Lifestyle vlogger Li Ziqi has become the first Chinese-language account to amass more than 10 million subscribers on YouTube, according to Sina Tech, a milestone that has been widely celebrated on Chinese social media. A hashtag related to the news has been viewed more than 410 million times on microblogging platform Weibo, with commenters praising Li’s dissemination of Chinese culture. YouTube has been blocked by China’s internet censorship apparatus since 2009.
Li’s videos of bucolic rural life in western China have seen her become a huge star. Her idyllic-looking scenes of farming and cooking with her grandma have struck a chord with audiences across China — and seemingly internationally — and allowed her to build up a considerable ecommerce empire on the back of her videos’ escapist themes.
“She’s done a great job promoting Chinese culture,” reads the most highly upvoted comment on Sina Tech‘s Weibo post about the milestone. “If Chinese people were all like those in Li Ziqi’s videos it’d be beautiful.”
“She’s passing on Chinese culture and showing the beauty of our rural life to the outside world,” reads another.
Yet some users have questioned how Li’s videos have ended up on an overseas video platform that is technically blocked within mainland China’s borders (savvy netizens are able to use a VPN to access sites beyond the so-called Great Firewall, though personal use of such software is meant to be largely prohibited).
“It’s true that there are still people who illegally link with [such sites], but there are also plenty of overseas operators who provide services for this,” explains one Li Ziqi defender. “She’s not doing anything wrong.”
For the most part, Li’s breaking of the 10 million barrier is being seen as a win for “Chinese culture” overseas. Though she still has some way to go to match her 24.5 million fans on Weibo.
First-graders in Hangzhou have returned back to school after months of Covid-19 quarantine. In order to ensure safety, some classes are wearing social-distancing hats reminiscent of those from the Song Dynasty.
First graders back to school in Hangzhou, with social distancing headgear
The long horizontal plumes on Song Dynasty toppers were supposedly to prevent officials from conspiring sotto voce with one another while at court—so social distancing was in fact their original function! pic.twitter.com/0AOKsWE1xH
The three-foot long sides extending out of the hats have been made out of balloons, cardboard, and foam. The hats in the Song Dynasty weren’t nearly as DIY. But as Duke professor Eileen Chow points out on Twitter, they were also intended for social distancing.
They kept officials and politicians from speaking too quietly together, “conspiring sotto voce,” while in court.
Users found the children’s hats clever and adorable.
Historical precedents used. Clever on the part of the teacher to be able to incorporate a history lesson and maintain social distancing.
This week, Beijing and Shanghai allowed some students in middle and high schools to return. The Chinese Ministry of Education stated that all students will have their temperature taken before entering, and must have a “green code” on an app that calculates their infection risk level.
People have taken many other creative measures across China in response to Covid-19, from ancestor-worshipping online to the country’s own capital city banning the “Beijing Bikini.”
Chen Qiufan, also known as Stanley Chen, is a man of many talents and interests. Primarily, he is an award-winning science fiction writer, whose long-form and short-form prose has been widely praised for addressing topics such as the environment, Chinese identity and human behavior in a time of emergency. He’s also lent his hand to discussions of art, teaming up last year for an exhibition with The Tara Ocean Foundation at Galerie Dumonteil, while he also worked on the Shenzhen & Hong Kong 2019 Bi-City Biennale at the end of last year.
We meet Chen on an overcast weekday afternoon for a coffee and a chat near his home in Xuhui district, Shanghai. He’s just put the finishing touches on the first draft for his next novel that morning. It is, in his own words, “crap,” and needs a lot of work. But, to paraphrase American novelist Kurt Vonnegut, so it goes in the world of literature.
The novel sounds complex and sophisticated, and takes in topics such as a drug war, an alternative history and impending crisis. Chen only started the draft in November of last year, and at the peak of his productivity was churning out 10,000 words per week.
“It was kind of like I was pushing myself to the limits. I did not think through all of the settings, characters and plots. I just allowed whatever came to my mind to be put down, so I have this kind of material,” he says of the process.
“[Writing this new novel] was kind of like I was pushing myself to the limits”
Work, fortunately, has been flowing for Chen of late. The shutdown of restaurants, bars and businesses in Shanghai, which accompanied the outbreak of Covid-19, has meant more time for knuckling down on his writing. The majority of the draft for the novel, which comes to around 180,000 words, was written over the past couple of months, though he says there’s still plenty to be done before it’s ready for publishing. “I need to restructure the whole thing. Right now, I know what it is really like. The whole structure is there, but I need to craft it, as if from stone.”
Stanley Chen grew up in Shantou in Guangdong province, fascinated by science fiction stories in the form of films like Jurassic Park and Star Wars. The southern city also proved to be integrally influential for his first novel, Waste Tide, which was initially published in 2013 and helped establish Chen as a major new voice in Chinese sci-fi. Hugo Award-winning author Liu Cixin called the story “the pinnacle of near-future science fiction.”
The novel is based around ideas of electronic waste, class war and the story of Guiyu Island, an infamously polluted island off the coast of the Chaozhou region near Shantou. Speaking to the ecological through-point of the book and recent developments around environmental awareness in China, Chen says, “Now, I can see from the state level to the individual level, everyone has this perception that environment is important and that we have to build up this kind of sustainable way of economic growth and lifestyle.”
Not only did the book continue to highlight the plight of Guiyu Island, once known as the largest e-waste site in the world, it also delved into the regional culture, using local dialects such as Teochow and Cantonese.
Speaking to his depiction of China, Chen says, “That’s something I tried to put more effort into, maybe by using more dialect. I use this kind of thing to explain that there is so much diversity in China. Right now, I am positioning myself as a world writer using Chinese. I will think about how people outside of China can easily accept this kind of authenticity of Chinese… Chinesenese. That’s very important to me.”
“Right now, I am positioning myself as a world writer using Chinese. I will think about how people outside of China can easily accept this kind of authenticity”
Chen has recently found himself a champion of diversity in another, very different way, after he became briefly embroiled in an idol-related fan war. As part of the April cover story for fashion magazine GQ, he helped create the character W1Bo-805, an android version of popular actor and singer Wang Yibo.
The GQ campaign for The Untamed co-star proved successful, with fans responding well to the idol’s blue hair and the environmental message behind the project.
However, fans of Xiao Zhan, Wang Yibo’s co-star in the hit show, attacked Chen for something he posted previously amid an online fan war over fan fiction site A03, also known as Archive of Our Own.
For background, A03 was reported by Xiao Zhan fans for hosting homoerotic pictures of the actor. The site was then blocked in China, leading to a backlash from its followers against Xiao Zhan, who was apparently dropped from several lucrative marketing campaigns as a result. Chen defended the website, and slammed Xiao Zhan fans for attacking A03.
“They tried to attack me about that. It’s nonsense. Totally. But it is interesting,” says Chen. “In this kind of young person’s mind, you have no idea. But it is kind of influential. These fan groups are so big that it is kind of dangerous.”
Chen seems largely unbothered by the controversy. And besides, he has more important projects to work on than responding to trolling idol fans. Earlier this month, his short story Debtless was published in English in leading sci-fi publication Clarkesworld, for example, while his story State of Trance also came out in English for the first time in early April, two years after it was initially published in Chinese.
Based around the concept of the Last Evening on Earth, the collection of short stories by Chilean writer Roberto Bolano, the latter story has proven to be somewhat premonitory, as it talks about an apocalyptic pandemic. The tale, which appears in Book of Shanghai, a group of short stories based in the Chinese city, delves into ideas of communication breakdown and a state of emergency, as the main character tries to return a library book.
Speaking about the relationship between current events and this plot, Chen references a line from State of Trance — “The most lethal threats often come from the self” — before adding his thoughts on the geopolitical fallout of Covid-19. “We try to build up this false enemy. We’re not thinking that we are from the same source, we are from the same species. I think this mindset is really driving us apart, especially at this moment.”
“We try to build up this false enemy. We’re not thinking that we are from the same source, we are from the same species”
He wrote the story, in part, with the help of artificial intelligence. On the surface, the idea of AI writing a short story may strike fear into the heart of writers everywhere. For Chen, however, in order for him to make use of the nonsensical poetry that the AI returned based on his own writings, he was forced to create a very distinct context, something only a writer could do.
“I built up this image of Others who talk like someone using AI, trying to imitate humans. It makes senses, because it does not sound 100% like a human talking. But you can get some interesting ideas from using AI, and you can play around with it.”
His time working at Baidu and Google when he was younger left him with connections working in AI. One of those friends, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee is the chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures and the president of Sinovation Ventures Artificial Intelligence Institute; he’s also the former President of Google China. He hooked Chen up with AI code through which he fed his own writing. With key words, Chen was able to trigger automatically-generated paragraphs.
While Chen is planning a book of short stories based around the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence, his willingness to embrace the use of AI in writing has already borne some accidental fruit: State of Trance was recently awarded a literary prize — by an AI judge.
“At the very first stage of the award, the Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan’s short story was ranked first. So, everyone thought the algorithm really worked because a Nobel Prize winner won, what could be wrong?” he smiles as he tells the story. “But on the last day, ScienceFiction World, where I published the State of Trance, submitted my story, and I finished 0.001% ahead of Mo Yan’s story and finished on top. So I am the one who beat Mr. Mo Yan.”
While Mo Yan is perhaps the best-known Chinese writer internationally, Chen’s fellow sci-fi author Liu Cixin has also made waves in the English-language sphere thanks to his break-out series Remembrance of Earth’s Past (often referred to by the name of the first novel, The Three-Body Problem) and the massively successful film adaptation of his book The Wandering Earth.
As Chen continues discussions to adapt Waste Tide into a TV show, he’s well aware of the impact Liu has had, but is also wary of cautionary tales such as the epic cinematic flop, Shanghai Fortress.
“I think there is certainly huge potential here,” he says. “The Chinese market obviously is quite fond ofblockbusters with sci-fi elements, for example, The Marvel Universe. It’s a huge success in China.” However, Chen is dubious when it comes to the unfettered pace with which the market moved towards sci-fi products after the wild success of The Wandering Earth. “I think for the Chinese film industry, there is still a long way to go. Because you can see after The Wandering Earth, there was another film, Shanghai Fortress, it was an epic failure. You have to build up brick by brick — it’s not an overnight thing.”
The Beijing bikini is as iconic (and infamous) as the city it takes its name from. But now, the capital’s inhabitants may have to look elsewhere for that cooling breeze, as lawmakers move to ban the practice.
In China, few things signal the start of summer quite as clearly as swarms of middle-aged men all rolling up their shirts and letting it all hang out. The Beijing bikini, as the outfit is called, is most commonly seen in parks, doorways, and streetside eateries, or anywhere you’ll find men who want to beat the heat. There’s a Chinese term for these gentlemen — bang ye (膀爷) — from the words for “shirtless” and “grandpa.”
The new law, which will go into effect on June 1, is part of a city-wide effort to “promote civilized behavior” in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. According to Beijing’s Municipal People’s Congress (link in Chinese), people ought to “not be shirtless in public places.” Other new rules include wearing a mask when ill, covering your face when coughing or sneezing, and not eating on the subway.
While the Beijing bikini was not explicitly stated in the regulations, a tweet from state outlet Global Times confirmed that they were the target.
The regulations also pushed the city to “establish a […] system to record information on civilized behavior such as doing things right, volunteering, charity and public welfare,” maybe a nod to China’s burgeoning social credit system.
The ban comes a year after cities such as Jinan and Tianjin passed similar laws targeting the Beijing bikini. In Hubei province, the city of Handan even released an anti-Beijing bikini campaign video featuring an old man whose granddaughter shames him: “Grandpa, why are you shirtless again? You are too uncivilized!” The video ends with the slogan: “For a civilized city, ban shirtless grandpas.”
For many people, the Beijing bikini is a fond mainstay of Chinese culture that deserves to exist in peace. Here’s hoping grandpas everywhere will still enjoy playing chess in the park and smoking cigarettes in doorways — just away from the watchful eye of authority.
The United States’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has drawn controversy after unveiling its new Emerging and Infectious Diseases monthly journal cover on Instagram.
The image — since deleted off their account but still available on their website— was an 18th century Qing military rank badge.
In their caption, the CDC described a leopard standing among “swooping bats,” explaining that the animals on the badge “may also serve as zoonotic reservoirs capable of transmitting viral pathogens that can cause respiratory infections in humans,” like SARS and Covid-19.
Backlash immediately ensued. Users on Twitter criticized the CDC for using Chinese insignia to portray the spread of infectious diseases.
Rank badges come from across East Asia, China, Korea, Vietnam … The beautiful wild creatures are not just markers of rank & status, as the post claims, but also symbols of duty, dignity & decency. Don’t forget these virtues when you deride them as “carriers of viruses.”@CDCgovpic.twitter.com/nNihw61YIX
Xiaoyu Weng, a curator at the Guggenheim Museum, called the image “an ignorant, foundationless attack on Chinese cultural heritage” in an Instagram story.
“You can see such symbols featured in historical art objects in museums like the Met, for example,” Weng also told the Daily Dot. “By stripping free of the complexity, this association with Covid-19 is a baseless and very irresponsible way to disseminate fake knowledge. Such information continues to exacerbate the systematic racism and cultural prejudice exposed by this pandemic.”
After removing the journal cover from their Instagram account, the CDC made a new post describing precautions to take when ordering takeout — with an image of Asian food.
Users were quick to call them out again. “After you were forced to delete your post yesterday, did anyone think about insinuation of using a picture of Asian takeout food in your post about food safety?” reads one comment with hundreds of likes.
New Music, formerly Yin (音, “music”), is a weekly RADII column that looks at Chinese songs spanning hip hop to folk to modern experimental, and everything in between. Drop us a line if you have a suggestion.
One of the cornerstone artists from influential Shanghai-headquartered electronic label SVBKVLT, Osheyack, returns with a blistering new release, Memory Hierarchy.
The American producer is often credited with being one of the harder-hitting artists on the SVBKVLT roster, employing raw, powerful body music that seems to find its best setting on dancefloors and among flailing bodies.
Memory Hierarchy is another fantastic example of Osheyack’s interest in making music that embraces a variety of different mediums.
As referenced in text accompanying the release, from Alvin Li, the artwork is taken from visuals captured by Dupre and Osheyack from their stint together at renowned Polish music event Unsound Festival. The glum green shades and crosshair graphics combine for a particularly unsettling effect.
The EP is his third release on the label, after Fake/Fiction/Fraud and Empty Hell, while he’s also provided tracks for compilations such as Cache 01 and on SVBKVLT’s co-release with Ugandan label Hakuna Kulala, Slip A.
As Osheyack tells us, “The title refers to the hierarchical order in which a computer accesses its memory.” The tracks on the album were initially written in 2019 when Osheyack was preparing for an audiovisual set with the late visual artist Adam Dupre at Unsound.
Memory Hierarchy will be released primarily as a three-track EP, while an extra, bonus track is included on the digital release.
Additionally, if you find yourself in Shanghai today (Friday, April 24), ALL is holding a launch party for the EP, while a mini-tour, which will see Osheyack hit OIL Club in Shenzhen and Axis in Chengdu, will kick off at the beginning of May. For more details on all of those shows, click here.
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