Welcome back to Lingua Sinica.
The official closure of USAID back in July, coming on the heels of crippling cuts for Radio Free Asia and the gutting of Voice of America, naturally invites the prediction that China will “inevitably fill the void and promote its own model of foreign aid.” Our monitoring of activities through the Lingua Sinica database has convinced us this pattern is already emerging in the media space. Southeast Asia in particular is a critical front.
Since late-July, we have logged more than 10 engagements involving China’s southernmost provinces, which play a key role in Xi Jinping’s strategy of regional communication outreach through provincial and city-level institutions. In late July, Yunnan’s provincial international communication center (ICC), focused on South and Southeast Asia, ran a China-Myanmar digital media training program. This month, Kunming was also host to the 12th World Chinese Media Forum, with strong Southeast Asia participation — not to mention the Global South Media and Think Tank Forum, where a reported 500+ guests from more than 260 media organizations were gifted copies of a blistering attack on US “cognitive warfare” [SEE the China stories section below].
Moving east to Guangxi province, the trend is clear. On July 29, the provincial government and its ICC hosted a youth media exchange with Indonesian counterparts in Jakarta, and this month brought news that Cambodian outlets have struck up a partnership with the same ICC. There is also involvement from Guangdong and Fujian provinces, which have strong diaspora links throughout the region. Just last week, the city of Xiamen hosted an event with journalists from nine ASEAN countries, involving Xiamen University’s new Center for International Communication Research.
China is already stepping into the gap. . . But enough from me. On to the rest of our stories!
David L. Bandurski
CMP Executive Director
A recent People’s Daily commentary by LeBron James offers a revealing look at the endemic culture of fakery in China’s state media..
“Basketball is a bridge that connects us.” That was the headline of a commentary published in the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper earlier this month, with a soaring byline from none other than LeBron James, the LA Lakers star who is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. “I’ve been deeply moved by the enthusiasm and friendliness of my Chinese friends,” the commentary began, with a typical CCP frame of people-to-people friendship. “What I can do in return is give my all in every game as a way to show my gratitude to everyone.” For a generally insipid Party-run mouthpiece, such a celebrity endorsement was too good to be true — and of course it was. Representatives for LeBron James quickly disavowed the story. The star, they said, had only ever conducted interviews with Chinese media.
What does this tell us? The flagship newspaper of the CCP feels it is perfectly acceptable to fake a commentary by one of the world’s most recognizable public figures if it suits the agenda, in this case talking up “friendship” and people-to-people exchange.
It should not surprise readers that this is not an isolated case. In 2016, after a commentary with a byline from a journalism professor in the New York state university system appeared in the paper decrying the falsehood of Western freedom of speech, CMP reached out to the professor in question. In an e-mail exchange, the shocked professor said she had only spoken on the phone with a People’s Daily reporter and raised issues of journalism ethics more generally. Sound familiar?
At the People’s Daily, politics always trump professionalism. In order to have his official press card re-issued back in January, the staff member behind the LeBron James commentary, sports reporter Wang Liang (王亮) would almost certainly have taken refresher courses on the Marxist View of Journalism and fealty to the Party. The most basic ethics and good practice? Not so important. The People’s Daily has issued no public correction on the LeBron James commentary. Don’t bother waiting for the buzzer.
A respected news magazine disappears from China’s roster of media approved for internet reposting — after publishing sensitive investigative reports.
Last month, China’s top internet control body, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released its latest “whitelist” of approved news sources from which internet platforms are legally permitted to repost news content — a system that has become a cornerstone of information control under Xi Jinping. Journalists over at our Chinese-language sister publication Tian Jian (田間) combed through the list last week to compare it with the 2021 version of the roster. What did they find?
The most noteworthy change was the omission of a more outspoken news outlet, Sanlian Life Weekly (三聯生活周刊), a respected news magazine that had recently published sensitive investigative reports, including coverage of Beijing flooding and a rare story about cross-regional arrests. Both stories were subsequently deleted from Chinese internet platforms.
The scrubbing of Sanlian from the roster echoes the 2021 removal of Caixin Media, another respected outlet that has struggled over the past decade to maintain professional space. The updated 2025 list grew from 1,358 to 1,459 approved sources, with most additions being local government platforms — likely reflecting Beijing’s strategy to strengthen propaganda capabilities at the local level. Guangdong province alone added 59 new government-affiliated outlets.
In the latest CMP Interview, FT Chinese editor-in-chief Wang Feng (王丰) discusses how his newsroom integrates AI tools while maintaining journalistic standards, revealing the added value of humans — and why traditional journalistic skills remain essential.
Check out the full interview at CMP. And don’t miss Wang Feng’s list of Top 3 AI Tools.
Wang Feng has led FT Chinese since 2015, integrating AI tools while maintaining journalistic standards. (Photo provided by Wang Feng)
As he unveiled the trailer for his new film “Deadline” (自殺通告), scheduled to debut in Taiwan on November 7, Hong Kong filmmaker Kiwi Chow (周冠威) told the independent Hong Kong outlet Inmedia HK that he felt uncertain the film would receive local approval for screening in his hometown. Chow said he had received only “processing” updates since submitting the student suicide drama to Hong Kong’s Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration last month. Starring Anthony Wong Chau-sang (黃秋生) and shot entirely in Taiwan, the film marks the director’s first Taiwan production following his locally unreleased documentary “Revolution of Our Times” (時代革命), which included footage of frontline protests in Hong Kong and infuriated Chinese authorities — particularly when it won best documentary at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards. “Am I optimistic? Haha, it’s hard to say,” Chow told Inmedia HK. “I choose to be optimistic.”
The 2023 Chinese television drama “Blossoms” (繁花), directed by Hong Kong film legend Wong Kar-wai (王家卫), won plaudits for its sole credited screenwriter, Qin Wen (秦雯). But the series faced its own drama last week as anonymous writer “Gu Er” (古二) alleged they were denied acknowledgement for their involvement and faced workplace bullying. Gu Er released recordings on WeChat claiming to have written significant script portions while receiving only 3,000 yuan monthly and no screenwriting credit. The production team issued a September 20 Weibo statement supporting “creators’ legal rights” without addressing any concrete allegations. Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao reported that Qin Wen has engaged lawyers and called the allegations false and defamatory.
Malaysia’s communications regulator fined two major media outlets RM100,000 (USD 23,800) each last week for content violations. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) penalized Sin Chew Daily (星洲日报) for publishing an incomplete Malaysian flag image missing the crescent symbol, and Sinar Harian (阳光日报) for falsely identifying the police chief as a political party member on Instagram. Sin Chew Daily announced it would appeal the decision. The Malaysian Media Council, an independent self-regulatory body, criticized the fines as damaging press freedom, while the Malaysia Chinese Media Editors Association (马来西亚华文媒体编辑人协会) said the penalties would hinder media development. MCMC emphasized that the national flag “Jalur Gemilang” must always be displayed accurately as a symbol of sovereignty and unity, warning that false information can undermine public trust and order.
Editors beware. This is how the Malaysian flag should appear. SOURCE: Wikimedia Commons.
Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan (張展), previously imprisoned for reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, was sentenced to another four years in prison on September 19 on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” (尋釁滋事). The 42-year-old former lawyer, who completed a four-year sentence in May 2024 for her reporting from Wuhan during the pandemic, had been detained since August 2024 after supporting pro-democracy activist Zhang Pancheng (張盼成), who posted a video criticizing China’s human rights record. Zhang Zhan’s indictment accused her of “widely spreading insulting content about others and false information seriously damaging the country’s image on overseas social media, causing public disorder.” There has not been a peep about the case in China’s media — no surprise there. [Learn more about the “Picking Quarrels” charge in the CMP Dictionary.]
Zhang Zhan appears in a BBC interview in May 2020, several months before her initial detention.
Chinese student Zhang Yadi (张雅笛), a 22-year-old member of the activist online group “Chinese Youth Stand for Tibet” (华语青年挺藏会), was detained by state security officers in the city of Changsha on September 18 on charges of “inciting separatism” after returning to China on July 5 to visit family. Zhang, who studies in France and goes by the Tibetan name Tara (@TaraFreesoul), disappeared on July 30 while visiting Tibetan areas in northern Yunnan province. She is a scholarship recipient at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where she had planned to begin studying anthropology this month.
For more on Tara, definitely listen to this interview with her back in June by Western Forest (西郊密林). Programs like Western Forest are a valuable contribution to coverage on the exile Chinese community. Consider supporting it by clicking “Support” under the YouTube video.
The United Nations released a video last week called “The Meaning of Democracy” (民主的意義) on YouTube and on Chinese platforms Bilibili and Weibo that described democracy as the “fairest, most inclusive and most adaptive form of governance.” The video prompted lively chatter on Bilibili, also known as “Bzhan,” with one user wryly remarking that “the meaning of democracy is that you can express different opinions about this video without it being deleted.” The comment quickly vanished from the platform’s comment section — the disappearance itself documented and shared.
At the Global South Media and Think Tank Forum held in Yunnan province earlier this month, more than 500 guests from 110 countries were served with copies of Colonization of the Mind: The Means, Roots, and Global Perils of US Cognitive Warfare, a report that accused the United States of fitting the world with “mental shackles.” The Xinhua Institute report cited the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID and USAGM as exposing “longstanding activities of exporting ideology, promoting ideological infiltration, manipulating international opinions, shaping foreign nations’ perceptions, and even conspiring to subvert sovereign governments.” This “washing of dirty linens,” the report argued, revealed only “the tip of the iceberg of the United States’ global ideological warfare.”
Last Friday, China’s top Internet control body harshly criticized Weibo and Kuaishou for allowing “celebrity personal updates and trivial content” to occupy high search rankings instead of promoting more meaningful content. Company representatives were summoned for official warnings from the Cyberspace Administration, which stressed as ever the need to create “a clear and healthy online space.”
The term “sasaeng fans,” or sī shēng fàn, originated in South Korea and refers to obsessive fans who engage in stalking behavior, invading celebrities’ privacy through harassment, illegal photography, and relentless pursuit. The phenomenon has spread across the entertainment sector in East Asia, and media in China now widely use the translated term. These fans develop intense parasocial relationships that escalate into dangerous stalking behaviors, disrupting idols’ personal lives and safety. “Just How Terrifying is Sasaeng?” asked one headline last week on Sohu.
And now you know.
Hong Kong actress Cecilia Yip (葉童) is pulled from her vehicle by a “saesang fan.”
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