunt, searching the area from north to south.
*Friday, October 5th:
On the second day of the nationwide manhunt, a fatal crash occurs with a police car involved in the chase for the fugitives. The police car, with four police officers from the Hebei Police Department, was on its way to catch the breakers when it crashed into a tree. Two police officers did not survive the crash.
On Friday night, 430 officers are dispatched to Pingquan, along with 100 prison guards.
*Saturday afternoon, October 6th:
Within 50 hours of their escape, Wang and Zhang are captured. Police in the Hebei city of Chengde dispatch drones to scour the area and spot the convicts in the village of Taitoushan.
According to news reports, Zhang is arrested when he stops to ask a villager for directions. His fellow escapee is caught 20 minutes later.
The hashtags “Two escaped criminals from Liaoning are caught” #逃犯落网视频曝光# and “Video showing arrested fugitives” 逃犯落网视频曝光 are viewed millions of times.
Authorities in Liaoning launch an investigation, and the warden of Lingyuan Prison is dismissed from his position.
“Public Reporting on Crime”
The Lingyuan jailbreak fugitive case is the first example of a reward notice going viral since the PRC government launched a new trial policy in combatting corruption and other illegal practices earlier in 2018.
The ‘new’ policy is called “Public Reporting on Crime” (群众举报黑恶势力违法犯罪), and aims at actively involving and rewarding citizens in providing information about the whereabouts of criminals.
A state media illustration that propagates public reporting on criminal affairs.
The policy was featured in various media reports in summer of 2018, as a method introduced by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, the Supreme’s People’s Court, Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice.
The policy defines 11 categories in which citizens can report illegal practices, including the misuse of (political) power, illegal gambling practices, fraud in various industry sectors, and extortion.
“Reporting is Awarded” (image via sohu.com).
The official document in which the role of the public in the combat of illegal activities was especially stressed, was already issued by authorities in February of 2018 (“关于依法严厉打击黑恶势力违法犯罪的通告”, see Pkulaw.cn).
Amongst the first provinces to experiment with the police are, among others, Henan province, Hainan, and Liaoning province, where the method seems fruitful. In August, the Hainan Police department issued a notice asking for the public’s help in finding 17 fugitives. Attached to the notice where their names, addresses, and photographs. Within two days, 11 of these 17 fugitives were caught by the police.
Award ceremony in Henan for people providing clues to police (https://www.henan100.com/news/2018/805020.shtml).
In Liaoning province, the police started a campaign providing digital and non-digital information about the new policy and the criminals they were looking for. According to local media, they soon received 300 clues and 158 fugitives who turned themselves in.
Possibly as a result of the first successes of the trial policy, the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China, wrote an extension on the policy concerning drugs. On the official website of the Ministry, they published a list of rewards for providing information about ‘drugs practices’. On the list, it says precisely what people can earn for providing clues about several kinds of drugs, where clues relating to soft drugs such as marihuana will receive a lower reward than those relating to hard drugs such as heroin.
Award ceremony (http://sc.people.com.cn/n2/2018/0706/c345167-31785050.html).
State media have been actively propagating the measure in 2018, also reporting on occasions where people are rewarded for giving clues to the police. To protect their identity, these people will commonly wear masks – sometimes even cute panda ones.
Scepticism on Safety
Wearing panda masks or not, there is ample skepticism online on whether or not providing information to the police is a dangerous move for those involved.
In the case of the Liaoning fugitives, many worried about the identity of the shopkeepers who provided the police with clues and security footage after the fugitives had visited their shops.
After the first sighting of the two criminals in the small store in Songzhangzi, Chinese media reported details on the shop and its owner, which led to much criticism on Weibo. Some commenters wrote: “You brain-dead media, how can you bring out information like this, and who is going to take responsibility when people retaliate against this man?”
Many others expressed their worries, saying: “Isn’t is dangerous to expose the boss [of the shop] like this?”, and “Please do protect this shop owner, thank you!”
Other netizens wrote: “After seeing this news, I know for sure, I will never report on crimes. It’s too dangerous, I don’t want to die.”
The public reporting policy states that the personal safety and confidentiality of ‘whistleblowers’ is guaranteed and that those who turn against these people will be punished severely. According to a post on Weibo by Beijing News, the small shopkeeper in question also received 24-hour police protection in front of his shop.
Concerning the case of the two escaped prisoners, so far, it is not yet clear if the main reward has been given out to citizens for giving the main clue that led to their recapture.
What does seem evident in this case, is that people, despite some worries about their safety, are more than willing to report illegal practices to the police when they know there might be a big reward waiting for them.
Mixing traditional Chinese music with Western rock influences, Beijing-based band NAMO is one of Beijing’s new generation’s go-to bands. This fall, the band celebrates its ten-year anniversary with a new tour all across China. A short introduction (video here!) to Namo and its style by What’s on Weibo.
Although the Beijing-based ban Namo (Nanwu 南无乐队) has been already rocking it for over a decade, their star has especially been on the rise recently, with their upcoming anniversary tour, titled ‘Ruyi’ (如一) bringing them to concert halls all across China.
The start of ‘Namo’ – a term from Buddishm showing reverence and devotion – takes us back to late 2007, when lead singer Liu Xiangsong (刘相松, 1984), who was born and raised in Shandong, had come to Beijing and founded the band after graduating from the Sichuan Music Academy.
Liu’s education has had a profound impact on the band, with his focus on guitar performance, classical guitar, and Chinese opera. Liu also has a strong interest in Chinese traditional culture and Buddhism, which clearly shines through in Namo.
Namo, with Liu Xiangsong in the front.
Through the years, the band has seen some shifts in its line-up and now is a perfect coming-together of six people with their own strengths and backgrounds.
Besides Liu, the band consists of Zhang Lan (also known as Lanzi 张岚) on guitar and keys, Chen Ying (陈颖) on flute, percussion by Zhang Shuo (张硕), Daniel (丹尼奥) on bass, and drums by Shenzi Jun (申子俊) (主唱：刘相松/吉他手：张岚/笛子：陈颖/贝斯：丹尼奥/鼓手：申子俊/民打：张硕).
A little over two years after the band first came together, they were the first music group to perform at the Famen Temple (法门寺), one of China’s most prestigious pagoda temples, to open for renowned Chinese pop star Faye Wong. Shortly after, they became the first Chinese band ever to play at Japan’s Summer Sonic in 2011.
Namo won the “Best Newcomer Award” at Midi 2010. Since then, the band signed with the SX Music (视袭音乐) label, and have made quite a name for themselves, performing at music festivals across China, Japan, and Korea.
In 2014, Namo was invited to perform for the CCTV Spring Gala, where they played their song ‘Spring is Here’ (春来了).
In the first season of Chinese reality TV show ‘Sing My Song’ (中国好歌曲), in 2014, Liu Xiangsong also performed the same song on stage (see video below), which then gained in popularity.
Their music is inspired by Chinese music, but also uses influences from Western music styles, resulting in an original style that is both charming and humorous at times.
At Beehype, William Griffith describes the band as follows: “Combining Chinese culture obsessed, 80s nostalgic, vigorous lyric-based melodies, and crosstalk rock, a traditional Chinese comedic performance style, the band is a creation of their generation of youth.”
Namo is a representation of the Chinese post-80s generation (bālínghòu 八零后) in multiple ways. Their songs reflect on the urban stories of China’s modern-day society and the lives of young Chinese, and the overall style of the band also corresponds with what characterizes China’s post-80s; they are formed by traditional Chinese culture, but also grew up in a China that was quickly modernizing, transforming, and impacted by Western influences. Noteworthy is that Namo’s band members come from all across China.
Social Media & Online Channels
Recently, Namo and its band members have been growing more popular on Chinese social media. Their official Weibo account @南无乐队微博 has over 48,500 fans, but the individual members also have quite a following.
* Lead singer Liu Xiangsong currently has approximately 74,000 fans on his Weibo account: @南无刘相松.
* Band member Lanzi: @南无岚子 (48,400 fans).
* Namo’s Chen Ying: @陈颖小卡 (30,100 fans)
* Shenzi Jun: @申子俊 (10,150)
* Zhang Shuo: @南无张叫母 (4270 fans)
* Daniel: @丹尼奥帅牛哈哈 (2000 fans)
Listen to Namo on Xiami here.
On Douban here.
QQ channel here.
Tour Dates
Although the band has already been touring over the past year, they will still perform in many Chinese cities for the weeks to come. For those interested, we’ve listed the tour dates with links to further information on venues, times, and tickets.
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A recent CCTV “Focus Talk” TV program themed around an “educational training center” in Xinjiang, along with other Chinese state media articles on ‘training facilities’ in northwest China, has triggered the attention of foreign media this week. Many reporters interpret the latest Xinjiang publicity as a way for the Chinese government to create a “new narrative” to defend its policies in the region.
On Tuesday, October 16 2018, the CCTV prime-time program ‘Focus Talk’ (焦点访谈) dedicated a 15-minute episode to the topic of Xinjiang’s ‘vocational skills educational training centers’ (职业技能教育培训中心), marking the first time for Chinese state media to extensively report on the existence of these controversial programs in Xinjiang.
‘Focus Talk’ is a renowned news program that has been aired by China’s state broadcaster since 1994. It is generally themed around various societal issues, and provides background analysis of various topics through interviews with officials and the public. The show’s official Weibo account has over 1,8 million fans.
Noteworthy is that the special Xinjiang-focused episode was aired hours after Xinjiang governor Shohrat Zakir (雪克来提·扎克尔) issued a statement to fend off international criticism on government-operated ‘Muslim internment camps,’ characterizing them as “people-oriented” facilities built to “fundamentally eliminate the environment and soil that breeds terrorism and religious extremism.”
Earlier this year, United Nations’ human rights experts said they had received credible reports that up to one million Muslim Uighurs may be held in extra-legal political detentions in Xinjiang, and called for them to be released.
Since 2014, China has implemented several measures to keep religious expressions to a minimum after a string of attacks allegedly committed by Chinese Muslim extremists. In March 2014, a knife attack at the Kunming railway station left 29 civilians dead. In May, 43 were killed when a Urumqi market was bombed. On June 22, attackers drove into a Kashgar police building and set off explosives. The list goes on.
The government responded to the increasing violence in 2014 with an ongoing crackdown that, at the time, resulted in more than 380 arrests within one month, and public controls on religious expression. In 2015, a ban on wearing burqa’s, or ‘face masking veils’ (面罩袍), was legally approved and went into effect on February 1st. In 2016, there were reports of local governments ordering restrictions on fasting during Ramadan. That same year also saw reports on the existence of “ideological training camps.”
This week’s efforts of Chinese media to highlight Xinjiang’s “educational centers” as a humane, positive, and constructive solution to defeat terrorism and extremism in the region (both in written state media and by state broadcaster CCTV) have made headlines in international media.
“China defends Xinjiang camps for Muslim citizens,” the Financial Times reported; “China admits to locking up Uyghurs, but defends Xinjiang crackdown,” CNNheadlined; “China defends its ‘people-oriented’ Muslim reeducation program as job training,” Washington Postwrote.
On Twitter, New York Times reporter Chris Buckley tweeted about the CCTV episode, writing: “Dispelling any doubts that the Chinese government is trying to create a new narrative about its indoctrination camps in Xinjiang, CCTV on Tuesday broadcast a primetime program praising the camps.” Reporters from other newspapers also described the latest Xinjiang publicity as a “new narrative.”
The “Source Governance” Episode
On October 16, CCTV aired the episode in question. At the start of the program, the talk show host introduces the topic as follows:
“Terrorism and extremism are the public enemy of civilized society, and are the enemy of the international community. Since the 1990s, the ‘Three Evils’ of domestic and foreign ethnic separatist forces, religious extremist forces, and violent terrorist forces, have schemed and organized the execution of thousands of violent terrorist incidents in Xinjiang, victimizing a great number of innocent people, leading to the deaths of hundreds of public security forces, and causing incalculable damage.”
“The crackdown on terrorism and extremism is a global problem. To tackle this problem, Xinjiang has carried out the exploration of ‘source governance’ (源头治理) through the means of vocational skills educational training (职业技能教育培训), in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations. What is the result of this training? Let’s take a look.”
The show then shifts from the studio to the footage show in Xinjiang, with the voice-over saying:
“Recently, our reporters went to Xinjiang’s Hotan (和田市) to visit a vocational skills educational training center, just in time for the smooth graduation of some students.”
Mayor Alken Aili of the city of Hotan, a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, then talks to reporters, saying:
“There are criteria for our students to complete the course. Firstly, they need to reach the qualified standards in the spoken and written national common language. Then they need to qualify in legal and regulatory knowledge, and then in their training and employment ability. Once they reach the standard, and qualify for it, then they can complete the course.”
A student named Abdul then speaks to the reporter, saying:
“Through my studies, I’ve deeply realized my mistakes. I will continue to study hard once I’m back. I’ll be a good citizen, and influence the people around me.”
In the program, the mayor of Hotan then explains the main contents of the learning center as learning standard Chinese, studying various laws (including criminal law, national security law, anti-terrorism law, etc.), and then learning vocational skills.
A female student tells reporters:
“Before, I couldn’t understand the language and struggled to get by. Now, if I continue to study hard, I’ll be able to work and make money anywhere.”
The voice-over continues to explain that many of the students at the Xinjiang training center do not master standard Chinese, have a “weak sense of the rule of law,” and face employment difficulties due to a lack of skills, leaving them extra vulnerable to turn to terrorism and extremism.
Another female student by the name of Turenisha Abdulla then says:
“If I wouldn’t have come here, I can’t imagine what would have happened. Perhaps I would have joined those religious extremists and take the criminal path. The Party and government have found me in time and saved me, giving me a chance to reform and start anew. I am very grateful.”
The voice-over explains that, looking at local needs and industrial development, the training center educates its students in various skills from beauty salon skills to food processing, and more “skills specific to ethnicity” (“民族特色的手工艺技能”), such as carpeting or making flatbread.
The program then further zooms in on the importance of education, and how teaching skills to students (of which some reportedly have been “eroded by religious extremism”) gives them better opportunities and a brighter future, and have “significantly improved the sense of security and happiness” in the region.
Throughout the episode, the CCTV voice-overs or commentators not once mention ‘Islam’ or ‘Muslims.’ They also do not label the educational center’s students as belonging to any particular religions. Instead, the program only mentions “terrorism” and “religious extremism.”
This is noteworthy because while foreign media have consistently reported about “Xinjiang camps for Muslim citizens” or “Uighur Muslims,” Chinese state media evade this issue by not mentioning any specific religion at all, but only mentioning the issue of extremism and terrorism.
Mixed Reactions on Weibo
The CCTV episode in question has triggered hundreds of comments on Chinese social media this week, which were quite mixed; many commenters expressed positive sentiments on the episode and its contents, but there were also others who were critical of the ‘educational centers.’
Comments in favor of the Xinjiang centers praised the government’s policies, with one micro-blogger writing: “Go and watch this episode of ‘Focus Talk’! It explains Xinjiang’s vocational education centers, which have been criticized as ‘transformation camps’ (转化营) by the West. They’re very real, very feasible, very effective, and very good.”
“Foreign journalists are distorting the facts,” others said: “I just came back from a business trip to Xinjiang, and it’s really much better there now than a few years before, so I need to support this.”
“We have to help a large number of Muslims to quit their Islam addiction,” another popular comment read: “It’s a quite frightening disease.”
“We can only adopt the correct extreme measures to combat the evil of extremism,” some in favor of the Xinjiang ‘education centers’ wrote in other threads discussing the program.
The negative comments often used sarcasm in their reactions, writing things as: “This is quite fantastic! Do they get winter- and summer holidays? When can they graduate? Can we visit there? And will we come out alive if we do?”
And: “What a great educational programme, we should implement it all across the country, so that we can all be treated this well!”
“But, isn’t this just exactly the same as a prison?”, one commenter said. “It’s really frightening, they all look like robots,” another person responded.
There are also Weibo users who simply want to know more about the ‘centers’, writing: “I want to know the reason for them to go there. And what if they do not qualify the standards [to complete], will they continue to stay there indefinitely?”
Some netizens indicate that what is happening in Xinjiang today might also happen in other provinces in China with a large Muslim population. Although Muslims live all over China, the majority lives in the northwestern regions of Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu and the Qinghai provinces.
“Xinjiang’s present-day is Ningxia’s tomorrow,” one Weibo user predicts.
Watch the full episode by CCTV here (no subtitles).
They are the celebrities with the most followers on social media in the world, yet some of their names barely come up in English-language media at all. What’s on Weibo lists the top 10 celebrities with most followers on Weibo in 2018.
The top 5 celebrities with the most followers on Twitter have been unchanged for a long time.
The top 10 of Weibo celebrities with the most followers has also barely changed over the past years. And yet, the names of Xie Na or Yang Mi might not sound as familiar to many outside of China.
After our top 10 lists of 2015 and that of 2017, here is an updated list of most popular Weibo accounts of 2018.
Although most of the names in the list are still the same as before, there are some changes too. Both AngelaBaby and Yang Mi have gained respectively more than 16 and 25 million fans since 2017. Guo Degang is no longer in the top 10, and has been taken over by the only newcomer in this top 10: Deng Chao.
Check out the latest changes and introductions here! >
The one and only absolute number one this list is the ‘Queen of Weibo’ Xie Na (1981), also nicknamed ‘Nana’ – the extremely popular Chinese singer, actress and designer.
One of the reasons she has become so famous in mainland China is that she is the co-host of Happy Camp (快乐大本管), which is one of China’s most popular variety TV shows. She presents the show together with, amongst others, colleague He Jiong, who is the number two in this list.
Xie Na stars in many popular Chinese films and television series. She has also released several albums, founded a personal clothing line, and published two books.
Recent photo from Budapest, posted on Weibo.
Xie Na made headlines in March 2017, becoming #1 trending topic on Weibo, when she announced she would go to Italy as an overseas student to study design.
In 2018, Xie Na participated in the Mango TV television programme ‘Viva La Romance’ (妻子的浪漫旅行), in which couples reflect on their marriage and relationship, with her husband Zhang Jie, with whom she had twin daughters earlier in 2018.
Before getting married to Chinese singer Zhang Jie, Xie Na was in a 6-year relationship with her ‘Happy Camp’ colleague Liu Ye.
He Jiong (1974) has been the host of China’s popular Happy CampTV show for over ten years. He is also a singer, actor, and used to be an Arabic teacher at Beijing’s Foreign Studies University. Chinese media have called He Jiong “a key figure in China’s entertainment industry.”
‘Happy Camp’ (快乐大本馆) is a prime-time variety show aired by Hunan TV. It is one of China’s most popular TV shows in China. With a viewership of tens of millions, it often holds first place in China’s total viewing ratings.
In 2017, both He Jiong and Xie Na made it to the Guinness Book of Records for being the male and female with the most Weibo followers.
The beautiful actress and singer Yang Mi (1986) went from number 8 to 4 in this list since last year. She gained fame and popularity through her various roles in Chinese hit tv dramas. Born in Beijing, Yang started her acting career at the age of 4.
Yang starred in many successful tv dramas, including in Eternal Love (三生三世十里桃花) and The Interpreters (亲爱的翻译官). Yang is now seen as one of China’s biggest actresses, and also as one with the most commercial value; she recently became the brand ambassador for Estee Lauder (雅诗兰黛) in 2017 and also became a new face for Michael Kors in that same year.
This year, Yang stars in the much-anticipated movie Baby (宝贝儿), in which she plays a poor girl that is fighting for the life of a baby with disabilities.
‘Angelababy’ (nickname for Yang Ying aka Angela Yeung, 1989) has practically become a household name in China over the past few years. The actress and model started her acting career in 2007 and has taken on many roles in different movies and TV dramas.
Angelababy especially made headlines when she married Chinese famous actor Huang Xiaoming in 2015 and took extravagant pre-wedding photos in Paris. In the same year, she also set off a firestorm of debate when she underwent a medical examination to prove that she did not have facial plastic surgery to defend herself in a court case against a beauty clinic.
Angelababy is one of China’s “New Four Dan Actresses” according to the 2013 Southern Metropolis Daily, meaning she is generally perceived as one of China’s most bankable actresses.
He also plays in 2018 Chinese television series The Rise of Phoenixes (天盛长歌), which is also available on Netflix.
Chen Kun, sometimes also known as Aloys Chen, is not only popular because of his acting work, but also for his looks – he is known to have a large gay fanbase. He is not shy about his looks, and likes to post a lot of photos of himself on his Weibo page.
Still the number six in this list is Vicky Zhao (1976). Zhao is a Chinese film star, singer, entrepreneur and director. She is also known for her work as the face for various brands, which has added to her wealth: she was named the world’s wealthies working actress by Forbes in 2015.
Together with actresses Zhang Ziyi, Zhou Xun and Xu Jinglei, she belongs to China’s ‘Four Dan Actresses’ (四大花旦, the four greatest actresses of mainland China) from the early 2000s. In the list of the ‘New Four Dan actresses’, there is Angelababy, number 4 in this list, who ironically is now the wife of Zhao’s former partner.
Zhao is now married to Huang Youlong, with whom she has a daughter. The couple made it to a list of the world’s wealthiest young billionaires in 2016. Zhao has a passion for wine; she bought her own vineyard in France in 2011.
Zhao Wei regularly updates her Weibo, where she posts about her work as an actress, her photoshoots, and her ambassador work for good causes.
In our 2015 list of Weibo’s biggest celebrities, Yao Chen was ranking first with 78 million followers. In our 2017 list, she ranked fifth with 80,5 million. But she has dropped in the number of people following her since then, thus also has dropping a few places in this list.
Fujian-born Yao Chen (1979) is a Chinese actress and Weibo celebrity, who was mentioned as the 83rd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine in 2014. Being the first-ever Chinese UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, she is also called ‘China’s answer to Angelina Jolie’ (Telegraph).
Yao Chen is not necessarily China’s number one actress, but she was one of the first celebrities to share her personal life on Weibo since 2009, and interact with her fans. On Weibo, she talks about her everyday life, family, news-related issues, work, and fashion. She posts personal pictures every day.
The combination of her popularity due to acting work, combined with her frequent Weibo updates and closeness to her fans, have made Yao Chen a huge Weibo celebrity.
This year, Yao stars in Lost, Found, a feminism-themed film released in October.
Ruby Lin Xinru (1976) is the first Taiwanese name in this list. She is an actress, producer, and singer, who especially became famous because of her role in TV drama My Fair Princess (1998). Since then she has starred in many different TV series.
Ruby is married to actor Wallace Huo, who starred in popular Chinese TV dramaRuyi’s Royal Love in the Palace (如懿传). They have one child together.
The couple has often been a target of cyberbullying, which is believed to be the reason why Huo closed his Weibo account in September of 2018. Lin posts regular updates on Weibo.
Deng is the only newcomer in this top 10 list. Deng Chao (1979) is a Chinese actor, director, and singer. He is, amongst others, known for his role in the popular variety program ‘Keep Running’ (奔跑吧).
Films in which Deng played, such as The Mermaid (2016) or DuckweedThe Dead End (2015).
Shadow is an upcoming Chinese historical film directed by Zhang Yimou in which Deng also stars, together with his wife Sun Li (孙俪).
Jimmy Lin (Lin Zhiying, 1974) is a famous Taiwanese actor and singer and race car driver. He is one of the top rally racers of China, but is also very successful in his showbiz career as actor and singer.
Over the past few years, Lin’s participation in the Chinese hit reality show Where Are We Going, Dad? has contributed to his success on Weibo.
For some time Lin dated Ruby Lin, number 7 on this list. Now he is married to model Kelly Chen (陈若仪), with whom he has three children.
He regularly updates his Weibo profile, talking about his work, his personal life, and posting pictures of him with his race cars.
The #flauntyourwealth or #fallingstars challenge, that was already popular in Russia this summer, has taken off in China. But many netizens seem to have a different take on what ‘flaunting wealth’ actually means.
Over the past month, the ‘falling stars’ or ‘Flaunt Your Wealth Challenge’ (#炫富挑战#, 230 million views) has been taking off on Chinese social media.
In the challenge that has gone viral, young Chinese share pictures of themselves ‘falling’ out of cars with their luxurious belongings spread out around them.
As reported by Quartz and other media, the challenge was previously also popular in other countries, and first spread in Russia this summer, where many people have been uploading photos that show staged scenes of themselves “falling” out of their vehicles, surrounded by an arranged circle of their luxury goods, from Gucci bags to expensive jewelry.
The challenge has drawn mixed reactions on Weibo, where some deem the pictures “pretty cool”, but with others saying: “Old Mao would turn in his grave!”
But now a different version of the meme is going viral on Weibo, showing people mocking the challenge by showing themselves on the floor with their diplomas, military credentials, painting tools, or study books around them.
One version of this ‘flaunt-wealth-anti-movement’ that specifically caught the attention on Chinese social media earlier this month, shows a Chinese soldier on the ground, surrounded by framed military awards.
One post dedicated to this photo was shared over 10,000 times and received over 18,000 comments.
“That is what actual wealth looks like!”, some popular comments said.
The lurid scenario of how China’s nascent Social Credit System (SCS) might unfold as presented by many international media, stands in stark contrast to how the topic is discussed on Chinese online media. Not only is the SCS discussed and presented much differently within the PRC, the topic is also not nearly getting as much attention as it does in the West.
“The year 2018 has been a crucial year in the development of China’s Social Credit System (社会信用体系),” lawyer Ju (居小森律师) writes on Weibo this week.
The past year has indeed been the year of China’s Social Credit System: it was an important year for the system’s implementation, and it also became one of the most discussed China-related news topics in international media1 – using sci-fi vocabulary, powerful emotional words, suspenseful music, and dramatic images in their SCS-focused stories, the SCS is presented much differently in Western media than it is within the PRC.
SCS: From Google to Weibo Trends
From October 2017 to October 2018 alone, the Google search engine comes up with more than six million results in a search for the term “China social credit system” in English. Showing all results from before this time, there are 160 million results for the term in total.
(whatsonweibo/google)
Google Trends statistics show that worldwide interest in China’s Social Credit System had its absolute peak in the past year, and that Black Mirror, the British science fiction series exploring the dark consequences of new technologies, is one of the terms that is most associated with the web search query ‘China’s social credit system.’
Black Mirror is a highly popular series on Netflix, of which one 2016 episode called ‘Nosedive’ revolved around a dystopian society where people are judged by a numeric rating given to them by their interactions with other people, affecting their opportunities in life. This episode is often connected to China’s SCS by Western blogs or news sites.
In the Black Mirror episode ‘Nosedive’, people’s position on the social ladder is determined by other people ranking them.
The Black Mirror association with ‘social credit’ does not only come up on Google Trends. On Twitter, for example, some of the hashtags most related to the term also includes “#blackmirror.”
In contrast to the English term, with 160 million results, the Chinese term for the social credit system (社会信用体系) comes up with only 19,2 million total search results on Google. Google Trends also shows a rather minimal interest in the Chinese term compared to its English equivalent.
Although that result is somewhat flawed (the Google search engine is blocked in mainland China), Baidu, one of China’s most popular search engines, also gives a comparatively small total of 7,7 million results for the same Chinese web search query.
All in all, there are clear indications that the attention for the Chinese Social Credit System in the international English-language online media environment is much bigger than that within China.
While the Social Credit System (SCS) is being mentioned on Twitter almost every five to ten minutes at time of writing, it is only being discussed on Weibo with intervals of minimally one or two hours by posts that are barely getting likes or comments.2
This is especially noteworthy when considering that Sina Weibo has around 100 million more monthly active users (±430 million) than Twitter has (±326 million).
So what does this all mean? How come that there is so much appetite for this topic outside of China, while inside the PRC, where the ‘system’ is well underway, there is a lesser public interest in its development?
What Actually is the Social Credit System?
In the book Social Credit Law: Principles, Rules and Cases, author Luo Peixin explains Social Credit as follows:
“Social Credit is a management system that takes big data as its basis, is supported by technological capacities, and is backed by law [legal provisions]; it is an important modern method to forward the country’s governance systems and management capabilities” (3).
Rather than one system or database, the Social Credit System is an overall policy or ideology, a mechanism of punishments and rewards, that is allegedly “meant to improve the integrity and trust level of the whole society” (creditchina.gov.cn).
In 2014, the Chinese government announced its first plans on the construction of a nationwide Social Credit System to be rolled out by 2020. For now, there is not one system in place, but rather a collection of different implementations and experiments across various regions and cities across China.
What they all have in common, though, is that individuals, corporations, or agencies are being assessed based on their ‘trustworthiness’ (Kostka 2018, 1).
In Shaanxi’s Ankan city, blacklisted trust ‘offenders’ are being publicly displayed on a local court’s LED screens this month (via http://jszx.court.gov.cn).
The past summer has seen some important developments in the realization of a national Social Credit System. In the Chinese state media article “The Credit Society is Coming, Are You Ready for It?” [“信用社会来临，你准备好了吗”], People’s Dailynotes that new Social Credit terms such as “blacklists” (黑名单) will become more ubiquitous in daily life from now on.
Earlier this year, the first names on the ‘lose trust list’ (失信人名单) – meaning those who have failed in complying with their public commitments or court orders – were reported to the Chinese railway and aviation departments by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to block these people from traveling.
At the beginning of 2018, twelve cities have been announced as successfully laying out the foundations of a Social Credit management system.3
Other Chinese cities are frequently added to the ‘credit cities’ list. Dalian, for example, is one of the cities that is highlighted by Chinese media this month for “steadily advancing” its Social Credit System implementation. The city has introduced an automated administrative process at its Public Resources Trading Center, in which people who are found to have bad credit will automatically be refused the handling of business.
It is just one among dozens of examples of how various cities and regions in China are experimenting with Social Credit and both punitive and rewarding measures.
Besides the SCS initiatives being implemented by local governments, commercial companies are also participating in making China a more credit-based society. Users who opt in to Alibaba’s Sesame Credit loyalty program system, for example, can enjoy many benefits if they have a good credit score (650+), such as borrowing books from the local library for free, or using share bikes without deposit (more on Sesame Credit and its perks here).
According to Weibo user ‘Lawyer Ju’, the broad credit system “covers both economic credit systems and social integrity systems,” within which the blacklist system is getting “more and more important”, adding that “the joint structure of ‘lose trust in one place, and there’s no place to go’ [一处失信、处处受限] will soon be here.”
Weibo Focus: No Bad Deed Should Go Unpunished
Lawyer Ju is not the only Weibo user who seems rather optimistic and happy about the implementation of a system that governs society based on trust.
Although major discussions on the actual ‘Social Credit System’ – using that exact term (社会信用体系) – are practically non-existent on Weibo, there are other examples of trending topics linked to the system that have gone viral lately.
One noteworthy example is the topic of two ‘Train Tyrants‘ that went trending on Chinese social media since August of this year.
The two train bullies that went viral the past months.
It all started with the “Highspeed Train Tyrant” (高铁霸座男) in September. It is a nickname that was given to a man who refused to give up the seat he took from another passenger on the G334 express train to Beijing in late August, and whose bizarre and rude behavior was caught on video.
The other train bully that went viral in September, is a woman from Hunan who was dubbed ‘High-Speed Train Tyrant Woman’ (高铁霸座女) by Weibo netizens.
She had taken a seat assigned to another passenger while riding the train from Yongzhou to Shenzhen. A video (YouTube link here) shows how the woman makes a scene when the train conductor tells her she is in the wrong seat; she refuses to get up, raises her voice, talks rudely to the conductor, and simply claims she has bought a ticket and will not change to another seat until she has reached her final destination.
The story of this female ‘train tyrant’ became trending on Weibo with over 500 million views.
With more than 600 million combined views on the stories of the highspeed ‘Train Tyrants’, making them one of the bigger news stories of the year, the unruly behavior of passengers on Chinese public transport system made headlines. When news came out that both ‘bullies’ were fined and blacklisted by the Chinese railways (banning them from boarding trains for 180 days, see this article by Jeremy Daum for more on the legal aspects), many commenters applauded the system – although some deemed it not punitive enough (“180 days and a 200 yuan [$28] fine is nothing!“).
Although this case concerned a Railway-specific blacklist, many people commented that this blacklisting system should also be applied to people disturbing the order in hospitals, for example, and that it should be linked with the nationwide Social Credit System.
Moreover, many deemed that the Social Credit System should be even more punitive to people disturbing the public order, saying they “only had themselves to blame” (“咎由自取”), and it is a mere matter of “how karma works.”
Twitter Focus: China’s Scary Social Credit System
Meanwhile, on Twitter, a very different Social Credit story is going viral. A two-minute short video published by the Economist on October 26 titled “How Does China’s Social Credit System Work?” has more than 275,000 views on Twitter alone at time of writing (Update 23.00 China time: Economist has removed the video within hours after this article was posted).
Accompanied by suspenseful music, the video starts by captioning that by 2020, “the Chinese government will give all 1.4bn of its citizens a personal score based on how they behave.”
It further alleges that the ‘system’ will “track people’s activities on the Internet,” and that “what they buy, view, and say online will all be analysed,” followed by the claim that “this data will then be evaluated and distilled into a single number according to rules set by the government.”
Still from the Economist video.
The Economist video then focuses on surveillance cameras “that track people’s behavior in public”, suggesting that someone’s “score” could be lowered by crossing a red light, and that 12 million people have already been “punished for having a low score” through domestic travel bans.
Among thousands of reactions on the video, many compared China to an “Orwellian surveillance state” or a “Black Mirror episode.”
This recent Economist video is but one of dozens of examples of international media outlets describing China’s Social Credit System within a certain framework, mainly linking it to terms such as ‘punishment,’ ‘surveillance,’ and ‘individual scores.’
Many of these news stories suggest that every Chinese citizen will be assigned a ‘score’, or that people’s mere way behaving in public will be able to lower that ‘score’, resulting in ‘punishment’ (FYI: there is no indication that there will be one ‘score’ for citizens in a nationwide SCS, also see this article).
These stories are often grossly conflating the (optional) commercial credit systems, such as Sesame Credit, with national government policies and local experiments. (For more about this, also check this article).
Dramatically Different Approaches
By just comparing the previously mentioned examples of the Train Tyrant viral story in China, and the Economist viral video, one can get a glimpse of the great gap in (social) media approaches of the Social Credit System in China and in Western media.4
“Creepy”, “Chilling”, “Sci-fi” – some of the words used in Western media headlines to frame the SCS.
In the international media headlines, powerful emotional words like ‘chilling’, ‘creepy’, or ‘dystopian’ are often used. Perhaps not coincidentally, marketers since long know that readers react more strongly to ‘alert words’ that make us feel anxious, such as ‘afraid’, ‘scare’, ‘risk’, and ‘alarm’ – which are all great words to get more engagement with social media users, and thus will result in more clicks.
As ‘sexy’ as the SCS might seem in Western media, as ‘dry’ it can seem in the Chinese media context, where the most powerful words used in headlines are terms as ‘trust’, ‘harmony’ or ‘blacklist’, and where there are no dramatic images; occasionally there is a featured photo of officials having a meeting (to see more on how state media propagates the SCS through cartoons, click here).
A typical SCS-focused article in Chinese media.
This difference in the framing of SCS between Western publications and Chinese articles can also be seen in the specific words used in SCS-focused news stories.
The word clouds below show the most used words in three typical SCS articles from Western mainstream media (Independent, Guardian, and ABC), and three typical English-language Chinese state media articles on SCS (namely Global Times, Xinhua, and China Daily ).
Most common words in news articles discussing the social credit system in Western media (left) and English-language Chinese media (right). (By What’s on Weibo via wordart).
While there are many words overlapping between the two examples, the most-used words in these Western media sources (left) are words as ‘system’, ‘list’, ‘citizen’, ‘behaviour’, ‘score’, and ‘government’, whereas the Chinese state media sources (right) more commonly use words as ‘business’, ‘law’, ‘market’, and ‘build.’
Doing the same experiment with Chinese-language state media articles on the SCS (Sina News, People’s Daily, and Guangming Daily) shows that ‘trust’ or ‘credit’ (信用) and ‘building’ (建设) are among the most-used words, with terms such as ‘enjoy together’, ‘cooperate’, or ‘unite’ frequently popping up.
The result of the most common words used in three state media articles on SCS (Whatsonweibo via Picdata).
The different public attitude towards the SCS implementation in China versus the Western media discourse on the issue, is also illustrated in a recent study by Genia Kostka (2018), that investigates Chinese citizens’ attitudes towards social credit systems. Rather than thinking of it as a ‘creepy’ or ‘dystopian’ system, it showed that SCSs actually have very high levels of approval across the respondent groups in the study (her work can be viewed here).
Social Credit Accounts without Followers
Ever since the 2014 plans of China’s Social Credit implementation were announced, Chinese social media has seen dozens of regional, urban, district-based ‘Social Credit’ accounts pop up on Weibo and WeChat to inform netizens of local developments.
The online presence of these local social credit programmes signals that Weibo and Wechat may have hundreds of these accounts in the future informing citizens/netizens of new measures and guidelines.
However, the fanbase numbers of these accounts, again, reflect that there does not seem to be that much interest for the nascent SCS implementations.
A brief overview of some of these Weibo accounts:
* Credit Suzhou @苏州工业园区信用平台 Followers: 391
First post on record: September 29, 2015
* Liaoning Credit @信用辽宁 Followers at time of writing: 764
First post on record: August 1, 2012
* Wuhu Credit
@信用芜湖 Followers at time of writing: 14
First post on record: August 22, 2016
* Beijing City Social Credit Building Promotional Association @北京市社会公信建设促进会 Followers at time of writing: 14913
First post on record: September 17, 2014
* China Trustworthy Guangzhou @中国诚信广州 Followers at time of writing: 383
First post on record: June 20, 2012
* Honest Suqian @诚信宿迁 Followers at time of writing: 21
First post on record: September 9, 2014
With more than 24,000 followers, the Weibo account of commercial credit system Sesame Credit (@芝麻信用) is much more popular than the government-related management programmes.
Perhaps the topic of SCS, for many Chinese, is lacking the ‘Black Mirror’ appeal it has for many Western consumers of news. Perhaps ‘harmony’ and ‘trust’ are not as click-worthy as ‘creepy’ and ‘dystopian’?
On Weibo, Lawyer Ju is confident in the future of SCS in China: “Whether it’s from a social, corporate, or individual perspective,” he writes: “‘trust’ is now everywhere; it’s become a necessary ‘virtual asset.’ The gradual improvement of the construction of a legal credit system is the fundamental policy in order to regulate the market economy.”
Although his message is sound and clear, it is perhaps also somewhat boring and dry: it has not received any likes or shares to date. Meanwhile, on Twitter, the Economist‘s suspenseful video on China’s grim SCS future has received more than 280,000 views, and counting. “Oh my god!”, one popular reply to the video says: “This is just like that Black Mirror episode!”
(Update 23.00 China time: Economist has removed the video within hours after this article was posted).
1 This article talks about ‘international’ or ‘Western’ media to show a clear difference from Chinese media. Although the term can be understood in many ways, we mean it here to address mainstream English-language (news) sources of media outlets from mainly the US, Europe, and Australia.
2 Please note that there is currently no reason to assume that discussions of this specific topic are being censored: censorship scanning sites such as Free Weibo show no signs that posts using the term are specifically targeted, and state media and local governments are actually trying to start up discussions on this topic, as I will briefly touch upon later on in this article.
4 Note that these are just small examples within a big and complicated discourse that has more sides to it than this article allows to zoom in on.
References
Kostka, Genia. 2018. “China’s Social Credit Systems and Public Opinion: Explaining High Levels of Approval” SSRN, July 23. Available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3215138 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3215138 [29.10.18].
Luo Peixin 罗培新. 2018. Social Credit Law: Principles, Rules and Cases [社会信用法：原理、规则、案例]. Beijing: Peking University Press.
People’s Daily. 2018. “Observing the Social Credit System: The Credit Society is Coming, Are You Ready for It? [观察社会信用体系：信用社会来临，你准备好了吗].” Xinhua June 4. Available online at http://www.xinhuanet.com/2018-06/04/c_1122931164.htm [29.10.18].
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Amidst safety concerns over disruptive passengers in China’s public transport system, Nanjing is introducing security partitions in buses and special awards for drivers who do not respond to aggressive behavior by passengers.
This week, the safety on China’s public buses is one of the most-discussed issues on Chinese social media, following the horrific crash of a bus in Chongqing caused by passenger’s aggression – which is just one but many incidents involving disruptive passengers on public transport.
On November 3rd, Chinese media report that the city of Nanjing will implement security partitions in all of its city buses to protect drivers against passenger abuse.
The Nanjing Public Transportation Group will arrange that around 8000 buses in Nanjing will be equipped with such dividers in 2019, People’s Dailywrites on Weibo.
Nanjing bus drivers are also requested not to respond to (angry) passengers and not to hit or talk back. Drivers who suffer abuse and do not react to it will receive a special compensation for pain and suffering called wěiqujiǎng (“委屈奖”), literally: “Grievance Award,” with prices going from 10 yuan ($1,4) to 200 yuan ($30).
Such a compensation was previously already introduced in some places in Anhui province.
“Grievance Award”, cartoon by Sina news.
In the case of the Chongqing crash, that killed 15 people, security footage from the bus’s black box showed that the driver fought back when he was hit by a female passenger, leading him to lose control over the steering wheel and plunging into a river.
Among the thousands of people commenting on Nanjing’s new safety measures, there are those in favor of the dividers and those against it. Those who are not supportive of the measure say that the partition might be dangerous because it would not allow passengers to help out in case the bus driver suddenly becomes unwell.
Public opinions seem to be less divided over the idea of the “Grievance Award” for drivers, with many criticizing it and finding it “laughable,” saying that one cannot put a price on several levels of feeling wronged, or that it is “undignified” and “irrational” to expect of drivers not to defend themselves against aggression.
Many comments also mention that the focus of these kinds of measures should lie on the punishments for disruptive passengers, instead of awarding drivers for suffering abuse.
“The bus should also have a system where people swipe their [public transport] card that is tied to their identity, so that troublemakers can be blacklisted,” some suggest.
Others say that bus drivers should be equipped with a taser gun to fend off aggressive passengers.
Some commenters write: “Bus drivers are also people, people who work in the service industry, not in the maltreatment industry!”
A recent announcement that over 6000 music videos need to be taken down from Chinese KTV systems has become top trending on Weibo, where many karaoke lovers fear that KTV nights won’t be as fun anymore.
A recent announcement issued by the CAVCA (China Audio-Video Copyright Association/音像著作权集体管理组织) ordered Chinese KTV managers and karaoke operators across the country to take down 6000 Chinese music videos from their assortment of songs for copyright issues.
Among the many music videos listed, there are those by, for example, popular Chinese singer-songwriter and actress Gloria Tang Tsz-kei, also known as G.E.M.
The CAVCA, that was established in 2008, issued a notice on its website explaining its latest crackdown on November 5, saying that KTV operators already had been ordered to take down the songs before October 31st of 2018.
According to Global Times on Weibo, more than 90% of the Chinese music videos used in the KTV business in China have been authorized by the CAVCA.
With more than 37 million clicks on Weibo, the topic “6000 Songs Taken Down from KTV” (#6000多首歌将从KTV下架#) became one of the top trending topics on Monday.
The public response to the KTV songs copyright takedown is two-sided: there are those who oppose to the measure for negatively impacting the karaoke business and customers’ options (“What’s the point of going to KTV anymore?”), and then there are those who express their support for better copyright protection in China.
“There’s nothing wrong with increasing awareness on copyright issues,” one top comment says.
“Foreigners love Chinese karaoke, because there is not much copyright awareness and because it’s cheap, while it’s extremely expensive abroad. These copyright measures will cool down [the KTV business],” one commenter says.
“They might as well shut down the KTV business altogether,” others write.
There’s been much talk about China’s ‘credit score’ recently, with many media conflating the country’s Social Credit System with the commercial Sesame Credit programme. In this article, we will explain the latter: what is Sesame Credit and what can users do with their high score?
With all the talks about China’s nascent Social Credit system and commercial social credit programmes, it is becoming clear that Chinese netizens are entering a ‘credit lifestyle’ (信用生活).
“All Chinese citizens now have a score,” is an idea that has popped up in many foreign media over the past years, often conflating it with China’s nascent ‘Social Credit System.’ To read more about the Social Credit System see our articles about this here or here. In this article, we will solely focus on Sesame Credit.
On Weibo, the official Sesame Credit account (@芝麻信用), which has over 240,840 followers, often announces new ways for people to profit from their (high) Sesame Credit score.
What’s on Weibo explores and lists five different ways in which a high Sesame Credit score can be used in China today. But first – what actually is Sesame Credit?
About Sesame Credit
Sesame Credit (Zhīma xìnyòng 芝麻信用) was launched on January 28, 2015, by Alibaba’s Ant Financial, after it had received permission by the PBOC (People’s Bank of China) to be one of the eight Chinese companies to experiment with personal credit reporting.
According to the Sesame Credit company, its major goal is to make credit more widely available to consumers and small business owners, and to “enable credit providers to make holistic and accurate decisions,” while also “empowering merchants to provide more credit-related services.”
Image via http://www.twoeggz.com.
Because Sesame Credit is part of Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group family (Ant Financial is an affiliate of the Chinese Alibaba Group), Sesame Credit has an enormous amount of data at its disposal, from e-commerce sites to finance products. China’s biggest shopping websites Taobao and Tmall belong to Alibaba’s vast online ecosystem, as does payment app Alipay.
It is not mandatory for users to opt into Sesame Credit. Some have compared the system to a loyalty program, although it is a bit more than that. Since 2015, for example, Sesame Credit also cooperates with the popular online dating service company Baihe.com (百合网), so that people can link their dating profile to their credit score. Sesame Credit already had 520 million users as of 2017.
Since its launch, various foreign media have written about Sesame Credit as an ‘Orwellian system.’ Among others, one of the reasons for this, is that Sesame Credit incorporates a publicly available ‘blacklist’ into its scoring process. The ‘blacklist’ is a Chinese courts’ list with the names of people that have an effective court justice against them; inclusion on this list can make users’ existing Sesame Credit drop dramatically, which would make people miss out on all perks of having a high Sesame Score.
Earlier in 2018, Alibaba, along with the seven other private credit programmes that were allowed to run their trial in 2015, become shareholders and active contributors to a new unified platform that has access to an enormous number of personal credit data. At the so-called ‘trust alliance’ (信联) Baihang Credit (百行征信), state level and commercial organizations join forces in further developing China’s credit systems.
About the Score
Within the Sesame Credit programme, the lowest score one can get is 350. The highest is 950. This score is based on users’ behavior across various platforms. A score of 550 to 600 is an intermediate/normal score. 600-650 is considered a ‘good’ score. Those in the 700-950 range are exceptionally high in score.
For those who first opt-in to Sesame Credit, and who have not had any violations, 600 is usually the score to receive.
Sesame Credit example scores explained, from 385 being in the low range to 731 being in the ‘good’ range.
Some of the important elements the score is allegedly based on, are –
• (35%) general credit history: past payment history and indebtedness – if persons still have enough credit on their credit card when purchasing items, if they pay their gas & electricity on time [often done through Alipay in China], pay violations tickets on time, etc.
• (25%) general financial status/fulfillment capacity: the available amount on users’ Alipay account, if they are renting a car/house etc. and are able to pay for it, status of Huabei (a credit card function within the Alipay wallet), etc.
• (20%) online behavior and preference: the extent to which an account is actively used, how many purchases are done, etc.
• (15%) people’s personal characteristics: educational background, address, real-name registrations, etc.
• (5%) contact network and interpersonal relationships: how many online contacts one has, ones’s influential power in contact list, interactions between user and friends, etc.
For those who opt in to Sesame Credit and have a high score, there are many different ways to benefit from it, as listed below.
The Top Ways to Benefit from Sesame Credit
Please note that there are more ways to benefit from a high Sesame Credit score, but we have listed five popular ones below.
#1 ‘Credit Treatment’ at Hospitals
In November of 2017, Sesame Credit first launched its “Credit Medical Treatment” (信用就医) services for people with a score over 650, with Shanghai’s Huashan hospital being the country’s first hospital to implement the function.
With “Credit Medical Treatment,” patients could save up to 60% of waiting time at hospitals by cutting lines and not needing to pay for treatments upfront. Payments are done through Sesame Credit’s in-app credit function Huabei (花呗).
While a normal procedure at Chinese hospitals can be time-consuming, the Sesame Credit procedure is much more efficient, mainly because people do not need to line up to pre-pay for their medical check-up and the medications.
Normal procedure:
(±20 min) 1. Arrive and register at the hospital and pay for it
(±60 min) 2. Waiting time to see a doctor
(±10 min) 3. Doctor’s appointment/consultation
(±20 min) 4. Line up for payment [of examination]
(±20 min) 5. Check-up/Examination
(±20 min) 6. Queue up for payment
(±10 min) 7. Pick up medicine
Image via xinhuanet.
The procedure with Sesame Credit:
(±3 min) 1. Register at hospital and payment by phone.
(±10 min) 2. Automatically get a number to see the doctor.
(±10 min) 3. Doctor’s consultation. Payment [for examination]
(±20 min) 4. Examination. Payment [for medicine]
(±10 min) 5. Pick up medicine
There are also other ways in which people with a good Sesame Credit score can enjoy extra services and benefits at hospitals. Those with a score over 600, for example, can rent a wheelchair in hospitals without deposit.
#2 Try First, Pay Later
Since September 2018, Sesame Credit offers the possibility to “try out” purchases from Tmall for consumers who have a Credit Score of over 700, promoting the idea of “never regretting a purchase.”
With this concept, people can order clothes or other items from e-commerce platform Tmall (天猫 Tiānmāo in Chinese) without any risk, having the guarantee to always being able to send back items that are unsatisfactory without paying for them.
There are also frequent promotions done by brands and companies in collaboration with Sesame Credit, such as offering people with a high credit score (over 750) to try out the newest Ford for three days, or to use the latest Meitu phone for 30 days for free, without necessarily needing to buy it afterward.
Meitu promotion for Sesame Credit users with a score over 750.
Sesame Credit also makes it more tempting for its users to spend a lot on (Alibaba) platforms in other ways. The higher one’s credit is, the more one is able to lend from online lending service Huabei; those with a credit higher than 750 can lend up to 20,000 RMB (±$2890). Unsurprisingly, the literal translation of Alipay’s ‘online credit card’ service Huabei (花呗) is “Just Spend.”
#3 No Deposit on Shared Bikes (and other things)
Sesame Credit has a partnership with bike sharing platforms Hello Bike (哈罗单车) and Ofo, allowing users with a credit over 650 points to rent these bicycles, that can be found anywhere in bigger cities in China, without paying a deposit.
It is not the only service that does not require a deposit for those with a high Credit score; using a shared umbrella, or a publicly available shared phone charger, or even renting some apartments often no longer needs a deposit for those with a higher score.
#4 Open Access to Libraries
In many places in China, people who have a Sesame Credit score over 550 no longer need to pay a downpayment and can set up a library card for free, in other places people with a higher Sesame score no longer need a library card at all to borrow books at their local libraries and/or their automated self-service street libraries (just their ID).
Since April of 2018, this special service for Sesame Credit users (not needing a card) was introduced in the entire Zhejiang province. Public libraries in other places, such as Shanghai, have already been experimenting with Sesame Credit perks for library lovers since 2015
#5 Special Lounges at Train Stations
Especially during peak seasons such as the National Day holidays or Spring Festival, China’s train stations can get exceptionally busy. For Sesame Credit members with a score over 650, there are now special lounges to relax.
Sinanotes that the lounge is only available to those members who have also bought a higher fair ticket (first class), or who have a platinum status.
Over the past week, hotlists of Baidu and Weibo were dominated by the news of China’s IG team winning the League of Legends (英雄联盟) World Championship for the first time in world history. Following China’s success at the previous Asian Games, China’s electronic-sports (esports) craze has now reached new heights.
In early November, ‘Invictus Gaming’ (IG) became the first Chinese team to win the League of Legends World Champions.
In a sold-out Munhak Stadium in Incheon, South Korea, the Chinese team took down Europe based FNATIC by 3-0 on November 3rd.
League of Legends is an online multiplayer video game developed and published by Riot Games in 2009 in which a team of players has to battle against the opposing team by gaining more strength through the accumulation of items and experience over the course of the game.
College Craze over IG
During the finals and in the days that followed, the internet flooded with reactions from esports enthusiasts. On Weibo, hashtags such as “IG are the Champions”（#ig冠军#）and “What the championship of IG means” (#IG夺冠的意义#) went viral, together scoring more than 1,5 billion views. IG’s World Championship has shown, more than ever, how booming esports actually are in China.
During the finals, many photos and videos of school canteens, sports field and internet café’s full of young people watching the final circulated on the internet.
Right after IG defeated FNATIC, videos posted online by students of the Nanchang Institute of Technology, Tianjin Institute of Technology, and many other universities showed countless dormitory rooms with students celebrating, cheering and chanting “IG are the Champions!” (IG冠军!).
At one university, several students even put up a banner reading: “If IG wins the championship, Unit 310 goes naked” (“IG夺冠！310集体裸奔”). Photos and videos later confirmed that some people partly held themselves to the agreement, showing young men wearing nothing but their underwear running around holding the IG’s flag.
Over the past week, photos of banners hanging from university dormitories, congratulating IG, also spread online – showing a craze that is similar to that over football fever in some other countries.
The IG Fever Meme Machine
The craze over the IG victory has triggered dozens of memes on Chinese social media over the past week.
One of these memes involved Chinese businessman Wang Sicong (王思聪), son of billionaire Wang Jianlin. With more than 38 million Weibo followers, Wang Sicong @王思聪 is not only a popular Weibo blogger – he is also the founder of the current ‘Invictus Gaming’ team by acquiring top Chinese gaming club ‘Catastrophic Cruel Memories’ in 2011, in order to promote professional eSports in China.
Wang was spotted eating a large hot-dog during the games, in somewhat uncharming way, sparking a range of memes.
Some copied the image of Wang eating the hotdog in art..
…but the meme also went from online to offline as some companies used it to promote their food or products.
The trend went so far that the hashtag “Wang Sicong’s Hotdog-Eating Image” (#王思聪吃热狗头像#) received over 380 million views, and that the businessman even asked his followers on Weibo to stop sharing his hotdog picture.
As reported by Radii, Wang Sicong also went viral for revealing that he would be selecting 113 fans (11.3 is the date IG won) to receive 10,000RMB ($1440) each, choosing the winners on 11.11 Single’s Day.
At time of writing, that post had attracted a staggering 17 million comments.
But there were also other types of memes on Weibo this week, namely, those making of fun of the many people who had never heard of IG before and were surprised with the online craze surrounding the championship.
Netizens used self-irony in depicting themselves feeling like some kind of Neanderthal when hearing people discussing the IG championship…
Or by depicting two monkeys with a big “Congratulations IG” above them and one wondering “What is IG?!”, and the other telling him just to follow the rest in congratulating them anyway.
This response also shows that China’s post-70s and post-80s are not as familiar with the latest esports craze as China’s younger (post-90s, post-00s) generations are.
A Momentous Victory
The enormous hype over the World Championship of the Chinese team shows that there is more to the topic than the victory the five IG players alone. Many esports fanatics see the Chinese teams’ success as a crucial moment of recognition of esports in the PRC.
After IG was crowned world champion, the hashtag “What the Championship of IG Means” (#IG夺冠的意义#) received over 530 million views, with many Weibo users liking and sharing the following text:
“Perhaps middle-aged and elderly people don’t know what just happened, but the Chinese team won the LPL world championship. After seven unsuccessful years, the Chinese teams have been under tremendous pressure from the public. […] But now IG is the world champion. Why do people hear the cheers of young people outside? Because we are the teenagers that were never understood, but now at this very moment, we got our recognition.”
In conclusion, some facts & numbers:
● The first professional League of Legends world competition was held in 2011 in Sweden.
● League of Legends is considered to be the largest electronic sport in the world, being the most played game in the world for three consecutive years since 2016.
● In 2018, an estimated 81 million people worldwide played League of Legends each month.
● During the 2018 world final, a record was set with 205,348,063 viewers watching the game at the same time. 203.389.444 of these viewers were Chinese.
● The total prize money of the 2018 LPL world championship was $2,250,000.
● Invictus Gaming won $843,750 prize money. The money was divided equally amongst a total of six players, meaning every player earned $140,625. (Note: the team also received bonuses from other third parties).
By Gabi Verberg and Manya Koetse, with contributions from Miranda Barnes Follow @whatsonweibo
Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us.
It’s all about the money? When billionaire Wang Sicong announced he would be giving away more than $160,000 to Weibo users, his post generated over 63 million reactions.
The victory of Chinese esports team Invictus Gaming (IG) was one of the biggest trending topics on Weibo the past week, with the joy among China’s younger generations over winning the League of Legends World Championship being noticeable both online and offline.
Cheering crowds for the Chinese team (Sinanews).
Amid cheering crowds on campuses and celebratory posts flooding WeChat and Weibo, there was one post that especially stood out this week: that of Chinese billionaire Wang Sicong (王思聪).
Wang Sicong, who now has over 41 million followers on his Weibo account (@王思聪), is one of China’s most famous fu’erdai (富二代), the term that refers to the ‘second generation rich’: the children of the nouveau riche in China. Wang is the son of Chinese tycoon Wang Jianlin (王健林), who is known as one of the richest persons in Asia.
On November 6, three days after Invictus Gaming’s League of Legends victory, Wang posted on Weibo:
“To celebrate IG’s championship, I will do a championship month event; this month, I will draw prizes in four waves. Today is the first one, and out of everyone who comments/likes/forwards this post, I’ll draw 113 people (to celebrate the awesome day of 11.3 [when IG won]), and those people will all get 10,000 yuan [±$1437] in cash.
At the time of writing, the post has received more than 24 million shares, over 20 million comments, and 19 million likes.
On November 11, Single’s Day, Wang announceed that the winners had been picked through Weibo’s lottery picking system (@微博抽奖平台).
Besides that it is likely that Wang’s post is a collaboration with Sina Weibo, Wang has more reasons for this noteworthy prize drawing. Wang himself is the founder of the current ‘Invictus Gaming’ team; he acquired the top Chinese gaming club ‘Catastrophic Cruel Memories’ in 2011, in order to promote professional esports in China.
The ‘lottery’ has also boosted Wang’s online fanbase, which grew by two million fans within several days time.
Biggest Posts on Weibo
Although there is not often this big of a number of reactions and shares for one post on Weibo, Wang’s post officially is not the ‘number one’ popular post of all times on Weibo.
In 2016, Guinness World Records actually announced a world record for “Most comments on a Weibo™ post.” The record holder is the Chinese singer and actor Lu Han (鹿晗), whose 2012 post about his favourite soccer team, Manchester United, had received 100,899,012 comments.
What is a bit misleading about the record, however, is that the comments were accumulated over a period of multiple years.
To put into perspective how popular Wang Sicong’s recent post really is, we will line up some examples of posts that became booming on Weibo.
Last year, one post by Lu Han in which he announced his new relationship actually led to a temporary breakdown of Weibo’s servers. A day later, the post had received 2,4 million comments – far less than the amount of comments Wang’s post received over the past week.
Wang Baoqiang announced on Weibo that his wife betrayed him and that he was getting a divorce.
Another noteworthy post that made social media blow up was that of Chinese actor Wang Baoqiang, who announced on Weibo in 2016 that he was divorcing his wife and firing his agent because of their secret love affair. That post received over 1,5 million comments within 24 hours.
The apology post by Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, who was caught up in what has become the most controversial tax scandal of 2018, had its comments disabled, but received over 340,000 shares and some two million likes.
According to Time, the most popular post on Twitter of 2017 was that of Carter Wilkinson who asked American fast food chain Wendy’s “how many retweets for a year of free chicken nuggets?”, which received a reply from the chain saying “18 million.”
By now, Carter’s tweet “HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS” has received more than 3,5 million retweets. (Although he did not make it to 18 million, he still got his year-long supply of nuggets.)
It is clear that by accumulating more than 60 million reactions (shares, comments, likes) within seven days, Wang Sicong’s post is now among the top scoring posts of all time on Weibo. (Do you know of other posts that set Weibo booming, please let us know in the comment section below – we might make a list later).
To find out who the most popular Weibo celebrities are, check our recent top 10 here.
They might have aired 30 years ago, but some TV dramas just never get old. We have listed the greatest classic Chinese TV dramas of all time, that, either because of their high-production value or historic ratings, are still talked about today. A special overview by What’s on Weibo, as China celebrates 60 years of TV drama this year.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of Chinese TV drama since the airing of the very first (one-episode) drama A Mouthful of Vegetable Pancakes (一口菜饼子) in 1958 – the same year in which the very first Chinese television station started broadcasting (Bai 2007, 77).
The drama, live broadcasted by Beijing Television, sent out a message of frugality, as one young girl warns her sister not to waste food by remembering her of their difficult past and brave mother, who died of hunger while even refusing to eat the last bit of food, a vegetable pancake.
A Mouthful of Pancakes aired in 1958.
Much has changed within those sixty years. After a time when the production of TV dramas practically came to a standstill during the Cultural Revolution, the late 1970s and early 1980s saw a boom in the popularity of television dramas, along with a spike in households that owned their own TV. From 1980 to 1990, the number of household television sets in China increased from 5 to 160 million (Wang & Singhal 1992, 177).
Since the 1980s, mainland China has gone from a country where most television dramas were imported from outside the country, to one that has the most thriving domestic TV drama industry in the world.
Some TV dramas in this list have become classics through time, some are fairly new but have already become classics within their genre.
This list has been fully compiled by What’s on Weibo, based on popularity charts on Chinese search engine Sogou’s top tv drama listings of all time, together with ranking on Douban, a big Chinese social networking service and influential media review website, and also based on academic sources that note the importance of some of these TV classics.*1 We will list a recommendation list of relevant books at the end of this article.
Most of these series will have links redirecting to available versions on Youtube or elsewhere – unless written otherwise, they do not have English subtitles. Please share English subtitled versions in the comment section if you found them, we’ll add them to the list.
This article is focused on those classics that have been important for the TV drama industry and audiences of mainland China. Although several of them were produced in Hong Kong or Taiwan, the majority is from the PRC. These dramas are listed in chronological order of appearance, not listed based on rankings.
Here we go!
#1 The Bund / The Shanghai Bund (上海滩)
Year: 1980
Episodes: 25
Genre: Action
Produced in Hong Kong
Noteworthy: “The Godfather of the East”
This TV drama became such a sensation across China in 1980, that it also became known as the Chinese equivalent to the classic Godfather series.
Actors Angie Chiu and Chow Yun-Fat star in this Hong Kong drama, that is set in the underworld society of 1920s Shanghai, and revolves around the tumultuous love story between Feng Chengcheng and Xu Wenqiang.
The series has become such a classic that it still plays an important role in popular culture of China today, with newer films and TV dramas also being based on the original series (the 2007 mainland China TV series Shanghai Bund, for example, is a remake of the 1980 original). If you ever go to karaoke, you’re probably already familiar with the shows’ famous theme song ‘Seung Hoi Tan’ (上海滩) by Frances Yip (see here).
#2 Eighteen Years in the Enemy’s Camp (敌营十八年)
Year: 1981
Episodes: 9
Genre: War Drama
Watch the first episode here on Youtube.
Noteworthy: “The first TV drama produced by CCTV”
Eighteen Years in the Enemy’s Camp is somewhat of a cult classic in China. Despite the fact that the TV drama itself was somewhat poorly produced, it still gets high ratings on sites such as QQ Video or Douban today.
At a time when the Chinese TV drama market was still dominated by imported television series (from Hong Kong, US, and other places), Eighteen Years in the Enemy’s Camp was the first drama series made by CCTV (Bai 2007, 80), directed by Wang Fulin (王扶林) and Du Yu (都郁).
The story revolves around the Communist Party member Jiang Bo (江波), who spends 18 years undercover in the “tiger’s den” (虎穴), the enemy’s camp, as a National Army officer, thwarting the Nationalists’ plans until the 1949 victory of the Communists.
Fun fact by Ruoyun Bai (see references): despite the fact that the entire show is about the Nationalists Army, not a single Nationalist Army uniform could be found for the cast. The uniforms that were used, were not up to par: the main character had to leave his coat’s collar unbuttoned because it was too tight, and always has his hat in his hands because it was actually too small to fit his head (2007, 80-81).
#3 Ji Gong (济公)
Year: 1985
Episodes: 12
Genre: Fantasy
Directed by Zhang Ge (张戈)
All episodes can be watched here on YouTube.
Noteworthy: “Influenced by Charlie Chaplin”
This popular TV series is centered around Ji Gong, the folk hero and Chan Buddhist monk who lived in the Southern Song and, according to legend, had supernatural powers and spent his whole life helping the poor.
The main role is played by renowned Chinese artist and mime master You Benchang (游本昌). In an interview with CRI, the actor once said that he was heavily influenced by his idol Charlie Chaplin for this role, sometimes even imitating some of Chaplin’s gestures.
#4 Chronicles of The Shadow Swordsman (萍踪侠影)
Year: 1985
Episodes: 25
Genre: Wuxia/Martial
Directed by: Wang Xinwei (王心慰)
Produced in Hong Kong
Episodes available on Youtube here.
Noteworthy: “Perfect Chemistry between Leading Actors”
This classic TV drama features actors Damian Lau as Zhang Danfeng and Michelle Yim as Yun Lei, whom are often praised by drama lovers for their perfect chemistry in these series. Of the many adaptations there are of Liang Yusheng’s wuxia novel Chronicles of The Shadow Swordsman, many say this is their favorite.
#5 New Star (新星)
Year: 1986
Episodes: 12
Directed by: Li Xin (李新)
Noteworthy: “A drama anyone over 50 will remember”
This CCTV mini-drama, based on the novel by Ke Yunlu (柯云路), tells the story of a young Party secretary fighting against corruption. Before Heaven Above (later in this list), it is thus one of the very first dramas to focus on corruption as a theme, and it also caused a buzz at the time for doing so – most people over 50 in China today will probably remember this TV series today.
This is an all-time favorite TV series in China that is still rated with a 9.5 on the TV drama database of search engine Sogou. It has been an instant classic from the moment it was first broadcasted by CCTV in October of 1986.
Journey to the West (Xīyóu jì 西游记), published in the 16th century (Ming dynasty), is one of the most important classical works in the history of Chinese literature, and tells the story of the long journey to India of the Tang Monk Xuánzàng, who is on a mission to obtain Buddhist sutras. He is joined by three disciples, the pig demon Zhū Bājiè, the river demon Shā Wùjìng, and Sūn Wùkōng, who is better known as the Monkey King in the West.
The Monkey in the series is played by Zhang Jinlai (章金莱), also known as Liu Xiao Ling Tong, who recently recalled in an CGTN article that: “it was 30 years ago and we’d got only one camera. We walked around China’s picturesque areas and took 17 years to make 41 episodes. 17 years equals Monk Xuanzang’s pilgrimage for the Buddhist scriptures.”
#7 “The Dream of Red Chambers” (红楼梦)
Year: 1987
Episodes: 36
Directed by: Wang Fulin (王扶林)
Watch with English subtitles on YouTube here.
Noteworthy: “The first entry of Chinese tv drama into the global market”
Even today, this CCTV TV series from 1987 is still rated as one of the best Chinese television series of all time on Sogou, where viewers rate it with a 9.6.
Like other series in this list, this is an adaptation from a classic literary work; Dream of the Red Chamber (Hónglóumèng), one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels, which was written by Cao Xueqin in the mid-18th century during the Qing.
In June of 1987, this TV drama became the first Chinese television series to be exported to Malaysia and West-Germany, making it “the first entry of Chinese tv drama into the global market” (Hong, 32).
#8 The Investiture of the Gods (封神榜)
Year: 1990
Episodes: 36
Genre: Fantasy/Costume Drama
Directed by: Guo Xinling (郭信玲)
The first episode is available on YouTube here.
Noteworthy: “Based on the classical novel Fengshen Yanyi“
This TV series is based on the classical novel Fēngshén Yǎnyì (封神演義), also known as Investiture of the Gods or Creation of the Gods), written by Xu Zhonglin and Lu Xixing. Famous Chinese actor and painter Lan Tianye (蓝天野) was praised for his role as Jiang Ziya in this drama.
The (female) director Guo Xinling (1936-2012) was a Party member who worked on many televised works during her career.
Just as many others of the series in this list based on classic novels, there are remakes of these series in recent times.
#9 Yearnings / Kewang (渴望)
Year: 1990
Episodes: 50
Genre: Family drama
Directed by Lu Xiaowei (鲁晓威) and Zhao Baoguang (赵宝刚).
Noteworthy: “China’s first soap opera – a national craze”
Yearnings is also known as China’s real first soap opera, which caused a sensation across the nation – sales of TV sets surged, and streets were empty when it aired.
The story’s time spans from the Cultural Revolution until the 1980s reform period. The series, set in Beijing, tells the story of working-class woman Liu Huifang and her unlikely marriage to the middle-class Wang Husheng, a university graduate who comes from a family of intellectuals. When Huifang finds an abandoned baby, she adopts it against the will of her husband.
As the first TV series that focused on the hopes and dreams of ordinary Chinese people, the success of Yearnings was unprecedented, and it formed the beginning of Chinese television drama as we know it today.
#10 River of Gratitude (江湖恩仇录)
Year: 1989
Episodes: 20
Genre: Wuxia/Martial
Directed by: Mao Yuqin (毛玉勤)
Watch first episode on Youtube here
Noteworthy: “A true classic – it’s nostalgia!”
One of the main stars in this series is actress and producer Wenying Dongfang (东方闻樱), who also starred in A Dream in Red Mansion (1987).
By commenters on Douban, this series is described as a “cult classic.” Although some say the quality of the series, now, looking back, is somewhat substandard or silly, according to many, the nostalgia of seeing it in the early 1990s and being excited about it seems to play a major factor in why people still grade this one as a true classic – it’s nostalgia!
#11 Wan Chun (婉君)
Year: 1990
Episodes: 18
Produced in Taiwan
Noteworthy: “The first Taiwanese TV series filmed in mainland China”
Wan Chun is a 1990 Taiwanese television series about a girl named Wan Chun and her three adoptive brothers, that is based on the 1964 novel “Wan-chun’s Three Loves” (追尋) by Taiwanese writer and producer Chiung Yao, and which is set in Republican era Beijing.
This is the first cross-strait co-production, as a Taiwanese TV series filmed in mainland China. Wan Chun was followed up by the 1990 Taiwanese television drama series Mute Wife based on Chiung Yao’s 1965 novelette of the same name.
#12 The Legend of Qianlong (戏说乾隆)
Year: 1991
Episodes: 41
Genre: Imperial drama
Produced in Taiwan (Taiwan-mainland co-production)
Watch on Youtube here
Noteworthy: “The beginning of a genre”
In today’s TV drama environment of China, dramas that focus on life during the imperial era are ubiquitous, with titles from the Imperial Doctress to Story of Yanxi Palace being everywhere.
But when this drama aired in the early 1990s, it was something quite new. The Legend of Qianlong, also known with the English translation A Fanciful Account of Qianlong, tells the (fictional) stories of the Emperor Qianlong’s Tours of Southern China.
It was the beginning of a drama genre that turned out to be hugely popular, with many new television series focusing on emperors and empresses in their youth or their tumultuous lives during the height of their power (Barme 2012, 33). Perhaps, this 1991 series will always be a classic just because it was one of the first within its genre.
#13 The Legend of the White Snake (新白娘子传奇)
Year: 1992
Episodes: 50
Genre: Fantasy
Produced in Taiwan
Noteworthy: “One of the most replayed TV series”
As many of the classics in this list, this hit TV series is also based on a folk legend, namely that of Madame White Snakee, a mythical snake-like spirit who strives to be human, which is a source for many major Chinese operas, films.
The 1992 TV series stars Angie Chiu and Cecilia Yip. In 2016, it was still one of the most replayed TV series. Even on IMDB, it is rated with an 8.2.
Noteworthy: “The first Chinese-language TV show to be shot in the United States”
The TV series Beijinger in New York, also known as A Native of Beijing in New York, based on the novel by Glen Cao (Cao Guilin), was a hit when it was first broadcasted broadcast nightly on CCTV and watched by millions of Chinese.
The story follows the immigrant life of cello player and Beijinger Wang Qiming (王起明), who arrives in New York in 1980 together with his wife, and begins working as a dishwasher the next day.
The TV series marks a first in several aspects. It was the first Chinese-language TV show to be shot in the United States, but it was also the first time ever for the production of a Chinese TV drama that a bank loan was used in order to make it possible (Bai 2007, 83); in other words, it also marks the start of a more commercialized TV drama environment. FYI: the bank loan that was used was a total of US$1.3 million.
#15 I Love My Family (我爱我家)
Year: 1993
Genre: Comedy
Episodes: 120
Directed by Ying Da (英达) et al
First episodes on Youtube here.
Noteworthy: “First Mandarin-language sitcom”
I Love My Family (Wǒ ài wǒjiā) is one of China’s first popular sitcoms, and the first Mandarin-language and multi-camera sitcom, that aired from 1993 to 1994. It has since been rerun on local channels countless of times.
One of the show’s central stars is Wen Xingyu (文兴宇), who was a popular comedian and director in mainland China.
At the time of I Love My Family, sitcoms were mostly characterized by their low production cost; three episodes were made within five working days (Di 2008, 122).
#16 Justice Pao (包青天)
Year: 1993
Episodes: 236
Genre: Historical drama
Produced in Taiwan
Some episodes on Youtube here.
Noteworthy: “From 15 to 236 episodes”
This series is themed around Bao Zheng (包拯), a government official who lived during China’s Song Dynasty, from 999 to 1062, and who was known for his extreme honesty and uprightness. Award-winning Taiwanese actor Jin Chao-chun (金超群) plays this role.
The series was originally scheduled for just 15 episodes, but was received so well when it aired on Chinese Television System, that it was eventually expanded to 236 episodes.
The story of Justice Bao is still a recurring topic in the popular culture of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. There was the 2008 Chinese series Justice Bao, and the 2010 New Justice Bao, that also starred Jin Chao-chun.
#17 Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义)
Year: 1994
Episodes: 84
Genre: Historical drama
Directed by: Wang Fulin (王扶林)
Buy original novel here: The Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Some episodes available with English subtitles here.
Noteworthy: “400,000 people involved in the production”
This is another classic TV series produced by the CCTV, and that is also adapted from a classical novel (same title, written by Luo Guanzhong). Its director, Wang Fulin (王扶林), also directed the CCTV’s first TV drama Eighteen Years in the Enemy’s Camp, and A Dream of Red Mansions.
The production of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is especially noteworthy because the productions costs broke all kinds of records at the time; the production of the 84 one-hour episodes took four years, total costs were over 170 million RMB (±US$25 million), and around 400,000 people were involved – the larghest number of people involved in a production in the history of Chinese television. THe show has been watched by some 1,2 billion people around the world (Hongb 2007, 127).
Noteworthy: “First drama about high-level official corruption”
In late 1995, the CCTV drama Heaven Above (Cāngtiān zài shàng) debuted on Chinese TV as the first TV series about high-level official corruption in the PRC.
It would certainly not be the last, as ‘corruption dramas’ became wildly popular – it is the entire focus of the 2014 book Staging Corruption by scholar Ruoyun Bai.
#19 Foreign Babes in Beijing (洋妞在北京)
Year: 1995
Genre: Urban drama
Episodes: 20
Noteworthy: “Foreign women in Chinese dramas”
Foreign Babes in Beijing (Yáng niū zài Běijīng) was one of the new kinds of dramas that featured foreigners in China. This series focues on two Chinese men and two American women, of which one seduces one of the Chinese (married) men. The show was a big hit in the mid-1990s.
Year: 1999
Episodes: 21
Genre: History/War
Directed by: Liu Yiran (刘毅然)
Watch on Billibilli here, QQ, or on Youtube.
Noteworthy: “Rated with a 9.1”
This 1999 series is still rated with a 9.1 on Douban today. The series tells the experiences and hardships of three generations of Chinese intellectuals during the tumultuous (war)history of China’s 20th century, starting during the May Fourth Movement in 1919.
Chen Jianbin (陈建斌) is one of the famous actors starring in this TV drama as Fang Xuetong.
#21 Yongzheng’s Dynasty (雍正王朝)
Year: 1999
Episodes: 44
Genre: History/Costume
Noteworthy: “Qing drama as export product”
Yongzheng Dynasty is one of many so-called “Qing dramas” – TV dramas that focus on palace life during the 1644-1911 Qing Dynasty. According to scholar Zhu (2008), one of the reasons that dynasty dramas such as these became so enormously popular in mainland China is that (1) certain social and political issues can be discussed in the shape of stories and settings that are very much removed from modern-day China, allowing for more relaxed censorship policies on storylines and dialogues, and (2) that the reconstruction of “history” allows room for artistic interventions (22).
This epic TV drama was loosely based on historical events in the reigns of the Kangxi and Yongzheng Emperors, and became one of the most watched television series in mainland China of the 1990s. Also outside of China the show became very popular, making the so-called ‘Qing dramas’ an export product.
#22 Towards the Republic (走向共和)
Year: 2003
Episodes: 59 (one hour per episode)
Genre: Historical drama
Directed by: Zhang Li (张黎)
Watch on Youtube , buy on Amazon with English subtitles.
Noteworthy: “59 hours of historical drama”
This is one of the most important TV series in this list. On Sogou ratings, Towards the Republic, which is also known as For the Sake of the Republic (Zǒuxiàng gònghé), is one of netizens’ top all-time favorite series, rated with a 9.7.
The CCTV TV drama tells the story of the historical events in China from 1890 to 1917 – the time during which the Qing Dynasty collapsed, and the Republic of China (1912-1949) was founded. Important historical events such as the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), the Hundred Days’ Reform (1898), the Boxer Rebellion (1900) and the Xinhai Revolution (1911) are all featured in this epic drama, that mainly focuses on the lives of Li Hongzhang (Chinese general in late Qing), Empress Dowager Cixi, Sun Yat-Sen, and Yuan Shikai.
The historical drama was not without controversy, and some parts of it have been censored in mainland China. The original series had 60 episodes, which was later brought down to 59. The TV drama has also been a fruitful topic for scholars for its representation of history. In the 2007 book Representing History in Chinese Media: The TV Drama Zou Xiang Gonghe (Towards the Republic) by Gotelind Mueller, the entire series is analyzed in how history is portrayed and narrated.
#23 Crimson Romance (血色浪漫)
Year: 2004
Episodes: 32
Genre Youth drama
Directed by: Teng Wenji (滕文骥)
Watch on Youtube here.
Noteworthy: “Romantizing the Cultural Revolution”
There are almost 40,000 netizens ranking this 2004 TV drama on Douban, where it scores a 8.7.
The TV drama, which is also known as Romantic Life in English, dramatizes memories of the Cultural Revolution, focusing on a group of friends, their hopes and dreams, and their romantic life. It is set in Beijing in the late period of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
#24 Fu Gui (福贵)
Year: 2005
Episodes: 33
Genre: Family drama
Directed by Zhu Zheng (朱正)
Original novel: To Live: A Novel
Watch on Youtube.
Noteworthy: “Based on the novel To Live“
Chuang Chen (陈创), Liu Mintao (刘敏涛), and Li Ding (李丁) star in this family drama, which is ranked with a 9.4 on Sogou, and 4,5 stars or a 9,4 on Douban (more than 5500 voters).
The drama is based on the 1993 novel by Yu Hua (余华) To Live (活着), which focuses on the struggles of the son of a wealthy land-owner, Xu Fugui, amidst the tumultuous times of the Chinese Revolution. The story became well-known by the movie of the same title by Zhang Yimou, which became an international success.
#25 Ming Dynasty in 1566 (大明王朝1566)
Year: 2007
Episodes: 46
Genre: Historical drama
Directed by: Zhang Li (张黎)
Available with English subtitles on Youtube
Noteworthy: “Scoring a 9.7 on Douban, rated by 55,000 users”
Ming Dynasty in 1566 (Dàmíng wángcháo), starring Chinese actor Chen Baoguo (陈宝国), is a Chinese television series based on historical events during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (1507-1567) of the Ming dynasty. It was first broadcast on Hunan TV in China in 2007.
On Douban, more than 55000 people have reviewed this movie at time of writing, coming up with a score of 9.7, one of the highest in this list. The drama was also broadcasted in other countries, such as South Korea.
#26 Dwelling Narrowness (蜗居)
Year: 2009
Episodes: 35
Genre: Urban Drama
Directed by: Teng Huatao (滕华涛)
Watch on Youtube here.
Noteworthy: “Focusing on China’s urban real estate bubble”
Also known as Snail House, this TV drama was all the rage back in 2009 for its focus on the crazy housing market in urban China and the lives of ordinary Chinese who are struggling to survive in the city while living in small spaces. Dwelling Narrowness, based on a novel by the same name, tells the story of two sisters with very different lifestyles who are looking to find a home in Shanghai (or actually, the fictional city of Jiangzhou, that basically represents Shanghai), and improve their quality of life, each in their own way.
The real estate bubble is a major theme throughout these series, and the TV drama was much-discussed within the frame of Chinese urban dwellers becoming “house slaves” (房奴). In the year of its broadcast, Wall Street Journal featured an article dedicated to the series and the discussions it triggered online.
#27 The Red (红色)
Year: 2014
Episodes: 48
Genre: War drama
Directed by Yang Lei (杨磊)
Noteworthy: “Patriotism as its key theme”
War drama The Red (Hóngsè) receives a 9.2 on Sogou, showing its success over the last four years.
Edward Zhang (Zhang Luyi 张鲁一) stars in this drama as an ordinary worker in Shanghai who gets caught up in underground circles at the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, and unexpectedly becomes part of a decisive moment in Chinese modern history. Perhaps unsurprinsginly, ‘Patriotism’ is a key theme throughout The Red.
#28 Moral Peanuts – Final Season (毛骗 终结篇)
Year: 2015
Episodes: 10 (in this season)
Genre: Crime/Suspense
Directed by: Li Hongchou (李洪绸)
Watch on Youtube here.
Noteworthy: “A gang of friends who con people out of their money”
Rated with a 9.6 on Sogou and a 9.6 by more than 26,000 people on Douban, this TV drama has already become somewhat of a classic in the few years since its airing.
Moral Peanuts is a multiple season series (started in 2010), that follows a gang of five young friends who live together and earn their living in a fraudulent way. The series is characterized by its cliffhanger endings and its ‘grey’ portrayals of its characters.
#29 In the Name of the People (人民的名义)
Year: 2017
Episodes: 55
Genre: Corruption drama
Directed by: Li Lu
Available with English subtitles here.
Noteworthy: “The Chinese ‘House of Cards'”
In the Name of the People is a 2017 highly popular Chinese TV drama series based on the web novel of the same name by Zhou Meisen (周梅森). Its plot revolves around a prosecutor’s efforts to unearth corruption in a present-day fictional Chinese city by the name of Jingzhou.
In 2017, this TV drama became a true craze on Chinese social media and received a lot of coverage in (international) media for being comparable to the American political drama House of Cards. The BBC described it as “the latest piece of propaganda aimed at portraying the government’s victory in its anti-corruption campaign.”
#30 White Deer Plain (白鹿原)
Year: 2017
Genre: Contemporary historical drama
Episodes: 85
Directed by: Liu Jin (刘进)
WAtch with English subs at New Asian TV here.
Noteworthy: “The epic TV drama took nearly 17 years to prepare and produce “
This TV drama has consistently been ranking number one in Baidu’s and Weibo’s popular drama charts last year, and is now ranked with an 8.8 score on sites such as Douban. Although it is somewhat tricky to call such a present-day drama a ‘classic’, we’ll take the chance.
White Deer Plain is based on the award-winning Chinese literary classic by Chen Zhongshi (陈忠实) from 1993. The preparation and production of this series reportedly took a staggering 17 years and a budget of 230 million yuan (US$33.39 million).
The success of the novel this TV drama is based on, has previously been compared to that of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. White Deer Plain follows the stories of people from several generations living on the ‘White Deer Plain,’ or North China Plain in Shanxi province, during the first half of the 20th century. This tumultuous period sees the Republican Period, the Japanese invasion, and the early days of the People’s Republic of China. The series is great in providing insights into how people used to live, from dress to daily life matter. The scenery and sets are beautiful.
*1(We kindly ask not to reproduce this list without permission – please link back if referring to it).
References
Bai, Ruoyun. 2007. “TV Dramas in China – Implications of the Globalization.” In Manfred Kops and Stefan Ollig (eds), Internationalization of the Chinese TV sector, 75-99. Berlin: LIT Verlag.
Bai, Ruoyun. 2014. Staging Corruption: Chinese Television and Politics. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Barmé, Geremie. 2012. “Red Allure and the Crimson Blindfold.” China Perspectives, 2012/2, 29-40.
Di, Miao. 2008. “A Brief History of Chinese Situation Comedies.” In Ruoyun Bai, Ying Zhu, Michael Keane (eds), TV Drama in China, 117-129. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Hong, Junhao. 2007. “The Historical Development of Program Exchange in the TV Sector.” In Manfred Kops and Stefan Ollig (eds), Internationalization of the Chinese TV sector, 25-40. Berlin: LIT Verlag.
–. 2007b. “From Three Kingdoms the Novel to Three Kingdoms the Television Series: Gains, Losses, and Implications.” In Kimberly Besio and Constantine Tung (eds), Three Kingdoms and Chinese Culture, 125-143. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Zhu, Ying. 2008. “Yongzheng Dynasty and Totalitarian Nostalgia.” In Bai R, Keane M, Zhu Y. (eds), TV Drama in China, 21-33. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press; 2008
Wang, Min and Arvind Singhal. 1992. “Kewang, A Chinese Television Soap Opera With A Message.” Gazette 49: 177-192.
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The ban on 22 dog breeds in the city of Chengdu, including the common Chinese rural dog, has sparked anger among many Chinese netizens on social media.
Starting from November 16, the city of Chengdu will ban a total of 22 dog breeds in several restricted areas in the city, which includes major Chengdu districts such as Wuhou, Chenghua, Jinniu, and Jinjiang.
The banned breeds are mostly larger dogs, or those known for their sometimes aggressive nature. The banned dogs breeds include the German Shepherd, Staffordshite Terrier, Mastiff, Bull Terrier and Pitbull Terrier, Akita, Newfoundland, Great Dance, and others (see full list here). The list also includes the common Chinese rural dog.
The hashtag “Chengdu Cleans Up Dogs” (#成都清理禁养犬#) had over 330 million views on Weibo at time of writing, making it the top trending topic of the day.
Pet owners are devastated about the ban on 22 dog breeds in Chengdu.
Earlier this week, Chengdu Expat already wrote about the new measures, which reportedly are implemented to “create a civilized and hygienic environment,” and to push pet owners to register their dogs.
GoChengdualso warned pet owners that if they live in a restricted area and their dog belongs to the banned breeds, they need to find a new home for it (in an unrestricted area) before November 16.
Chengdu Expat also recommends pet owners to make sure their dogs have the right vaccinations, and to keep their pet passports with them at all times.
On Weibo, many netizens are dismayed with the recent measures. “They shouldn’t ban the dogs, they should educate pet owners,” many commenters say.
There are also commenters, however, who say they support the new crackdown on bigger dog breeds, saying it protects people and makes the city a safer place.
The past year has seen many incidents with dogs making headlines in China. In late October, two incident of (unleashed) dogs attacking people in the streets, leading to serious injuries, went viral on Chinese social media – also leading to more people calling for better dog regulations in China.
In the city of Wenshan, dog owners were recently banned from walking their dogs on the street between 7am and 10pm each day, and Hangzhou has also implemented new measures to “clean up uncivilised dog-keeping behaviour”
One of the most discussed things within this topic is the Chengdu ban on the Chinese common dog, that is listed with the other 21 banned breeds. “We’re not even allowed to raise our own Chinese dogs!”, many say: “What did the common Chinese dog ever do wrong?”
“Today is a sad day,” one Weibo user wrote: “Reading about the Chinese rural dog becoming a banned dog makes me cry.”
Other netizens are also emotional about the new measures, writing: “They are basically asking us to ‘dispose of’ our own family members.”
A Party official from Chuxiong country, Yunnan, has become the talk of the day on Chinese social media, after his photo was posted online by the local organizational department on November 15. His photo and short biography were posted as part of an introduction of local officials and their responsibilities.
The photo of the man, a local Party committee secretary named Li Zhongkai (李忠凯), would normally have never been noteworthy. The fact that the information with it said that Li was born in August of 1980 is what caught the attention of netizens, with many people thinking the grey-haired man looks much older than 38, and some even doubting his age.
According to his bio description, Li is a Chinese Communist Party member who started working at the end of 1999. He is now a Party secretary in Chuxiong’s Wanbi town, various Chinese media sources write, responsible for poverty alleviation, relocation of households, and fulfilling an important role at the time of the landslides in Yunnan. In 2018, he was praised for his service excellence by the local county.
Chinese media outlet The Paperwrites that it has been verified that the photo is indeed the 38-year-old Li, and that a co-worker told media that Li’s workload is heavy.
A WeChat video in which Li was interviewed earlier this year, in September, shows the man still had black hair at the time.
Although many joked about the man, there are now also more serious comments. “Working at the grassroots level is really tough,” many commenters write. “If you’d tell me he was 60, I’d believe it.”
There are also those giving the man some advice on his appearance: “Just lose some weight and exercise, that will make you look younger.”
Li spoke to reporters, saying he was “surprised” about his photo going viral, and also explaining that his work was not easy, as many places in the county are remote and require him to travel long hours.
The Party official has now become popular on Weibo, where some encourage him to open a Weibo account to share more about the work he does in the county.
“Brother, please take care of yourself,” some commenters say: “You look like you’re over 50.”
The comments from education mogul Yu Minhong on the moral degeneration of Chinese women leading to the degeneration of the country, have caused major controversy on Chinese social media.
The founder and CEO of the US-listed education institution New Oriental (新东方教育), Michael Minhong Yu (Yu Minhong 俞敏洪), has caused quite some consternation on Chinese social media for holding women responsible for the decline of the country.
The comments in question were made at the Shanghai Educational Forum (2018学习力大会) on Sunday, November 18, where Yu – also known as “the richest teacher in China” – spoke in front of a large audience and said: “Chinese women’s standard for picking men is now based on his ability to make a lot of money. In the end, if a country is doing well or not, often leads back to women. And now the degeneration [or ‘corruption’: duòluò 堕落] of Chinese women is leading to the degeneration of the country.”
Yu’s remarks, that can be viewed in the video below, drew some laughter from the audience.
The comments by Yu were made in light of his discussion on education, suggesting that people’s evaluation standards define the direction of education, just as women’s standards for men define the quality of men.
Yu’s comments soon went viral on WeChat and Weibo, where the hashtag “Yu Minhong discriminates against women” (#俞敏洪歧视女性#) received over 38 million views.
“What kind of logic is this, to suggest that Chinese women are picking men based on their ability to make money?!”, some commenters said: “Don’t generalize like that, and please respect women!” “Are all the women he knows like that?” some wondered.
The issue especially captured the attention of netizens when Chinese actress Zhang Yuqi criticized him on Weibo, saying that “[your] Peking University education and New Oriental have not helped you understand the value of females and the meaning of gender equality.”
Zhang’s post attracted over 92,000 comments at time of writing.
Despite the general anger over Yu’s comments, there were also those who expressed some support. “He might be a bit extreme, but many women are actually like that,” one male commenter wrote.
Yu Minhong later apologized for his remarks on his Weibo account, where he has over 14 million followers. His post, that had disabled comments, received nearly 240,000 likes. Yu wrote:
“Today at a forum, I mentioned that ‘evaluation standards can determine the direction of education,’ and I used women’s standards for choosing spouses as an example. But I didn’t express myself correctly, and it has led to much misunderstanding among netizens – I greatly apologize for that. What I really wanted to say is: the standard of women in a country represents the level of that country. Women who have high inner quality, and mothers who have high quality, will raise high-quality children. Men are also led by women’s system of values. If it is an intellecual life that women pursue, then men will become wiser. If women only have money in their eyes, then men will desperately strive to make money, and neglect their spiritual life. If a woman is strong, then a man is strong, then a country is strong.”
By now, many (video) reports and comment sections about Yu’s remarks have been taken offline.
Yu Minhong founded the educational institute New Oriental in 1993, and it has now become the largest provider of private educational services in China. As a successful businessman and a national political advisor, the “Godfather of English Training” is known for his outspokenness.
The festive atmosphere at the 55th edition of Taipei’s Golden Horse Awards was overclouded by political remarks on stage about both an independent Taiwan and a unified Taiwan. The Film Festival’s ‘Taiwan independence’ controversy has become the talk of the day on Chinese social media.
The annual Taipei Golden Horse Film Awards (台北金馬影展) have been shrouded in controversy since Taiwanese director Fu Yue (傅榆), who won an award for the best documentary, expressed her hopes for an “independent Taiwan” in her acceptance speech, followed by a remark by Chinese mainland actor Tu Men (涂们), who expressed his joy over coming to “China, Taiwan.”
During the live-televised event, cameras often zoomed in on the audience. After the remarks by Fu Yue and Tu Men, the divide between Taiwanese and mainland guests became painfully clear from their mixed reactions – with people showing both support and disapproval.
Fu, whose documentary Our Youth in Taiwan focuses on the 2014 Sunflower Movement, was visibly emotional during her speech, which she concluded by saying that she hoped “the country can be regarded as truly independent entity one day” and that this was her “biggest hope as a Taiwanese.”
Although her speech received some cheers and applause from the audience, some shots of the audience also showed people clearly disapproving by not clapping or smiling at all.
Famous Taiwan director Ang Lee (李安), who chairs the Golden Horse committee, could be seen hesistantly smiling, frowning, and holding his hands together without clapping – an image that has since become a meme on Chinese social media.
Later on in the show, actor Tu Men from mainland China struck back at Fu Yue by saying he was honored to present an award in “China, Taiwan” (“很荣幸来到中国台湾”) and that “both sides were one big family” (“我感到两岸一家亲”).
That remark was followed by some audible gasps from the audience, with some people immediately showing their support by clapping and laughing, with others showing stern faces.
The live streaming of the awards received thousands of live comments on Youtube, with people saying things as: “We want our our Taiwan Island, give Taiwan back to us and give us independence” and “I’ll never support Taiwan independence, Taiwan will always be a province of China.”
But that was not all – the controversy further grew when leading Chinese actress Gong Li, chair of the jury , declined to stand on stage with Ang Lee at the end of the ceremony to present the award for Best Feature Film. According to the programme, the mainland actress was supposed to present the award together with Ang Lee, but when Li asked Gong to come up on stage with him, she did not respond.
Although it is not entirely clear what the context of this incident is – Ang Lee later explained that it was because she wanted to sit together with the other jury members – most netizens assume Gong’s move was a political one in response to the remarks on an independent Taiwan.
The hashtag “Gong Li Refuses to Confer Award” (#巩俐拒绝颁奖#) went trending on Chinese social media, receiving over 1,8 billion views on Weibo at time of writing. “Ang Lee responds to Gong Li Refusing to Confer Award” (#李安回应巩俐拒绝颁奖#) received 110 million views.
Reporter Simon Zhou posted a photo of the post-festival event on Weibo, showing empty chairs, saying that many mainland actors and actresses had refused to join the celebrations after the controversial event, even though Zhang Yimou, one of mainland China’s most acclaimed directors, took home the most awards for his film Shadow.
Since the end of the 55th edition of the Golden Horse Festival, the night’s events have been snowballing into a larger issue. According to the BBC, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen spoke out after the festival, saying that Taiwan “never accepted the phrase ‘China, Taiwan’, and never would, because Taiwan is Taiwan”.
Meanwhile, Chinese state media (People’s Daily, China Daily) have been promoting the hashtag “China Can’t Become Smaller” or “Not Even a Bit Can Be Removed from China” (#中国一点都不能少#) on social media, which is a slogan that was first used during the South China Sea arbitration in 2016.
The past year, discussions on the ongoing Taiwan Strait Issue have flared up multiple times. In August, Taipei-born actress Vivian Sung (宋芸樺) attracted thousands of comments on Weibo for a comment she made about Taiwan being her “favorite country” in an older interview.
In the same month, Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen paid a visit to a Los Angeles chain of Taiwanese 85°C Bakery Café (85度C) while on her United States trip. The occasion, captured on photos, triggered major controversy among mainland netizens, who tied the event to the 85°C Bakery supposedly supporting Taiwan independence.
Oh, the #GoldenHorse 'political drama' just has so many sides to it. This is when mainland actor Tu Men strikes back, saying he's happy to present an award in "China, Taiwan" ("很荣幸来到中国台湾") saying it's "one big family" ("我感到两岸一家亲"): https://t.co/m1hDt0VbbMpic.twitter.com/5TAZk8SPqw
It started with a controversial promotional video, got really messy when screenshots went viral of a China-bashing online conversation with the alleged Stefano Gabbana, started snowballing when D&G claimed the account was hacked, and ended with the cancellation of Dolce & Gabbana’s big Shanghai show. A classic trending marketing drama has captured the attention of Chinese netizens today.
One of the biggest topics on Chinese social media today is a controversy involving Italian luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana, better known as D&G (Dùjiābānnà 杜嘉班纳 in Chinese), and the cancelation of its high profile Shanghai fashion show that would have taken place on Wednesday night.
1: The Video
The story starts with the Italian fashion house D&G’s recent campaign series “DG Loves China,” which was launched in order to promote a runway show that was supposed to take place in Shanghai on November 21st.
As part of the campaign, D&G issued multiple videos on social media. One of them shows a Chinese-looking woman – all dressed in D&G – attempting, quite unsuccessfully, to eat a large cannoli bread with chopsticks.
A male Chinese voice over in the video then suggests that the cannoli might be “too big” for the lady (watch one of the videos on Temper Magazinehere).
She then takes a small part of the bread with her chopsticks, after which the voiceover says: “Right, now you feel like you’re in Italy, while you are in China.”
The campaign was promoted through Instagram and also went live on Weibo on November 18, using hashtags as #DGLovesChina# and #DGTheGreatShow#. But it was not received very well by many netizens on Chinese social media, with some calling it “outdated and stereotypical,” “racist,” or “disrespectful.”
China-focused fashion publication Temper Magazinenotes that this is not the first time for D&G to trigger this kind of controversy in mainland China.
In April of 2017, netizens also reacted angrily to a series of D&G photographs shot in Beijing streets, which featured glam models next to common taxi drivers or impoverished local residents. Many thought the photos purposely showed a more ‘ugly’ side of China, instead of the more glamorous sides of the city.
Welcome to episode 3 with Dolce&Gabbana’s “eating with chopsticks". We will be tackling the Italian Spaghetti al pomodoro! Now even though you think they may be similar to Chinese noodles, there is a GREAT difference in the way you eat them.#DGLovesChina#DGTheGreatShowpic.twitter.com/etzd3b31xe
This week, the D&G videos in question were pulled from Weibo following the criticism. On Twitter, the videos are still available (check one of them in embedded Tweet above to judge for yourself).
2: The “Racist” Designer
The social media storm snowballed out of control after screenshots of comments attributed to fashion designer Stefano Gabbana went viral on Wednesday, also being reposted by major Chinese state media accounts such as Global Times.
The screenshots were posted by Instagram user Michaela Phuong Thanh Tranova (@michaelatranova), a fashion business student, although it is stil unclear why this Instagram user would have a private Instagram conversation with Stefano Gabbana and whether or not they are acquainted.
Alleged screenshots of conversation with Mr. Gabbana (completely unverified but went viral anyway).
Alleged screenshots of conversation with Mr. Gabbana (completely unverified but went viral anyway).
Despite the lack of context and/or veracity of the conversation, the screenshots, in which the alleged fashion designer uses rambling texts and refers to China as the “land of sh*t” and speaks of “China ignorant dirty smelling mafia”, soon spread on Chinese social media, where many netizens called for a boycott of D&G.
“This is not just a designer, he is one of the creators of D&G,” some commenters said: “The brand literally carries his name.” And: “Congratulations with your bankruptcy.”
3: The Cancelled Fashion Show
On Wednesday afternoon, Beijing time, Stefano Gabbana published a post on his official Instagram account, in which the designer said his Instagram account had been hacked, adding, “I love China and the Chinese culture. I’m so sorry for what happened.”
Despite the alleged hack of the Gabbana account, news came out on Wednesday that the much-anticipated Shanghai fashion show of D&G, that would take place this evening, had been canceled.
“The fashion show that was planned on November 21st at 20.00 has been rescheduled due to circumstances, we deeply regret any inconvenience caused,” the official D&G account published on Weibo, just some three hours before the show would take place.
The hashtag “DG Show Cancelled” (#DG大秀取消#) had received 340 million 490 million views at time of writing, being one of the top 10 trending topics of this moment.
According to Chinese media, various Chinese celebrities, including Zhang Ziyi (章子怡) and Chen Kun (陈坤) had already refused to attend the show.
On Weibo, many netizens do not believe the claims by D&G that their account had been hacked, saying things such as: “Ha, ha, ha, your show has been canceled, you tried to make money off China, get lost!”
The Sina Fashion Weibo account has since posted photos of the fashion show venue, that is now deserted (images below).
Meanwhile, Instagram user @michaelatranova, who posted the screenshots of the conversation with the alleged D&G designer, posted on Instagram that “we all (not only us Asians) deserve a better treatment from all (fashion) brands that pretend to cater to our needs just to stuff their pockets with our money.”
Many Chinese netizens seem to agree with the Instagram user, as hundreds of Weibo commenters are calling for a China boycott of D&G.
As this story is still developing, feel free to share your view on this below in the poll: do you believe Gabbana’s account was really hacked, do you think it is an excuse, or is it irrelevant?
The controversies surrounding Italian fashion brand D&G in China have been dominating Weibo’s top trending lists this week. Because it’s a somewhat messy affair, we’ll explain the story hashtag by hashtag.
November of 2018 will go down in Dolce & Gabbana history for the China marketing nightmare that has been unfolding over the recent days.
The Italian fashion house, that has been founded in 1985 by designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, is now facing consumer outrage and backlash on Chinese social media. Chinese e-commerce sites have removed Dolce & Gabbana products and Chinese netizens are posting photos of empty D&G stores.
An overview of what has happened over the past week through Weibo hashtags:
15,7 MILLION VIEWS – On Sunday, November 18, Dolce & Gabbana posted three videos to social media in a series titled “Eating With Chopsticks” in light of its “DG Loves China” campaign, promoting its upcoming big fashion show in Shanghai that would take place on Wednesday, November 21st.
The brand had been doing quite well in China in the month before. The Digital Crew website wrote in October that D&G had “hit the nail on the right spot” with their recent move to cast Chinese celebrity Dilraba Dilmurat and Chinese stylist Han Huohuo at their Milan fashion show catwalk, receiving praise from Chinese netizens.
Its new video campaign, however, was not received with praise. The videos feature a Chinese-looking model dressed in D&G clothes using chopsticks to eat Italian dishes such as pizza, cannoli, and spaghetti. Unsuccessful at clumsily trying to eat these dishes, a male Chinese voice-over in the video then suggests things such as that the cannoli might be “too big” for the lady, and that she could try by digging in and eating smaller pieces with her chopsticks.
The clips were not much appreciated for various reasons. Some Chinese netizens thought the campaign was making fun of Chinese chopsticks, others thought the comment of the Italian bread being “too big” for the Chinese model had a sexist undertone.
Subtitles: “This is perhaps too big for you?” Netizen’s comment: “Seriously?!”
Meanwhile, English-language media wrote that Dolce & Gabbana’s latest campaign was called “racism” by Chinese. Although the ad was indeed called racist by some Chinese on Weibo, the majority of commenters were mainly upset about the portrayal of chopsticks in the series. The hashtag “D&G Ad” (#DG广告#) received 170 million views.
410 MILLION VIEWS – The social media storm snowballed out of control after screenshots of comments attributed to fashion designer Stefano Gabbana went viral on Wednesday, also being reposted by major Chinese state media accounts such as Global Times.
Various Instagram screenshots showed how, from the account of Stefano Gabbana, statements were made about China being a “shit country” and other derogatory remarks.
The screenshots were posted by Instagram user Michaela Phuong Thanh Tranova (@michaelatranova), a fashion business student, although it is still unclear why this Instagram user would have a private Instagram conversation with Stefano Gabbana and whether or not they are acquainted.
The statements went viral on Chinese social media, where they led to waves of criticism and anger, with people defending China and calling for a boycott of D&G.
Amid the allegations, the designer on Wednesday said that his Instagram account had been hacked and posted an image with the words “NOT ME” written across one of Tranova’s screenshots. The company similarly claimed to have been hacked in a statement posted on its official Instagram page. “We have nothing but respect for China and the people of China,” the statement read.
820 MILLION VIEWS – Later on Wednesday, the D&G issue hit the topic trending lists on Weibo, when it was announced that the big Shanghai fashion show was called off.
According to Jing Daily, it was China’s Cultural and Tourism Department that ordered Dolce & Gabbana to cancel the event, just a few hours before it was scheduled to take place and amid reports that Chinese celebrities were canceling their attendance at the show for the fact that the brand was “insulting to China” (辱华).
Photos of an empty D&G fashion show scene were posted on Weibo.
The official D&G account did not mention the reason for the cancelation, nor who ordered it, but just wrote on Weibo: “The fashion show that was planned on November 21st at 20.00 has been rescheduled due to circumstances, we deeply regret any inconvenience caused.”
By now, the online anger about D&G insulting China through its ad and Gabbana’s statements had grown so big, that most people simply wished for the Italian fashion house to “get lost.”
360 MILLION VIEWS – On Friday afternoon, China time, Dolce and Gabbana released an apology video on its official Weibo account. The video shows Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana sitting at a table with grave expressions on their face (see embedded Tweet below).
The founder of @dolcegabbana said sorry in Chinese to all Chinese people around the world, saying that they will respect Chinese culture more. The apology video was posted on its official Weibo account in China. pic.twitter.com/ADflYhMIhC
The two speak in Italian as they say that they “feel very grieved” over what their “statements and actions” have brought about “for Chinese people and their country” over the past few days, and that they hope they can be forgiven for their “misunderstanding of [Chinese] culture.”
They end the video by apologizing in Chinese, saying “duibuqi“.
Before midnight, the video had received more than 166,000 comments and more than half a million shares. Over 100,000 people ‘liked’ the post.
Among the most popular comments, there were those inquiring if Gabbana’s Instagram had been hacked or not, since the video does not mention it. “Were you hacked or not, because if you weren’t, then I won’t accept your apology,” one of the most popular comments said.
160 MILLION VIEWS – Meanwhile, a screenshot of a WeChat conversation between a customer seeking a refund and a representative from Dolce & Gabbana Hangzhou also has gone viral on Chinese social media, ending up in the top ten charts of the day.
The screenshots show that the woman demands back a deposit she paid D&G of 2400 yuan ($346), saying she no longer wants to wear the brand for fear people would “throw sh*t at her.”
D&G Hangzhou then responded to the issue, saying that they would not refund money because of this “temporary crisis.”
“A temporary storm can also turn into a permanent one,” some commenters said.
Whether or not this “temporary” storm will indeed turn into a serious long-term China marketing crisis for D&G is yet to be seen. In the past, Daimler China also found itself at the center of a social media storm in China after using a Dalai Lama quote in its advertisement in March of this year (listen to this BBC news fragment here), which seemingly had little consequences for the brand, as it is still expanding in China.
The Lotte group also faced serious backlash in China in light of the THAAD crisis. The Lotte boycott of 2017 in the end turned out to be critical for the brand’s presence in China, with the group losing $46 million every quarter due to the China situation.
about her experiences of playing in the show and her life in China at the time.
