Hey everyone, 

My name is Afra Wang 王曌. I work as a content strategist and freelance writer in California. 

"Protect yourself. Safety first. Absolutely no protest. And please delete your most recent posts on WeChat." This was not the first time that my mom warned me for "good causes" during our video chat. 

Overseas young Chinese face unique obstacles in communicating with parents in China. Media censorship, cultural and generational gap, language differences and geographical distance have created two irreconcilable accounts of parallel reality for us and our family back home. Talking politics has become a particularly daunting task for many of us. 

To add insult to injury, WeChat, the primary communication tool in China, is a fragile asset where surveillance is ubiquitously practiced. Links I wanted to share with my parents often are “page not found” in China. The articles they sent to me are full of clickbaits and fake news. 

Later in Rock the Boat, we will share our experience about talking politics with parents in China. 

Best,
Afra

MAKE A SPLASH 卧虎藏龙

Best work from our members.

👑🔒A New Forbidden City
Photographer Yan Cong 丛妍 captures photos of the Forbidden City for Ian Johnson’s latest New York Times article on the palace’s recent attempts to restore its former glories, following President Xi’s call on building “cultural self-confidence.” 
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(Photo credit: Yan Cong for The New York Times)

💬🇨🇳Trump’s Tweets in Chinese
Among the 100,000 followers of Twitter account @Trump_Chinese, many believe that President Trump is a fierce advocate for human rights. Ironically, when translated into Chinese, Trump's tweets have striking similarities with the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda rhetoric. The BBC’s Zhaoyin Feng 冯兆音 interviews people behind the mysterious @Trump_Chinese.
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💸🏆Losers and Winners of the Trade War
The U.S.-China trade war has entered its second year. In a video produced by our members Andi Wang 王安迪 and Zhaoyin Feng 冯兆音 for the BBC, U.S. soybean farmer John Boyd Jr says he’s painfully affected by China’s retaliatory tariffs.
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When American soybean farmers are taking the punches, some third countries, such as Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Canada, have stepped into the void and become temporary winners. How much have they benefited? Our member Youyou Zhou 周优游 from Quartz does the math, so you don’t have to.
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🔴👬Behind the Party Membership
What does it mean to be one of the CCP’s 90 million registered members? In our member Yangyang Cheng’s 程扬扬 latest column for SupChina, she dissects the complex reality of the Party. A membership could mean moral sacrifice, convenience, or even survival for Chinese who live in the Party-dominated society.
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✍️🇺🇳Hongkongers’ Letters to the UN
SCMP’s Xinyan Yu 余心妍 films a group of Hongkongers delivering letters in New York City. Thousands of miles away from home, they have a message to the UN regarding the crackdown of recent protests in Hong Kong.
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👀📱Evade Beijing’s digital surveillance
It’s not news that people in China are subject to digital surveillance. But did you know that young Chinese in big cities are actively pushing back against the tightening control? Quartz’s Jane Li 李林晋 explains the countermeasures, including hacking the malware which spies on your phones.
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ROCK THE BOAT 抛砖引玉

Thoughts from our members and beyond on topics about the media industry, diversity and more.

In July, after having had rounds of heated political debates with family back in China, member Zhaoyin Feng 冯兆音 vented her frustration on Twitter, which has struck a chord with many. She shared the scenarios which I found familiar:

“Africans are here to spread HIV and to tarnish our Chinese blood.” “The CIA has instigated the Hong Kong protests and paid every protester.” “Joshua Wong is Vietnamese so he’s betraying China.” My jaw dropped when I went through the articles forwarded to me by my mother. The idea of giving up political discussions with parents has crossed my mind numerous times, but every time I remind myself: I am a journalist aiming to explain nuanced differences and to enhance mutual understandings. I can’t give up on communicating with my own parents.

My advice? Listen, listen and listen. Don’t act condescendingly. Try to understand their logic—their opinions are based on the information available to them. Point out the biases and limits. Present human stories to which they can relate. You despise black people? What about my friend whom you met in my commencement? To fight against biased information dehumanizing people, we need to put human faces back to them.

With the Hong Kong protests dominating the headlines, it has become the center of our recent family debates. Member Tianyu Fang 房天语 finds it fortunate that he and his parents can have honest discussions:

Misinformation reigns in the midst of the Hong Kong protests. I was fortunate to have rather open-minded parents who critically think about the news sources they read. We’ve talked about what was going on in Hong Kong right after my recent visit. While we may not always agree politically, it makes me happy that we are at least having honest conversations about these critical matters, based on credible facts. It is a privilege that many other Chinese do not have.

Member Tony Lin 林知阳 shares his tricks to reduce major political arguments with parents:

Chatting with them about individual cases, not systematic abuses; talking about grassroots resistance, not high-level oppression; evoking empathy for people like them, instead of using ideology-charged narratives is the way to go. If you sense the conversation is taking a turn for the worse, there’s always a last resort: let’s talk about the awful U.S. political system, to which they often exhibit a surprising amount of understanding…

🤔Tag @CNstorytellers on Twitter to keep the conversation going.

RAISE A GLASS 拍个马屁

We recognize our members’ professional achievements (and flatter them.)

🤖Debate of China’s AI Domination: Our member Joy Ma 麻丹彤 from MacroPolo was interviewed by MIT Technology Review to explain the brain drain problem of China’s AI development.

🍻AAJA gathering: Chinese Storytellers made its first appearance at the Asian American Journalists Association 2019 convention in Atlanta! This gathering shows our community is growing bigger and stronger. 

(Photo credit: Alex Wong @alexwongcw)

🥇More good news from AAJA: Our member Ariel Tu 杜曜霖 received the 2019 national journalism award (student journalism AAPI). Congratulations! 

💪🏽Love a shoutout: FT’s Yuan Yang 杨缘 gives Chinese Storytellers a big shoutout in her weekly roundup.

🏳️‍🌈Diversity and inclusion: Our member Ding Jin 丁进 shares the Pulitzer Center’s latest diversity number, which has made impressive progress since 2018. 

🥂 Tell us what makes you proud via email, Slack or Twitter.

MAKE SOME DOUGH 肥水入田

Jobs, gigs, grants, fellowships, etc.

Rainforest Journalism Fund - [Southeast Asia Region]
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is seeking to hire a project coordinator in Southeast Asia for a journalism initiative aimed at increasing awareness of the role of tropical rainforests in climate change through journalism and outreach.
Apply

AFP China Economics Correspondent - [Beijing]
The international newswire Agence France-Presse (AFP) is looking for an enterprising journalist (working language in English) to join its team in Beijing as a correspondent covering China’s economy and businesses.
Apply

Reuters Breaking News Reporter - [Beijing]
Reuters is looking for a quick-thinking journalist with strong news judgement to join the Beijing-based China speed team, with a focus on company news (contractor position).
Apply

Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists 2019 - Round 2 - [Global]
Upcoming deadline is on September 5, 2019.
Apply

👀 Find more on the #opportunities channel on Slack.

Writer: Afra Wang; Editor: Zhaoyin Feng.

Chinese Storytellers is a community that empowers Chinese non-fiction content creators. Follow us @CNStorytellers. Questions? Suggestions? Comments? Tell us.