Spent a little time looking at CGTN's influencer studios. How they operate. Some tricks they use, and how it is helping shape the outlet's future digital strategy.

Now up.

This one comes with a nice interactive pulldown table of (partial) pen names used in the CCP's official People's Daily. We aim to serve!

Been thinking about this all week. On the train to the Hague I was reading Edward Fishman's 'Chokepoints' In 2018, when Trump cut ZTE off from US kit, a newspaper run by China’s Ministry of Science & Technology published a series of 35 articles titled “What Are Our Chokepoints?”

In a rare tweet, former Global Times chief Hu Xijin says: “The US cannot prevent China’s reunification with Taiwan by military means.” 🧐 It’s just one month since state media bent over backwards to describe Beijing's mammoth military parade as a not a show of force, but a "show of peace”.

Trump is likely to sign the TikTok deal today, hiving off a new US company. So I thought I'd take a look.. Did you know ByteDance worked with Beijing state media to promote state influencer studios on TikTok? Exclusive.

Thunk. This is a little looksy at how Chinese state media is currently trying to get out of the way of itself to enable workers, and deliver propaganda better-suited to the 21st Century. ✨Media Studios✨ Context. And how they’re run.

Substack has seen a quiet proliferation of Chinese state media accounts. Many are posing as 'independent journalists' — in fact, according to bosses, they are state-backed "studios", with the aim of subtly influencing "western elites" "drip-by-drip". Most recent investigation, now free to read~

Is he ever right..?

*WHO guidelines recommend annual average concentrations of PM2.5 should not exceed 5 µg/m3 — meaning China is 6x higher. Also. Pick your moment, guys. Today, is a "purple" day, with Beijing hitting 252 PM2.5. 😷

Xiangyu, a pro-Beijing Taiwanese rapper released a song about the DPP 'selling out'. CGTN offered to amplify it—but only if he made "politically sensitive" changes. Cue a hasty chorus rewrite, from: 🎶Taiwan is our home, we are Taiwanese🎶 -to- 🎶We are Chinese, our homeland is called Taiwan Province🎶

Oh dear. Luke, a Brit who moved to Xinjiang, primarily as a shot in the arm for his influencer aspirations, and be state media's go-to foreign face on Uyghur issues, writes a long thread on XUAR's subtle political differences. Backfires. Gets full wrath from the botfarm.

Mind-blowing stats on nurseries in China: the number of births has fallen by half *since 2017*, leading to a collapse in early years provision. The future impact on primary and secondary education is going to be seismic. www.ft.com/content/8271...

CGTN's Jason Smith is currently hosting a livestream on X. "Chinese police are so safe! We went to a rural place in Qinghai and the police met us at the station and told us we couldn't be there. They followed us. There must have been a military base or something. I've never had an escort before!" 🧐

a) I've been enjoying this newsletter a lot, you should check it out b) I think if Xi went now he would probably be remembered half-well - basically for the 2010s successes - but if he sticks around another five, ten years or more he will be categorized like Brezhnev.

President Xi is by far the most powerful leader in China's recent history. But we're 13 years in, and his tenure has been one of economic mismanagement, disastrous foreign policy, and debt. A lot of debt. How will historians remember him? Probably not fondly.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping isn’t quite the frequent flier he used to be. The most well-traveled leader in China’s history has reduced his international journeys in recent years, but he continues active diplomacy—as a host. A @wsj.com analysis on Xi's travel patterns since he took power in late 2012.

Utterly, utterly terrifying. At one point, a guy gets a louder round of applause for saying he's "a Nazi" than one does for saying he's a Christian.

New figures from the China’s National Immigration Administration out today. A total of 38 million foreigners visited/left China in H1 2025. Up 30% year-on-year — but still down 20% compared to H1 2019. Numbers very different to state media messaging. No boom. Yet.

Interesting Pew research on global opinions on China Negative views persist in Europe, but in 9/10 of those countries polled, China viewed more favourably than last yr France 23-36% Italy 35-45% Greece 47-56% Poland 26-35% Germany 20-29% UK 31-39% Netherlands 22-30% Hungary 44-51% Sweden 11-18%

Many are aghast how Princeton University Press accepted an all-expenses paid trip to Xinjiang, and were willingly used for propaganda purposes — but there are signs they didn't exactly send their brightest.

Winning tickets to see Guns N' Roses. At Villa Park. In the sun. Week is off to a great start~ ☀️🎸

An ex-China state media worker did an interesting Reddit 'Ask Me Anything' the other day. Interesting read. 🧐 Not me. But it's def legit.

Wow. Magic. ✨ Last article, I noted: ““Potside Chats” is China Daily’s flagship brand for its foreign presenters, yet most videos on its Wechat account have single digit likes.” Now all those videos have increased by precisely ~100 likes. While others unchanged. 👈 Before. After. 👉

China’s factory-gate deflation worst in 22 months as economic headwinds mount – Reuters: ‘The producer price index fell 3.3% in May from a year earlier, worse than a 2.7% decline in April and the deepest contraction in 22 months, National Bureau of Statistics data showed on Monday.’

It's now June 5 in China and there was no post from the German embassy or ambassador on the Tiananmen anniversary Here's last year's, on the 35 anniversary. We hear a lot about how there'll be no human rights "grandstanding" from new chancellor Merz. Is this an early example?

And... *breathe* Last night was fun. Thank you to the China Correspondent's Club of London team who put it together, and all 90 (!) who crammed into a boiling room on a school night—especially the dozen hardy souls who had to stand. Fascinating chats after. And a lot of Wechat/Whatsapps exchanged~

In what's becoming an annual tradition, Shanghai Daily's "Andy Boreham" tries posting "the truth" about Tiananmen Square... only to delete it hours later. Bosses aren't happy~

Holy moly. It's sold out. All 80. An hour to go and suddenly feel very faint.

Tomorrow night—Tuesday—I'll joining a panel of great peeps at the Frontline Club in London, discussing “Reporting In China”. They will explain the realities and challenges of journalism today, while I’ll share tidbits about how state media works. Over 60 tickets sold. A few left! All welcome!

Propaganda fail of the day ✨ Shen Shiwei — whose X bio plays up his "years in Africa", but forgets to mention he works for CGTN — posts how China is now "VISA FREE" to 47 countries. African followers soon spot there isn't a single country from their continent. It's at ~1 million views. 💀

"The underlying fundamentals suggest we’re entering a new paradigm. One where the CPC has locked down its information sphere sufficiently enough, that it can allow only the stories it wants you to hear. The West, meanwhile, is reaching the point it lacks the will or capacity to penetrate that wall."

CCTV anchor accidentally refers to Taiwan and China as two countries, lol

There's a special circle in hell dedicated to foreigners who fly to China and get fat on CPC coin, parroting shite like this. A couple of things. This chart only goes to 2020. The crackdown years are disguised wholly in the last bar. 1/2

Excuse me, while I hold my sides. Andy, a face for Shanghai Daily, has released a book called the "Wumao Handbook": a guide to debunking "false narratives" like Uyghur forced labour, Tibetan independence and citizens being 'disappeared'... Catch? You can't buy this book in China.

As China agrees to a set of uneven tariffs with the US, spare a thought for propagandists who for weeks have been telling everyone Beijing will "not bow down". Worse, an error makes it appear a visibly annoyed Andybot is glitching out trying to sell this one. Oh dear.

Pretty spot on recounting of events. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/w...

"We stand against hegemonic bullying," says two men who ban all opposition.

Also. 👇 Yeah. Fair. 😅 Apologies for the delay. These rambles are a hobby, mostly written late at night, from an attic. My day job is wholly different. I'm not paid for this. Also, the sun has been out. A friend visited from Australia. And.. *excuse*... *excuse*...

Exclusive. The PLA has launched a huge recruitment drive for its Beijing News Studio. 46 roles are being advertised for media graduates. I take a quick look at who.. what... plus how it all fits into wider things~

Foisted flag was about as subtle as a sledgehammer. Still. Congrats, Zhou Xintong. Classy win, by a supremely talented young chap. China's first ever world champion. 🎉

Apologies for not posting for a while, but offline is pretty bloody nice right now.

New: More than 3/4 of the mobile phones, games consoles, food processors, electric fans and toys shipped to the US last year were made in China. The products are among more than 50 items with an import value above $1bn subject to Trump’s 125% tariffs. Free-to-read link: on.ft.com/3Ei8ujf

Chinese diplomats threatened to cancel a summit and called top officials in two African countries to pressure lawmakers to quit the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, in an escalation of Chinese pressure in Africa. It shows how far China will go to wield clout abroad: apnews.com/article/chin...

Dialogue is good, and this is exactly what the Royal Family is for.

Essential reading. When people picture an "all-powerful autocratic cencorious state", they tend to forget it's humans making it work. And most, to varying degrees, don't believe in what they're doing. They're performing a role, watching the clock. This captures that banal, messy world perfectly~ 🌟

This is such a good read, and perhaps of educational value to Americans newly wondering what life under full-blown authoritarianism is like. From one of China's sharpest writers:

Normalising strikes and dehumanising the opposition? China's PLA are pushing this Overton window hard.

A story in 4 pictures. Full update coming soon~