Beijing is using its messaging tools to show off its prowess at building infrastructure and project power, taking advantage of what it says is “deep anxiety” in U.S. policies.
The reactions online revealed a Chinese society divided: Some saw what happened in Venezuela as a playbook for seizing Taiwan, while others warned about ideological rigidity.
State media, embracing the gaming phrase “kill line,” is asserting China’s political superiority over the United States, deflecting focus on China’s own economic challenges.
Ma Ruilin worked as a Communist Party cadre helping fellow Muslims navigate their country as religious minorities, until the official hostility became too great to bear.
The future once seemed boundless for those who grew up during China’s reform era. Now in middle age, they are pinned between economic stagnation and institutional age discrimination.
Zhang Xuefeng helped people navigate the country’s unforgiving higher education system. The public outpouring after his death was a quiet rebuke to the punishing process.
Having gotten into trouble for making jokes critical of the Chinese government, the standup comic Chizi now lives in self-imposed exile. He’s finding that freedom imposes its own constraints.
For decades, many Chinese viewed the United States with a mix of admiration, envy and resentment. President Trump’s volatile second term shattered that image.
On Threads and other sites, liberal-minded Chinese accounts were mocking the proceedings and offering a rare window into opinions on Xi Jinping and his leadership style.
