Tea Leaf Nation

Tea Leaf Nation

A New ‘Cure’ for China’s Millions of Web Addicts: Hack Their Computer

In 2016, two scandals in China’s eastern Shandong province brought the reputation of the country’s “internet addiction boot camps” to an all time low. In ...

ChinaFile

Unpacking China’s Curious ‘Ivanka Fever’

At a time of strained and erratic relations between the United States and China, Ivanka Trump, the U.S. President’s daughter and, more recently, a member ...

ChinaFile

When Xi Meets the Trumps

President Donald Trump will soon host his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in their first face-to-face meeting when Xi arrives at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida ...

Tea Leaf Nation

It’s Not Communism Holding China’s Youth Back. It’s Their Parents.

I am the son of a Chinese democracy activist. My father went into exile in 1988; I was born in China and raised in England. ...

Tea Leaf Nation

When Marx Meets Islam

Almost every Chinese person with even a middle school education must, at some point, run into the famous statement about religion by Karl Marx: "Religion is ...

ChinaFile

Did Tillerson’s Beijing Visit Box Him in, or Start a Reboot?

On March 19, during his first trip to Asia as U.S. Secretary of State, and amidst rising tensions with North Korea, Rex Tillerson met with ...

Tea Leaf Nation

Heads, Beijing Wins. Tails, Hong Kong Loses.

Pity the political junkies of China. The country has one measly party with any power. The legislative sessions are numbing in their stilted ritual. Discussion ...

ChinaFile

How China’s History Shapes, and Warps, its Policies Today

Throughout most of history China dominated Asia, up until what many Chinese refer to as the “century of humiliation” — when Japan and Western powers ...

Tea Leaf Nation

What Just Happened in Beijing?

No revelations were expected from Rex Tillerson’s first trip to China as U.S. Secretary of State; he invited only one journalist to accompany him, and ...

Tea Leaf Nation

American Unrest Proves China Got the Internet Right

In 2016, social media dominated the internet and the world. On November 8, Republican Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States, ...

Tea Leaf Nation

Trump’s Top China Expert Isn’t a China Expert

Peter Navarro has run for office five times, and lost five times. Over the course of his career, he has morphed from registered Republican, to ...

Tea Leaf Nation

Why Is China So … Uncool?

There’s been much talk in recent weeks about China’s potential role as world leader, during a time when Trump’s America is erecting walls. China has ...

ChinaFile

Don’t Call it the New Chinese Global Order (Yet)

On February 17, China’s Communist Party Chairman Xi Jinping announced what he called the “two guidances.” Beijing should now “guide the international community to jointly ...

Tea Leaf Nation

China Steps Into the Latin American Void Trump Has Left Behind

Latin Americans can’t afford to wait four years to see when the United States will be willing to have an honest and reciprocal conversation about ...

Tea Leaf Nation

After ISIS Threat, China May Have to Get off Sidelines in Middle East

On Feb. 27, the Islamic State released a slickly produced propaganda video detailing for the first time “scenes from the life of immigrants from East ...

Tea Leaf Nation

China Quietly Abandoning Bid for ‘New Model of Great Power Relations’ With U.S.

China’s long love affair with a curious phrase appears to be ending. For years, Chinese bureaucrats have dutifully parroted a phrase near and dear to ...

Tea Leaf Nation

China’s New Multibillion-Dollar Target Market: LGBT Youth

China’s Spring Festival, which celebrates the lunar New Year, is the ultimate test for fledgling romances. A partner’s invitation to meet family signals commitment; but ...

Tea Leaf Nation

How China Became a Sci-Fi Powerhouse

Chinese science fiction superstar writer Liu Cixin is about to take his published work to the silver screen, with a film adaptation of his short ...

ChinaFile

Is the Search for a China-Hollywood Blockbuster Doomed?

With The Great Wall, a classic army vs. monsters tale, director Zhang Yimou has brought America the most expensive Chinese film ever created. The movie ...

ChinaFile

‘The Chinese Learned that Trump Blinks’

On the evening of Feb. 9, U.S. President Donald Trump had what the White House described in a terse readout as a “lengthy” and “cordial” telephone conversation ...

ChinaFile

China’s Youth Admire America Far More than We Knew

In early December, Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered the country’s universities to “adhere to the correct political orientation.” Speaking at a conference on ideology and politics in ...

Tea Leaf Nation

Surprise Findings: China’s Youth Are Getting Less Nationalistic, Not More

Anyone who’s spent any length of time following Western press coverage of China is familiar with the notion that China’s leaders are obligated to look ...

China U

China’s Middle Class Anger at its Education System Is Growing

It is a cold January evening in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province in China, and the sun is just about to dip below the ...

ChinaFile

How Trump Can Win With China

By his own admission, President Donald J. Trump is a brilliant businessman, a master negotiator, an exceptional deal maker, somebody who always wins. When it ...

Tea Leaf Nation

America’s Mao Zedong

In the approximately two weeks that President Donald Trump has been President of the United States, the country has witnessed the passage of an executive ...

Tea Leaf Nation

Chinese Converted out West Are Losing Faith Back Home

Andrew Wang’s father kept calling him: “Come, help us fold these.” But Wang no longer wanted to help his parents prepare paper offerings. Burning fake money ...

Tea Leaf Nation

When China’s Feminists Came to Washington

Zhang Ling was dressed like a revolutionary from the Spanish Civil War. With a long braid emerging from a scarlet beret and clad in trousers ...

Tea Leaf Nation

White House Echoes Beijing in Treatment of U.S. Press

Americans now find themselves in day four of a real-world experiment: What happens when an elected official with an authoritarian bent and a long-nurtured hatred of ...

Tea Leaf Nation

China’s Outdated Foreign Service Needs Rebooting for the Age of Trump

Imagine a scenario one week before U.S. President Donald Trump’s first official visit to China, when it comes. The new spokeswoman for the Chinese Ministry of ...

ChinaFile

While the West Fiddles, China Races to Define the Future

Each weekday morning, I cross D.C.’s National Mall and pass a sign on Constitution Avenue bearing an epigram by the U.S. architect Daniel Burnham: Make No ...

Tea Leaf Nation

The Paradox at the Heart of China’s Property Regime

Late December brought reports of startling news about China’s land regime: holders of 20-year residential leaseholds in the prosperous coastal city of Wenzhou would see their leases ...

Tea Leaf Nation

The U.S. Media’s Unfortunate Obsession with One Beijing Rag

On Jan. 11, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson raised eyebrows in Washington when ...

Tea Leaf Nation

A New Way to Hold the U.S.-China Relationship Together

The Trump presidency hasn't even begun, and the U.S.-China relationship already seems to be in trouble. Tension is fast building around a slew of issues ...

ChinaFile

Don’t Get Too Excited About China’s Ivory Ban

On New Year’s Eve, Beijing announced it will ban the ivory trade in China, potentially shutting down the world’s biggest ivory market. Why did Beijing decide to ...

Tea Leaf Nation

A Mass Gathering Organized on Chinese Social Media? No Problem, Says Government

Baziling’s coal mining families started moving away in the 1980s. It was a trickle at first, as China’s economic reforms began to bear fruit, and ...

Tea Leaf Nation

The Fading American Dreams of China’s Most Notorious ‘Snakehead’

One day in April 2000, Zheng Guangda, a retired teacher from a rural Chinese secondary school then living in New York City, received a phone ...

Tea Leaf Nation

Trump Tweets, Supporters Cheer, China Chafes

On December 20, the Pentagon announced that China had returned to the United States an underwater drone that the People’s Liberation Army Navy had seized ...

Tea Leaf Nation

All the News Unfit to Print: What Beijing Quashed in 2016

China’s sprawling and sophisticated system of censorship is well-known. But it would be a mistake to conclude that the system is static, suppressing news on ...

ChinaFile

I Was Rescued from a Chinese Orphanage. My Friend Wasn’t.

According to my caretakers at the orphanage, Chunchun arrived a few years before I did, when she was a baby. They estimate that I was ...

Tea Leaf Nation

I Think That Chinese Official Really Liked Me!

"Friendship’" is everywhere in China, at least when it comes to dealing with foreigners. International societies are friendship associations. The stores once accessible only to foreign ...

ChinaFile

How to Stand Up to China? Mongolia’s Got a Playbook

The day before the Dalai Lama’s November 18 trip to Mongolia, Beijing issued a “strong demand” to its neighbor to cancel the visit of the “anti-Chinese separatist” ...

Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Dallas

Tea Leaf Nation

Trump Chats with Taiwan’s President, and China (Strategically) Shrugs

On Dec. 2, Donald Trump made history, of a sort, when he picked up the phone. His call with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen, first reported ...

Tea Leaf Nation

Breitbart Has Landed in Beijing

BEIJING — Only hours after the election of Donald Trump, with channels across the world devoted to coverage of the shock event, China’s flagship nightly ...

Tea Leaf Nation

When Will Asia Finally Have Same-Sex Marriage?

In October 2014, a crowd at an LGBT rights rally in Taipei, one of many, lobbed four large red balloons emblazoned with the Chinese characters for ...

Tea Leaf Nation

The Anti-Mainland Bigotry of Hong Kong’s Democracy Movement

Given the political earthquake that occurred on Nov. 8, the recent political and constitutional crisis in Hong Kong now seems comparatively diminished in significance. At ...

ChinaFile

Facebook Must Stay Out of China

Facebook has reportedly developed software to suppress posts from users’ feeds in targeted geographic areas, a feature created to help the giant social media network ...

Tea Leaf Nation

我 ‘回到中国’ —而从未如此感到自己如此美国化

[Read this article in English 点击查看本文英文版] 10月9号，《纽约时报》记者迈克尔·罗揭露了他和家人在纽约上东区经历的种族主义人身攻击，引发了诸多读者、尤其是亚裔读者贡献他们自己的故事。这些故事显示：针对亚裔的歧视虽然并不总是受到美国公众关注，但是却普遍存在。我想将本篇文章献给那位告诉美国出生的罗“滚回中国”的女士，以及许许多多曾在某个时刻抱有和她同样情绪的人士。毛泽东开始文化大革命以后，我的父母在70年代离开中国到美国高度学府避难，最终创业成了商人。我出生在俄亥俄州，在内布拉斯加和加州长大，在康奈迪格州的耶鲁大学求学。在纽约的迈克尔·罗被那位女士告知“滚回中国”六年以前，我就回到了中国。大学毕业后我移居到了香港——从19世纪中以来，香港就一直是西方通往中国的港口城市。在1997年回归中国以前，香港是被殖民主义势力蹂躏并塑造的城市，我觉得这城市和我有某些相同之处：我们都是东西融合的产物。我也以为香港比任何大陆城市都要更加文化多元、更为全球化、更加外向，因此可能在种族问题上更为先进。但是在香港生活工作了六年以后，我只看到，同香港相比美国在种族问题上先进得多。这并不仅仅因为任何人都能够出声自我辩护，也因为出声辩护的权利植根于我们的文化之中。在内布拉斯加长大，我曾在学校被叫做“中国佬”，也被问过为什么我的眼睛那么小。再后来，学校里受欢迎的孩子以友情作为诱惑让我帮他们写作业，但却在课间休息时对我视而不见。甚至在相对开明的加州，我也曾在全是白人的女童军里被霸凌、排斥。在白人的、基督教的美国度过的早年经历让我深深以为我真正的家、真正的朋友是在我父母已经离开的地方——中国。大学期间我对此矢志不渝。我把全部时间都投入到亚洲文化俱乐部里，努力加强我半吊子的中文。我选修中国哲学、社会学、中国政治课程。在北京和上海实习的经历、在中国大陆游历的旅程都让我窥见了新家的模样。在毕业后，我在香港找到了一份工作。我那从上海搬到香港最后迁至美国的母亲对此大为不解：“你为什么想要回到那里去？” 我坚持强调很多事情同他们那时候相比已经不同。大陆不再是她离开时毛泽东时代的混乱，2008年北京奥运会描绘了新中国光辉的形象，而那个夏天雷曼兄弟的破产预示了美国的黑暗未来。在“东大荒”令人眩晕的经济崛起中，只要愿意在日渐全球化的中国工作，机会总是大把。在自称“亚洲国际都会”、同大陆的联系不断深化的香港尤其如此。我没告诉我母亲我渴望离开主要是因为想要逃离美国不友善的种族主义气氛。在亚洲，作“亚洲人”根本不是问题。我不会是少数族裔，更不需要作少数族裔的典范。在生命中我终于有一次确信我的种族身份不会是个问题。 2010年我移居香港，在一个跨国教育公司工作，混迹于华裔（在国外长大的华人）中。身边的人和我面孔相似，这让我深深地感到舒适。因为我英语精通，又毕业于常青藤大学，在重视身份的香港，我的社会资本超过了大多数人。我不仅能“融入”——我还拥有特权。人们倾听我的声音、尊重我、邀请我出入炫目的酒会。在香港的最初几年美丽而简单。但最终我开始良心不安。在工作的地方，肤色是划分同事的隐形高墙。当我用完美的英文主动提出意见时，毕生都在亚洲工作的白人经理有时看起来很惊奇——这只是件小事，但却很说明问题。距离我桌子不远的是菲律宾同事，当他们想要起个话头同别人交流时，总是被忽视或者被报以敷衍、尴尬的微笑。在团队出去喝酒的时候，我看见一个巴基斯坦同事被排斥在团体之外，别人都畅快交谈时他只能孤独地端着一杯葡萄酒。一个在投行工作的斯里兰卡朋友又一次失去升职机会，她为此痛哭流涕。在工作之外，香港的种族问题更加明显。我记得曾经和一个印度朋友一起吃饭，却被侍应生完全忽略。当地人经常向我抱怨薪水低于外国同事。在街上，混血（一半白人一半亚裔）男女和婴儿的图片显眼地登在广告牌上，这城市对白人的崇拜就隐藏在光天化日之下。香港有着几十万菲律宾和印尼家政工人，在2013年总数高达32万。每星期天，他们唯一的休息日，这些平时不出门的家政工人涌向公园，导致本地人不断抱怨他们的公园被“占领”。几十年如一日服务香港家庭的工人是不能获得永久居留权的，只能依靠随时可能被剥夺的工作签证。位于澳大利亚的自由行走基金会编纂了2016年全球奴役指数，追踪政府在强制劳工、贩卖人口和其他现代奴役行为方面的行动，将香港列于全世界倒数5%。经常有关于家政工人被雇主殴打、性骚扰的报告浮出水面。这些工人为我端来鸡尾酒、烹饪我吃的食物、安静地擦亮我的盘子、为我涂指甲油、给我做按摩、打扫我的公寓。“这叫资本主义”，我高深的朋友会说，但是我摆脱不了这真相——我的特权生活建立在廉价的东南亚劳动力以及他们逐渐恶化的社会地位之上。随着每一年过去，我都更加意识到我所享受的生活方式实际上道德基础非常脆弱。我曾经一度以为把自己搬到香港意味着我再不需要面临种族歧视问题。我被超越种族主义图腾柱的可能性蒙闭了双眼，后来发现我只是把自己搬到了图腾柱的最高处，而那里的所见同我预期相差甚远。在美国长大意味着我对种族平等的定义凝结自一种文化，这种文化的核心是第一修正案所保护的异议、对话和社会分口。只有在香港生活了六年以后我才开始理解为什么人们会离开他们的国家去美国，以及为什么回归母国是如此困难。已经学到的，不能剥离。已经看到的，不能忘记。我也无法抛弃我在每次效忠宣誓时都重复的对平等的承诺。很长时间以来我一直在逃避，为了逃避成为美国种族主义的“受害者”，我成了香港特权阶层的一部分。我逃避自己镜中的黄色面孔，用完美的英文和精英教育假装我是另一个人。我努力“回到中国”，但却发现我比自己意识到得更加美国化。但是我不再逃避。我发现我的“家”并不局限于一个地理意义，它并不在香港、中国或者美国。它是我热爱的人们，是需要做的工作，是我逐渐成长、改变的价值观。那么，所有曾经想让像我这样的人“回到”中国的人：我的家在一座桥上，短如连字符、宽若太平洋。我的家处在中间地带，如同每个记得他们的根、他们的历史和他们旅程的美国人。我的家是妥协、是讨论、是谈判。对象是你。 ...

Tea Leaf Nation

Western Liberalism Is Dying in China

BEIJING -- “Trump wins!” Nov. 9 at 1 o'clock p.m., Beijing time, hours before mainstream U.S. media could confidently call the 2016 Presidential election for Donald ...

ChinaFile

Will Trump Strike a Grand Bargain With China?

Donald J. Trump, President-elect of the United States, spent much of his antagonistic campaign blaming China for many of America’s economic ills, and repeatedly making ...

ChinaFile

I Spent Election Night Being Comforted by a Chinese Law Professor

On the morning of Election Day, I joined He Haibo, a legal scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing, as he spent several hours observing a ...

Tea Leaf Nation

With Chinese State Media Quiet, Social Web Alive with Trump Victory Talk

On Nov. 8, following an protracted campaign rife with personal attacks, Donald J. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton to become President-elect of the United States. Despite ...

Tea Leaf Nation

Why Chinese Elites Endorse Hillary Clinton

The United States, China’s largest trading partner but also its greatest geopolitical rival, faces an election that threatens domestic instability. A Donald Trump victory would ...

Tea Leaf Nation

Why Chinese Netizens Cheer Trump

BEIJING — The U.S. Presidential election on Nov. 8 will be more closely observed in China than any in history. That’s because Chinese people have more ...

Tea Leaf Nation

In Xi’s China, Everything Old Is New Again

In late October, wearing a dark suit and a maroon tie, Chinese President Xi Jinping stood before an audience of thousands of veterans, soldiers, and ...

ChinaFile

Meet China’s State-Approved Muslims

LINXIA — Driving through the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu province, in China’s northwest, minarets puncture the sky every few minutes. Many rise out of ...

ChinaFile

Will Duterte’s Pivot to China Start a Chain Reaction Across Asia?

Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines since June, visited China last week and signaled his interest in shifting Manila’s allegiance away from Washington toward Beijing. While ...

Tea Leaf Nation

I ‘Went Back to China’ — and Felt More American Than Ever

On Oct. 9, New York Times metro reporter Michael Luo revealed that he and his family had been subject to a racist outburst on the streets ...

Tea Leaf Nation

I Broadcast Myself on the Chinese Web for Two Weeks

Chinese live-streaming is a bizarre and rapidly growing phenomenon that feels strangely necessary. It’s home to countless young women with impossibly long eyelashes and painted, ...

Tea Leaf Nation

What Is Going on in Hong Kong?

There’s a bit of a nanny state in the city of Hong Kong. The government is quick to issue advice and admonitions about all matter ...

About Tea Leaf Nation

Tea Leaf Nation decodes Chinese media, analyzes social trends, and features Chinese voices, all to illuminate the country from within.

David Wertime | @dwertime

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