Dominic Morgan
@dom_morgan88
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Journalist. Fmr head of features @SixthTone .
Shanghai
Joined November 2014
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Some personal news: I’ve left Sixth Tone. Leading the features team there was a fantastic experience and I’m immensely proud of the work we did together, but it was time to go. (1/X)
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One of the most depressing weeks ever at Sixth Tone, but glad this report on Guangzhou's urban villages post-zero-Covid (finally) went up.
We'll see if the next one makes it, but it's not looking good so far... Zero-Covid is basically taboo now.
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The Wire China's story made me feel nostalgic for the good times at Sixth Tone, so I thought I'd share a thread of some of my favourite stories.
It'd be a shame if Sixth Tone ends up being remembered only for the clampdown rather than the great work that came before.
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Another positive case in our xiaoqu today, the fifth in the past week. But luckily, Shanghai has achieved zero community transmission so it seems like it doesn't count...
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But I really respect the reporters and editors who have stayed on — and continue to fight to do good work. Though things are tougher than ever, the system is made up of people. Individuals can make a real difference. (4/X)
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@imandylin2
China doesn’t want to ‘buy time’ to achieve full vaccination. It wants to ‘defeat’ covid. That’s it. Pouring resources into vaccination might even be politically risky at this point; signaling a lack of faith in zero covid.
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It’s ultimately a personal decision. At ST every story was a struggle and a compromise. Shades of gray. Everyone has their own limit for what they can accept and I guess I reached mine. (3/X)
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It’s unclear what Sixth Tone will look like in the future. I expect that much will depend on China’s wider political trajectory. At the moment the squeeze is very intense, but perhaps that will eventually change. (5/X)
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It was heartbreaking witnessing Sixth Tone being dismantled last year. This piece does a good job of documenting the clampdown — it’s hard to understate just how dramatically things changed over the course of 2023.
In my latest for
@thewirechina
:
For years, Sixth Tone succeeded in carving out a precarious, but unique space in China’s media ecosystem. But conversations with 15 former and current employees reveal how the publication has been neutered over the past year.
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Shanghai's lockdown never ended. We've just gone back to the system in place before April 1, which was AWFUL. My building had 3 snap lockdowns in 2 weeks leading up to the citywide lockdown. In some ways, it was more stressful than the main lockdown.
And we are back to square one, we're lockdowned again for at least 48h ... What a joke !
#Shanghai
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Things have never been easy at Sixth Tone, but everything got far harder in 2023. In the end the endless drama wore me down and I decided I needed to move on. (2/X)
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And the stories we produced were really, really good. In 4 years I worked on 5 SOPA winning projects and a dozen more SOPA finalists. The team could produce many more if they’re allowed to. (7/X)
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As for me, I’ll be taking some time out to study Chinese full time for a few months (something I’ve been wanting to do for ages) before looking for a new role. If you know of any openings, drop me a line! (9/9)
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I’ll still be reading Sixth Tone next year and I’d encourage everyone interested in China to do the same. Despite everything, it’s still full of unique and brilliantly reported pieces that let Chinese people tell their own stories on their own terms. (8/X)
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Excited to share the first story by
@SixthTone
’s new business reporter
@yaling_jiang
! This well-done piece looks at Tencent’s controversial use of facial recognition to police minors’ use of video games -
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So incredibly proud of the Sixth Tone team for winning 4 awards for excellence at last night's SOPA Awards, and another two honourable mentions.
Each of these projects was a fight to get out, and it means so much to see them recognised. Here are links to some of the stories:
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Medical students played a vital role during China's Covid wave, working grueling hours on the front lines. Yet many were given no pay or PPE, and they're angry about it.
China wants to move on from Covid, but it's imp to record what happened. Glad this piece finally went up.
As COVID surged in China last December, hospitals drafted in medical students to prop up understaffed wards. Many were unprepared for what awaited them.
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I hope so because ST is still full of incredibly talented people. Working there was a joy; I learned so much and every day I would be surprised and delighted by the creativity of the people I was working alongside. (6/X)
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Shanghai seems to be flipping dramatically toward reopening. Today, my employer ordered senior managers to be back in the office TOMORROW and other staff from Monday. I still haven't been allowed to leave my residential compound!
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@donweinland
A lot of communities near our office are back in lockdown. Minhang and Songjiang are both testing their whole populations this weekend; Minhang locking down as well. It's very strange if there is zero community spread...
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@donweinland
Our xiaoqu is now technically a “prevention” area, meaning we should be allowed to move freely in our neighborhood, but in reality we’re still confined to our compound. I think a lot of people are in this situation.
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@sanguoromcom
@tianyuf
But it’s worth remembering that a big chunk of the middle class put up with “996” and a load of other crap because they assumed it would pay off in the long run - through rising salaries and property prices. Now, that is no longer guaranteed, hence the growing frustration
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I'm really happy and excited to see life returning to the city. This evening, I should finally be allowed outside for the first time since April 1. But the speed of the switch feels worrying. The authorities must be really panicking about the economy.
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The Mysterious Ancient City That's Rewriting Chinese History
I absolutely loved working on this story about Sanxingdui, a lost civilisation that rose in Southwest China 3,000 years ago. The discoveries being made at this site are really mind-blowing.
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Watching the Watchers
Also, the stories were often just really fun. This profile of a performance artist who spent weeks staring into a CCTV camera still makes me smile whenever I think about it.
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Bursting with pride to see
@SixthTone
honored with 4 awards for excellence and 2 honorable mentions by
#SOPAwards2021
! It’s honestly so humbling to even be included among this lineup of nominees.
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Very proud of the team for producing this report on the chaotic aftermath of the Great Leap Forward, when thousands of infants were evacuated from Shanghai to remote parts of Inner Mongolia.
This article may not exist for long. Enjoy while you can...
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Memory Project: The Shanghai Lockdown
The Shanghai lockdown was a new low point for censorship at Sixth Tone - in hindsight, it was a harbinger of what was coming. But this project was a brilliant and precious feat of memorialisation.
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There are so, so many more that I could have included. It's sad to think that many of these stories would simply never be told in English now, as ST was filling a pretty unique space. Hopefully one day China will allow real journalism to flourish here again.
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'We Own It': The Chinese Homeowners Squatting in Unfinished Buildings
This piece does such a good job of humanising China's housing crisis - an example of ST at its best. Our series (now partly deleted) on the housing crisis also won a SOPA last year.
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But the people left out of the party were, sadly, the delivery drivers. For weeks, they slept on the streets while keeping the city running. Tonight, they'd all been corralled into a caged area under a bridge. Kind of sums it all up.
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Hah, so Sixth Tone has finally fallen in line with the great “Xizang-ification” campaign…
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#JOURNOREQUEST
Sixth Tone is looking to cover the predicaments faced by expats with Chinese partners looking to leave China amid the tight border controls. Please share widely if you can, as we'd love to speak with a range of people navigating this process.
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As someone who works for an actual Chinese media outlet, I find the idea that
@thechinaproj
is some kind of Chinese influence operation utterly absurd. There's just no way they'd be allowed to cover what they do, in the way they do.
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Inside China's Black Market for Foster Children
A SOPA-winning investigation that offers a haunting glimpse into China's illegal adoption trade. It was later deleted from ST's website, but survives on Caixin Global.
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@MichaelSchuman
The problem is that Covid zero has become a lightning rod political issue in China itself. Policy is becoming more about political performativity than science. And that's leading to bad, sometimes v frightening outcomes.
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@davidpaulk
To be fair to Hua, I’ve always admired Carol Greiner’s professional ethics and adherence to British laws and regulations
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@sanguoromcom
@tianyuf
I agree. I certainly don’t think that there is huge anti party sentiment outside the elite - tbh I don’t think most people even think that way. But I do think there’s pretty evident pessimism around these days, and imo that matters in itself
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@hancocktom
Population control started in the early '70s and was only later standardized as a nationwide 'one-child policy' - I imagine a big chunk of the drop was caused by those earlier policies.
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@heldavidson
That was a great read, thanks! It’s been fascinating reading all the stories coming out of Taiwan recently - it makes me realize how little I really know about the place despite living so close by.
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Code Red: The Human Cost of China's Rural Banking Crisis
Another SOPA winner following the victims of a massive banking crisis as they tried to petition the govt for help.
It's worth noting that this kind of piece was still going up even in mid 2022.
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Fun piece by
@Groganb2
diving into China's underground hyperpop scene -- and how it's confusing the hell out of mainstream music producers.
The artists who spoke with Sixth Tone appear mostly pessimistic about hyperpop’s chances of breaking into the mainstream in China. The music is just too niche. But none of them plan to give up.
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@donweinland
That's great to see. I'm still locked down, but today I saw people strolling in the park near my home for the first time in two months. It actually made me weirdly emotional seeing it. Things are looking up... for now at least!
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It Was Rural China's Top Mental Health Clinic. Then, It Disappeared.
After the Year in Review scandal, everything got much harder. But pieces like this were still possible for a while, which is why I wanted to stay. These stories still felt meaningful.
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The Chinese Couple Who Dared to Have a Third Child
A really poignant story about a couple who thought it was safe to have a third kid, and saw their lives ruined as a result. It took the censors two weeks to clear this piece, but I'm so glad it went up.
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Sixth Tone has spent months investigating the lab monkey trade, and the scale of illegal activity — and the potential public health dangers it’s creating — are quite shocking. Please give the story a read.
In China, thousands of wild-caught monkeys are being illegally certified as captive-bred and used in clinical trials for new drugs and vaccines. The practice poses a severe public health risk, experts warn.
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Absolutely delighted to share that
@SixthTone
has NINE finalists for the 2022 SOPA Awards!
Massive congrats to all the reporters, editors, and visuals staff who worked on these stories. Links to all the nominated stories are here:
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@hazza_harding
Thanks, Hazza! It is sad that so many people have left, but also nice that we managed to keep the team together so long. And a lot of good folks are still there.
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@TomTugendhat
@ChinaResearchGp
Democracy/authoritarianism isn’t a binary, it’s a spectrum - and right now the UK is shifting dangerously toward the latter. That’s why people feel ‘defeatist,’ Tom. Our words sound hollow, because - frankly - they are.
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I love Shanghai sometimes. This was my soundtrack for most of my run tonight.
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Fascinating read from
@peiyue_jess
about the shady dealings that grease the wheels of trade in Yiwu, and how China's crackdown on organized crime is affecting the city.
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@S_Rabinovitch
True, although it's also worth pointing out that in China's case there's (usually) an accompanying effort to create the new local industries that will allow people to work themselves out of poverty, rather than simply leave it to the market.
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@lajohnstondr
@xcyale
@Dali_Yang
@damienics
@vshih2
@xuqinduo
@niubi
A few Chinese cities are already experimenting with this. Mixed results, but there appears to be political momentum behind the idea: .
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@Noahpinion
First, a 20% youth unemployment rate isn't unusual globally. In Southern Europe, 30-40% is common. Second, China has massive growth in no. of graduates, but not enough good jobs. Third, Gen-Z kids aren't willing to work in factories like previous generations.
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Shanghai's mass testing system has jumped the shark at this point. Most of our neighbours think the tests are causing infections, so they don't go. The juweihui don't know what to do, so they say nothing. What will happen when the "silent period" ends?
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@DSORennie
Just wait another two months, that's when things started getting less boring in Shanghai. Shrieks, yells, smashing of random objects, protests now a pretty regular occurrence
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@macastel3
This is what worries me. My HR was ordering people back to the office today - a 20-storey building with hundreds of staff. What happens if someone tests positive? Are we all deemed close contacts and locked down? HR: "We're waiting for guidance."
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The dabais who come do our daily Covid tests look so lonely these days...
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The first episode of “The Long Season” is genuinely up there with the best opening hours of a TV show I’ve ever seen. Can’t wait to see the rest of it.
Also, Tencent seems to have posted the whole series (and many others) on YouTube. Seems an odd policy but a win for viewers!
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@JaredTNelson
The data is interesting. My building alone has found 3 cases this week. Maybe we just have the last community outbreak in the entire city...
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@ruima
Agree the amount of funding looks excessive, but have to say Manner’s coffee is really good! My fave chain in Shanghai by a mile
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Shanghai is still a long way from normal. This photo is doing the rounds of a snake wandering around People's Square in the middle of the day. Normally, it's one of the most crowded places in the city.
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@chi_xiangyuan
I love that piece, too! Huiyuan is not only a world-class videographer and photographer, but also an excellent reporter (though he never admits it). I will miss working with him a lot.
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God speed China Channel. You had a hell of a run. It’s a crying shame you weren’t able to secure funding, because the work you guys did was outstanding.
It has been such a privilege (and great fun!) to edit the China Channel over the last four years and almost 600 posts, especially to work with such wonderful colleagues as
@annemhdc
@beckminster
@Olivia_Humph3
@BrSpivey
@lnachman32
@chowleen
and
@jwassers
.
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@pretentiouswhat
They can't explain why, because they have to stick to the line that there is zero community spread.
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China has invested massive sums to lure international students with lucrative scholarships over recent years.
But the process is riddled with corruption, a Sixth Tone investigation has found.
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@macastel3
Yes the disruption this is causing is massive. It's not just expats unable to get their money out of China; for businesses, it can be crippling. Payments to contractors and freelancers often require trips to a bank, and that's still impossible. Totally crazy.
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The Shady Labor Practices Underpinning Shein's Global Fashion Empire
This scoop lifted the lid on the widespread labour violations occurring in Shein's supply chain, and inspired a host of follow-up reporting.
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So glad we managed to publish this piece on the barriers trans people are facing in China's health system.
This is a hugely complex topic, and there will inevitably be things we didn't explore enough. We'll hopefully be returning to the topic v soon...
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@richbrubaker
It could grind on much longer. These lockdowns aren’t about buying time; I think Xi is serious about wanting to ‘defeat’ covid and get back to zero. And officials are behaving accordingly. There is no rush to vaccinate the elderly, the focus is on testing.
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This piece made me smile. I remember being amazed by the retirees doing the full splits and sets of pull-ups in the park when I first moved to China. Wu Daye sounds like a real character.
Photographer Sun Yibing shares her fascination with Beijing’s public park gyms, where the biggest lifters are often over 70.
“The world’s eyes are on China; China’s are on Beijing; Beijing’s are on its parks. And in the parks, all eyes are on us.”
More:
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@amonck
Thanks so much. We were often surprised by what got through, to be honest! Let’s hope that can continue this year.
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@AGhiselliChina
Things are loosening slowly here. One person per household can leave for up to two hours per day, and it's strictly enforced. Word is going around that June 1 will be a big change, but we'll see.
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The AI Girlfriend Seducing China's Lonely Men
A long-time reader favourite about an AI chatbot and the hundreds of lonely Chinese men who fell in love with it. The little details in this one are what make it so special.
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Pretty big news on the birth control front today, though many Chinese couples say they can’t afford to have 2 kids, let alone 3
China’s central government on Monday said couples are now allowed to have three children as the country eases its birthing policies in light of its aging population.
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This is such a weird and shocking story by
@DandanNee
.
In China, it's extremely hard to access treatment for ADHD, so people have been buying medication online. Now, hundreds of them are being rounded up by police drug squads.
.
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@EP_Lawrence
Could be worse. We got a load of beef and luncheon meat that neighbours said was "wet and smelly." No private deliveries. Our building reported its first cases this week after nearly two months of lockdown. They haven't appeared on the city data yet tho...
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Really fun read by
@Xiguaken
about the colorful world of Chinese pro wrestling, where the ultimate villain is a deadbeat foreign teacher called Steve
China’s pro wrestlers like the villainous Steve the ESL Teacher and the heroic Bamboo Crusher are attempting to create a homegrown alternative to WWE by putting a local spin on the Western art form.
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Li 'the lipstick king' Jiaqi has risen to become China's biggest influencer. Now, he's jumping on a new trend: an upsurge in Chinese nationalism.
Must-read profile by
@Echo1047
and
@YiyingFan
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This was v funny but also captures the fury of a lot of people in Shanghai right now. I can empathise: yesterday, our building reported another infection. A few hours later, the city reports a fourth day of zero community cases...
Gotta admire the humor & defiance of Shanghai residents.
After Shanghai said it was easing lockdown, some reported their govt’s official Weibo account to an anti-fraud app run by Chinese police.
“Please go after the Shanghai govt, they lie with their eyes wide open everyday.”
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China's health code system was introduced to track & trace Covid cases. Now, it's morphing into a powerful tool of social control.
People trying to rescue their savings from troubled banks in Henan are finding their health codes suddenly turn red -- and police waiting for them.
I've been following China's health code system since it launched in 2020, and it's often seemed quite limited. But we're now seeing it used increasingly to stop inconvenient people from going to certain places, such as depositors affected by a bank run.
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It may prove to be fleeting, but it’s so great to see signs of the old Shanghai returning. Even the influencers and wedding photo couples are back.
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@CameronWEF
@calbino18
It was really noticeable how many questions were geared toward putting a positive slant on lockdown. Do you feel more connected with your neighbours now? How is that useful feedback that'll help the govt make life better for people?
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@NicoleCee478
Thank you, Nicole, I’m so glad you found ST’s reporting useful. It makes it all worth it
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Shanghai's reopening is getting weirder and more chaotic. This afternoon, our corner of Jing'an suddenly ended lockdown a day early, and people poured onto the streets. It was the busier on the Suzhou Creek than it normally was pre-lockdown.
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Last summer, Sixth Tone reported on the aftermath of the devastating floods in Zhengzhou that killed over 300 people. Now, China has confirmed what we suspected then: many of those deaths were preventable.
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Gaining even this partial insight into SHEIN's supply chain was challenging. Hopefully,
@SixthTone
and others will be able to build on this reporting in the future.
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@CameronWEF
True. Things were far from normal even before the lockdown. Travel between Shanghai and Kunshan (a 20-min train ride) was interrupted many times from late 2021. And remember all the snap lockdowns in offices, cafes, & Disneyland? Fun times...
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What a journey.
@jflorcruzCNN
traveled to China during the Cultural Revolution, got stranded there, was sent down to the countryside, and then became a member of Beida's famous Class of 77.
I talked to Jaime about his brilliant new memoir for
@SixthTone
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@goldkorn
So sorry to hear this. You guys did great work and provided a platform for a huge number of writers. You’ll be much missed!
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Young Chinese filmmakers like Qiu Sheng are making a splash overseas. But in China, many of them are trolled and accused of “foreigner worship.” Nice read by
@Tina_WangXT
Multi-layered and rich in visual symbolism, Qiu Sheng’s “Suburban Birds” garnered critical acclaim on the international film festival circuit. But the feature hasn’t fared as well in its risk-averse domestic market.
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@ruima
Ah right, my apologies! That's my biggest fear to be honest - we won't be allowed to resume anything approaching normal life till SH has "won," which might take far longer than the govt is letting on right now...
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China’s tutoring ban led to 100,000s of job losses and billions of dollars of financial losses last year.
But one year on, it also appears to be doing something worse: exacerbating the social inequality it was supposed to address.
.?source=channel_home
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