Li Hui's multi-country tour, tech war, and local debt crisis

+ anxiety disorders in schools a severe problem and comic Uncle Roger banned on Chinese social media

Welcome to another edition of What’s Happening in China, a weekly newsletter that curates the latest and most important news and developments from the country.

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PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Ganden Sumtsenling Monastery, Shangri-La, Yunnan Province

Rights group: Uyghur student missing in Hong Kong after texting that he was interrogated by police – AP

A Uyghur student has been missing in Hong Kong for more than two weeks since he sent a message saying he was being interrogated by Chinese police at the city’s airport, a human rights group said Friday.

Amnesty International said Abuduwaili Abudureheman, who was born in Xinjiang in western China, traveled to Hong Kong from South Korea to visit a friend on May 10 but has not been heard from since he texted his friend about being interrogated after his arrival.

Uyghur rights: Clothing firms under fire over forced labor – DW

Skechers, Zara and several other fashion brands are facing a complaint filed by a group of NGOs in Paris that accuses them of profiting from crimes against the Uyghur minority in China.

In Xinjiang, China’s top political adviser Wang Huning calls for ‘correct historical view’ of Chinese nation – SCMP

“We must solidify the correct historical view of the Chinese nation, and plant the seeds of patriotism into everyone, especially the teenagers,” Wang said in Urumqi, where he visited a museum, the Xinjiang Islamic Institute, Xinjiang University and some local enterprises.

China exits Venice Biennale over Alison Killing's Xinjiang detention camp investigation – Archinect

Media reviews and posts on social media have applauded Killing and her team on their project and the somber yet important discussion the installation has sparked. Rowan Moore wrote in his review of the Biennale for The Guardian: "Some of the most memorable exhibits, because they are specific and concrete, are the bleakest, such as a film by a team led by the architect Alison Killing (Newcastle-born, Rotterdam-based) that documents, through satellite imagery and other material, the scale and efficient cruelty of Chinese internment camps for Uyghurs."

CORONAVIRUS

China’s Post-Reopening Second Covid Wave Could Peak in Late June, Expert Says – Caixin

A prominent infectious disease expert said China’s post-reopening second Covid wave that’s currently sweeping through the country could peak in June, with around 65 million cases detected every week by the end of next month, official media reported.

Zhong Nanshan, director of the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, said at a forum Monday that he made the prediction based on a predictive modeling analysis. Zhong said this wave of infections was triggered by the omicron subvariant XBB, which is spreading rapidly in parts of the world, according to a report from Nanfang Daily, the official newspaper of the Guangdong provincial committee of Communist Party of China.

Covid cases began to surge in China in April and could reach 40 million per week by the end of May, he said in the report.

POLITICS & SOCIETY

China’s military has become an untouchable nationalist symbol. Artists and comedians are finding out the hard way – CNN

For two decades, Yue Minjun’s grinning self-portraits have been celebrated as one of the most recognizable icons of Chinese contemporary art.

His pink-skinned caricatures, frozen in hysterical laughter in various settings and posing as people from all walks of life, including military personnel, have smashed auction records and been shown at galleries and exhibitions around the world.

In recent days, however, the Beijing-based artist has come under fire online in China, where nationalist influencers have denounced him as a “cultural traitor” and demanded his investigation and punishment.

China Is Getting Seriously Worried About Student Anxiety – Sixth Tone

Her daughter’s anxiety continued to worsen. After her midterm exams in April, she began talking in her dreams, suffering insomnia, and complaining she had a stomach ache before leaving for school. Doctors insisted there was nothing wrong with her physically.

But what shocked Lu most was when her daughter turned to her recently, and asked: “Do you still love me?”

Majority of Parents Stressed Over Children’s Education: New Survey – Sixth Tone

Nearly two years after China moved to curtail private tutoring, a new survey has revealed that parents are still significantly stressed about their children’s studies.

The survey, conducted by online tech news platform youth36kr, showed that 92% of the 535 parents polled reported experiencing an emotional breakdown due to their children’s education. And more than 72% of parents expressed high levels of anxiety, rating it above five on a scale of ten.

Tiananmen Mothers calls on China's Xi to 'take responsibility' for 1989 massacre – RFA

Tiananmen Mothers, a group representing victims of the June 4 massacre that ended weeks of pro-democracy protests in 1989 has called on Chinese leader Xi Jinping to take responsibility for the actions of the government ahead of this year's 34th anniversary.

"They may believe that they had nothing to do with the order to open fire [on unarmed civilians] back then, but ... it was still done by the party in power, the Communist Party," You Weijie, a spokeswoman for the group told Radio Free Asia on Friday.

"The government of today should take full responsibility and tell the public about everything that took place then," she said.

Where are the women in Chinese politics? – ASPI

The overwhelming majority of China’s political leaders are members of the CCP, but the party itself is a ‘boys club’—more than 70% of its members are men. Women’s under-representation in the CCP further undermines their chances of advancement. And while ministries and state-owned enterprises are talent pools for the selection of political elites, women’s lack of access to leadership posts in these sectors further reduces their opportunities to be considered for positions of power.

You Can’t Understand Modern China Without Looking at the History of Land Reform – Jacobin

Although China now has an urban majority, the key to its development since 1949 lies in the vast countryside. Maoist land reform redistributed land on a huge scale, but the country’s rulers are still reluctant to discuss the darker side of its history.

Opinion: China’s Online Daters Look for Love, Marriage, and Sometimes Both – Sixth Tone

Xiangqin and dating are often held up as a study in contrasts: one traditional, the other modern. But our study suggests that the line between the two, at least in practice, is not always clear. Regardless of method, traditional gendered processes of mate selection are being reproduced online, as women seek to marry up in socio-economic status and men seek an attractive partner. This, in turn, may result in the reinforcement of existing social inequalities and gender divides, rather than their overthrow.

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Coming up next:

• Major Hong Kong democratic party disbands

• Russia, China sign economic deals

• China demands that Russia retains occupied territories

• China's new ambassador to the U.S. arrives in Washington

• China escalates U.S. tech war with Micron ban

• Scammers dupe man using AI

• And so much more…