A Microsoft AI scientist chose to live in a tiny room in San Francisco’s Chinatown for less than $1,000 a month. @annakook gives us a rare look inside a single-room occupancy building, where residents have private rooms but share kitchens and bathrooms.

"Many of them mentioned the word 'involution'—which I’d been reading about from afar since 2020—but it also seemed as if life in China had never been this good." @goldkorn returns to China after a decade away: chinafile.com/reporting-opin…

How to freak out the Chinese and American internets in one interview with Christopher Nolan: alltimehai.substack.com/p/a-…

Many Chinese journalists joined Western newsrooms hoping to report with more freedom. But some have become disillusioned, as more than a dozen journalists shared anonymously with @MM_editorial. @annakook catches you up:

In her new graphic memoir 'Names and Faces,' comic artist Leise Hook illustrates a story of identity, exploring “the in-betweenness of being mixed-race.” Author Q&A: chinafile.com/reporting-opin… Read an excerpt: chinafile.com/library/excerp…

BONUS: For people who want to understand how Beijing accomplishes all of this at a technical level, we've included detailed—and delightfully illustrated!—explainers. Start here for a primer on how the internet works: shorturl.at/L3sBR 21/21

How does this happen? Well, sometimes it's just a simple mistake. The devices China uses to block domestic users' access to certain websites can also accidentally block foreign users' access—even if those users aren't in China. 15/21

Altogether, this system resembles not so much a "Great Firewall" as a massive water management system: a series of canals and locks that regulate how much flows, through which particular channels, and at what times—what we call "the Locknet."

Beijing builds censorship into every physical and digital component of the country's internet, throughout what computer scientists call "the stack." It hijacks normal internet functions and uses them to stop certain content from reaching its citizens. 8/21

A wall simply prevents some information from crossing the border. But this system represents a much more dynamic and multifaceted operation—and one far more fitting for the Party's sweeping censorship ambitions. 7/21