Zhibo – The New Trend of Live-Streaming

By Tony Hong, PhD Candidate from the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, UNNC. I had a strange request asked of me a few days ago while working in my office – “You need to watch this guy! He’s hilarious!” Expecting to see a short humorous video, I was instead treated to some guy attempting to …

China’s Internet, the spread of Information

By Joshua Gardiner, Participant in SCCS Summer school. One of the first things a westerner will notice as they enter China is the increasing number of ‘error’ messages encountered when surfing the web. At first it may seem like an accidental problem with one’s chosen device ­ yet this could not be further from the …

The Internet Economy

By Tony Hong, PhD Student from the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies UNNC. There are advantages of managing the Internet because it is an most important wealth generator in the economy. For more than 30 years, China has managed under successive administrations to have its economy grow at a rate of nearly 10% year on …

How Edward Snowden became China’s new best friend

By Kjetil B. Alstadheim, Student at Nottingham University Ningbo Summer School. It was from Chinese territory Edward Snowden’s revelations about American massive spying on the internet came. Snowden fled to Hong Kong from Hawaii before leaking documents about the operations of The National Security Agency (NSA). Snowden did not stay in Hong Kong for long. …

E’gao: Online parody as political commentary

By Gareth Shaw, PhD Candidate in Contemporary Chinese Studies, The University of Nottingham, UK. China’s regulatory environment has spawned a culture of online jokes and entertainment known as 恶搞 (e’gao), which often spoof political activity and

How Edward Snowden became China’s new best friend

By Kjetil B. Alstadheim, Student at Nottingham University Ningbo Summer School. It was from Chinese territory Edward Snowden’s revelations about American massive spying on the internet came. Snowden fled to Hong Kong from Hawaii before leaking documents about the operations of The National Security Agency (NSA).  Snowden did not stay in Hong Kong for long. …

Not Everyone Loves Social Media

By Dr. Shixin Ivy Zhang, Assistant Professor in Journalism Studies, School of International Communications, University of Nottingham Ningbo China. The most popular term in 2013 may be ‘phubbing’, a combination of ‘phone’ and ‘snub’. This term was coined by Macquarie Dictionary team in Australia in 2012. It refers to the annoying habit of snubbing someone …

Reading the writing on the wall – Recent developments in the study of Chinese Social Media

By Christian Shepherd, Studying an MA in Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Chinese social media is both a blessing and a curse for Contemporary Chinese Studies’ research. The potential is obvious: over half of Chinese internet users are micro-bloggers and internet penetration has reached the 40th percentile, but the pitfalls …

Party’s Reform Plan

By Dr. Zhengxu Wang, Associate Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, and Deputy Director of the China Policy Institute, at the University of Nottingham, UK. Last week saw the eagerly anticipated event of the Plenum of the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee. It was planned as a milestone in China’s reform history, as the …

China to relax ban on Facebook and Twitter?

By Dr. David O’Brien, Assistant Professor, School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. China may be about to relax its ban on foreign media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the New York Times in order to make ex-pats working in a pilot free-trade zone ‘feel more at home’. …