China Decoded is Newsweek’s in-depth newsletter about China’s growing influence on the world. It goes beyond the headlines to examine how Beijing thinks, how its policies travel beyond China’s borders, and what they mean for the United States and its allies. The newsletter is written by journalists with deep experience covering China.
Didi Kirsten Tatlow, Senior Correspondent for International Affairs and Investigations, has reported extensively on Chinese politics, influence and security. John Feng, China Editor, is based in Taiwan and covers China’s domestic politics, foreign policy and the strategic competition between Beijing and Washington. Below, for Newsweek Members, we are reproducing the latest edition of China Decoded in full: It is funny, in a way, when China’s Maoist—or Leninist—“glass hearts” (bolixin; 玻璃心) turn their sensitive fury on a target.
Except there’s an iron-clad political reality behind it, as well as another metal, money. And the currency lost everywhere is free speech. This week the shards of a CCP “hurt feelings” campaign metaphorically hit the French soccer player Kylian Mbappé.
Back in April, Mbappé had said in an interview that he found a meme of his face superimposed on the body of a “Chinese dictator” funny. A brilliant player, Mbappé is known to have a strong personality and to wield influence among his teammates. The jokes and memes have grown for years.
Watch this for a minute-long video with examples, if it hasn’t been taken down. Following Chinese threats, multiple YouTube and news sites have deleted the material. Mbappé has a sense of humor even if dictators famously don’t, as they fear ridicule.
In terms of humor the result was Mbappé 1 : CCP 0. But the Maoist “glass hearts,” meaning those whose hearts are as fragile as glass and are easily hurt by what others say or who pretend that they are, as the phrase goes in China, launched their own attack. Chinese sponsors threatened to drop him.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
