🔌🇨🇳🇮🇳 CIN#18 - Entering antagonistic decoupling? 🤼💔
An academic from the Yunnan Academy of Social Science writes in a journal article Sino-India relations have entered a phase of ‘antagonistic decoupling’. Plus a survey on Wechat users in India.
Welcome to issue #18 of ChinaIndia Networked, a newsletter by me, Dev Lewis, highlighting the networked relationship between the two regions at the intersection of technology, society, and politics.
This issue is low on commentary but features a translation of a Chinese journal article on China-India relations following the July 15 Galwan valley clash. Don’t forget to scroll to the end for some Chengdu rap.
🦠🦄COVID, Conspiracies and Content Patterns: An India – China Conversation
Digital Asia Hub, where I work, is hosting a panel on COVID related disinformation patterns in China and India, with researchers who have conducted surveys in both countries. It should be super interesting and it starts in 30 minutes—sorry for the short notice.
https://zoom.com.cn/j/91678298752?pwd=emdDc3lpdDAwakZHQjM3UTlQbFRzQT09
Meeting ID: 916 7829 8752
Passcode: 724349
📲Survey: Wechat Users in India
A group of researchers and I are trying to gauge what the Wechat ban looks like at the ground level and how it is affecting Indians with ties to China. Blocking websites/apps in India is not uniform and varies across Internet Service Providers and even though Tencent said it voluntarily pulled service to Indian users in compliance with Indian law, we hear its a lot more porous.
🙏🏼If you are based in India and use/used Wechat we want to hear from you. Its mostly multiple choice answers and should take you <2 minutes to complete.
The Bloody Conflict in the Galwan Valley: India's Dangerous Game and Its Impact on Sino-Indian Relations
Journal of Yunmeng 云梦学刊 Vol.41, No.5 (September 2020)
Wang Siling, Vice-director, Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.
The article is nearly 7,000 words long and pretty grim reading. She says the border clash is a ‘tragic development in the development of Sino-India relations’ and how now (re)entered a phase of ‘antagonistic decoupling’ based on her analyses of Indian actions. She places the blame on the changing of the status of Ladakh in August 2019 and Modi for trying to take advantage of the US-China situation, a power-play driven by Hindutva nationalism.
It is not clear to me how influential or widely circulated this article is but the author does have other articles published in top tier journals. If not for anything for posterity purposes its helpful to have the article in the public domain and accessible in English.
The article was translated by Bidhan Chandra Kuiry, a PhD student at East China Normal University, whose research interest lies in social work and social policy in China. Follow him on Twitter. I’ve always intended for this newsletter to be a platform to promote more voices and the wider community. If you’d like to contribute in some form please reach out.
💽🎛Networked Ears and Minds
One album from the independent music scene around the region—because if you’re interested in China and not listening to music coming out of here you’re not doing it right.
谢帝 aka Boss Shady (Chengdu, Sichuan)
Time to break up the mandarin hegemony with some Sichuanhua rap from one of the pioneers of the contemporary wave of rap and hip-hop in Chengdu.
A distinct regional identity has flourished in the fertile Sichuanese basin: a laid-back, epicurean approach to life, paired with a stubborn resilience. The phrase that best encapsulates this vibe, according to Chengdu-based rapper Kafe Hu, translates into English as “easily, breezy, flopping around!” In Chinese, “flop,” which refers both to jitters of excitement and to a dead fish flailing on a woodblock, captures the paradox of Chengdu playfulness. It is a phrase rooted in both joy and suffering, yelled by old grandmothers and young rappers alike.
Dive into this excellent piece on the rise of homegrown rap in Sichuan.
Thanks for reading!