Lesley Stahl in China returns to Spotlight on Youtube: NPR

For many China viewers, Chai Jing, 49, was at the top of television. In 2023, she resurfaced on YouTube and her program became one of the most popular Chinese news productions.

Chai Jing / Chai Jing

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Chai Jing / Chai Jing

Hong Kong – Weeks before Ukraine, China men were fighting for Russia, a Chinese journalist spoke with one of them on YouTube. From a corner of his lounge decorated with books, Chai Jing, an eminent television journalist who left the projectors of the Chinese state broadcaster a decade ago, calls videos of the Chinese mercenary blocked in eastern Ukraine while serving in the Russian army.

The sound of the gunshots resonates in the background. The man, who is dressed in camouflage and who goes through the alias Makalong, told Chai that many Chinese who participate in the Russian Combat team are influenced by dramas of nationalist action such as Wolf Warrior. But after witnessing the reality of Russia’s assault, he told Chai that he regrets his decision. “The battlefield is ruthless, like a real version of hell,” he says. “I hope China will not get involved in a war.”

Given the ambiguity of Beijing to the Russian-Ukraine conflict, the Chai’s interview addresses a subject sensitive to any Chinese journalist. In addition to an episode of follow -up on Chinese citizens who are fighting for Ukraine, the two episodes have attracted more than 2 million views together since March. International media continued similar stories in the following weeks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that at least 155 Chinese citizens were fighting for Russia during the war. It is not known how much the Ukrainian side help.

A video screen shows film scenes Wolf Warrior 2 Apart from a Beijing theater on August 21, 2017. A Chinese mercenary blocked in eastern Ukraine told Chai Jing that many Chinese who participate in the Russian Combat team are influenced by nationalist action dramas such as Wolf Warrior.

Greg Baker / AFP via Getty Images

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Greg Baker / AFP via Getty Images

Chai is China Lesley Stahl

For many China viewers, Chai, 49, was at the top of television. Media experts compare her to Lesley Stahl, and a 2012 memory that she published continued to inspire young journalists. In 2015, his self -funded documentary, Under the domewas widely credited for raising awareness of air pollution in China. Its viewer reached 300 million before the censors removed it in a week in the middle of reprimands against Chai, mainly against defenders of the Chinese growth model based on coal.

Shortly after the backlash, Chai left Beijing and moved to Barcelona, ​​Spain, where she led a discreet life with her family. It was not until 2023 that she resurfaced on YouTube, first with a six -part documentary on terrorism, followed by a bihebdomedary show. In less than two years, Chai has collected more than 850,000 subscribers to its channel, although YouTube is blocked in China, accessible only using a virtual private network (VPN). Public size is a small fraction of what it once ordered in China Central Television (CCTV). However, its program has become one of the most popular Chinese news productions.

A large part of the Chai show deeply plunges into the recent history of China, with a series of guests that state broadcasters would have found too controversial to broadcast. Among her interviewed people was the daughter of the secretary of Mao Zedong, who is in dispute with the authorities; A witness who survived the horror of the cultural revolution; and writers entangled with the consequences of the repression of the Tiananmen square in 1989.

“Most of the time, I finish the work that was cut (at CCTV),” she told NPR.

But the story she takes over also resonates with today’s political landscape in China. In a recent episode, Chai revisits the repression of the notorious mafia in the Chinese municipality of Southwestern Chongqing which began in 2009. The campaign finally led to the fall of Bo Xilai, formerly an eminent competitor for the leadership of the Communist Party. By finishing the episode, Chai notes the lack of reflection of China on the populist mobilization of the judicial power of BO and the damage which he continues to inflict on the nation. She underlines her viewers that the same mechanism “is still in motion 16 years later”.

Chai is one of the growing cohorts of intellectuals who have started abroad

The chai spectacle among a growing cohort of public intellectuals who have left China in recent years. Many of them have recently become more frank on public affairs, because the space for independent voices at home is passing. Several of them, like Chai, have built their original career in Legacy Media, but have now found a new presence on Youtube.

Some of them offer almost daily daily updates. Others make criticism that openly refer to leader Xi Jinping. Their arrival has largely increased the quality of Chinese news content on YouTube, which has long been flooded by the political hearing and the analysis of the armchairs, according to media experts.

The chai spectacle, on the other hand, presents heartbreaking interviews combined with meticulous research, dotted with incisive comments but measured by it.

“She added a personal touch to professional journalism,” said Fang Kecheng, assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “Finally, there is a high caliber information program on YouTube for the public in China.”

CHAI interviews seem to hit an agreement at home, even if popular platforms have deleted videos reconditioning its program. Shortly after publishing his interview with Makalong, the Chinese man in Russian force, users of the popular Rednote social media app have discovered an account that Makalong had created. They published comments wishing to return safely and said they had found it in the Chai YouTube show.

The return of chai coincides with growing restrictions in China

The Chai disciples note that its program is a return to an era which has largely evaporated since Xi took power in 2012. For many years in the early 2000s, Chinese public intellectuals appreciated the room for maneuver for free expression despite formal controls. Media journalists like Chai have found space to make journalism in Boue. For her, it ended when she left the country eight years ago for Spain.

Then, another decision of the increasingly paranoid censors of China caused a chai return to journalism.

At the end of 2023, a series of obituary produced by Caixin Media, one of the most respected media in China, disappeared from its website. They included articles in honor of former minister Li Keqiang, epidemic AIDS AIDS Dr Gao Yaojie and other remarkable personalities who died that year. Chai said to NPR that she felt forced to act.

Former Prime Minister Li Keqiang (Center) died in 2023. At the end of this year, a series of ODROLOGIES produced by Caixin Media, one of the most respected media in China, disappeared from his website. They included articles honoring Li and other figures deceased that year.

Noel Celis / AFP via Getty Images

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Noel Celis / AFP via Getty Images

Former Prime Minister Li Keqiang (Center) died in 2023. At the end of this year, a series of ODROLOGIES produced by Caixin Media, one of the most respected media in China, disappeared from his website. They included articles honoring Li and other figures deceased that year.

Noel Celis / AFP via Getty Images

“How is it that we are not even allowed to say goodbye?!” She remembers having thought. “I will offer my own farewells.”

In a few days, she created a 24-minute commemorative episode on Gao which quickly reached more than half a million views. With more tributes that she added in the coming weeks, a new program has started to take shape. She says that she made the spectacle largely by herself, especially by learning to edit videos for the first time.

For a more complicated subject, she made an additional effort to search for contacts and search for corroboration, she says. For episodes on the Russian-Ukraine war, for example, she interviewed five other soldiers to nail the coordinates of a deceased Chinese man fighting for Ukraine. One of his sources, an ethnic Chinese man called Atticus, says that Chai sometimes contacted him well after midnight, checking the facts.

“It is more demanding than a full -time job,” said Chai at NPR. “I have to try to relive what these people have experienced.”