A simple technical test reveals that Alibaba's Qwen3 AI models have been broadly aligned to give positive messages about China in English. chinamediaproject.org/2026/02/09/t...

"Yang’s case raises serious questions about how state media from the People’s Republic of China operate in Europe and how European governments should respond."

The first charge under a new Czech security law tests where foreign state journalism ends — and intelligence work begins. lingua-sinica.org/journalists-...

And don't miss our handy terms table with Chinese audio pronunciation further down!

Excellent reveals in this piece. We had not really heard about these "guidance analysis meetings" (导向分析会) held by propaganda offices, regular internal disciplinary sessions to enforce "guidance of public opinion" (舆论导向), the CCP's post-Tiananmen buzzword for media discipline

The recent detention by local police in Chengdu of investigative journalist Liu Hu drives home the most extreme dangers facing Chinese journalists. In this piece, freelancer Tian Yu (田雨) explored the pressures confronting reporters at every level. chinamediaproject.org/2026/02/03/t...

The closure of longstanding debate programs at public broadcaster RTHK signals a retreat from editorial independence — as the network openly aligns with China’s party-state media. lingua-sinica.org/letters-from...

Xi Jinping: A Year in the Headlines — China’s leader maintained a commanding lead in the headlines of the CCP’s flagship People’s Daily in 2025, despite a substantial decline over the past year. What do these mixed signals mean? chinamediaproject.org/2026/01/26/x...

New on the Lingua Sinica website: Why did Canada's last Chinese daily newspaper just close? lingua-sinica.org/canadas-last...

1/4 New from @rferl.org.web.brid.gy on Afghanistan's media landscape has collapsed since the Taliban takeover. Hundreds of outlets shut down, thousands of journalists lost work. But Chinese state media is thriving—and it's strategic. Here's what's happening 🧵 www.rferl.org/a/china-tali...

While the West celebrates a new cultural watershed in male romance, Boy's Love has been a mature, multi-billion dollar industry across Asia for decades. linguasinica.substack.com/p/heated-riv...

At Lingua Sinica, our site for global Chinese-language media insights (and PRC global media mapping) we look at the closure in Canada of Ming Pao, the last print daily published domestically. It's a story of digital change, but also a changing Chinese community. lingua-sinica.org/canadas-last...

Don't miss the handy slider timeline of events toward the bottom as well.

Though easy to forget now as Trump's actions sow division between the US and the EU over the Arctic — China's ambitions in the region have been at the heart of concerns. Here is our look at "Polar Silk Road," China's catchall phrase for its plans and interests. chinamediaproject.org/the_ccp_dict...

As China pushes a national reading initiative and AI reshapes information, one Shanghai shop offering 1,000 publications represents a vanishing era of relative editorial variety. chinamediaproject.org/2026/01/16/s...

You can also read the story on our Substack account, and subscribe there for regular stories and updates. linguasinica.substack.com

As Chinese media publish annual New Year’s messages — a tradition going back decades — the space for truth-telling continues to narrow in Xi Jinping’s China. chinamediaproject.org/2026/01/14/a...

As Chinese media publish annual New Year’s messages — a tradition going back decades — the space for truth-telling continues to narrow in Xi Jinping’s China. chinamediaproject.org/2026/01/14/a...

"Are You Dead Yet?" just became China's #1 app. The name sparked heated debate—but 125 million people living alone might need it anyway. lingua-sinica.org/are-you-dead...

Wondering about China's role in shaping Venezuela's information landscape? We've been tracking it. During Maduro's 2023 Beijing visit, CMG signed a sweeping media cooperation deal with Venezuela's government. Explore the full picture at Lingua Sinica! lingua-sinica.org/dispatch/cmg...

Paper Cuts: A fascinating look by CMP researcher Dalia Parete at the closure of dozens more newspapers at the outset of 2026 — and how it signals the final fizzling out of China’s once-vibrant metropolitan print media sector. chinamediaproject.org/2026/01/07/p...

A Self-Serving Global Survey: A new poll from the government-run Global Times tabloid newspaper claims broad international embrace of Xi Jinping Thought. Even if this is obviously ridiculous, the reasons why need to be stated explicitly, says David Bandurski. chinamediaproject.org/2026/01/05/a...

Another thoughtful piece from Alex Colville on AI safety, considering possibly misplaced hopefulness about how China can step up into a leadership role globally. chinamediaproject.org/2025/12/18/c...

DeepSeek and Qwen are easily tricked for accurate recipes for fentanyl, anthrax, cyanide, semtex, bazookas, Molotov cocktails, and napalm. Yet DeepSeek was praised by a scientist in @nature.com as "the most regulated [AI] in the world." Does China have what it takes to lead AI governance?

Uganda just launched a national AI chatbot using China's free Qwen technology. The goal: bring AI to the country's obscure local languages. But what does this chatbot have to say?

The latest feature, written by Xiao Bing, from our colleagues doing great work over at Tian Jian (田間). linguasinica.substack.com/p/chinas-inv...

2/2 Our look into the absurdity of Xi's international propaganda push as local and regional centers leap to the challenge. chinamediaproject.org/2025/12/12/g...

The city of Hanzhong launched its own international communication center over the weekend. More and more ICCs every week. Our analysis from last week up next. 1/2 news.qq.com/rain/a/20251...

China's Guangxi province is spearheading the most concerted government effort yet to export Chinese AI abroad. A chatbot built for Malaysia's government reveals how these ventures can help reshape Southeast Asia as a Chinese sphere of influence.

Global Dreams in Small-Town China | As international communication centers proliferate across China down to the county level, Xi Jinping’s grand vision for global “discourse power” meets absurd local reality. chinamediaproject.org/2025/12/12/g...

"According to the Ministry of Information, there are around 2,000 media outlets operating in Cambodia. That sounds like a lot, but there is no real diversity in terms of editorial independence."

This month, we sat down with Cambodian journalist Nop Vy to discuss Cambodia's press freedom decline since 2017, the risks facing independent outlets, and Chinese influence over information access in the country. lingua-sinica.org/reporting-un...

1/4 Our Lingua Sinica database is being constantly updated with new global media engagements by the PRC. But we are entering historic ones too. Stay tuned to this great resource, and learn how to use it here. lingua-sinica.org/how-to-use/

In December 2020 China Media Group hosted a "win-win cooperation" forum with European media partners. The result? Joint ventures that embed Chinese state content into European news flows—China Business Video with Reuters and BizToday with ENEX. lingua-sinica.org/dispatch/cmg...

Great piece out on GenZ media in China and Taiwan by Mark Chiu (邱新博) at our sister publication Tian Jian. Must read. tian-jian.org/self-media-c...

“Literary inquisition” is a practice rooted in imperial China whereby authorities persecute scholars and writers for content deemed subversive. While officially condemned by the CCP as a relic of feudalism, the practice has echoes in China today. chinamediaproject.org/the_ccp_dict...

AI Cop Signals VPN Crackdown: China’s AI-generated police spokesman returned this week with warnings to all Chinese that circumventing the Great Firewall threatens personal safety and national security — and will be punished. chinamediaproject.org/2025/11/13/a...

1/3 Chinese drama "Summer Rose" hit 3 billion views in 8 days. Beautiful cinematography, symbolic imagery, and a gentle male lead who seems to be the ideal partner to ask for. Sounds progressive, right?

Intersections newsletter is out! We look at internalized discrimination in Taiwan's gay community, Hong Kong's growing voyeurism crisis, China's "sweet economy" marriage vouchers, and much more. Read here: linguasinica.substack.com/p/chinas-wom...

The example blue notice we include in this post is hugely concerning too. A police notice from Chongqing announcing an investigation into Taiwanese lawyer and legislator Shen Bo-yang (沈伯洋), who is also known as Puma Shen.

Hu Xijin speaks out against the flood of "blue background" notices from police and government that are drowning out even Party-led journalism. Learn more: chinamediaproject.org/2025/11/10/b...

A very revealing deep-dive by Li Hou-chen and our team over at Tian Jian on how China is leveraging influencers — from Taiwan and around the world — for state agendas. linguasinica.substack.com/p/the-influe...

A media loss for Macau, fake China protest videos, and brevity for the battlefield — the latest edition of the Lingua Sinica newsletter is out. Read it here: linguasinica.substack.com/p/a-media-lo...

As Hangzhou marked its 70th anniversary of its official media group, the top local leader delivered a message of perfect conformity — his words a carbon copy of Xi Jinping’s media directives. Even the imagery echoed. chinamediaproject.org/2025/11/03/a...

AllAboutMacau (論盡媒體) announced that it will shut down December 20, 2025, after the government revoked its publishing license. Journalists have been barred from the Legislative Assembly since October 2024, with three facing criminal charges.

When a car struck schoolchildren in Hubei on October 22, authorities silenced the story for three days as a key political meeting was underway in Beijing. The blackout reveals how China’s information controls have intensified — and how citizens are struggling to break through.

In our latest in the CMP Dictionary, Jordyn Haime looks at the old CCP term "mouthpiece," historically an affirmation of the media's service of the Party — but now also an attack line on Western media. chinamediaproject.org/the_ccp_dict...

A Japanese scholar accused the China Times of fabricating his analysis of Taiwan's KMT election and inventing quotes he never wrote. How did the story unfold? Read our latest Flash Report on Lingua Sinica: lingua-sinica.org/talking-head...

Beijing Frames the Trump Visit: Two commentaries in yesterday’s People’s Daily — and a media event earlier this month in South Korea — reveal China’s systematic approach to shaping elite opinion ahead of the events like the Xi-Trump meeting in Seoul. chinamediaproject.org/2025/10/28/b...

Our Chinese-language sister publication Tian Jian (田間), specializing in reporting on issues related to global Chinese-language media, just went live with their website. Check it out here: tian-jian.org