Chinese media outlets have taken the unusual step of more openly covering a toxic thallium contamination in Hunan’s Leishuei River, exposing a crisis kept under wraps for a full week.

China’s latest international communication center, or ICC, has been founded in Luoyang, a cradle of Chinese civilization, as part of growing efforts to enhance the country’s global media presence under the guidance of the state.

As China makes a national push toward technology-driven ‘new productive forces,’ Shanghai’s prestigious Fudan University pivots from humanities to artificial intelligence. Is this the right move?

The sentencing of an online influencer for “news extortion” in China reveals a shadowy world in which media have the power to put a price tag on silence.

Xi’an Jiaotong University partners with a state propaganda center to create a “talent pipeline” for China’s global messaging efforts — raising concerns about academic independence as universities become tools in Beijing’s international influence strategy.

On a recent curated tour of cities in China, Indonesian influencers gushed about food and culture while millions of followers watched. Behind their seemingly spontaneous posts lies a sophisticated state strategy: these digital stars are unwitting ambassadors in China’s campaign to reshape its image abroad, revealing how social media is transform…

Guyuan becomes the latest local hub in China’s vertically integrated propaganda network, joining forces with a state media outlet to amplify Beijing’s voice abroad.

As China’s DeepSeek AI is adapted to censor anti-government content in India, is the technology a gift to despots everywhere?

China’s network of ICCs — local centers meant to revolutionize its state-led global communication — is growing both at home and overseas.

Bylined appearances by the country’s top leader in the flagship newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party offer a window into the messaging priorities of the leadership.

A district-level hub in Fujian province becomes the latest in a nationwide effort to revolutionize China’s global influence. It underscores the huge gap between Xi Jinping’s grand ambitions and local grandstanding.

Under new rules from the country’s top internet control body and nine other departments, social media accounts covering the PLA and defense topics must now display special markers and undergo strict identity checks.

This month, a viral video of a staged blind date intrusion sparked outrage on Chinese social media, becoming a cautionary tale about the dangers of fakery for entertainment.

A sketch during this year’s Spring Festival Gala on China Central Television attacked “self-media,” showing how social posts distort the truth. But the state-run network’s portrayal of independent content creators as purely harmful is itself an exaggeration and oversimplification.

This year dawned with the closure of another batch of print newspapers in China. The relentless death of print continues in the country — mirroring a global trend.

Through on-the-ground reporting, the WeChat-based outlet Positive Connections offers rare insight into the cyber scam compounds along the Thailand-Myanmar border — questioning prevailing Chinese public opinion that scapegoats Southeast Asian countries.

A Bangkok summit celebrating China’s engagement in Southeast Asia reveals Beijing’s growing use of both national and provincial propaganda outlets to shape regional narratives.

A forum in Bangkok this month underscored China’s ambition to work with local partners in Southeast Asia to impact public opinion there. A closer look at one of the propaganda vehicles meant to accomplish this goal suggests carelessness reigns down below such high-level exchanges.

With all eyes on TikTok’s trials and tribulations in the US, the fact that its parent company, ByteDance, has a white-hot new app back in China is easy to overlook. China’s regulators haven’t.

How does China imagine its push for international “discourse power” will unfold? The types of people CCP and government-linked entities are trying to recruit offers an illuminating snapshot.