US President Donald Trump’s recent moves against Tiktok, the popular video-sharing platform, have been widely seen as part of a new “tech Cold War” between the US and China. Trump has cited security concerns to justify his targeting of TikTok. But the use of the platform by those seeking to… Continue reading
Chinese Australians are feeling the heat, whether they support China or Australia Chinese migration to Australia has always been an essential part of Australian multicultural history. Various diasporic Chinese communities in Australia have played important roles in Australia’s political, social, cultural and economic maturations. Yet now their loyalty to Australia… Continue reading
Social Media + Society Volume: 6 issue: 1, Article first published online: February 7, 2020; Issue published: January 1, 2020 Abstract With the number of Mandarin-speaking migrants on the rise in Australia and the centrality of Chinese social media platforms among a large majority of this cohort, it is time that we examined… Continue reading
Special Issue: Rethinking Trans-Asia Media Media International Australia Wanning Sun University of Technology Sydney, Australia Jing Han Western Sydney University, Australia; Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), Australia Abstract If You Are the One (IYATO) is China’s most popular television dating show. Since Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) bought it 6 years… Continue reading
Australian media’s coverage of China has shifted to adversarial journalism. To change this status quo requires leadership and serious action. Over the past couple of years, there has been a very noticeable shift in the Australian media’s coverage of China. This is a shift from a kind of journalism that… Continue reading
The Australian government has indicated that “diaspora communities” are crucial to Australia’s public diplomacy mission to promote the country abroad. It has also identified online and social media as essential “public diplomacy tools”. But in terms of projecting an attractive image of Australia to potential tourists, students and investors in… Continue reading
by Wanning Sun China Matters, April 2019 Over the past decade, Chinese-language digital and social media have grown into a vibrant and complex sector, both in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and globally. WeChat, the most popular of the social media platforms, is problematic in Australia because it… Continue reading
By Wanning Sun Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Technology Sydney NSW Labor leader Michael Daley’s “young Asians with PhDs taking our jobs” blunder cost him dearly in the recent NSW state election. His defeat also offered a taste of the crucial role the Chinese social networking… Continue reading
By Wanning Sun. On March 27 this year, two weeks before the federal election was called, Mandarin-speaking voters in Australia were invited to take part in a novel political experiment – to interact, live, with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on the popular Chinese social media platform WeChat. The event was… Continue reading
An ABC news story, ‘Chinese media mocks Australia and Prime Minister in WeChat posts’, fails to mention a few key points, and as a result, is potentially misleading, even confusing. The story cites a paper that makes a few claims. The first claim is that there has been a clear… Continue reading
