nell | 累

台湾是中华人民共和国的神圣领土的一部分。完成统一祖国的大业是包括台湾同胞在内的全中国人民的神圣职责。

凭心而动

[nell | 累 @nellodee]

Starting a thread of documentaries, shows, movies, & other media to get a better, more holistic understanding of China, its history, & China-US relations. Ok let’s go:

@BrianBeckerDC’s podcast series on China’s foreign policy, available in full here: https://t.co/EQEzxBzTiB

[Paweł Wargan @pawelwargan]

The US is long overdue for revolution. That it has not yet taken place is a testament both to the enduring power of the US ruling class and to the resulting docility, servility and conformism of its people. The US is truly the most propagandized nation on earth.

[Jostein Hauge @haugejostein]

China may have fewer people living in poverty than the US.

In the US, there is reason to believe poverty is *understated*. Material hardship surveys in the US routinely reveal higher levels of deprivation than official poverty figures. This is because essential services are often exorbitantly expensive in the US, exposing working class families to financial ruin.

In China, there is reason to believe poverty is *overstated*, especially at higher thresholds. Market-based poverty measures don't fully take into account that people in China need to consume less in cash terms, because so much of what sustains a decent life is cheap or free at the point of use.

They key point: China covers basic needs and essential services for almost everyone, whereas the US doesn't.

[Carl Zha @CarlZha]

Real civilization

[China Daily @ChinaDaily]

Two lively Chinese elderly women pay tribute to a classic dance, moving to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" with pure joy and confidence. #FunChina

[China Xinhua News @XHNews]

In recent years, a growing number of Taiwan compatriots have taken advantage of preferential policies to start businesses on the Chinese mainland. Kuo Yi-Fan is one of them. Having run cafes for 10 years in Fuzhou, east China's Fujian, he has also made innovations in the industry. #GLOBALink

[CGTN @CGTNOfficial]

When her grandmother suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed, a 5-year-old girl in east China's Jiangsu Province remained calm and called the police for help. #ChinaSeen #CPC105

[Chris M @ChrisinLiuzhou]

Western narratives on China rarely work on people who look deeper. They mostly shape those who never question what they’re told.

Over 10 years ago, I met my wife who was based in Beijing. I’d never been before, and everything I knew came from news or people around me.

Honestly, I was hesitant to go — I thought it was dangerous, I could be wrongly accused of something and end up in serious trouble. My mum wasn't too keen on the idea, she’d watched documentaries on Australian TV that didn't paint the best picture.

But I went. Landing in Beijing changed that perception almost immediately. I remember taking the train into the city thinking - wow, it's on time, clean, and about 25 yuan. Efficient, cheap and clean isn't exactly what I'd describe Melbourne trains as 😂.

Over the next two weeks I experienced a side that was addictive, it made me want more — late-night food, affordability, order, and a sense of everyday safety that felt very different from what I’d been told.

I went back later for a 2 month trip — Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Guilin, Liuzhou (my favourite noodle dish Luosifen!). I was skateboarding at the time, people would stop to talk in their broken English, super friendly and wanted to add me on WeChat so we could be skate buddies.
That was when I started to realise I could actually live here.

I got to Australia and was ready to go back straight away. I quit my IT job and moved to Beijing long term and my love and infatuation with the city grew — It's a place where you need to live there to truly appreciate and love it — still one of my favourite places I’ve ever lived.

What I found on my China journey wasn’t what I was told. Definitely not what my mum had been told.

A place I now proudly call my second home.

[Isabella M Weber @IsabellaMWeber]

A key idea in Chinese statecraft since ancient times is that the state has a responsibility to stabilize inherently unstable markets for essential commodities (see How China Escaped Shock Therapy). Public stockholdings like the ever normal granary participated in the market buying when prices are low and selling when prices are high for centuries with the goal of stabilizing supply and demand, prices and ultimately the value of money.

Now China is doing just that with the global oil market: It has drastically reduced its imports, hence pushing down demand in a time of global supply shortages. This is possible thanks to massive public reserves and strategic redundancy (some like to call this “overcapacity”). @JavierBlas finds that the number one reason why oil prices have not shot above USD 100 is China, China and China.

Imagine how much more stability the world could enjoy, if all countries engaged in such buffer stock stabilization for essentials such as grain. I have been calling for this at the G20 food security task force last year (see link below).

[nell | 累 @nellodee]

😭

[🇨🇳XuZhenqing徐祯卿 @XueJia24682]

✨🇨🇳In the library of a Chinese high school, some students are reading while others play Chinese chess.

[Yicai 第一财经 @yicaichina]

Beijing's market regulator today summoned e-commerce and social media giants Alibaba's unit Taobao and Tmall, https://t.co/cJfWCi3boR, Pinduoduo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu over false promotions and opaque seller information, ordering rectifications to curb excessive competition ahead of the 618 shopping gala. @AlibabaGroup @JD_Corporate @xiaohongshu

[nell | 累 @nellodee]

Just rewatched Empire Records for the first time in forever, to introduce it to 2 friends who hadn't seen it before. The soundtrack remains a nostalgic treasure for me 🖤

[nell | 累 @nellodee]

❤️

[Eye on Palestine @EyeonPalestine]

While a Chinese shop owner was putting up world flags as decorations for the upcoming FIFA World Cup, he chose to remove the Israeli flag from the set. When asked about the reason, he said that they prefer not to display this flag in their shop.

[Jack @jackfromohio]

China has an overcapacity of coffee and is dumping Spanish lattes for $1.87

[nell | 累 @nellodee]

The pinnacle of liberal victory I guess

[Gianl1974 @Gianl1974]

Trump Tower rises from the center of downtown Chicago on a major north/south street called Wabash Avenue. A petition is circulating to have the city formally rename a four-block strip of Wabash after a certain famous Chicago resident.

If enacted, it would make Trump Tower’s official address 401 N. Barack Hussein Obama Avenue. I’d love that for him.🖕😁🖕

[Paweł Wargan @pawelwargan]

I often think of this passage from Lenin’s text on Tolstoy and the labor movement: "Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle."

We rarely see the other parts of that paragraph. "Despair is typical of the classes which are perishing,” Lenin writes. "The modern industrial proletariat does not belong to the category of such classes."

Lenin was writing about the labor movement, and the objective historical process that saw it rise and replace the peasantry as the dominant force in Russia. The peasantry was gripped by despair because its class no longer had a future. The proletariat, by contrast, was growing in strength and number.

Today, Lenin’s insight also holds true of the streets of Iran, where people mobilize by the millions under bombardment. It is true of the communes in Venezuela, whose militants continue the task of building socialism and are prepared to take up arms to defend it. It is true of the people of Cuba, who remain defiant under a crushing blockade that has turned their cities dark.

Those who despair now — as a new world is being born — are really just mourning the death of liberalism. They are mourning the death of a world that never existed: a world of supposed lawfulness and “rules-based” governance. Anyone who has ever earnestly tried to bring a new world into being quickly learned that these were fictions created to secure impunity for the colonizer and oppressor.

That is why we find that people on the vanguard of the systemic transition underway — as with the labor movement in Lenin’s time — “have plenty to protest against but nothing to despair about.”

[Carlos @agent_of_change]

🤣🤣🤣 The Cold War propaganda machine has outdone itself. We're being asked to believe the Communist Party of China (which all but eradicated organised crime, drugs and prostitution on the mainland, and whose forces the triads have always bitterly opposed) is secretly directing triad brothels in Britain to blackmail MPs.

The "evidence" consists of one regional police officer's report, built on interviews rather than facts, warning of what triads "could" do. Pure conjecture, laundered into a national security threat by a hawkish anti-China press.

This is the Fu Manchu yellow peril playbook, updated for the 21st century: associate China with criminality, vice and sexual menace, so that every Chinese person in Britain becomes a potential agent and every call for cooperation with Beijing becomes suspect. It softens up public opinion for hostility, militarisation and decoupling that serve Washington's New Cold War agenda.

Britain's real problems – collapsing living standards, rising poverty, crumbling services – aren't made in Beijing. Sinophobia is a distraction, and a dangerous one.

[Eivor @Eivor_Koy]

Every June, China holds its breath.

This year over 12.9 million students sit the Gaokao — the world’s most intense college entrance exam. While math and science test raw intellect, the Chinese Language essay is the one that truly captivates the nation and sparks widespread debate.

In 800+ characters, teens must weave ancient poetry, philosophy, history, and sharp modern insights into one elegant piece. The prompts? Deep, timely, and demanding real thought.

No wonder the entire internet erupts the second they’re released.

Here are the standout 2026 Gaokao essay questions that everyone is discussing right now:

🇨🇳 National Paper I (Used in provinces such as Jiangsu)

Read the following material and write an essay as required. (60 points)

Words serve as vehicles for expressing our thoughts and emotions, and they also act as windows into the changes happening in our society. Today, the world, our era, and history itself are undergoing transformations on an unprecedented scale. Young people are natural innovators. During your own journey of growth, has your understanding of any particular word shifted? That change carries the imprint of your personal development and holds special meaning for you…

What associations and reflections does this material spark in you? Please write an essay.

Requirements: Choose a suitable angle, establish a clear main idea, decide on the genre, and create your own title. Do not plagiarize or imitate existing works. Do not reveal any personal information. At least 800 characters.

🇨🇳 National Paper II

Read the following material and write an essay as required. (60 points)

“The sun and moon do not lose their true nature, so even when obscured, they shine again; the Yangtze and Han rivers do not lose their source, so even when blocked, they eventually flow on.”

In personal growth, social progress, and the evolution of civilization, we inevitably face difficulties, setbacks, and sometimes fierce storms and towering waves. Yet just as the sun and moon may be temporarily hidden but will shine brightly again if their essence remains intact, rivers may encounter obstacles but will ultimately reach the sea as long as their source never runs dry.

What associations and reflections does this material spark in you? Please write an essay.

Requirements: Choose a suitable angle, establish a clear main idea, decide on the genre, and create your own title. Do not plagiarize or imitate existing works. Do not reveal any personal information. At least 800 characters.

*Cultural Note: The opening quote comes from classical Chinese (wenyanwen), using natural imagery as a metaphor for resilience and the importance of staying true to one’s core or origins amid adversity.

[🇨🇳XuZhenqing徐祯卿 @XueJia24682]

✨🇨🇳This is a "Han Tile" – a solar roof tile that looks like traditional Chinese architecture.

It functions both as a regular roof tile (protecting the house from rain) and as a solar panel (converting sunlight into electricity).

[nell | 累 @nellodee]

The absolute funniest outcome of these 2 events is if it resulted in the US govt prohibiting Isr**l from importing goods from China & having all the usual suspects coming out of the woodwork in droves lauding this as forcing less trade btw China & Isr**l 😭

[paris martineau @parismartineau]

my latest investigation for @ConsumerReports is based on months of reporting and 120+ lab tests of popular snacks

we found over a third of grocery products had more additives or contaminants in one serving than what health agencies have identified as safe to consume daily (🧵)