Uncensored materials

[mtpastille]

I'm interested in native-level Mandarin Chinese materials, of any kind, that have not been tarnished by the CCP's censors. I get bored reading mainland newspapers and watching mainland TV. I want more flair and spice; I want in-depth views of modern life in China. It seems however that the supply is quite limited.

For newspapers, we have The New York Times and BBC offering Chinese language versions of publications. The latter even has video coverage in Chinese. That's good enough for me. What about books, movies, TV, discussions, magazines, blogs, music and other venues of expression? I'm not necessarily looking for articles bashing the political elite in China. Where can I find commentary on pollution, sex, internet security and so on?

I find it very sad that the world's most populous country is being restrained so much creatively. I can't even begin to imagine how much potential culture has been lost since 1949.

[daofeishi]

Have a look at 余华's 十个词汇里的中国. That's his unabridged analysis of the culture and politics of the Mainland and was banned there.

[count_zero]

Weibo is the place that Chinese people go for that.

It takes a while to find the right accounts to follow but it's worth it.

Try the Chinese branch of Vice

http://e.weibo.com/vicechina?ref=http%3A%2F%2Fweibo.com%2F2263445293%2Fmyfollow

And 最in Beijing sometimes has some quite controversial stuff.

http://weibo.com/u/2504747281

[Guest]

Erase personal profile and all posts.

 

[Lu]

I'm interested in native-level Mandarin Chinese materials, of any kind, that have not been tarnished by the CCP's censors.

Try Taiwanese material. Newspapers, magazines, etc. Or Hongkongnese or Singaporean, I suppose. (Or the Epoch Times, but that comes with its own ideology, so that's not necessarily an improvement.) You can also try literature, which of course for the most parts stays within the limits, but is rarely openly political and sometimes very critical.

[Baron]

There's lots of stuff in China that shows a more edgy side - websites, DVDs, books, magazines, either imported, unofficial or unrestricted. If a foreign person went to the UK or the US, looked at mainstream TV and tabloid newspapers, and did some simplistic Google searches they'd think that everything was censored to the point that all westerners are allowed to consume is celebrity gossip, baking, and whining about the trivial personality flaws of politicians. It's only textbooks in China that uniformly suck.

[mtpastille]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Pro-western newspapers certainly seem to abound, and I guess I need to dive into Taiwanese culture. Hong Kong is mostly Cantonese, so I'm staying away from that.

If a foreign person went to the UK or the US, looked at mainstream TV and tabloid newspapers, and did some simplistic Google searches they'd think that everything was censored to the point that all westerners are allowed to consume is celebrity gossip, baking, and whining about the trivial personality flaws of politicians

If I Google "prism" today I can find many US-critical articles from US papers. That would never have happened in China.

[OneEye]

Hong Kong is mostly Cantonese, so I'm staying away from that.

But the vast majority of written material from HK is in Standard Chinese. No need to stay away.

[roddy]

Agreed, you can't afford to miss Hong Kong. Look at 争鸣 and its ilk, for example.

Personally - I find even the 'uncensored' stuff is affected, becoming self-consciously edgy and challenging, which gets boring in its own way. The elephant's still in the room.

[mtpastille]

Right, I've read the Epoch Times a couple of times and it does seem a bit too much. There are different degrees of militancy, though. I'll check out written HK stuff too then.

[msittig]

I agree with the commenter above who said that edge stuff is there, it's just the textbooks that are censored to death. Whenever I need a breath of fresh air I pick up a Nanfang Zhoumo or any one of several magazines available at the corner newsstand.

[Meng Lelan]

I agree with Lu. The OP wanting to find uncensored reading materials was exactly the reason I have been staying with trads and go for reading materials out of Taiwan or Hong Kong.

[Kenny同志]

Do you use weibo (something like Twitter)? It’s less censored, and IMO, it presents a picture much closer to the reality in China than China’s media, which have all been under tight control of the CCP.

I use Tecent weibo. If you want to give it a try, I recommend 張鳴, 魯國平, and 有民無主. They write almost every day. Among them, 張鳴 is a professor in politics with 中國人民大學. He comments on China’s social issues and politics.

[daofeishi]

Adding to what Kenny said, blogs can be less censored than official media outlets as well, and there are plenty of interesting and/or controversial people who update their blogs regularly, like 李银河，李承鹏，方舟子，司马南，邝飚，王克勤，方玄昌...

Also, plenty of Chinese media outlets produce good journalism. 南方周末 which has been mentioned already is a newspaper that regularly prints some very good investigative journalism, like some if the food scandals the recent years. 南都周刊 is also a magazine you should have a look at.

[Kenny同志]

張鳴 also blogs on politics. His writing is concise and very readable, and most importantly, deep.

His blog: http://blog.sina.com...f=www.baidu.com

百度百科 has an entry on him: http://baike.baidu.com/view/281250.htm

[OneEye]

吾尔开希, one of the leaders of the Tiananmen protests who is now in exile in Taiwan, has a blog. It's down at the moment, but it has some interesting stuff.

[Lu]

Adding to what Kenny said, blogs can be less censored than official media outlets as well, and there are plenty of interesting and/or controversial people who update their blogs regularly, like 李银河，李承鹏，方舟子，司马南，邝飚，王克勤，方玄昌...

And 韩寒.

[roddy]

I get bored reading mainland newspapers and watching mainland TV.

It would be interesting to know exactly what you're reading and watching. There's a world of difference between CCTV1 and the People's Daily on one hand and Hunan TV and the Chengdu Subversive Times* on the other. As you get away from the national level, and also as you get away from politics, there's less control. For my money the most interesting space is somewhere between the death grip of GAPP and SARFT (now, of course, SAPPRFT. Let me just wipe my screen down) and the lone angry blogger, where you have competent professionals trying to make money, do what they do best, and not get arrested.

I don't know who made 蜗居, but I bet it wasn't CCTV. You'd never guess where Caijing started, and the Southern Weekend is famously provincial. Even CCTV can surprise now and then.

*I made this one up. I think.

[tooironic]

I asked my friend the OP's question yesterday and he came up with the following sources he said are less subjected to censorship from Beijing:

163.com (网易) (this one has a good app for Android, and presumably iPhone/iPad too)

南方周末

南方都市报