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The Lunar New Year was celebrated this Sunday by many Asian cultures. This holiday is difficult to celebrate with China Report readers as I had originally planned. I also know that many people are still scared and grieving from the recent mass shootings in Los Angeles.
The Lunar New Year should also be a chance to start over and take advantage of new opportunities. I hope you, too, are keeping the joy, sorrow, anger, and joy of the past year in your mind and letting them guide you on a new adventure that will change the world and prevent tragedies from repeating themselves.
In this spirit, I have recently reread some of my favorite China-focused MIT Technology Review stories and asked the people I interviewed: Have the problems that once troubled your been solved? Are you sticking to your 2022 goals? What are your plans and goals for the Year of the Rabbit
I am very grateful to everyone who allowed me to tell their stories. I hope they have helped us all understand tech and China better. Here's China Report's Lunar New Year check in with four of these people.
Liu Yang and the driver of the robotaxi in Beijing
Liu Yang briefly got out of his robotaxi after we spoke in summer 2022. Baidu, his employer was allowed to test the self-driving taxis at Beijing's Shougang Park. There were no safety officers like Liu. He then moved to the ground crew, fixing any problems and checking on the vehicles between rides.
He was able to get behind the wheel of the robotaxi this month, transporting Baidu employees from two main offices in the city. It took him about 15 minutes. Since they developed the self-driving technology, his riders are less interested in the car. He's still a talker, but he often talks shop with his 10-driver team. Liu often teaches new drivers how to adapt to the role as a robotaxi driver.
"This year, my personal plans are not very ambitious. Liu states that he just wants to do his job well. While there are still some driving situations that require Liu's intervention at the moment, he knows that his experience in Shougang Park is indicative of a larger trend. Once technology becomes sufficiently safe, robotaxi drivers will no longer be needed.
What is his plan when this happens? Liu said it was the same as last time we spoke: "I can get to jobs such as 5G remote driving operator jobs."
" Teacher Lo", whose Twitter account unexpectedly became the center of information about zero-covid protests
Teacher Li, a Chinese artist based in Italy, has nearly 1 million followers on Twitter now. His sudden fame has reshaped his life. He posted real-time footage of protestors in China last year, working around the clock. His family has been pressured by the Chinese government and his Twitter account was temporarily suspended for unknown reasons.
China is entering a new era in covid policies. Li continues to post follower submissions but the scope has expanded greatly: updates on labor protests and social media censorship. Even the Spring Festival Gala, a televised annual event that has been heavily politicized but is still being watched by the entire country, is now Li.
Li, a trained painter, is rethinking his career in the Year of the Rabbit. "My goal for the new year" is to rebuild my future. He says that his life has changed and that he is not sure what the future holds. He hasn't decided if he wants to join any of the newsrooms. He plans to first write guides on painting to close his first professional job. He'll then explore his options in journalism.
Global Anti Scam Org is a volunteer group that exposed scams on LinkedIn and others.
GASO was formed last summer by me as I was covering the "pig-butchering" scams using fake LinkedIn profiles. The victims were mostly people of Chinese descent. Many victims felt helpless as the scammers took their money, but GASO was founded by a few people who wanted to prevent others from falling into the same trap.
Jan Santiago, GASO's deputy director, told me that while platforms are more aware of scams, and have taken some steps to prevent them, people still fall prey. The average victim of online fraud is now older and less tech-savvy.
Last year, when I interviewed GASO volunteers, I was amazed at how well they knew how to track down crypto criminals and which wallets they used. They plan to increase their impact in the new year by sharing this skill with law enforcement in Southeast Asia. "In Taiwan we are becoming more involved in teaching their law enforcement how to trace cryptocurrency. Santiago says that we show them why they are important to know all this."
Tina isone among many WeChat users who were suspended for discussing a Beijing political protest
Tina's WeChat account was just suspended when we spoke. The 38-year old Beijing resident wanted to use it as an opportunity for her to live "normally" without WeChat.
This goal has been met almost entirely three months later. She has just over a dozen contacts and a back-up WeChat account. She tells me that she doesn't believe using WeChat less has had any impact on her life. It has also saved her a lot of time. She finds that she spends more time on Telegram and Twitter than she does on WeChat, so she decided to make a new goal for this year: no more than an hour per day on all social media platforms.
Tina kept checking her suspended WeChat profile because people were still sending messages to it. She didn't know that she could see the notes, but was unable to reply. This experience has shown her how being suspended from the super-app actually what it means. Many have described it as feeling like an ghost. WeChat has very strict rules. She says that while you can't send messages to the outside world, all other features work as usual.
Tina can transfer money to her friends even though her account is closed. She can't attach a note to the transfer, unlike other people. She laughs and says that although you could theoretically use the numbers of the transfer amount to send information to people, it would be expensive.
What's your plan for the Year of the Rabbit Let me know at zeyi@technologyreview.com.
Catch up to China
1. China is the largest economy, with its carbon emissions growing at an accelerated pace over recent decades. However, China's dependence on fossil fuel has decreased significantly. Casey Crownhart, my colleague, brings you the key numbers. (MIT Technology Review)
2. After China lifted restrictions on covid travel, the largest annual human migration to China has resumed in full force for the Lunar New Year. Over 2.1 billion trips are expected to be made by Chinese citizens in a forty-day period. (Wall Street Journal $).
- The Economist columnist rode China's slow-speed green-skin trains (so named for their exterior color) with his fellow passengers and discussed the past year. (The Economist $).
3. China's vice-premier Liu He invited foreign companies to return to China at Davos. (Financial Times $)
- Meanwhile, China's homegrown entrepreneurs have begun to flee the lockdowns and crackdowns at home. They are moving to Singapore. (New York Times $).
4. TikTok employees can manually increase the reach of certain videos. This practice is known internally as "heating", raising concerns about moderation biases and political manipulation. (Forbes)
- An anonymous source claimed that the company promised US regulators it would make its code visible for Oracle and third party monitors in return for being allowed to stay in the country. (Wall Street Journal $).
5. Chinese doctors at public hospitals claim they are discouraged from citing covid in death certificates. (Reuters $)
6. History of Zhongguancun Silicon Valley in China, explained. (Wired $)
7. One Chinese state-owned bank is offering mRNA vaccine shots to potential clients in Hong Kong. (Financial Times $)
In translation
New Year is about new beginnings. According to Chinese tech publication Baobian, many Chinese Big Tech workers are leaving the industry and reflecting on their experience in useless "bullshit" jobs.
Despite being relatively young in the tech industry, these companies have become large corporations with high levels of bureaucracy. Staffers feel frustrated that they spend months on small product changes that could be vetoed in the last moment. This is a major source of frustration. A simple UI design modification can take two weeks of opposition research and leave little room for creativity in the final product. Some employees feel that they are losing their personal purpose in helping the company's money-making machine.
Luyi worked in various positions at Tencent, Alibaba and ByteDance. She felt she was trying to chase abstract numbers that were based on unreliable data analysis and eventually, failing to achieve anything. She decided last year to leave the tech industry to start a Beijing art gallery. It's a great feeling of accomplishment to organize an art show. She said that she can receive a lot positive feedback from the crowd. This is the feeling she felt when she worked in Big Tech.
Another thing
A ceremony was held at a western China zoo to celebrate the year's transition from the Year of the Tiger into the Year of the Rabbit. The video was quickly cut after the tiger grabbed the rabbit's neck. The correspondent panicked and began shouting, and the scene became chaotic. The rabbit survived the attack, according to reports. It would have been a horrible sign for the new year.
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By: Zeyi Yang
Title: Resolving to live the Year of the Rabbit to the fullest
Sourced From: www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/25/1067267/lunar-new-year-revisit-stories/
Published Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2023 11:00:00 +0000
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