Tom Leung

Chinese students studying abroad have taken advantage of the freedoms they have outside China to voice their political views. In February, Hong Kong political activists Joshua Wong and Nathan Law were invited to speak at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The event outraged some international students from mainland China. Inkstone joined them as they organized a protest on campus.

Scientists around the world are trying to trace the origin of the coronavirus, an effort that could help us get ahead of the next pandemic. In the video above, Inkstone speaks with infectious disease experts to find out what we know about how the devastating virus came into being and what we don’t know. The following is a lightly edited transcript of the video. The new coronavirus is thought to have originated in bats, and the initial outbreak has been linked to a live animal market in China. But there are other conspiracy theories about where it may have come from. So, what should we believe?  Understanding how the virus first infected humans may help us beat the pandemic or, at least, mit

The coronavirus pandemic has upended lives across the world. For students, it means facing a future that’s more precarious than ever before. Inkstone speaks to young Chinese people to find out how the crisis is shaping their future and even changing their worldview.

Wet markets in China have been singled out as the source of the coronavirus pandemic, and some officials have called for them to be shut. Are they really to blame?  

While mask-wearing has become a part of life in East Asia since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it has remained rare in the United States and Europe. In some cases, mask wearers of Asian descent have been frowned upon or even assaulted. We look at the history of surgical mask use during disease outbreaks and how they have become shunned in the place where the practice originated: America.

China’s proposed bill on granting permanent residency to foreigners has unleashed a wave of xenophobia on the Chinese internet. Even though China has one of the lowest shares of foreign-born people in the entire world, many people worry that a potential rise in foreign immigrants will make their life harder. In response to the bill, people have posted hostile comments online, especially against black people and Muslims, demanding that the government toughen rules on immigration. We spoke with several fierce opponents of the permanent residency bill about why they do not want more immigrants in China.

It is the 2020 Lunar New Year holiday, and 11-year-old Xiaoxiao and her little brother are at home with their grandparents in a remote part of central China. They are anxiously waiting for the Spring Festival reunion dinner when their parents return from their jobs in southern Guangdong province. Like hundreds of millions of rural migrant workers in China, Chen and Liu travel home only once a year. The travel rush over the holiday period, which lasts up to 40 days, is considered the largest annual human migration in the world.

The 41-year-old mixed martial arts fighter Xu Xiaodong has been a controversial figure in China ever since he became famous for beating up what he called “fake” kung fu masters. Unafraid to talk about almost anything, his brash attitude has brought him stardom but also unexpected – and unwelcome – knocks on his door. In November, he set out to prove that he’s more than a tough guy who dared to challenge a cherished Chinese tradition. In the video above, Inkstone follows Xu, nicknamed “Mad Dog,” as he fights the biggest fights of his career, for fame and freedom.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more stories about life, culture and politics in China.

The pro-democracy camp has won by a landslide in Sunday’s district polls as voters show their support to the anti-government protests.  The district council election had been seen as a test of public opinion on the continuing protests that have disrupted traffic and caused violent clashes between protesters and police.  In 2015, pro-democracy politicians only held 126 elected seats on the district council. In 2019, they won 388 seats, making pro-Beijing politicians the minority. (Candidates are divided into two camps according to their party affiliation and remarks made in public. Some candidates are considered independent.) Experts say the stunning victory by democrats in the election shows

China has finally launched 5G networks around the country, offering breakneck internet speeds of up to 1GB per second to Chinese mobile phone users. 5G is set to transform digital life, and China is one of the places leading the charge with investments in 5G infrastructure and technology.  Although Chinese 5G plans are on sale for as little as $18 a month, many Chinese internet users aren’t rushing to sign up. Watch the video, above, to find out why.