Bang Xiao
Bang Xiao is a journalist at the ABC's Asia Pacific Newsroom. You can follow him on Twitter: @BangXiao_
'Consternation, fear and disbelief': Chinese solider remembers Tiananmen Square massacre
Posted | Updated
Tuesday marks the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre — a bloody crackdown on a pro-democracy movement erased from history in China, but still remembered by the people who witnessed the chaos that swept Beijing.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, history, world-politics, government-and-politics, china, asia
'Thank you Australia': How Aussies helped Taiwan make same-sex marriage legal
Posted
More than 100 same-sex couples in Taiwan are expected to register their intent to marry from today when the same-sex marriage bill becomes law, and LGBT activists say this has been made possible thanks to the help of Australians.
Topics: community-and-society, sexuality, laws, politics-and-government, government-and-politics, taiwan, australia, asia
A human rights group hacked a Chinese mass surveillance app. Here's what it found
Posted
Human Rights Watch says it has managed to reverse-engineer a Chinese Government surveillance app, revealing how authorities use data to track the behaviour and patterns of residents in Xinjiang province.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, police, information-and-communication, censorship, world-politics, china, asia
Xi Jinping celebrates 1919 students protests while sidestepping Tiananmen massacre
Posted | Updated
The Chinese President marks the centenary of student protests that defined the nation, delivering a speech that carefully urges China's youth to embrace the spirit of the May 4 Movement.
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, communism, forms-of-government, china, asia
'Reel of shame': Chinese debtors exposed on big screen during Avengers: Endgame premiere
Posted | Updated
China ramps up a practice that shames debtors into paying by displaying their names and photographs on the cinema big screen, including at the premiere of the wildly popular Avengers: Endgame.
Topics: film-movies, arts-and-entertainment, law-crime-and-justice, world-politics, china, asia
'Uncharted territory': WeChat's new role in Australian public life raises difficult questions
Posted | Updated
Australian media companies are being censored on the Chinese social media app WeChat, even as politicians flock to the platform in a bid to attract Chinese-Australian voters.
Topics: social-media, internet-culture, world-politics, china, australia
China's richest man calls on staff to work 72 hours a week (photos)
Posted
Working 9-5? Not if you're employed by Alibaba founder Jack Ma. The man worth close to $50 billion urges staff to instead adopt a "996" schedule, before later backtracking amid outrage from social media and censure from state press.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, work, china, asia
Two children killed and scores injured as dust devil lifts jumping castle into air
Posted
Inflatable play equipment, along with the children playing on it, is tossed around in the air during a freak weather event at a fair in China.
Topics: accidents, weather, death, disasters-and-accidents, china, asia
'It didn't make any sense': China censors all gay references out of Bohemian Rhapsody
Posted | Updated
Plot holes and audience confusion abound after a heavily censored version of Bohemian Rhapsody is released in China, with all references to Freddie Mercury's sexuality edited out of the film.
Topics: lgbt, film-movies, world-politics, sexuality, censorship, music, china
They say money can't buy happiness, but in China, people are paying for flattery
Posted | Updated
Chinese social media platforms are now hosting "praise groups" where armies of internet users are ready to shell out compliments to complete strangers in exchange for a few dollars.
Topics: information-and-communication, internet-culture, social-media, psychology, china, asia
Why did it take China 48 hours to remove the New Zealand shooting video from social media?
Posted | Updated
China's censorship apparatus is so efficient that sensitive social media posts are culled within minutes, but for some reason the New Zealand shooting videos were left up for nearly two days as state media slammed security in "the West". Why?
Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, law-crime-and-justice, information-and-communication, new-zealand, china, asia
China's digital gold rush: Meet the new breed of entertainers who found a career in live streaming
Posted
Singing and telling jokes to hundreds of thousands of people tuning in on their mobile phones is not just a lifestyle in China, but a lucrative career that can make you a millionaire.
Topics: science-and-technology, community-and-society, internet-technology, human-interest, china, asia
Confusion over plasma HIV scare in China
Posted | Updated
Thousands of blood plasma products sold by a Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company were reported to be contaminated with HIV this week, although a statement from another state body presents conflicting information about the status of the samples.
Topics: health, community-and-society, sexually-transmitted-diseases, medical-sciences, china, asia
'No pig in the Year of the Pig': Chinese netizens confused, disappointed over censored symbol (photos)
Posted | Updated
China's annual New Year's gala is meant to usher in the Year of the Pig, but the state broadcaster largely censored all words and images related to pigs during the biggest TV show of the year last night.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, world-politics, china, asia
Controversy surrounds detained Australian-Chinese writer's relations with Beijing
Posted
The detention of Chinese-born Australian writer Yang Hengjun over suspected espionage sparks division within the overseas Chinese community, with critics questioning his professional history as well as his ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Topics: world-politics, law-crime-and-justice, international-law, china, australia, united-states, asia
One family, two worlds: Viral Peppa Pig video exposes China's deep social divides
Posted | Updated
A video promoting the once-blocked cartoon pig has gone viral on Chinese social media, striking at the heart of the country's social issues and shifting family values.
Topics: government-and-politics, world-politics, community-and-society, china, asia
'Deadbeat map': China opens up social credit scores to social media platform WeChat
Posted
The latest tool to be piloted as part of China's Social Credit System pinpoints on the map those deemed "untrustworthy" and blacklisted, all from the palm of their hand.
Topics: community-and-society, internet-technology, law-crime-and-justice, china, asia
Chinese media blur actors' ears amid crackdown on 'effeminate' male celebrities (photos)
Posted
The decision by a popular Chinese video streaming service to blur out the ears of actors who wear jewellery sparks heated debate over China's state-defined masculinity.
Topics: gender-roles, internet-culture, information-and-communication, censorship, china, asia
Canadian facing execution in China will appeal his death sentence, lawyer confirms
Posted
The lawyer for a Canadian man facing execution in China over smuggling 222 kilograms of methamphetamines to Australia confirms to the ABC his client will appeal his sentence.
Topics: international-law, law-crime-and-justice, crime, foreign-affairs, human-rights, government-and-politics, china, canada
Beijing approves plan for Greater Bay Area to rival Silicon Valley in the United States
Posted
Beijing gives the greenlight to a blueprint for a technology-driven economic powerhouse in southern China to rival San Francisco's Silicon Valley amid doubts about the plan's feasibility.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, information-technology, science-and-technology, government-and-politics, china, macao, hong-kong, asia
Chinese daigou concerned 'biased' media reports setting them up for abuse
Posted | Updated
Verbally abused and threatened in stores, Chinese personal shoppers are feeling the brunt of what they claim are "biased" media reports.
Topics: infant-health, diet-and-nutrition, pharmaceuticals, chemicals-and-pharmaceuticals, china, adelaide-5000, melbourne-3000, sydney-2000, australia, asia
China's disappearing act: The high-profile people who vanished in 2018 (photos)
Posted | Updated
From prominent celebrities to the Interpol chief, the world has seen millions of people in China seemingly vanish into thin air over the past few years — and yet the international community has remained largely silent.
Topics: missing-person, law-crime-and-justice, activism-and-lobbying, communism, fraud-and-corporate-crime, prisons-and-punishment, human, jinping-xi, china, asia
China's youths brand themselves 'dirt-poor and ugly' as competition for good jobs soars
Posted
A new Chinese character is taking off on social media that netizens are using not as an insult, but a depressing personal descriptor amid rising income inequality, particularly in cities.
Topics: internet-culture, social-media, unemployment, work, china, asia
Chinese schools enforce 'smart uniforms' with GPS tracking system to monitor students
Posted | Updated
Chinese schools are beginning to track students to prevent them from skipping classes or falling asleep in class — and a facial recognition system prevents cheating.
Topics: science-and-technology, information-technology, education, schools, robots-and-artificial-intelligence, china
Accounts hacked and tweets deleted as Chinese censorship allegedly extends to Twitter (photos)
Posted
The western social media platform is largely inaccessible to Chinese citizens, but Twitter appears to be the latest frontier for policing thought in China.
Topics: censorship, government-and-politics, rights, china, asia
Connect with ABC News
Got a news tip?
If you have inside knowledge of a topic in the news, contact the ABC.