The Sinographer

Alibaba: Time to sober up?

Another day, another sexual crime, another round of social media outburst

The Chinese internet went ablaze on 8th August, not for a fantastic result at the Olympic Games (more on that coming up), but furious at yet another sexual crime whose victim turned to Weibo after her pleas fall on deaf ears in internal channels. The perpetrator this time? An Alibaba executive.

An unidentified female employee of Alibaba accused her manager and a client of sexual assault during a work trip to Jinan, Shandong in Eastern China on 27th July.

The manager was accused of purposefully getting the victim drunk during dinner and sexually assaulting her when they return to her hotel room.

The accused (L) and the victim’s flyer complaining about Alibaba’s inaction on the matter. (Source: Internet)

CCTV footage showed that after sending the victim back to her room with another female companion, the manager pretended to leave the hotel, before returning to the front desk to obtain another room card of the victim’s room, using it to enter her room four times.

By the victim’s account, she woke up the next morning naked, with no recollection of the past night. She also found her undergarments to be missing, and a used condom packaging in the room.

She immediately made a police report, and obtained CCTV footages from the hotel.

(Update: on 12th August, local police released the preliminary findings of the incident, confirming victim’s account that she was sexually assaulted by both her manager and one of the client. Both men have been arrested under the charge. However, police also state that there is “no evidence that rape occured”. Speculations suggest that the “no evidence of rape”statement could be due to both men removed crucial evidence from the scene that could support rape charge. Case is under further investigation.)

Preliminary finds from the police was released to the public on 14th August. (Source: Internet/Weibo)

After the incident happened, the victim brought up the matter internally to various levels of management but to no avail.

Desperate for justice and answer, the victim first distributed flyers in Alibaba’s canteen to press higher management for a response, but she was stopped by security personnel. Shortly after, she posted her ordeal and the company’s non-response on Weibo, thus sparking a new round of criticism against Alibaba.

According to Chinese media reports, Alibaba first issued a statement late at night on 7th August, 10 days after police report has been made. In the brief boilerplate statement, Alibaba revealed that while police investigations are ongoing, the relevant employee has been suspended for violating company policies and values, and internal investigation has begun.

This statement only incurred even greater wrath from the society, many netizens felt that Alibaba showed no compassion nor sincerity, the statement was only an act to put out the fire after things blew up.

The next day, Jack Ma’s successor, Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang issued an internal memo to staff condemning the attack and the company’s initial handling of the complaint. He said internal investigations found the accused had confessed to “intimate acts” with the woman while she was intoxicated, violating company policy.

In addition, Daniel Zhang expressed his “shock, anger, and shame” at the incident. However, netizens did not accept this statement, instead mocking him for expressing his “shock, anger, and shame” 10 days too late, only after the incident caused huge public anger.

Daniel Zhang’s response to the incident only incurred more anger. (Source: Internet)

Drinking culture is to blame?

Criticisms surrounding this case focused on three main areas: Drinking culture in the Chinese business context, Alibaba’s slow response, and the inappropriate “orientation culture” in Chinese tech giants.

Firstly, on the drinking culture in Chinese business world.

The victim reported that she was first forced to go on the ill-fated work trip by the suspect during typhoon weather. On the last day of the work trip, the suspect to her to a dinner gathering with the local partners, where she was coerced to drink with the local partners that ultimately led to her inebriation and being assaulted.

After the incident happened, senior management in Alibaba told the victim that she was expected to drink with clients and partners to maintain relationships or to secure deals. In addition, she was also being informed that the company prefer to hire male employees over female employees to avoid similar incidents.

Debates on such drinking cultures are long present in the sinopshere. Business dinners is a grey area, where personal desires met with public interest. Many sees it as a legacy from the old days, where coercing a junior staff or business partner to drink and to get drunk on the dinner table is equivalent to one’s position of power and command.

The current incident once again brought about more criticisms on the drinking culture. Many sees it as sexism in nature, archaic, and disrespectful to individuals regardless of gender. Most netizens certainly did not expect it to happen to a company like Alibaba.

Junior and female staffs were often coerced to drink at business dinners, as a sign of obedience. (Source: Reuters)

Secondly, Alibaba’s response is another area of criticism.

Netizens are unhappy with the company’s slow and indifferent boilerplate statements on the issue.

Even from within the company, non-managerial staffs have been voicing their displeasure on Alibaba’s internal forums and chat groups, targeting their anger at the middle management level, where the accused and his immediate supervisor belong.

Many drew comparison between Alibaba’s response in this incident with the 2016 Mooncake incident, where 4 software engineers were fired within 24 hours after they were found using bots to horde Alibaba’s Mid Autumn Festival mooncake gifts. Alibaba then issued a statement affirming that employees should uphold the highest moral standards.

Coupled with how lightly Alibaba treated Taobao/Tmall CEO Jiang Fan’s sexual scandal in 2020, netizens hence mocked Alibaba’s moral standard with the elasticity of rubber band, going harsh on lower level staffs but extremely lenient on management level.

Thirdly, The current incident also drew attention (and criticism) on the “orientation culture” that is present in Chinese tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent.

“Orientation culture” is eerily similar to hazing activities present in fraternity initiations or university orientations. In this case, new hires are asked to perform intimate tasks with their colleagues in the name of “bonding”. These tasks are often sexually explicit, and generally causes discomfort in the participants.

In addition, accounts of such “orientation” events also revealed that participants are often asked personal questions that’s bound to make them feel uncomfortable or offended. The questions, again, often revolve around individual’s sexual experiences.疼

Past incidents

Chinese companies are not without their share of misconducts, affairs, and morally ambiguous actions. In 2018, another Chinese internet giant JD was involved in what could be its largest PR crisis till date — its founder Liu Qiangdong (Richard) was arrested in Minneapolis on accounts of rape.

Liu Qiangdong’s mug shot in 2018 after his arrest. (Source: Internet)

The accusations were similar to the Alibaba case today — a Chinese university student was invited to a dinner party with Liu. She was subsequently inebriated and returned to her apartment with Liu, a married man, where they had sex.

Liu Qiangdong was then accused of rape, and arrested by the local police. However, after a length legal procedure, prosecutors decided not to proceed with the rape charge, the complainant also indicated her preference of receiving a hefty sum of compensation from Liu and JD to settle the case out of court.

What could happen next?

More importantly, before this incident happened, Alibaba has always been seen as a figure of progressiveness and modernity amongst the Chinese. The current incident tears down the facade of equality and respectfulness, revealed that the 250,000 strong conglomerate’s company culture is far from what it seems.

Nevertheless, this incident and public backlash came at the worst possible timing for Alibaba. Since October 2020, Jack Ma and Alibaba has been under fire from the central government and Chinese regulators. Ant Group, a fintech unicorn founded on the success of Alibaba’s Alipay service, originally planned to go public in Hong Kong and mainland China in Nov 2020. However, the IPO was rejected by Chinese regulators at the eleventh hour. In addition, Alibaba was slapped a hefty fine ($2.8B USD) from the regulators early 2021 on the account of monopoly and market-controlling behaviours.

More importantly, Chinese netizens have been voicing their increasing displeasure against Alibaba recently. The once pride and joy of China’s technology advancement and symbolism of Chinese nationalism has turned into an embodiment of modern day tech-driven capitalism that enslaves the society.

Stories of how Alibaba employees have to work from 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week led to the birth of the term “996”. Jack Ma once publicly commented that “996”should be considered as a blessing instead of oppression and exploitation, further adding to the ire of Chinese netizens.

It all started with Jack Ma claiming that a “996” work culture is a blessing. (Source: Internet)

Then again, we should also take heed that everything that’s on the internet might not reveal the whole truth. Claims from both parties should be carefully examined to reach an unbiased conclusion. While police investigations are ongoing, there have been alternative accounts of the incident surfacing, alleging that the whole incident might contain exaggerations, and that the victim actually “gave consent” for the accused to enter her room on that night.

Regardless of what actually happened on that night, public sentiment and official stand are not on Alibaba’s side.

Patience is a virtue on the internet

Beijing police confirms that the Canadian-Chinese celebrity Kris Wu (R) has been remanded on rape charges. (Source: Internet/Set photo)

An unsurprising update

As mentioned in this site previously, patience is a virtue on the internet, especially when it comes to topics that are controversial, sparks wide public interest and debate.

A Chinese-Canadian celebrity Kris Wu was accused of engaging in various sexual misconduct and criminal acts in China. Netizens were furious at the news, flooding his social network account with angry messages and calls to boycott him.

On 23rd July, an official statement provided more credible insights into the saga, which come at a surprise for both sides.

Screen cap of official findings published on 23 July 2021. (Source: Weibo)

Official findings suggested the presence of a third party, which neither Kris Wu nor the victim is aware of.

The third party acted as a middle man, pretending to be on the victim’s side when in touch with Kris Wu’s team, and vice versa.

His goal: to con Kris Wu’s team for a large sum of hush fee.

However, the scheme did not materialise, as Kris Wu’s team directly wired the money to the victim’s bank account, without going through this third party.

The police statement concludes by mentioning that “further investigations are ongoing”, suggesting that troubles are just beginning for Kris Wu.

Fast forward to 30th July. Chaoyang district police force published another official statement, this time much shorter than the previous one.

The police confirmed that Kris Wu has been arrested on rape suspicion and he is now under custody.

Police updates on 31st July 2021. (Source: Weibo)

The actual term used is “刑事拘留” (XingShiJuLiu) “under criminal custody”, suggesting that the police have substantial evidence to support the corpora delicti of the case.

Also, Kris Wu is Canadian, thus he has a high chance of absconding given the severity of the case.

Under Chinese law, if convicted of rape, Kris Wu could face a sentence between 3 to 10 years.

Implications

Previously when accusations about the sex scandals just broke, Kris Wu already lost all his endorsements in mainland China, where his main market is. The brands involved include some of the big names such as LV, Tencent, among others.

After the confirmation of his arrest, one of China’s largest SNS, Weibo, took down Kris Wu’s super-thread channel (微博超话）, effectively signalling the end for Kris Wu’s entertainment career.

Apart from Weibo, Kris Wu has been boycotted from the Chinese internet. In place of his name, a serial number 133700 is used. Netizens suspect that this is his identification number in custody.

Further implications

On the other hand, die hard fans of Kris Wu who refuse to accept his remand, called for drastic actions to secure his release.

In private chat groups and chat rooms, suggestions such as storming the remand centre to break him out of custody are zealously suggested and promoted.

This led to top-level criticism from the national state council on the audacity of fans, which suggest a cracking down of such zealot-like mindset surrounding celebrities is in the process.

Die hard fans of Kris Wu plotting to break him out of police custody. (Source: WeChat)

What could happen next?

Legal process will take a long time, but given the public attention on the case, and Kris Wu’s status as a Canadian citizen, there would be official updates on every stage.

Official media such as Xinhua news agency, People’s Daily have voiced out their opinion on the issue. People’s Daily published a strong-worded status on Weibo, stating that nationality shouldn’t be one’s “Get out of jail” card, clearly addressing Kris Wu’s citizenship issue on his legal case.

Nevertheless this not only spells the end of Kris Wu’s entertainment career, but could also be the start of another round of crackdown on “celebrities with low moral standards” by the Chinese authority.

In addition, this incident once again revealed the enormous raw power possessed by the Chinese netizens. Their sentiments could effectively influence policies and determine the life and death of celebrities and businesses. Conversely, netizen’s opinions (within and without China) can be manipulated, influenced, and directed with the right strategy and tool.

Governments around the world are aware of this, and we can see efforts at limiting and even preventing tech giants from gaining too much sway over public opinions through various platforms and channels.

Of course this limits one’s liberty and freedom of expression. However, letting platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Weibo, Tencent run their respective platforms without regulation does not lead to a brave new world too. A balance need to be struck between the two sides, so that individual members of the society can truly express themselves with the greatest freedom.

Yet another Canadian gets into trouble in China

Who is the Canadian?

Kris Wu is a Canadian Chinese celebrity. He started his career in Korea, before rising to stardom in his birth country, China, in the early 2010s. Since then, he has left the Korean boy band that propelled him to stratosphere, started his own agency, starred in Hollywood blockbuster, and became a defining icon in the Chinese entertainment field from 2010s till now.

Kris Wu, a Canadian Chinese celebrity famous in China, was recently accused of sexually assaulting young girls. (Source: Weibo)

What did he do?

Just like rockstars in the 70s and 80s, an entertainer with Kris Wu’s status in today’s China will never be short of fans who would want to sleep with him. Neither is Kris Wu famous for shying away from such encounters.

However, Kris Wu was recently accused of sexually assaulting a young acting school student Du Zhumei（都美竹）under the pretense of auditioning her for an upcoming tv series role. According to the victim, the incident happened in June 2020, Kris Wu promised they were going to start a relationship after getting her drunk and then sleeping with her the night before, even to the extent of promising to taker her to see his mother during Chinese New Year (In Chinese and East Asian culture, this often represents affirmation to start a serious relationship).

The victim states that she did not fall for Kris Wu’s empty promises and demanded official apology for his actions. Both sides began negotiation, with Kris Wu’s team hoping to settle the matter with a hefty compensation (1M CNY).

The self proclaimed victim. (Source: Internet)

An interesting turn

Things take an interesting turn here: Kris Wu’s team asked the victim to sign a statement to promise not to “harass or dwell on this matter anymore” after receiving the aforementioned payment. However, Wu’s team also proposed to the victim, that they would transfer a fund totaling to 3M CNY to her first, then she should transfer 2M CNY back, keeping the 1M payment, claiming this is “for taxation reasons”. Without hearing back from the victim, Wu’s team transferred an initial sum of 500k CNY to the victim’s bank account on the same day.

The victim accused Wu’s team trying to frame her for extortion. (Source: Weibo)

So what do all these money transfers mean? Sources familiar with the matter suggest an menacing motive hidden behind the instructions. Through the complicated transactions, Wu’s team will try to frame the victim as someone who’s goal is to extort financial gains from Wu by threatening to go public with his past actions. The process can be split into 3 stages.

Stage 1: The victim signs the compensation statement, providing evidence that her actions are financially motivated.

Stage 2: Wu’s team transfers an amount that’s way higher than the agreed sum to her, and then ask her to transfer the extra funds back due to “taxation reasons”. Sources state that this is actually Wu’s team attempting to obtain legally acceptable evidence to show that the victim is the recipient of the funds.

Stage 3: Wu’s team immediately transfers 500k to the victim, to pressurise her into following all the instructions. If she heeds to their pressure, then Wu’s team will have enough evidence to accuse her of criminal extortion, and given the sum involved (1M CNY), the minimal sentence in 10 years.

This course of action not only able to help to reverse public opinion and portray Wu as the unfortunate victim who is extorted by a crazy fan, but also discredit and prevent the original victim from bringing up this matter up again.

How did the society react?

Chinese netizens did not take the news well, as Wu has already had a track record of dumping fans after sleeping with them. Previously he has all emerged unscathed by the scandals. However, the current accusation not only involves him mistreating fans, but also contains accounts of sexual assault and rape.

Immediately after news broke, Wu lost all 15 business collaborations in mainland China, including ones with big names such as LV, Tencent.

This suggests 2 things:

1. The accusation is not entirely false, and brands take the case very seriously.

2. Business brands are terribly cautious when it comes to dealing with Chinese market and Chinese netizens. They would almost always want to play safe rather than risk losing marketshare.

Of course, it is unwise to play judge here, as with many previous incidents on the Chinese internet, the truth can be completely different from general online sentiments.

Nevertheless, the ongoing incident once again unveiled the changing sentiments online towards celebrities. They are held to a much higher moral standard than ordinary citizens in China due to the vast influence they possess. Anything less than a flawless moral track record, once exposed to the public, will be detrimental to the professional lives of celebrities.

What could happen next?

There are three possible scenarios that could develop from here. The first being the accusations against Kris Wu are proven to be true. In this case, he will almost definitely lose all his privilege and be excommunicated from the Chinese entertainment business. What’s worse is that he could be possibly facing public prosecution for various sexual crimes (including rape, and sex with minors). However, being a Canadian citizen, most likely he would be deported from China after a hefty fine, rather than facing a long jail time.

The second scenario would be the aforementioned accusatios to be false. In this case, Kris Wu would be able to continue his entertainment business in China, just like numerous times before. Then again, this incident, coupled with the huge public backlash, would definitely tarnish his reputation and affect his exposure.

The third scenario is the accusations are not completely proven false. This is actually the most likely outcome to this incident, as the accusations do hold some similarities with Kris Wu’s past doings. In this situation, In addition, Kris Wu would be marked by the Chinese netizens as a celebrity with low moral standard. Even if he did not break the law, he would almost certainly be criticized morally.

Who’s celebrating its 100th anniversary, the CPC or the CCP?

The ruling communist party in mainland China recently celebrated its 100th birthday on 1st of July on the Tiananmen Square with a military fly-past, a speech by the party’s general secretary Xi Jinping, and ended with the performance of The Internationale and the Ode to the Motherland (歌唱祖国, Gechang Zuguo)

China’s ruling party celebrated its 100th anniversary on 1st July 2021. (AP)

Much has been said about the significance of the anniversary, perhaps too much has been circulating online. I would therefore not attempt to muddy the waters.

Instead, I hope to turn your attention to another more nuanced, yet equally important issue concerning communism, communist party, and China. That is, what is the suitable name for the ruling party of mainland China?

In the Anglo-American directed sphere of influence, the nomenclature for mainland China’s ruling party has always been the “Chinese Communist Party”, or the “CCP”. However, in the Sinosphere, the nomenclature is actually “Communist Party of China”, or the “CPC”.

The official logo of the party’s 100th anniversary celebration. Notice the English term used is the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Between the CCP and the CPC, what difference would it make, one may ask.

The term that’s familiar to most Western readers, CCP, placed more emphasis on the communistic nature of the party, “Chinese” only serves a descriptive role that modifies “Communist”.

CPC, on the other hand, indicated the relationship between the party and China, indicating an attributive relationship between the two, suggesting that the party, although is communist, but ultimately rooted in its Chinese background.

On the party’s own website, it chooses CPC over CCP for its English terms. This official recognition is rarely reflected outside Beijing’s own sphere of influence.

Official websites also use CPC instead of CCP.

Why is this so? Perhaps it stems from the West’s familiarity with communism over China.

What implication does it have?

Continued use of the term “CCP” would only play into the hands of populist leaders, who through the repeated emphasis on “Communist”, invoke various negative emotions associated with the term throughout the 20th century. This would only lead to more anti-Asian, anti-Chinese sentiments and racist hate crimes in the society.

Instead, the term CPC will shift attention away from “Communist”, and the various negative emotions associated with it. After all, any sensible mind shouldn’t ignore the fact that the party, despite its shortcomings, remains in tight control over mainland China, and plays a significant role in the world stage today.

Seafood consumption and Great Power competition

According to UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, China is the world’s largest seafood producer. Photo shown is the floating fish farms off the coast of Fujian, China. (*Photo credit: Edward Burtynsky)*

In the age of social media, hypes die out fast, but the internet never forgets. This statement is true both within and without the Great firewall.

GU Yue (谷岳，Kyle G Johnson), a Chinese-American internet personality who rose to fame in the Sinosphere for hitchhiking from Beijing to Berlin was recently caught in a media backlash.

On 7th June, he posted on Weibo, where he had over 2 million followers, to urge Chinese people to reduce consumption of seafood and be “responsible consumers” after he was told by a Madagascar fisherman that fish stocks there have almost dried up.

(Chinese-American GU Yue urging Chinese people to reduce their seafood intake on Weibo. (Photo credit: Weibo)

In the post which was later deleted, Gu wrote “as the world’s number one consumer of seafood, China’s insatiable appetite for seafood is depleting fish stocks around the world.”

Chinese netizens didn’t take this message well, especially when they found out that Gu was a seafood fanatic, repeatedly posting photos of himself indulging in gourmet seafood as he travelled around the world.

This discovery led to netizens criticising Gu for using double standards when it comes to seafood consumption.

On his Weibo, Gu argues that because China’s development lags behind countries like US and Japan, therefore Chinese people can only reduce their seafood consumption instead of criticising other countries. This further invoked the ire of netizens, who feel that it is unjust and unfair to forbade the Chinese from improving their own lives. They also feel that Gu, as an American citizen, is in no position to to lecture the Chinese.

(GU2)

Chinese netizens found photos of Gu indulging in seafood as he travelled around the world, hence accusing him of using double standards. *(Photo credit: Weibo)*

In the face of overwhelming objections and criticisms, Gu later chose to delete his Weibo posts.

On 18th June, the “seafood controversy” became an even bigger saga, with more Chinese influencers become implicated.

A Chinese influencer team (赛雷话金, Sailei Huajin) on the popular video sharing platform Bilibili posted a video stating that they were previously approached by three foreign NGOs to create a video series on marine conservation. The team claimed that the commission has ulterior motives, to paint China as a threat to marine environment, and dissuade Chinese people to not consume seafood.

In addition, the Chinese influencer team criticised another Chinese video production house Paperclip (回形针) to be under the influence of foreign powers. An ex-employee was found to be working with the US Army, while another was accused of posting anti-China content on Twitter.

An ex-employee of the Chinese video production team Paperclip was accused of being working with the US Army. *(Photo credit: Internet)*

This revelation sparked a huge uproar among the Chinese netizens, many felt that they were betrayed by the once-trusted Paperclip team.

State media affiliated to the People’s Liberation Army also joined in, warning netizens should be aware of “conspiracies and malicious intents disguised as popular science”.

In the age of rising Sino-US tension, Chinese netizens are hypersensitive to any attempt at undermining their current way of life and hindering their chance at further improving their living standard.

Comparing to US sanction on Chinese companies, telling a Chinese that he should reduce his meat/seafood consumption is bound to trigger a much fiercer and immediate rebuttal, as the latter is closely related to the everyday Chinese life.

It is virtually impossible to determine if there is really an ulterior motive behind the commissions. The current incident only reflects the deep mistrust Chinese netizens hold against foreign NGOs. Recent news that the US government spied on Merkel and other European leaders only furthered such stereotype.

Combating climate change has been one of the rare areas that a Sino-US collaboration seemed possible. However, in lieu of the “seafood consumption” episode, one can only wonder if this will transform from cooperation into fierce competition too.

Biden, the G7, and Arm-barring China

There is a famous move in combat sport (specifically Judo, Brazilian Jujitsu, MMA) called the juji-gatame (arm bar).

In this move, the practitioner secures an arm at the wrist of the opponent, trapping it by squeezing the knees together. This technique can easily hyperextend the opponent’s elbow, leading to serious damage to muscle, ligament, tendon, and even dislocation of the joint, or bone fracture.

The principle behind the move is using the opponents weak spots (joints) as a point of leverage to amplify the pressure applied, with the ultimate goal of forcing into submission.

A juji-gatame being used in competition. (Source: Internet)

In the context of current affairs and international relations, the recently concluded G7 Summit, NATO Summit, and the meeting between US and Russian Presidents can be seen as a series of moves taken by US President Joe Biden leveraging different pressure points against China, with the ultimate goal of forcing Beijing onto its knees.

Why such an analogy?

In combat sports, grappling techniques are most useful when two fighters are of equal weight-class and evenly matched in skills. With the utilisation of such techniques, both would be entangled, wrestling with each other on the floor.

Just like two fighters wrestling on the floor, US and China have been increasingly entangled economically over past four decades, until threats of decoupling emerged in the 2018 trade war. Each is trying to gain the upper hand against the other.

Needless to say, US got the upper hand in the initial round, with sanctions against Chinese tech companies such as Huawei inflicted a huge blow to Chinese tech development.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about an unexpected pause in the wrestling match. China recovered first and regained its stance fast.

Now, in his first trip abroad, Biden has met with leaders of UK, G7, NATO, and Russia in this order within a week. He has yet to arrange for a leaders summit with his Chinese counterpart. The intention of establishing a united front against Beijing has become quite apparent.

Leaders of G7 and EU meet in Cornwall in June 2021. (Source: AP)

Observers noted that Biden’s meeting with the UK prime minister Boris Johnson, and the signing of the “New Atlantic Charter” represented the two countries’ renewed effort at establishing closer ties post-Brexit. Others pointed out that these two events took place right before the G7 Summit, suggesting that US is collaborating with the UK to push for agenda fitting the two countries’ goal during the summit

News reports on the G7 summit hinted at internal disagreements between US and the rest of the group. Evidently Biden tried to persuade the group to take a harder and firmer stance against China, on issues ranging from COVID-19 investigations to human rights. However, his effort was met with resistance from his European counterparts, specifically Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel.

Nevertheless, the published version of the G7 communique has been described as the toughest stance the group has publicly taken against China to date. It seems that other members of the G7 appear to have heeded US’s call to take a firmer stand against Beijing.

Riding on the waves of successful negotiations at the G7 and NATO Summit, Biden is planning to meet with Russian president Putin at Geneva today (16th June). It is worth noting that prior to the meeting, Russia and China racked high praises for strong ties between the two countries.

US President Joe Biden (R) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) in Geneva, Switzerland on 16th June 2021. (Source: AP)

Chinese observers meanwhile worried that Russia is the last piece of domino in Biden’s effort to counter China. Biden has previously waived part of the US sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that once completed, will provide an alternative route for Russia to supply energy to Europe without going through Ukraine. This is interpreted as a sign of good will for US to improve its relationship with Russia.

If US-Russia relationship begin to thaw after the 16th June meeting, the US would be less strained on the European front. Meaning that it can reallocate more resources to East Asia to counter China. then this would be akin to US applying additional force in a geopolitical juji-gatame hold on China, putting more pressure on Beijing to force it to yield.

A way to counter the juji-gatame is to roll towards the instigator, to prevent the trapped joint from hyperextension.

What can Beijing do to counter Biden’s move? Some suggest that it is wise to withhold the urge of immediate counter action, as it would only further degrade China’s international image, playing into the hands of Beijing’s opponents that China is a malevolent, “wolf warrior” like actor on the international stage.

Instead, Beijing should focus on dealing with internal issues such as ageing population, income inequality, and developing its less well-off regions in the west. The Chinese consensus remains in firm belief that the West is in an inevitable decline while the East is on the rise. This may be of some truth, but the world is constantly changing, who knows what holds in the international stage tomorrow?

A juji-gatame escape. (Source: Internet)

A hog and the Chinese college entrance exam

The famous (or infamous) Chinese national college entrance exam (gaokao) ended last Tuesday (June 8th).

Once again, this annual event occupied most headlines in the Chinese media sphere. In the meantime, it also generated intense discussions online on the fairness and relevance today.

Just days before the start of gaokao, a student roused national debate in a public speaking reality show when he described himself as a “countryside hog determined to ruin cabbages in the city”.

In the Chinese social context, “hog ruining cabbage” carries a negative connotation, referring to a man (the hog) marrying or dating out of his social class, with someone who is more privileged (the cabbage).

The 17 years old student, Zhang Xifeng, is sitting in this year’s gaokao. He described his humble upbringing, and the hardships he went through to prepare for the national exam. Zhang is a student in the (in)famous examination-mill Hengshui High School in Hebei province. The school is famous for its emphasis on student performance, it enforces spartan-like routines to prepare students for gaokao.

Zhang defended the school’s result oriented approach, stating that he and his fellow schoolmates put their lives on the line every day while studying, the ultimate goal is to get a good grade in gaokao, enter a prestigious university, and “change our destiny”.

He then went on to make the “hog ruining cabbage” comment, stating that he has learned to accept his past hardships, and hope his classmates would one day achieve the same mentality.

Zhang’s comment made its way to various Chinese social network platforms, where it has been criticised of being sexist. However, netizens who resonate with Zhang’s backstory and speech suggest that he is simply using the analogy, albeit inappropriately, to express his desire overcome various challenges for a better future.

Education has been historically seen as a way for one to move up the social status ladder. However in recent years, criticisms on how students in big cities have way more education resources at their disposal, therefore leading to an unfair advantage over their rural counterparts have repeated gained headline space.

According to official statistics, there are 10.78 million students taking part in gaokao in 2021. If past trends in college acceptance rate were to continue, only about 204,820 students will be accepted into the top tier universities (“Project 985”), which translates to about 1.9%. This is the harsh reality that millions of young Chinese teens have to face each year.

What’s more discouraging for youths from rural areas or from a less privileged background is that the acceptance rate for “Project 985” universities differs from province to province. In tier one cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, past acceptance rate could be as high as over 25%. While in populous provinces such as Henan where competition is stiff, acceptance rate could be as low as 0.001%.

It seems like education, the once fair and just pathway to success, is gradually closing its doors to those who are less well off. The feeling of inequality leaves a bitter taste in students with backgrounds similar to or worse than Zhang Xifeng.

The central government is well aware of the danger such feeling of inequality could post on social stability. In 2020, after years of having less than 20% of fresh intakes from rural areas, Tsinghua University, one of the top 2 universities in China, had 20.2% of its 2020 cohort come from a rural background. The authorities and university administration see the number as a significant improvement from before.

Of course, overemphasising on the background of students would mean neglecting their true academic capabilities. Addressing inequalities in education should not and must not only occur at the final stage of university application. The authority needs to focus its attention further upstream, be it the distribution of resources in primary schools, or the problem of excessive tuitions.

As the job market tightens and Tier 1 cities become increasingly unfriendly to young Chinese adults, the competition to achieve the “Chinese dream” of finding a well-paid job, starting a family, and finally settling down in a big city will only get tougher. The urban-rural divide on education resources contributes to a stagnating social mobility, which in turn could further deepens fissures in the entire society.

It is hard to predict what holds in the future for students from rural areas. But one thing can be certain is that the government is well aware of such a divide, and is using various administrative or economical methods to try to address the issue. Just as many other issues within the Chinese society, the top-tier decision makers are made aware of the dissents, directives and guidelines are passed down to the relevant authorities, the only issue is if the public will see the results before an implosion occurs.

A Tea-drinking, Cantonese speaking Punjab man and a Chinese internet frenzy

A Punjab man based in Singapore, Gurdip Singh, otherwise known as yum cha gor/饮茶哥/yin cha ge, recently become a Chinese internet sensation

A Singapore based Malaysian Punjab man named Gurdip Singh has recently become the latest sensation on Chinese internet.

The reason? He posted a video of himself asking his viewers to “go take a break and drink tea at 3pm” using impeccable Cantonese. Thus, he is also known as “yum cha gor” (literally “tea-drinking bro”) to the Chinese netizens.

Gurdip Singh, otherwise known as yum cha gor/饮茶哥/yin cha ge in his most famous video

Versions of the video, recorded over a year ago in 2020, were posted onto the Chinese video platform Bilibili this year, and has since accumulated millions of views.

Chinese netizens not only praised Singh’s fluent Cantonese, but more importantly lauded his attitude towards work-life balance.

In other videos that catapulted him to stardom, Singh, a ship repair technician, told his viewers, again using Cantonese, to go have a pint after work as it is already 7pm.

Gurdip Singh, otherwise known as yum cha gor/饮茶哥/yin cha ge in one of his earlier videos

It is obvious that Singh’s videos struck a cord with Chinese netizens, who are facing increasing pressure from the infamous “996 work culture” that’s prevalent in many companies.

The term “996” means working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week.

Famous Chinese tech entrepreneurs such as Jack Ma and Liu Qiangdong came under fire previously for asking their employees to contribute more to the company by working harder.

Jack Ma once said in April 2019 that to be able to work on a “996” schedule should be considered a blessing for employees.

Chinese tycoon Jack Ma once said that employees should consider 996 as a blessing.

In the same year, Liu Qiangdong, the founder and CEO of JD.com, a close competitor of Jack Ma’s Alibaba, also said that a dawdled is not his “brother”.

These comments draw the ire of netizens, who feels that Alibaba, JD, and other Chinese tech companies would not have achieved their standings today without the hard work of employees, and yet they are taking it for granted now. In addition, stories of delivery drivers’ long work hour and meagre earnings have further revealed the plight of low level workers in platform service companies.

Observers point out that Singh’s unexpected fame on the Chinese internet reflects the general netizen’s displeasure and anger on the high pressure work environment and tough competition for various social resources.

“Involution”(nei juan/内卷) and “Lying flat” (tang ping/躺平) are the two hottest keywords on the Chinese internet sphere. In the Chinese lexicon, the first term means trapped in a situation where one faces increasingly difficult, yet meaningless competition with others. The second term is the equivalent of accepting defeat and not make any attempt to change one’s situation.

Singh’s videos have become popular memes and the source material for numerous derivative works. In turn, Singh has become the embodiment of Chinese netizen’s unhappiness towards involution, and also their unwillingness to lie fla

Screen cap of Singh’s video and its derivative works on Bilibili

However, just as Chinese netizens celebrate Singh’s newly achieved fame and representation, media platforms that represented their own interests were quick to act too.

Singh’s video first went viral in May. By late May, representatives from popular Chinese media platforms such as Bilibili and Douyin (Chinese TikTok) have approached Singh and helped him set up his official channels. In the first week of June, Chinese social media giant Tencent has helped Singh set up his WeChat channel.

Insider information suggests that apart from helping Singh setting up his channels, these platforms are also trying to increase the hype surrounding Singh through means such as actively promoting his videos and channel.

All these suggest that Singh is becoming another trendy tool for Chinese media platforms to attract more users in the increasingly competitive arena. In other words, the involuted media platforms has ironically turned the icon of anti-involution into a tool for involution.

Needless to say, when the hype dies down and his usefulness in attracting users run out, Singh will no doubt be cast aside by the platforms, who are constantly searching for the next big hit.

Be it anti-involution or pro-involution, Singh seems to have no preference for either. In the numerous interviews that have surfaced after his newfound fame, Singh was never opposed to collaborating with media platforms to promote himself.

However, when it comes to his full time job as a ship repair technician, Singh revealed that he insisted on having a tea break in the afternoon despite his boss’s displeasure.

In one of his videos, Singh said “Time to take a break! Work so hard for what? Your boss also won’t cherish you.”

The same could be said of the media platforms now. When the hype is over, media platforms will go on the hunt for the next internet sensation. There is no cherish for the obsolete ones too.