Nathan Gardels is the editor-in-chief of Noema Magazine. He is also the co-founder of and a senior adviser to the Berggruen Institute.
From the 1950s through the 1980s, the journalist Liu Binyan fulfilled the kind of prominent role in China that the playwright Vaclav Havel did in Cold War Czechoslovakia, as a voice of conscience. Liu suffered many ups and downs, like China itself, alternatively pe...
The article highlights the emerging role of social media influencers, such as Teacher Li, in China's digital landscape. By circumventing censorship and providing uncensored information about daily life in Xi Jinping's China, these influencers challenge the government's "all is well" narrative and promote transparency and accountability. The article suggests that the advent of digital connectivity has enabled people to access essentially the same information as their rulers, challenging the tradi...