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Here's something interesting that shows just how timely this topic is:

This was just discussed at the latest session of China's National People's Congress a few days ago:

China to drive full green transition and build a Beautiful China during 15th Five-Year Plan period

It really seems to be one of the top priorities for the Chinese government at the moment.

Your choice is great. None of those cities have made as much progress as fast as Beijing has made compared to how things used to be there just 20 years ago. Even western media had to admit how drastic the difference in air quality is nowadays and how much of a success story Beijing has been in terms of cleaning up the environment. Even the water is so much cleaner nowadays and there are countless parks and green spaces. You can literally see it: https://english.beijing.gov.cn/specials/livablegreenbeijing/index.html

It's one of the most liveable cities in the world now. I know a lot of westerners are infatuated with the more flashy, hyper-modern cities in China like Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chongqing, and so on, but for me the urban planning in Beijing is just on another level.

Probably. Anything but Google honestly, because Google is extremely curated to almost exclusively display pro-Western sources. Yandex is usually my go-to alternative.

But the language you search in also makes a big difference. Even on Baidu if you search in English you will probably get a lot of English language results, and English language sources are going to be dominated by a pro-Western bias.

Yes there are good sources to be found in English too but the numbers are stacked against you with so much garbage out there in the Anglophone media. On politically charged topics i mean.

Whereas when i search in Russian on Yandex for example, i get a set of results with noticeably less of them reflecting the Western narratives. It's just a matter of overcoming the language barrier, which is fortunately not too difficult nowadays.

And of course you are more likely to get serious scientific articles if you search the actual scientific journals and academic publications rather than some propaganda piece put out by an NGO or a think tank.

In that case the best advice i can give is to get a good translation software so you can read Chinese academic papers, because the best resources you can find are all written in Chinese. Good English language sources are hard to find, since there is a big anti-China bias in the West even in academia.

You could try going through a proxy of some sort next time if it's an ISP block. They blocked RT where i live, but it's pretty trivial to circumvent.

Actually there is a ton of scientific literature on this topic especially from Chinese academia. I had to stop myself from going too deep down the rabbit hole because i'd be giving you far too many specialized papers to read otherwise.

Weird. The link works fine for me. I've added the full article text to the body of the post for anyone who cannot access the link.

Despicable comprador traitors.

This is the clearest illustration of why the US empire will lose and China and the global south will win. This system has no future.

I know nothing about Hyundai. You're probably right in your criticism. Also it's not a Chinese brand anyway. The point of this is more to show what manufacturing in China's automotive sector looks like. China's own car brands use very similar or even more advanced factories. The point is that China has an integrated industrial ecosystem unlike any other in the world, with tons of talent, research and development, their own supply chains and highly efficient logistics, which is why they can manufacture at such a scale.

how about sharing the Chinese media you've watching? This way we can see for ourselves

I guess everyone's heard of the blockbuster movies that have been coming out of China that have been the most popular recently, so i don't need to mention those.

As for TV series, i tend to just look for whatever is highest rated on the various C-drama websites, though for now i avoid the historical costume dramas because they're a bit too formulaic for my taste (but if anyone has a good recommendation of one that is really exceptional i would of course be open).

So i generally go for ones with more "modern" setting, either set in the 20th century dealing with interesting periods in China's recent history such as "Minning Town" (set during the 1990s) or "This Thriving Land" (set in the 1930s), as well as police procedurals set in the modern day like "Sword Rose" or "In the Name of the People". I guess that's a good place to start to get a feel for what Chinese TV is like.

I'm still just barely beginning myself to get an idea of what's available because China produces a lot of movies and TV, but they are not that easy to find outside of China, especially with subtitles.

I can't relate at all to what is happening in China. My day to day experience couldn't be more different. The city i live in looks (and in many ways feels) like it's stuck in time in the 1990s. Everything is falling apart and infrastructure development is non-existent. Industry has been disappearing for years. I enjoy watching Chinese media because it is so unlike the shit i have to deal with every day.

I'm a failure of a comrade.

First of all you need to reject that thought entirely. It is absolutely not true, you have already done far more than most in your position. Already your organizing has been an enormous accomplishment.

I don't know anything anymore.

Remind yourself that this is how they want you to feel. They want you to feel defeated and demoralized. A psychological war is being waged against you with all means at their disposal.

So I created a separate account and announced that no matter what, if students still want a class walkout, it will happen no matter what admin says.

This was 100% the right decision.

I took down the posts announcing the walkout. My family told admin this, and that since we have listened to their demands, there is no need for a meeting tomorrow.

This is a mistake. Don't surrender to their bullying. Don't let them make you feel like you are alone. You are not. You have many comrades who will support you if you go through with the walkout.

Instead, admin demanded that I meet them first thing in the morning tomorrow before school even starts, for no other reason than to harass me.

Once they sense any weakness from you they will only push further and further. That is why it is so important to not give them an inch. Stand firm and stand together with like minded people.

No matter how it turns out at least you will know you fought to the end and did not give up.

They are also demanding that I send them photographic proof of a post officially announcing a cancellation to the walk out, by the end of this evening.

Don't. Don't send them anything. Get in touch with everyone who agreed to the walkout and tell them it is still happening. You are in the right here. You can only lose if you capitulate to the intimidation and the terror.

I want to just curl into a ball and cry until I shrivel up. I am so exhausted.

It's ok to be sad. It's ok to be exhausted. It's completely understandable to feel the way you feel. If you need to take a step back after this to take care of yourself, pass the leadership of this movement on to someone you trust, no one will hold it against you or think you failed.

Last time admin had a problem with my politics, they weaponized my history of sexual assault to force me to be silent about Palestine, and they weaponized my medical history

The enemy will weaponize anything and everything to try and hurt you. They are vile but they are also desperate. That is how you know you are doing something right.

Remember that they only have psychological power over you if you allow them to have it. Defiance gives you power. Whatever they try to do to you, you will survive it with the help of your comrades. You have survived worse before.

I'm so scared for tomorrow

It is normal to be scared. In many ways this is like going into a battle. Anyone who says they are not scared before something like this is lying to themselves or to others. But you can push through that fear. The enemy wants you to let your fear paralyze you into inaction.

Recognize that you are not the only person who feels this way, but that if you stand firm together you can deal a grave defeat to those who have launched this psychological attack on you. If you go through with it despite all of their terror, they lose.

Edit: a small addition here to put this part into perspective:

She went behind my back on Monday. She met with admin, entirely capitulated to their demands without even notifying me, and kicked me from our joint social media account for the walkout and blocked me on it.

This, by the way, is extremely reminiscent of the behavior of labor leadership in trade unions going back decades and decades.

The leadership of unions gets bought out and betrays the members, lies to them and makes a deal with the capitalist bosses, after which their job is to sell this betrayal as a "pragmatic necessity" to the rank and file while crushing and silencing the dissenters.

This is a painful experience that many of us who are involved in labor organizing and activism have had to go through in one form or another. Ultimately these experiences strengthen us and steel us, they hone our instincts about who we can trust and who we can't.

Yep. They tried peacefully protesting. They tried doing the Great March of Return. All that got them is "Israeli" snipers shooting out the knees of unarmed protesters. They've been trying to appeal to the so-called "international community" for over 70 years, and it all fell on deaf ears. The genocide, occupation and ethnic cleansing continued unabated. At some point even the most peaceful person has to realize that when all non-violent options are exhausted you have no choice but to fight. What the West really wants is for them to lay down and die, but they're not going to do that anymore.

To be clear, that's the only part i disagree with. The rest is good.

India has betrayed, sequentially, both full BRICS members Russia and Iran. By sealing its alignment with the Epstein Syndicate, New Delhi has proved, without the shadow of a doubt, not only that it’s untrustworthy: more than that, its whole lofty rhetoric of “leading the Global South” has collapsed – for good.

Meh. Not a fan of this part of the analysis. It's too focused on personalities and not enough on material reality. The tracherous opportunism of figures like Modi or Erdogan may be morally vile but they can't change what the objective interests of their countries are in the long term. India can hamstring BRICS for a while but they cannot afford to leave it. Because increasingly the West has very little to offer the global south. Sooner or later this material reality will always lead them back to Russia and China.

The rest of the analysis, the part about China in particular, is solid.

Cool video and very interesting channel. Thanks for the recommendation. Always love learning more about history. I've been fascinated with Dunhuang ever since i learned about the Jade Gate and the history of Dunhuang as essentially the farthest frontier of Chinese civilization for millennia.

I don't live in the US so maybe i'm not qualified to speak on this, but my first instinct would be to say: just be normal. Just show up and do the work same as everyone else in your organization and let your actions speak for themselves. Don't make it about you and don't center yourself in someone else's struggle. Let the people who are most impacted by racial oppression lead the movement while you listen, learn and stand in solidarity with them. Building trust is not about what you say (talk is cheap), it's about what you do. Also it takes time. If you keep demonstrating that you are a reliable ally you will eventually build that reputation and trust.