Society

news and reports on contemporary social issues in Greater China

AI straight-washes gay couple in ‘Together’

by at

Source: China Digital Times (9/23/25)
Netizen Voices: AI Straight-washes Gay Couple in Imported Horror Movie “Together” [Updated: Film Withdrawn]
By Samuel Wade

The critically acclaimed U.S.-Australian body-horror movie “Together” launched in China on September 19. Some viewers noted, alongside cuts to sex scenes, a less familiar and overt form of alteration: one male character in a scene originally depicting a same-sex wedding was digitally replaced with a woman. [Updated on September 25, 2025: The film’s global distributor has blamed its local distributor for the changes, saying “Neon does not approve of Hishow’s unauthorized edit of the film and have demanded they cease distributing this altered version.”] The exact circumstances surrounding the change are unclear, but the following comments, compiled by CDT Chinese editors, illustrate the resulting storm of indignant criticism on film-focused corners of platforms like Douban, Zhihu, and Xiaohongshu (RedNote). Several refer to the Chinese government’s longstanding stance toward homosexuality of 不支持不反对 bù zhīchí bù fǎnduì, or “neither supporting nor opposing.” That purported balance has increasingly tilted toward opposition in recent years, with LGBTQ+ content and organizations facing mounting suppression. Other comments express fear that the face-swapping heralds a new wave of more technologically advanced and less readily identifiable censorship.

rockiron99: The mainland Chinese version of “Together” uses AI technology to “face swap” a same-sex couple from the original film into a straight couple. If they just deleted scenes, we could work it out by watching BluRay or streaming versions, and even scene alterations like cropping, dimming, or photoshopping in skirts could be fairly readily identified. But the evolution of alteration methods like this AI face-swapping is terrifying … in the future, we won’t even be able to tell if we’re watching the original film or not.

Superbia: We’ve reached the point where it’s not a matter of cuts, but of falsification and misrepresentation.

有劳犬子费心了： This is nauseating because it not only interferes with the integrity of the plot, it disrespects the sexual orientation of the actors. Congrats to those Chinese with thin skins for pioneering this new mode of film import. Next time, they might as well straight-swap “Call Me by Your Name” for hetero screenings. Continue reading AI straight-washes gay couple in ‘Together’ →

Nostalia for the ‘beauty of the boom years’

by at

Source: NYT (9/16/25)
China Is Longing for the ‘Beauty of the Boom Years’
阅读简体中文版 | 閱讀繁體中文版
Nostalgia for the fashion and culture of the years after the millennium, when the future held promise for many, is a commentary on today’s mood.
By Li Yuan

Credit…Dongyan Xu

A new catchphrase is sweeping China’s social media: The Beauty of the Boom Years.

Using apps like RedNote and Douyin, people are reviving memories of the 2000s and the early 2010s with photos of daring outfits, upbeat songs and vintage TV commercials, all of which, in different ways, evoke a time in China that pulsed with optimism.

“The music back then throbbed with exuberance, brimming with the sense that the future could only get brighter,” a middle-aged man said in a RedNote video. “Today’s lyrics begin with lines like, ‘We’re trying our best to survive.’”

Others reminisced about fashion. “Twenty years ago when I was in college, I wore camisoles and hot pants,” wrote a female RedNote user under the hashtag #BeautyOfTheBoomYears. “These days, students dress more like nuns, always draped in oversized clothes.”

Using the hashtag, Chinese who started their careers two decades ago brag about when they received multiple job offers with generous year-end bonuses. Younger users respond with oohs and aahs, remembering their childhoods, a time when China felt livelier, cozier and full of possibility.

The phrase expresses a longing for an era when China’s economy was roaring ahead and, for many, optimism was almost second nature. It doubles as a commentary on the country’s mood today. It especially speaks to China’s younger generation, who are grappling with an economic slowdown, record youth unemployment and tighter social controls. Continue reading Nostalia for the ‘beauty of the boom years’ →

Chinese Millennials

by at

New Publication: Chinese Millennials: What Is To Be Done?
by Qingxiang Yang, translated by Todd Foley
Palgrave Macmillan, 2025

Through a unique combination of anecdotes, wide-ranging literary analysis, cultural commentary, and interviews, author Yang Qingxiang identifies certain core problems faced by his generation, and asks how they might be solved. Yang’s frank, sincere, and often unflattering assessment of contemporary Chinese society offers an illuminating and large-scale analysis of the new society that has taken shape over several decades of post-Mao economic reform, and its relevance has only been affirmed since it was first published in 2015.

Qingxiang Yang (杨庆祥) is a poet and literary critic based at Renmin University in Beijing, where he is a professor of literature. He is a recipient of the 8th Lu Xun prize for criticism, and has served on the judge’s panel for the Mao Dun Literature Prize. He has published several poetry collections, and is considered one of the most representative and best-selling poets of his generation. In English, he is the co-editor of The Sound of Salt Forming (University of Hawaii Press, 2016), a collection of translated short stories by ‘80s generation Chinese writers.

Posted by: Todd Foley twf218@nyu.edu

China tries to expand social safety net

by at

Source: NYT (8/29/25)
China Is Trying to Expand Its Social Safety Net. Yet Many Chinese Are Worried.
阅读简体中文版 | 閱讀繁體中文版
A move to force employers to pay into benefits for their employees has left people worrying that small businesses will close and jobs will be lost.
By Vivian Wang, Reporting from Beijing

Couples walking outside a building, including women in loose maternity wear.

Outside a maternity hospital in Beijing last year. As of Sept. 1, all employers in China must contribute to benefits for their employees, to support their pensions, medical care, maternity leave and more. Credit…Andrea Verdelli for The New York Times

As of Sept. 1, all employers in China must contribute to benefits for their employees, to support their pensions, medical care, maternity leave and more.

That should come as good news to many ordinary Chinese, given how threadbare China’s social safety net has been. But rather than celebrating, many in China have reacted with worry and frustration.

Small business owners have said that their labor costs will skyrocket. Workers have speculated that their bosses will lay them off or lower their salaries. Economists have warned that the policy could push more people into the gig economy, possibly lowering the formal employment rate and stripping workers of protections.

“If they force us to pay, we’ll have to close up shop and go home,” said Yan Xuejiao, whose family runs a rice noodle shop in Beijing.

“Especially the way business is going this year, ask around — which business owner is able?” she continued, gesturing at the empty restaurants, hers included, on the downtown street. “We’re all about to give up our leases and quit.” Continue reading China tries to expand social safety net →

Mass protest in Jiangyou

by at

Source: China Digital Timess (8/22/25)
Sensitive Words: Intense Online Censorship of Video and Hashtags About Mass Protests in Jiangyou, Sichuan Province
By Cindy Carter

Following rare mass protests that broke out in the city of Jiangyou in Sichuan province earlier this month in response to the bullying of a 14-year-old girl, CDT Chinese editors have tracked unusually intense online censorship of related videos, photos, hashtags, articles, comments, and other content.

The protests were sparked by a July 22 incident of verbal and physical abuse against a girl by three other teenaged girls in an abandoned building. Footage of the abuse taken by bystanders spread online, and although the incident was reported to city police the same evening, it was not until August 2 that police finally brought the girls in for questioning. Two days later, the police issued a statement announcing that two of the bullies had been sent to correctional school and that another, along with some of the bystanders, had been given formal reprimands. The slap-on-the-wrist punishment for such a serious assault—along with the fact that the girl, whose mother is deaf and whose father is a migrant worker, had been frequently bullied beforehand—provoked public outrage.

Hundreds of local residents gathered in front of Jiangyou City Hall to support the family and protest officials’ callous handling of the case. Protest videos shared online showed the crowd arguing with local officials, singing the national anthem, shouting slogans such as “No to bullying” and “Give us back democracy.” As the crowds grew, a large number of police were dispatched to “maintain order.” The police used batons and pepper spray on the protesters, many of whom were arrested and carted away in red trucks usually used to transport pigs. Videos shared online showed people bloodied, beaten, and being removed from the protest site. Suppression continued until the following morning, and military trucks equipped with cell-phone signal jammers appeared on the scene. (For additional Chinese-language video content, see below for CDT Chinese’s CDTV compilation about the protests, and “The Jiangyou Incident,” a YouTube documentary from @YesterdayBigcat.) Continue reading Mass protest in Jiangyou →

Aging workers struggle for work

by at

Source: NYT (8/26/25)
Too Old, Too Uneducated: Aging Workers in Beijing Struggle for Work
China’s economic slowdown has fallen especially hard on older migrant workers, who often don’t have the technical skills that employers are seeking.
By Vivian Wang, Vivian Wang reported from Beijing’s largest labor market.

People stand around a dark intersection. One man with a balding head is illuminated by a street lamp. The sky in the distance is a pink hue.

Workers looking for day labor jobs near Majuqiao, in Beijing, around 4 a.m. one day in July. People from around the country gather here every morning for a chance to earn money. Credit…Qilai Shen for The New York Times

The intersection is quiet at 4 a.m., but not as quiet as one might expect. Fluorescent light radiates from all-night breakfast stalls. People, mostly men, loiter in small groups on the sidewalk, silently eating steamed buns. Everyone seems to be waiting.

Around 4:30, the first rays of sun appear, and it becomes clear what everyone was waiting for.

Job recruiters ride up on electric scooters and, without getting off, start shouting out day rates — 170 yuan! 180! (That’s about $25.) The early risers swarm around them to hear what’s on offer: gigs pouring concrete on construction sites, or packaging bottled drinks, or cleaning buildings. From cheap dormitories nearby, more workers, men and women, stream out. By the time the sun is up, this intersection in Majuqiao, a neighborhood on the southern outskirts of Beijing, is full of hundreds of people. Continue reading Aging workers struggle for work →

Property crisis has no end in sight

by at

Source: NYT (8/25/25)
5 Years On, China’s Property Crisis Has No End in Sight
阅读简体中文版 | 閱讀繁體中文版
The government had set out to slow speculation, kicking off a slowdown in real estate values that is still grinding on with wide economic consequences.
By Daisuke Wakabayashi and Joy Dong, Daisuke Wakabayashi, who covers Asia business and economics, is based in Seoul. Joy Dong reported from Hong Kong

A China Evergrande development in Beijing on Saturday. Credit…Andrea Verdelli for The New York Times

When China Evergrande, once the biggest Chinese property developer, went public in Hong Kong in 2009, the country’s real estate market was red-hot. The frenzy over the company was so intense that for every lucky person who bought at least one share of stock, 46 others were shut out.

How times have changed.

Now a symbol of China’s real estate boom and bust, Evergrande was delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, four years after the company first warned that it was facing financial difficulties and two years after it sought bankruptcy protection.

Evergrande’s collapse, with $300 billion in debt, mirrors the slow and painful unwinding of China’s property sector. Government policies staved off a sudden crash, and instead delivered a grinding slowdown.

The housing downturn has not delivered the devastating shock that the United States suffered in the 2008 financial crisis, but it has been hanging over the economy for five years with no end in sight. Last month, new home prices dropped at their fastest pace in nine months and the prices of secondhand homes continued to slide, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China. Continue reading Property crisis has no end in sight →

‘Reverse Runology’

by at

Source: China Digital Times (8/15/25)
“Reverse Runology?” Some Émigrés Reconsider Their Escape from China
By Arthur Kaufman

The struggle for a better life has long pushed many Chinese citizens to escape difficult conditions at home. In the most recent waves of emigration, tens of thousands of Chinese migrants have made perilous journeys through Central America along the “walking route,” or zǒuxiàn (走线), in an attempt to reach the southern U.S. border. But the political climate at their destination has become increasingly hostile, particularly under the new U.S. administration, which has deterred Chinese tech talent and restricted Chinese student visas (building on restrictive measures under the previous administration). Now, some Chinese migrants are reconsidering their escape routes and looking beyond America—or returning home.

The impetus to emigrate in recent years is encapsulated by the term “run” (润) or “runology” (润学). Recent CDT translations have illustrated how persistent youth unemployment, continual pandemic-era surveillance, and a repressive political environment, among other issues, have contributed to a feeling of malaise and a loss of faith in the Chinese Dream. Last week in the Made in China Journal, Dino Ge Zhang situated “runology” in the context of “Sinopessimism”, describing it among other negative affects and exit strategies for youth disenchanted with contemporary Chinese life. But the author hinted that the practice of runology ultimately may not yield desirable results, particularly for those who have chosen to flee to the U.S.: Continue reading ‘Reverse Runology’ →

Unemployed youths pretending to have jobs

by at

Source: BBC NEWS (8/11/25)
China’s unemployed young adults who are pretending to have jobs
By Sylvia Chang, BBC News Chinese, Hong Kong

BBC Shui Zhou, a young adult who pretends to have an office job, makes the victory sign with both hands that he is holding up in the air

Shui Zhou pays to go into an office every day.

No-one would want to work without getting a salary, or even worse – having to pay to be there.

Yet paying companies so you can pretend to work for them has become popular among young, unemployed adults in China. It has led to a growing number of such providers.

The development comes amid China’s sluggish economy and jobs market. Chinese youth unemployment remains stubbornly high, at more than 14%.

With real jobs increasingly hard to come by, some young adults would rather pay to go into an office than be just stuck at home.

Shui Zhou, 30, had a food business venture that failed in 2024. In April of this year, he started to pay 30 yuan ($4.20; £3.10) per day to go into a mock-up office run by a business called Pretend To Work Company, in the city of Dongguan, 114 km (71 miles) north of Hong Kong. Continue reading Unemployed youths pretending to have jobs →

China limits public employees’ travel

by at

Source: NYT (8/3/25)
No Passports, No Study Abroad: China Limits Public Employees’ Travel
阅读简体中文版 | 閱讀繁體中文版
Even low-level government employees like elementary school teachers and nurses have been ordered to hand in their passports, to enforce “discipline.”
By Vivian Wang, reporting from Beijing

Candidates lining up for a civil service exam in Nanjing, China, last year. Credit…CFOTO/Future Publishing, via Getty Images

When Tina Liu was hired to teach literature in a public elementary school in southern China, her contract included the usual warnings about absenteeism and job performance.

Then came another line: Traveling abroad without the school’s permission could get her fired.

The rule was reinforced in a staff group chat. “According to regulations from higher-ups, teachers need to strengthen their disciplinary awareness,” the message said. “We will currently not permit any overseas vacations.”

Across China, similar warnings are spreading as the authorities tighten control over state employees’ contacts with foreigners. Some kindergarten teachers, doctors and even government contractors and employees of state-owned enterprises have been ordered to hand in their passports. Some cities make retirees wait two years to reclaim their passports.

In many cities, travel overseas by public employees, even for personal reasons, requires approval. Business trips abroad for “ordinary research, exchange and study” have been banned. And in most provinces, those who have studied abroad are now disqualified from certain public positions. Continue reading China limits public employees’ travel →

Toxic Backlash

by at

Source: China Media Project (7/22/25)
Toxic Backlash
The expulsion of a Chinese student for appearing in videos posted online by Ukrainian gamer videos sparks a debate about sexism — and shameless exploitation amid the discussion.
By David Bandurski

Dalian Polytechnic University.

In a story that topped headlines and internet chatter in China last week, Dalian Polytechnic University in China’s northern Liaoning province sparked outrage by expelling a 21-year-old female student for appearing in videos posted nearly seven months ago to the Telegram account of a visiting Ukrainian esports player. Videos of the student in the visitor’s hotel room showed nothing sexually explicit, and it was unclear why the videos had become an issue now, but the university responded vehemently with a public statement naming the student and accusing her of “improper association with foreigners” (与外国人不当交往) that had “damaged national dignity and the school’s reputation” (有损国格、校誉).

The story ignited a fierce debate across Chinese social media over institutional overreach and gender double standards, trending on Weibo on July 13.

Media commentator Zhang Feng (张丰) criticized “sexual nationalism,” arguing that while Chinese men dating foreign women might be seen as acceptable or even deserving praise, the opposite invites fury among sexist males who see Chinese women as property of men and the state. Xiaoxi Cicero (小西cicero), a writer who posts on WeChat, asked whether the same nationalist uproar and expulsion would have followed had a young Chinese man been shown on video with a visiting foreign woman.

One Chinese Substacker summed up the toxic combination of sexism and state-driven nationalism with the pithy post headline: “National Dignity is Not a Penis You Can Brandish at Will.” Continue reading Toxic Backlash →

Video game plays to male resentment

by at

Source: NYT (7/17/25)
‘Who Killed Love?’ A Video Game Plays to Male Resentment in China.
阅读简体中文版 | 閱讀繁體中文版
A popular and contentious game, Revenge on Gold Diggers, sheds light on misogyny, inequality and the feeling among many men that they are economic victims.
By Li Yuan

An illustration showing the backs of four women examining a close-up of an eye on a large screen or painting.

Credit…Lisk Feng.

A deliveryman falls for a female livestreamer. She seduces him, drains his savings, then vanishes. Heartbroken, he reinvents himself as a successful businessman seeking revenge on women like her.

This is the plot of Revenge on Gold Diggers, one of the most popular and contentious video games in China.

The interactive game, which debuted in June to enormous success, temporarily topped the charts on Steam China, the local version of the global gaming platform. Its tagline, “Who killed love? It’s the gold diggers who killed love,” has electrified Chinese social media. Players, cast as “emotional fraud hunters,” navigate romantic relationships, searching for deception while guarding their wallets — and their hearts.

One of the most liked comments on the game’s community board calls it “an elegy for our generation of Chinese men.” Another declares, “Men must never retreat — this is a fight to the death.”

The game has drawn the enthusiasm of disaffected young men, and fierce criticism from other corners. It has been decried as misogynistic. Some male gamers complain it panders to the Chinese government’s concerns about plummeting marriage and birth rates. Continue reading Video game plays to male resentment →

University expels woman for ‘improper contact’ with a foreigner

by at

Source: NYT (7/14/25)
Chinese University Expels Woman for ‘Improper Contact’ With a Foreigner
阅读简体中文版 | 閱讀繁體中文版
The university published the student’s full name and said her behavior had “damaged national dignity.” The move prompted an online debate and accusations of sexism.
By Vivian Wang, Reporting from Beijing

A man with a headset staring at a computer monitor.

Danylo Teslenko, who goes by the nickname Zeus, at a gaming event in Poland in 2019. Mr. Teslenko had shared videos of himself with a Chinese woman that led to her expulsion from university. Credit…Norbert Barczyk/PressFocus, via MB Media, via Getty Images

A Chinese university said that it would expel a student because she had had “improper contact with a foreigner” and “damaged national dignity,” after videos circulated online that suggested she had been intimate with a Ukrainian video gamer.

The announcement set off heated debate in China. Some commentators applauded the decision and said that Chinese people — particularly women — were too enamored of foreigners. But others said the expulsion smacked of sexism and paternalism, and compared it to examples of people accused of rape or sexual harassment on campus who had been punished more lightly.

Many also criticized the university, Dalian Polytechnic University, in northeastern China, for publicly shaming the student by posting its expulsion notice on its website last week and identifying the student by her full name.

“If there is anyone who truly undermined national dignity in this case, it was not the woman whose privacy rights were violated,” Zhao Hong, a professor of law at Peking University in Beijing, wrote in an opinion column, “but the online spectators who frantically humiliated an ordinary woman under the banner of so-called justice, and the educational institution that used stale moral commandments.” Continue reading University expels woman for ‘improper contact’ with a foreigner →

Princeton UP head joins China’s propaganda game (1)

by at

A lot more debate and beginning analysis is unfolding online, regarding the Princeton University Press scandal (but, we don’t yet see anything in big media — and nothing in the Daily Princetonian … ):

Recommended thread analyzing just how closely Princeton University Press parrots the party line (literally): https://bsky.app/profile/davidstroup.bsky.social/post/3lsper67des24

Another recommended thread on the Princeton University Press propaganda performance:

https://bsky.app/profile/protass.bsky.social/post/3lsqjto26r223

Another thread regarding Princeton University Press’ trip to Xinjiang

https://x.com/JimMillward/status/1939410493334335781

Further discussion, including of the Princeton statement justifying the trip:

https://bsky.app/profile/melissakchan.bsky.social/post/3lsrphzneks2w

https://x.com/melissakchan/status/1939681417711214986 Continue reading Princeton UP head joins China’s propaganda game (1) →

National Internet ID System

by at

Source: China Digital Times (6/26/25)
Rights Defenders Criticize Upcoming Rollout of National Internet ID System
By Arthur Kaufman

Last summer, the Chinese government released a proposal for a national internet ID system. The proposal was met with strong opposition, which was heavily censored online. (See CDT’s past coverage for examples.) The final rules for this new system were then released in May of this year, will be implemented on July 15, and remain largely similar to the original draft that was widely criticized. As the rollout date approaches, experts and activists voiced concern about the impact of these centralized internet controls.

On Wednesday, Article 19 and Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) released a joint analysis calling the new internet ID system a threat to online expression. They predicted that the system would negatively affect human rights defenders as a result of increased state surveillance and reduced anonymity; privacy concerns and lack of government accountability; and state control without borders.

Shane Yi, researcher at CHRD said: “Internet users across China already endure heavy censorship and control by the government. The new Internet ID regulations escalate Beijing’s attack on free speech, putting human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, and anyone who questions authority at even greater risk.”

[…] Michael Caster, ARTICLE 19’s Head of Global China Programme said: “Anonymity provides for the privacy and security fundamental to exercising the freedom of opinion and expression. In further chipping away at potential online anonymity through the creation of a national internet ID, in an ecosystem where the Cybersecurity Law already mandates real-name identity verification, China is clearly seeking to intensify its efforts at silencing critical voices. And as China continues to position itself as a global digital governance standard-setter and cyber superpower, the risk is furthermore that we see such repressive policies gain traction beyond China’s borders.” [Source] Continue reading National Internet ID System →