Despite recent budget cuts, Netflix’s in-house animation division continues to produce lively, interesting works that, if released theatrically, might be diverting some of the applause that gets automatically lavished on Disney and Pixar’s currently mediocre output. Not that this is anywhere as rich and strange as the streaming service’s last big title, the Oscar-winning Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. The latest in a 10,000-mile-long line of adaptations of Journey to the West, the 16th-century Chinese novel attributed to Wu Cheng’en, bounces along energetically, and has some exceptionally fun frills around the…
Tag: Media
‘Into brain and the heart’: how China is using apps to woo Taiwan’s teenagers
Ariel Lo spends a couple of hours most weeks sharing anime art and memes on Chinese apps, often chatting with friends in China in a Mandarin slightly different from the one she uses at home in Taiwan. “People use English on Instagram, and for Chinese apps they use Chinese phrases. If I am talking to friends in China, I would use them,” Lo said as she picked up a bubble tea at a street market in central Taichung city. The 18-year-old Earth sciences student, who creates art in her spare…
Solomon Islands newspaper pledged to promote ‘truth about China’s generosity’ in return for funding
Local media in Solomon Islands have been accused of compromising their independence by entering into agreements with Chinese news organisations and accepting thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment from the Chinese embassy. Since the Solomon Islands government signed a high-profile security agreement with China in March 2022, some newspapers in the Pacific country have received cars, cameras, phones and printing machinery that costs thousands of dollars from the Chinese government, via its local embassy, according to local journalists. Some have raised concern about the gifts and the continued close dialogue…
ABC’s international budget should grow as China spends billions on information war, inquiry told
China is spending billions to win the information war in the region, a committee inquiry has heard, and greater funding for the ABC would allow it to be a stronger presence in the Asia-Pacific. Claire Gorman, the ABC’s head of international services, told the inquiry into supporting democracy in the region that China is spending at least $3bn a year on international media, compared with $11m for the ABC. Extra funding due to roll out from July means the national broadcaster “stands ready” to do more to advance democracy, civil…
Chinese censors remove protest site Sitong Bridge from online maps
Chinese censors scrubbing the internet of any words or symbols that could be used to reference the Tiananmen Square massacre in the run-up to Sunday’s anniversary have a new target in their sights: a bridge in Beijing where a rare protest was staged last year. As the 34th anniversary of the 1989 massacre approaches, anyone searching in Chinese for Sitong Bridge on Baidu maps will draw a blank. On 13 October 2022 white banners with large red characters criticising the Chinese Communist party (CCP) were hung over the bridge near…
Twitter and Tesla’s interests at odds in Elon Musk’s quiet China visit
Followers of Elon Musk didn’t know what to expect from his trip to China. Would he speak about Tesla, a company with a large market and manufacturing footprint there? Or SpaceX, with its symbiotic relationship with the American state? Or even Twitter, the social network he bought because “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy”? The one thing no one expected: silence. Musk sent his last tweet late on Monday night. The uncharacteristic hiatus was broken only on Thursday morning when he returned to the US and wrote…
Blocked, censored, jailed or laid off: why it’s never been harder to be a journalist
Taisia Bekbulatova, Russia In December 2021, I was declared a “foreign agent” by Russia’s justice ministry. I now have to declare this status on every post, even on Instagram selfies. I refuse to comply. As a result, I could face criminal charges in Russia at any moment. After the Ukraine war began, I had to evacuate the editorial team of my news website, Holod, from Russia because even writing the word “war” became illegal, and sharing unapproved information risked up to 15 years in prison. It’s difficult for me to…
Indian ministers rebuke Der Spiegel for ‘racist’ cartoon mocking population size
A cartoon in the German magazine Der Spiegel poking fun at India as it becomes more populous than China has been castigated as “racist” by Indian ministers. The cartoon shows a rickety old Indian train packed with people and swarms of passengers atop it. On a parallel track, a sleek Chinese bullet train is seen with just two drivers, looking surprised at the sight of the Indian train. According to United Nations projections published on Monday, India has a population of 1,425,775,850, surpassing China for the first time. Kanchan Gupta,…
Chinese journalist arrested on charges of espionage
A Chinese journalist at one of the country’s major state media outlets known for his relatively forthright and liberal writings has been arrested on charges of espionage, his family have said. Dong Yuyu was detained in February 2022 after meeting with a Japanese diplomat who, it was reported at the time, was also taken for interrogation before being released. Dong’s family kept his detention secret in the hope of securing his release, but last month were told his case was progressing to trial. Under China’s espionage laws – which are…
Fears grow for Taiwan book publisher believed held in China
Concerns are mounting for a Taiwan-based book publisher believed to have been detained in China, in a case that has echoed the disappearances in 2015 of five Hong Kong booksellers. Li Yanhe, also known by the pen-name Fucha, reportedly travelled to Shanghai last month to visit relatives but has been uncontactable since Thursday. His alleged detention was first reported by Bei Ling, a Chinese writer and activist, who said on Facebook that he had been told by various sources that Li had been arrested by authorities in Shanghai. Taiwan’s government…