Chinese internet users are cheering on Russia
For invading Ukraine
But one guy is taking on these nationalist trolls
Despite the death threats
Welcome to China Uncensored.
I’m Shelley Zhang, filling in for Chris today.
Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine more than 3 weeks ago now, the Chinese Communist Party
has claimed to be neutral, while actually being not neutral.
Take this statement that China is going to maintain normal trade with Russia and Ukraine.
Seems pretty neutral right?
It’s not changing trade with Russia or Ukraine!
Of course, only Russia is facing crippling sanctions from the West, and needs economic
relations with China more than ever.
So this is China supporting Russia while making it look like they’re being neutral.
Kind of like when your mom claimed to not have a favorite child when she obviously did
and it was clearly your younger sister.
The Chinese Communist Party has also been supporting Russia by voting with Russia in
the UN.
And embracing Russian propaganda and its version of the war.
The Chinese regime’s pro-Russia propaganda has produced some…interesting reactions
on the Chinese internet.
Like when people start calling Russian leader Vladimir Putin things like “Putin the Great.”
And their faith and their light.
If you thought Twitter thirsting over Ukraine’s president Zelenskyy was cringy,
Putin thirst is not better.
Today is the most inspiring day of 2022.
Because Russia attacked Ukraine.
I feel so happy.
It’s like seeing China recapturing Taiwan.
It’s so awesome!
Putin is so dominant, strong, and handsome.
He’s not just Russia’s hero.
He’s the hero of my heart.
I take that back, Putin thirst so much worse.
So if you want to see people cheering on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, just go to the Chinese
internet.
But as the woman in that video showed, it’s not really about Russia and Ukraine.
It’s about China and Taiwan.
Chinese nationalists are looking at Russia invading Ukraine and dreaming about China
invading Taiwan.
I’m pretty sure their dream invasion of Taiwan goes a lot better than Russia’s actual
invasion of Ukraine, because let’s face it, China is so much better than Russia.
But it’s not just about China and Taiwan.
It’s also about China and America.
Chinese internet users see Putin as someone who’s standing up to America’s bullying.
And they see America as the country that’s ultimately responsible for the war in Ukraine.
I talked about how they’re brainwashing kids to believe that in this episode.
As one Weibo user joked, if he only used Chinese social media, he would think that America
had invaded Ukraine.
Of course we are talking about the highly monitored and controlled Chinese internet,
so it’s hard to tell how many people don’t support the war.
You only see people who do.
Because the Chinese regime will censor any opposing viewpoints, including people just
calling for peace.
But one guy is defying both Chinese internet censorship, and Chinese nationalist trolls.
I’ll tell you more after the break.
Welcome back.
The vast majority of the censored Chinese internet is pro-Putin and pro Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine.
But one Chinese guy has made a big splash by being neither.
This is Wang Jixian.
He’s a Chinese citizen, from Beijing.
And he works as a computer programmer in Ukraine.
Specifically, in Odessa.
Unlike other parts of Ukraine, Odessa hasn’t seen the worst of the fighting.
But it’s definitely a target.
Since the war began, Wang has been posting videos on YouTube and on the Chinese social
media service WeChat, documenting his life during the war.
Some of the videos show him waking up in the middle of the night to air raid sirens.
March 16, 3 am.
Come on, I’m waiting for your troops.
Might as well, can’t get any sleep, sirens every night.
Others show him walking around Odessa and showing what daily life looks like, even during
a war.
So many cars on the busy street.
Pedestrians.
Sometimes I feel like I’m in a strange dream where we’re about to win the war.
In more emotional videos, he talks about leaving these records of his life so his parents know
what happened to him if he’s killed.
Why does Wang stay instead of evacuating back to China?
Here’s what he said in one of his videos.
Why don’t we run?
Ok, we’ll run.
I have a [Chinese] friend who will remain anonymous, he can’t say this so I will speak
for him.
His young child is here.
His wife is here.
She is Ukrainian.
Sure, he can go back to China, leaving his wife and child behind.
[laughs] Is that something a human being does?
Why don’t you go back to China?
He said, ok, I can go back, I am Chinese.
Can I give my spot to my wife so she can take my daughter?
“I’m sorry, we only evacuate Chinese nationals.”
Ok, ok, I understand.
This is another country’s problem.
So we have to take up AKs and defend our homes.
So he’s talking about a Chinese friend who couldn’t get the Chinese consulate to evacuate
his non-Chinese wife and half-Chinese child.
This directly contradicts the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda about their awesome evacuation
of Chinese in Ukraine.
Wang also goes on to talk about his own reasons for not leaving Ukraine.
My company is here.
I can leave.
But where would I go?
Maybe you don’t understand when I said I want to live.
I don’t want to just breathe.
I want to live with dignity, like a human being.
We’re not afraid of death.
We don’t want to die.
And he asks people in China to confront the reality of the war that they’re supporting.
Yesterday I showed you my neighbor’s little daughter.
She’s not a Nazi.
Tell me she deserves to die.
Tell me we all deserve to die.
To be bombed to death.
Wang Jixian’s videos might not look too controversial at first, but he’s attracted
a lot of hate from Chinese nationalists for pushing back on the official narrative about
the Russian invasion.
Some accused him of being a paid actor.
Others even sent him death threats.
But Wang is not backing down.
Sometimes I think Ukrainians, at least have only one enemy.
I’m not sure how many battles I’m fighting now.
If I go back, who am I?
Am I a Chinese person?
Or I am your enemy?
These are heartfelt, intimate videos where Wang directly addresses the people who hate
him.
He’s straightforward.
He’s blunt.
He’s honest.
He’s having conversations about what it means to love your country.
What it means to love your home.
The difference between a person’s values and a country’s values.
He’s talking about what it means to be a Chinese person, but also what it means to
be a human being.
His videos have gotten millions of views on WeChat.
If you’re thinking, wait, how has this guy not been censored?
Well, he has.
He posted this video on YouTube showing his WeChat being disabled.
And then spent the rest of the video with an X taped over his mouth.
The guy’s got a sense of humor.
Frankly I’m surprised his WeChat account hasn’t been completely deleted yet.
But Wang Jixian is also posting his videos to YouTube.
So if you understand Chinese, you can check out his channel there.
Wang addressed the censorship in another one of his videos.
I’m Jixian.
I live in Ukraine.
Who are you?
What are you afraid of?
Why are you afraid of me speaking?
I haven’t threatened anyone or called for murder.
I’m just asking people to respect life and end this war.
Why are you so afraid of people knowing what’s really going on?
We don’t have nuclear weapons; we don’t have any guns.
Why can only calls for murder be heard?
Why am I only allowed to say: “I’m afraid.
Please save me!”
Why do you only let voices that spread fear get posted?
Here, we are determined, peace-loving, and loyal.
For the most part, Wang treads a pretty fine line in his videos.
He makes it clear that everything he says is just his personal opinion, and that he’s
just an average guy, representing himself and not representing China.
He also doesn’t badmouth the Chinese regime.
But he does express his dislike for the Chinese Communist Party, in a roundabout way.
I have no party affiliation.
I have no love for “that party.”
Does that make me wrong?
You love it with all your life; you think of it as your wife.
Well, I don’t like your wife.
Is that my fault?
Because I don’t like your wife, your mother, you want to kill me?
Do you think that’s justice?
I refuse to turn black into white.
Just because you have your lousy guns, you think that I’ll submit to you.
That will never happen.
Your stupid guns aren’t worth a fart.
You know, he’s got a real way with words.
Wang is the kind of Chinese voice we don’t hear a lot from in the West.
Including on this show.
Here on China Uncensored, we’ve said many times that we’re not anti-China, that we
are not against Chinese people.
We’re here to expose the Chinese Communist Party, and what they’re doing in China and
around the world.
Which means, it can be easy to forget that not all Chinese people are like this.
And there are a lot of Chinese people like this.
Wang Jixian reminds me a lot of the Chinese citizen journalists who went to report on
what was really happening in Wuhan during the initial Covid outbreak in 2020.
Many of them risked their lives to get that information out.
Several of them were “disappeared.”
And some of them are still in prison right now.
So in a way Wang is kind of…lucky?
Sure he’s in the middle of a literal war zone, but at least it’s harder for the Chinese
police to kidnap him off the street and take him to a black jail.
Sometimes in life you have to look at the bright side.
It’s part of being human.
And now it’s time for me to answer a question from a fan of the show on the crowdfunding
website Patreon, or the exclusive social media platform Locals.
On Locals, Connor Bell asks: Thank you for your support through posting these videos
every week.
It means a lot that with your multiple channels, a lot of people are waking up to know the
real world.
My question is, why do you and the rest of your news team like to use dry humor?
Well Connor, that’s easy.
We use dry humor because wet humor is just way too messy.
Thanks for your question.
And thanks for supporting China Uncensored on Locals.
And if you haven’t joined us on Locals yet, come check it out.
It’s free to join.
And we do special content you can watch like our exclusive Locals livestreams.
You can also support the show with a monthly, or a one-time contribution, which will get
you even more perks.
Come join us on chinauncensored.locals.com.
Once again, I’m Shelley Zhang, filling in for Chris Chappell.
Thanks for watching China Uncensored.