In my September 2023 post “Xi Jinping has ruined China”, I wrote:

Since Xi expelled foreign journalists for doing their jobs, I’ve been struggling to find quality, unbiased coverage of China, since much English-language coverage of China comes directly from the Chinese government, its paid Western shills (“white monkeys”) who are some of the few foreigners remaining in China, or Falun Gong-owned media.

I recently discovered a pair of westerners (one American; one South African) who each lived in China for over a decade, motorcycled all across the country, and married Chinese women. They loved pre-Xi China but eventually fled with their families and are now sharing their honest perspectives on and footage of Xi Jinping’s China. I’ve watched a ton of their videos (albeit skipping the annoying ads) and have learned a lot from their Youtube channels:

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a stranglehold on domestic journalism, has (under Xi) basically locked Western journalists out of China, and spends a fortune on propaganda to boost its image globally (suppressing embarrassing China news and spotlighting positive stories). The CCP also pays many Westerners to post pro-CCP content, even advising many of them exactly where to go and what to say… Examples galore: “Shilling For China in ‘The World’s Biggest City You’ve never Heard Of”! What’s Going On?’":

I’m writing again to share a few more sites I find generally reliable and to warn that – at least on Youtube – you should probably subscribe to these channels. Even then, Youtube may still not recommend their videos to you but instead try to get you to watch more CCP-friendly videos. I now actually go to the channels directly because Youtube seems to now push pro-CCP content at me and everyone else while hiding non-CCP-loving channels.

I noticed this personally in recent months, and then the channels I follow complained loudly that Youtube has been suppressing them, and they came with receipts. Something nefarious (or incompetent?) has happened, so I feel it’s important to spread the word that Youtube seems to be actively suppressing the channels I’ve found to cover China most honestly while pushing news sources I consider biased, unreliable, and (sometimes) AI-generated.

I may even have found one reason this is happening. I wanted to find a “China Fact Chasers” video I watched recently, so I looked in my Youtube history for “China” videos I’ve watched (https://www.youtube.com/feed/history?query=China) I saw ZERO “China” videos from ANY of the China-focused Youtube channels I trust! I did, however, see videos I watched on China stretching all the way back to 2023 on Astrum, MSNBC, CNBC, Fireship (?), PBS, Bloomberg Originals, MegaBuilds, 60 Minutes Australia, DW Documentary, NOVA, DW News, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC International, and Vox. But ZERO videos from any of my “trusted” China-focused sources, despite watching MANY! Is Youtube suppressing these China-focused channels by not recording views they receive?!?!?

I did another search specifically for “China Fact Chasers” and did see videos I watched, but none of them show up when I search my history for “China” or “China’s” despite many of those videos containing the word “China” or “China’s” in their titles! So Youtube is recording them in my history but not returning them when I search for “China,” even when “China” is in the videos’ title and description!

Here’s a video analyzing in depth this recent apparent Youtube bias, saying:

“I got an email from fellow Youtubers the CCP doesn’t like that much, @serpenza and @laowhy86. They said they were experiencing something weird. Almost overnight the views on all four of their channels had cratered. Was “China Uncensored” seeing the same thing? Why yes, we were.”

The video provides a ton more evidence that Youtube seems to be suppressing anti-CCP Youtube videos and boosting pro-CCP videos.

Rutgers University’s Network Contagion Research Institute published empirical research – “The CCP’s Digital Charm Offensive: How TikTok’s Search Algorithm and Pro-China Influence Networks Indoctrinate GenZ Users in the United States” – showing:

“As was the case for TikTok, [on Youtube] pro-China content received a higher ratio of views per like than anti-China content, notwithstanding the fact that anti-China content received significantly higher total engagement nearly across the board. …This indicates that despite anti-China content receiving higher engagement (views, likes) than pro-China content on average, the algorithmic bias on TikTok [and Youtube] drives more views per like to pro-China content than anti-China content.”

(This study’s use of the terms “pro-China” and “anti-China” is unfortunate. It conflates the nation and people of China with the authoritarian, non-democratic government of China. More accurately, this distinction would be phrased as “pro-CCP” and “anti-CCP.” You can, for example, love America without loving its current president or government.)

Here’s a similarly shocking video by a million-subscriber anti-CCP Youtuber I love who confirms that his viewership plunged 5X to 10X almost overnight and that his shows now seem to be blacklisted in favor of far less popular pro-CCP content:

He says:

Let’s look at my buddy @serpentza today. He’s doing really, really well on his channel. He wasn’t, until very recently. Youtube actually killed his channel at the exact same time they killed mine. How did he manage to pull out of this horrible situation? We came up with an experiment. What if on the @serpentza channel we made videos that were anti-CCP but LOOKED like anti-America content? We unleashed this experiment and were not too pleased with the results. When he made videos that LOOKED like pro-China and anti-US content, the views went up five times. In fact, exactly the amount of views that we lost after the election. When you do a Youtube search for “China,” only his anti-America-LOOKING content comes up in the search, not his anti-CCP content. In fact, anti-America/pro-China-government channels are absolutely cleaning up right now across the board.

Here are a few more China news channels I have watched a lot since my 2023 post and consider generally reliable:

My wife – originally from China but living in America more than 30 years – is not a fan of many/most of these channels. She questions why I trust them and how I can possibly verify what they say and show. What I see and hear across these channels seems to paint a consistent story and seems grounded in reality. The videos don’t seem doctored. I know the CCP suppresses facts and lies as a matter of course. I don’t know that these channels are always telling the truth, but they seem to be trying to tell the truth and showing me videos, audio, and citations supporting their claims. Is everything 100% accurate? That’s impossible to know, esp. in a nation which severely censors truth and generates AI-generated pro-CCP/anti-US lies and spreads them as truth. But I feel these channels are generally well-intentioned and based in fact, to the best of their ability to gather and assess those facts.

My wife’s legitimate skepticism notwithstanding, I was recently praised by one of her friends at a recent social gathering for my knowledge of modern China. Given how hard the Chinese Communist Party suppresses domestic and international media coverage within China, it’s hard to find any news sources everyone will trust on China today. YMMV.

Since Xi Jinping kicked out (or refused to grant journalists credentials to) most foreign journalists and exercises nearly complete control over domestic journalists, there has been an investigative journalism vacuum in China. Chinese media is completely CCP-controlled, and virtually every story or rumor embarrassing to the CCP is whitewashed, on social media, TV, and newspapers. I’ve struggled to find unbiased China news, so I’m sharing those I’ve found mostly reliable.

It’s a fascinating time to watch China because its economy is in HORRIBLE shape, largely because Xi Jinping’s horrible decisions have destroyed it. Xi seems to have put all his dictatorial eggs in his invade-Taiwan basket. A China war with the US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and allies would have horrible consequences. Letting Xi’s CCP invade Taiwan would be even worse.

With thanks to Markus Winkler for his photo shared through Unsplash