Inflation costing Americans an extra $460 per month, analysis says

Thomas Barrabi and Mark Lungariello
June 10, 2022 

Inflation stayed red-hot in May as CPI spiked 8.6% — highest since

White-hot inflation has forced the average American household to cough up an extra $460 per month, as surging prices for food and fuel put family budgets across the nation under strain.

Moody’s Analytics senior economist Ryan Sweet calculated the figure based on data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed the Consumer Price Index had jumped 8.6% in the 12-month period ending May 31 – the largest increase since December 1981.

Sweet compared average US household spending in May to what would have been spent in 2018 and 2019, when annual inflation averaged 2.1%.

“Having inflation at 8.5% on a year-ago basis, compared with the 2.1% average growth in 2018 and 2019, is costing the average household $346.67 per month to purchase the same basket of goods and services as they did last year,” Sweet told The Post. “However, the pure cost for households for having inflation running at 8.5% is $460.42 per month.”

Soaring inflation has some economic experts worried a recession is coming, as President Biden and the Federal Reserve face pressure to enact policies to slow down the increase.

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Many goods have gone up in price as inflation skyrockets to its highest level in more than 30 years.NY Post graphic

Moody’s Analytics senior economist Ryan Sweet argues Americans are paying more than $400 a month based on current inflation levels.

EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS

Critics of the administration have cited multitrillion-dollar COVID-19 pandemic aid packages as contributing to rising costs, while sanctions against Russia over its invasion Ukraine have contributed to staggering jumps in the cost of gas.

The average price for regular unleaded continues to set new records, with the average cost nationwide hitting a new high of $4.986 per gallon on Friday, according to AAA.

Energy prices were up 34.6% in May over the same month in 2021 – the largest spike since September 2005, with fuel oil alone skyrocketing by 106.7%, according to BLS.

The average cost for gas in the US is $4.986 per gallon, according to AAA.

SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Americans in the market for a car or truck were out of luck in May, as the BLS found that the price of a new car had increased by 12.6% over 12 months ago. Used car shoppers faced having to pay 16.1% more than at this time in 2021.

The food index increased 10.1%, the first jump of of 10% or more since March 1981, BLS said. Grocery store price increases were even steeper — 11.9%, the largest 12-month spike since April 1979 — with staples such as meats, poultry, fish, and eggs increasing a whopping 14.2% and even fruits and vegetables going up 8.2%.

Month to month, the CPI increased 1% from April to May on a seasonally adjusted basis, the BLS said. The so-called “core inflation” figure, which excludes food and energy costs, increased 6% from 12 months ago, above analyst expectations.

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

Chinese rubber company detains Laos farmer trying to sell crop outside province

The farmer, who did not have a contract with the company to sell his rubber, was released after police intervened.

By RFA Lao
2022.06.10

This 2020 file photo shows a rubber tree plantation in northern Laos's Oudomxay province.

citizen journalist

Employees of a Chinese-owned rubber company in rural Laos illegally stopped a local rubber tree farmer trying to sell his harvest to another buyer for a higher price, sources in the Southeast Asian country told RFA.

Zhongtian Luye operates a rubber processing factory in Khua district in the northern province of Phongsaly along the border with China. The company created a contract farming system with rubber tree farmers in the area to maintain supply.

It pays farmers U.S. $0.56 per kilogram ($0.25 per pound) of natural rubber. Though it has contracts with local farmers for certain quantities of their yield, nothing is stopping them from selling the rest of their crop in nearby Oudomxay province, where prices are around 25% higher.

Employees of the rubber company blocked a road to prevent a car packed with raw rubber from leaving town, a villager told RFA’s Lao Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“They thought that the driver was shipping his output to sell in Oudomxay province [in breach of contract.] They also thought that he was trying to buy output from other villagers who have contracts with the company,” the villager said.

“That is why they stopped his car and took it to their camp area. Normally if a car is stopped and there is any kind of wrongdoing, it should be taken to the district police station,” he said.

Police showed up at the work camp to investigate, later ordering the company to release the driver. Zhongtian Luye did not have a contract with the man who was stopped, and the rubber was all from his own farm, the villager said.

Police fined the employees for blocking the road without permission.

A second villager said the company may feel justified in buying rubber at below market prices from local farmers because of the money it has invested in the area, including for road construction and to help farmers start producing rubber.

There also have been cases where the farmers broke their agreements with Zhongtian Luye to try to make more money elsewhere, the second villager said.

“They already signed agreements, but some farmers are not satisfied with the price set by the Chinese company,” the second source said.

“The company has a concession and the right to buy from the farmers as stated in the memorandum of understanding. However, when the trees are mature for harvesting, some farmers don’t want to sell for so low.”

A woman who used to do business with Zhongtian Luye told RFA that the company feels entitled to all the rubber produced in the area, even from farmers who are not under contract.

“They want them to sell it to their company only, even though they can get a higher price in Oudomxay,” she said.

RFA was able to contact Zhongtian Luye’s interpreter but he declined to comment on the issue.

Under the most common contract farming system in Laos, referred to as “3+2 contract farming,” companies provide funding, training and marketing services to producers, in addition to buying the product, while farmers provide land and labor. The central or local government is usually responsible for ensuring that neither party is taken advantage of.

An official from the Phongsaly province’s Department of Agriculture and Forests told RFA that Zhongtian Luye, the province and the farmers have signed production agreements. The company can decide to block roads to prevent the farmers from selling elsewhere, the official said.

“It is to up the provincial and district level authorities to consider how to solve this kind of problem and the district deputy governor will hold a meeting to find a solution,” the official said.

“But the agreement states that the rubber farmers who signed a contract-farming agreement cannot sell to other companies, but only this company,” he said, without explaining why the company has a right to prevent the farmers not under contract from selling elsewhere.

The official said the company does not tell his department the prices it pays, but said the department would meet with the company to double check that the contracts are fair.

Zhongtian Luye has been operating in Khua district since 2006. It is unknown how many farmers have contracts to produce rubber for the company.

According to the report from the Phongsaly province People’s Assembly, there are two Chinese rubber companies in the district.

Translated by Phouvong. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

THE ORYX WAS ONCE A CRYPTID

In pictures: Birth of first Arabian Oryx to be born in Saudi Arabia in 90 years



The calf was born at Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Royal Reserve. (Supplied: King Salman Royal Reserve)

Jennifer Bell, Al Arabiya English
Published: 11 June ,2022

New pictures released by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Royal Reserve have documented the birth of the first Arabian oryx to be born in the Kingdom in 90 years.

The calf was born at the reserve which is located in the Northern Borders province and is the largest natural reserve in the Middle East, covering 130,700 square kilometers.

The historic moment was shared by authorities on Twitter, who announced the “interrupted labor of the Arabian Oryx species that lasted 90 years.”



The pictures show the calf released back into the wild under the Kingdom's programs to reintroduce endangered species back into their natural habitat.

The oryx has been released back into the wild under Saudi’s initiative to reintroduce endangered species back into their natural habitat. New pictures released by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Royal Reserve have documented the birth of the first Arabian oryx be to be born in the Kingdom in 90 years. (Supplied: King Salman Royal Reserve)

The Arabian oryx is one of Saudi Arabia's endangered species currently benefiting from preservation efforts.

In 1972, the species was declared extinct in the wild having witnessed a significant drop in numbers due to loss of habitat and poaching. The Kingdom's goal is to reintroduce endangered species into the wild in order to preserve its natural heritage and biodiversity.

As part of conservation efforts, this includes preserving the natural habitats of respective species, while designating protected areas such as King Salman Royal Reserve.

The oryx has been released back into the wild under Saudi’s initiative to reintroduce endangered species back into their natural habitat. New pictures released by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Royal Reserve have documented the birth of the first Arabian oryx be to be born in the Kingdom in 90 years. (Supplied: King Salman Royal Reserve)

Earlier this year, the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) released 20 Arabian oryx, 50 sand gazelles and 10 Nubian ibex into their native habitat in the nature reserves of northwestern Saudi Arabia to mark World Wildlife Day.

The animals came from the King Khaled Wildlife Research Center, which operates north of Riyadh as a branch of the National Center for Wildlife. After a period of adjustment to these new environs, the animals will be released into the Sharaan reserve; designed to protect indigenous animal species and conserve biodiversity.

North Korea tries to cheer people up by ordering police to start being nice

Authorities fear that trying economic conditions could lead to dissent.

By Myung Chul Lee for RFA Korean
2022.06.10

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un poses as he inspects a civil police post in this file photo.

 KCNA via Reuters

North Korean police officers, who have a well-earned reputation for brutality, are being told to be nicer as the combination of a devastated economy and an outbreak of COVID cases raises fears of social unrest, sources in the country told RFA.

People in the isolated country have endured so much over the past few years that North Korean leaders are afraid pockets of resistance to the autocratic leadership might develop among people who are struggling the most.

Bullying and harassment, mainstays of North Korean law enforcement, could push frustrated citizens over the edge, hence the call for the new charm offensive.

“The internal directive calls for provincial, municipal, county, and regional security departments and agencies to strengthen internal discipline and work toward improving relations with residents,” a source connected to the judicial system in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFA’s Korean Service Wednesday on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“They issued this directive because internal discipline has been lax, and the police are not giving up the idea that they have to dominate over the people, even as social dissatisfaction increases with the COVID-19 situation. If the tyranny of the police officers is left alone, public dissent will accelerate,” he said.

North Korea is in a state of “maximum emergency” due to an outbreak of the coronavirus that spread starting in April. The government was forced to acknowledge its first confirmed cases and deaths after denying it had even a single case since the beginning of the pandemic.

Efforts to keep the virus out included shutting down the Sino Korean border in January 2020 and suspending all trade, which effectively destroyed what was left of the economy already weakened by international nuclear sanctions.

Though rail freight eventually resumed in 2022, it was shut down again with a resurgence of the virus in China.

The police command structure is also being reorganized and each regional department is required to give daily, weekly and monthly progress reports to the Ministry of Social Security in Pyongyang, the source said.

 “The plan also calls for resolving conflicts with local residents and restoring the image of the police by making decisive improvements to the attitudes of the police officers and to the services they provide. This may go a long way towards addressing problems that arise within local jurisdictions,” the source said.

In the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, the provincial security bureau’s top brass went out to the various cities and districts to explain the directive to their subordinates, a source connected to the judicial system there told RFA.

“Social security officials are very nervous because how they execute this directive may determine the path of their future careers,” the second source said on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

The police in the area have had a noticeable change in attitude, according to the second source.

“They used to look down on the residents, even swearing at them and beating them up. Now they have become much gentler,” he said. “Even so, many residents are skeptical as to how long the trend will last.”

It is not the first time that the government has issued directives telling police to be nicer, so citizens remain wary that police brutality will soon become the norm again.

“In the past, directives from the central government would change how the police acted for a little while, but they would gradually become violent again over time,” he said.

Forcing the cops to be nice and friendly can only do so much at a time when so many people are desperate though.

 “If they really want to boost public sentiment, it’s important that the authorities realize that their most urgent task should be to provide a way for the residents to make a living,” said the source.

“The authorities have cooked up half-hearted measures like this to try to deal with the cold public sentiment caused by COVID-19.”

Though North Korea has acknowledged that the virus is spreading inside the country, it has only reported a handful of confirmed COVID-19 cases, which 38 North, a site that provides analysis on the country and is run by the U.S.-based Stimson Center think tank, attributed to insufficient testing capabilities.

The country is, however, keeping track of numbers of people who exhibit symptoms of COVID-19. The number of new daily cases peaked at around 754,800 on May 19, before sharply decreasing over the next week.

Wednesday marked the first day since May 19 that fewer than 100,000 new cases of fever were recorded.

The Seoul-based Daily NK news outlet reported Wednesday that the people do not trust the government’s figures and believe the coronavirus situations is much worse than they are being told.

Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

NASA Eyes First Launch From Commercial Site Outside US 

For the first time, NASA is looking to launch a research rocket from a commercial port not in the United States. Plus, we remember a legendary cosmonaut who died this week, and Blue Origin returns to the skies. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space.

Epstein was 'murdered' says US whistleblower Chelsea Manning


James Rushton

INDY100

Chelsea Manning is in no doubt as to the fate of convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein, and has used her own experiences of the American prison system to come to her conclusion.

Manning was speaking on the Jan 10th 'After Dark' episode of the H3H3 podcast to hosts Ethan and Hila Klein.

Prompted by Ethan, she was asked her opinion on the circumstances of Epstein's death based on her time as a fairly high-profile prisoner.

And Chelsea's answer was straight to the point.

"Murder, that's how a prison murder happens. I know. That stuff happens. Some of theses stories are in my book," said Manning in response.

"You wanna get rid of someone in prison? That's how you do it."

On August 10, 2019, Guards found Epstein unresponsive in his jail cell where he was awaiting a trail on sex-trafficking charges.

His death was ruled as suicide by hanging, but despite the official verdict, the incident has become a lightning-rod for conspiracy theories and a number of allegations, including Manning's.

Manning's answer was based on her experiences of the United States prison system, and in particularly the actions of guards.

"I just gotta' say, time and time again - the most violent people in the prison are the prison guards, every single time, just endless amounts of fear and anxiety of what a correctional guard of any variety was going to do. It haunts me to say, I don't associate the prison uniform with violence, but I see the CO uniform and it's different."

"I would say that there's the rule of thirds. There are guards who care, they think they are doing a service and they try to be fair - it's a fast turnover rate. Then there are the guards who look the other way, treat it as a paycheck. Then there's the sadistic ones, the ones who play games and lie and cheat and steal, and get away with it. The other third who look the other way, don't do anything."

Manning's currently untitled memoir will release later this year.

Insurers Geico ordered to pay woman who caught STD having sex in car $5.2m

Missouri appellate court rules Geico must cover ‘injuries and losses’ from disease after 2014 incident in Hyundai Genesis

Geico, best known for it’s gecko-based advertisements, could yet prevail in a related federal case. 

Photograph: Rafael Henrique/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock


Ramon Antonio Vargas

THE GUARDIAN
Fri 10 Jun 2022 

The insurance giant Geico must give more than $5m to a woman who had sex with a motorist in his car and contracted a sexually transmitted disease, a Missouri appellate court ruled.

The ruling represents a preliminary legal victory for the plaintiff over the company best known for commercials starring an anthropomorphized gecko which speaks with a British accent.

Geico can still go to the state supreme court to seek a reprieve, and may get a more favorable ruling in a related federal case.

The plaintiff – identified in court records as “MO” – alleged that in 2017, during sexual encounters in a 2014 Hyundai Genesis, her boyfriend infected her with a virus that causes genital warts.

The woman accused the man of acting negligently and argued that the Geico policy which insured the car should cover her “injuries and losses” from the disease.

Geico denied coverage of the claim and rejected a settlement offer from the woman. Court filings say the woman and her boyfriend agreed to arbitrate her claims, the official overseeing that process determining the man “negligently infected MO” and awarding her $5.2m in damages.

The woman went to a state court in Jackson county, Missouri, and filed suit against Geico, aimed at confirming the arbitration award. That court ruled in her favor, prompting Geico to ask an appellate court to overturn the decision.

Attorneys for Geico argued that they never had a meaningful chance to contest the claim. The appellate court found Geico did get the chance, an opportunity it forfeited when it chose to simply deny coverage.

“We would note that [Geico] had every opportunity to enter a defense … but chose not to do so,” said the ruling, issued by judges Edward Ardini, Karen King Mitchell and Thomas Chapman. “Geico [has] no right to relitigate those issues.”

Geico and MO have a separate but related case pending in federal court. In that proceeding, the insurer contends that the policy in question “only applies to bodily injuries arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use” of the Hyundai Genesis.

“MO’s alleged damages have no nexus to the ownership, maintenance or covered use of the … Genesis,” Geico’s lawyers have argued in federal court filings. “Her injuries arose from … her failure to prevent transmission of [sexually transmitted diseases]” by engaging in sex with someone carrying the virus causing genital warts.

How Much Did Exxon Make Last Year? Biden Demands Oil Giant Pay Its Taxes

'Exxon Made More Money Than God'

BY JON JACKSON 

ON 6/10/22 

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday called on ExxonMobil Corporation to start investing and paying more in taxes.

"Why don't you tell them what Exxon's profits were this year? This quarter? Exxon made more money than God this year," Biden said during an appearance at the Port of Los Angeles when asked about oil company profits.

On February 1, Exxon announced it had made $23 billion in earnings in 2021. Of that sum, $8.9 billion came from the fourth quarter. At the end of April, Exxon reported it had made $5.5 billion during the first quarter of 2022. That figure was reportedly double the earnings it made during the same period last year.

Biden's comments came after the Labor Department released data Friday morning that showed the consumer price index rose 1 percent last month and 8.6 percent in the 12-month stretch ending in May. The 8.6 increase is the largest 12-month rise since 1981.

Biden has addressed high inflation and pressed Congress to pass tax reform that would see large corporations pay more in taxes. On Friday, he named Exxon as one such company that he feels should face higher taxes.

"Exxon, start investing," Biden said. "Start paying your taxes."

U.S. President Joe Biden called on ExxonMobil to pay more taxes during remarks on Friday. In this photo, Biden is seen speaking aboard the Battleship USS Iowa Museum at the Port of Los Angeles on June 10.GETTY IMAGES

Biden also pushed for increased domestic drilling, noting there are currently more than "9,000 permits to drill." However, he said that oil companies "are not drilling."

"Why aren't they drilling? Because they make more money not producing more oil. The price goes up, number one," the president said. "Number two, the reason they are not drilling is they are buying back their own stock, [which] should be taxed quite frankly. Buying back their own stock and making no new investments."

Biden also took aim at foreign shipping companies. He said he has called on Congress to "crack down" on foreign-owned shipping companies that are raising prices despite still raking in $190 billion in profit.

"I have to admit to you, a lot of us elected officials have been in office for a while. Every once in a while, something you learn makes you viscerally angry. Like if you had the person in front of you, you'd want to pop them," Biden said. "No, I really mean it."

When Exxon announced its earnings for 2021, chairman and CEO Darren Woods credited the company's COVID-19 pandemic response and other business moves for its success.

"Our effective pandemic response, focused investments during the down-cycle, and structural cost savings positioned us to realize the full benefits of the market recovery in 2021," Woods said. "Our new streamlined business structure is another example of the actions we are taking to further strengthen our competitive advantages and grow shareholder value. We've made great progress in 2021 and our forward plans position us to lead in cash flow and earnings growth, operating performance, and the energy transition."

Newsweek reached out to ExxonMobil and the White House for comment.

China restaurant attack sparks outcry over violence against women

Footage of the incident widely circulated online shows a man placing his hand on a woman's back.

 PHOTOS: SCREENGRAB FROM WEIBO

BEIJING (AFP) - Eight people have been arrested for a vicious attack on a group of women at a restaurant in China, police said on Saturday (June 11), in a case that has sparked outrage over predatory sexual behaviour.

Footage of the incident widely circulated online shows a man placing his hand on a woman's back as she shares a meal with two companions at a barbecue restaurant in northern China's Hebei province.

After the woman pushes him away, the man strikes her before others drag her outside and deal a barrage of blows as she lies on the ground. Another woman is also knocked to the floor.

The video renewed an online debate about sexual harassment and gender-based violence in China where the conversation around women's rights has grown in recent years despite pressure from a patriarchal society, internet censorship and patchy legal support.

Campaigners say domestic abuse remains pervasive and under-reported while prominent feminists also face regular police harassment and detention.

Web censors blocked keywords linked to the #MeToo movement after a wave of women accused university professors of sexual harassment in 2018.

Police in Tangshan city on Saturday said they had arrested eight people on suspicion of violent assault and "provoking trouble", while a search for one other suspect was ongoing.

Two women treated at hospital following the incident were "in stable conditions and not in mortal danger", while two others sustained minor injuries, authorities said Friday.

The attack generated hundreds of millions of comments on social media, where users slammed predatory behaviour and urged authorities to crack down on violence against women.

"All of this could happen to me, could happen to any of us," said one commenter in a post liked over 100,000 times.

"How is this sort of thing still happening in 2022?" wrote another. "Please give them criminal sentences, and don't let any of them get away."

Last year, a Chinese man was sentenced to death for murdering his ex-wife as she live-streamed on social media, in a case that shocked the nation.

The man strikes the woman before others drag her outside and deal a barrage of blows as she lies on the ground.

 PHOTOS: SCREENGRABS FROM WEIBO

Brutal attack on Chinese woman sparks outrage and reignites debate over male violence

A group of men in Tangshan were caught on camera brutally beating a woman after she turned down unwanted attention from one of them. The assault has sparked furious demands to address misogyny in China.

Zhao Yuanyuan 

Published June 10, 2022

Warning: Video shows a violent attack.

The security camera footage was appalling in its brutality. A young Chinese woman was at a restaurant in Tangshan, Hebei Province with three female friends when a middle-aged man approached her and put his hand on her back. She pushed him away, but the man refused to go back to his table. After the woman brushed away his hand again, he slapped her in the face, pulled her hair, and dragged her outside.

On the sidewalk, the man, joined by a group of male friends, repeatedly kicked the woman as she lay crumpled on the ground. Her friends tried to intervene, but the men beat them too.

As the violent scene unfolded, other customers at the restaurant stood by without helping. A female passerby seemed to want to come to the woman’s aid, but the man she was with quickly pulled her to the side and locked her in his arms to block her view.

Even at a time when male violence against women has regularly made headlines in China, the video — which appeared on the Chinese internet yesterday and instantly went viral — stuck a chord with many Chinese women. The sheer brazenness of the attack, combined with the seeming indifference of the bystanders, unleashed a renewed wave of fear and fury among them, prompting them to take to social media to call for an end to what they described as “an epidemic of gender-based violence” in the country.

“I couldn’t stop shaking when I watched the video. I’m in despair,” one woman fumed (in Chinese). “She was just hanging out with friends and didn’t want to be disturbed by some random guy. This is something that could happen to me one day.”

Further fueling the outrage was the delay of action by law enforcement authorities. According to sources close to the matter, local police were called to the scene when the incident happened on Thursday evening. When they arrived, the attackers had already left. In the following hours, little was done by the authorities while the woman and one of her friends were at a hospital recovering from serious injuries (in Chinese).

It wasn’t until the video blew up on social media that a police department in Tangshan issued (in Chinese) an announcement later Friday night, saying that it was “pulling out all the stops“ to find the group of men who attacked the women. As of the time of writing, two of the men have been detained (in Chinese) in connection with the assault.

Anger was also directed at several news outlets, which were accused of using vague and biased wording to manipulate public perceptions of the incident. In a now-deleted Weibo post (in Chinese) by the Beijing Youth Daily, the main attacker was described as “having a conversation with the women” before his friends “joined the battle to fight against them.” Some news organizations labeled the attack as “a physical conflict” and wrote that the trigger of the assault was the man “being turned down after hitting on a woman under the influence of alcohol.”

“Is a man entitled to touch a woman without her consent when he hits on her? Does the woman have no right to reject him? Is it okay to call it a fight when the lady defends herself in the face of violence? Is being drunk a valid excuse for the man’s horrendous behavior?” a Weibo user asked in a post (in Chinese), which has so far received over 167,000 likes.

In a rare display of public criticism over social issues, a host of Chinese celebrities also spoke up. “Next time an announcement is made, I want to see posthumous photos [of those men],” Mǎ Tiānyǔ 马天宇, a Chinese actor and singer, wrote to his 32 million followers on Weibo.

The incident has reminded many Chinese women of the constant threat they feel in public and the eternal vigilance required to stay safe, whether by carrying self-defense weapons wherever they go, using location-tracking apps, avoiding venturing out at night alone, adjusting outfits to cover up skin, or calculating what exact tone to use when responding to a stranger’s approach without provoking anger or inviting further conversation. Online, many Chinese women said they were exhausted by the burden of self-protection, arguing that it should be men’s responsibility to ​​stop harming women.

“I’m sick of society telling women how to protect themselves from violent men. It’s like you are a pedestrian and you follow traffic rules diligently. You always stop at the red light and wait for the green light to go. But one day when you are on a zebra crossing, you are hit by an asshole who’s drunk driving,” a Weibo user wrote (in Chinese). “How can anyone possibly prevent that? The only way to solve the root cause of the problem is to eliminate drunk driving, instead of telling those rule-abiding pedestrians to better protect themselves.”

The anger over the assault in Tangshan built on outrage that has intensified after a series of injuries and deaths caused by gender-based violence in the past few years. In 2018, two female passengers were murdered by their drivers in separate incidents in China while using ride-sharing services. Last year, a woman was yelled at and attacked with hot soup by a man in a hotpot restaurant in Chengdu after she asked him to stop smoking.

For many, home isn’t any safer. A 2020 report (in Chinese) by Beijing Equality showed that more than 900 women had died at the hands of their husband or partners since China’s anti-domestic-violence law came into effect in 2016. In one of the most high-profile and disturbing instances, Tibetan video influencer Lhamo 拉姆 died in 2020 after her ex-husband set her on fire during a livestream. In the years leading up to the incident, Lhamo had called the police multiple times when abuse occured, but her complaints weren’t taken seriously, and she never received the protection she sought.

Many observers, particularly women, said they hoped the Tangshan incident would be a tipping point forcing authorities to reflect on systemic misogyny within society. They called for officials to improve the criminal justice system to hold male perpetrators accountable for their behavior and create a men and boys’ strategy to reduce male violence in the first place. “We are in survival mode,” a woman wrote (in Chinese) on Weibo. “We’ve reached a point where radical social reform needs to happen.”

Society & Culture
Indie filmmakers in China — Q&A with Karen Ma

Karen Ma is a novelist and reporter whose most recent book profiles Chinese independent filmmakers who were born in the 1980s. We discussed the distinctive traits of this generation, censorship, and the evolution of moviemaking in China in the last few decades.

Jeremy Goldkorn 

Published June 10, 2022

Karen Ma — image by Nadya Yeh

LONG READ


Karen Ma’s passion for Chinese cinema started as a way to stay connected to her culture, as the daughter of Chinese immigrants living in Japan. She discovered indie Chinese filmmaking when she moved to Beijing in the 2000s and later noticed the lack of Western scholarship on recent Chinese cinema. So she wrote her own book, China’s Millennial Digital Generation: Conversations with Balinghou (Post-1980s) Indie Filmmakers, in which she presents seven moviemakers born in the 1980s and their films.

We chatted by video call on June 1. This is an abridged, edited transcript of our conversation, part of my Invited to Tea interview series.

—Jeremy Goldkorn

How did you go from writing a novel about two Chinese sisters — one raised in Cultural Revolution China and the other in Japan — to writing a book about China’s millennial, digital generation and independent filmmaking in China?

The two are kind of related.

Because of my novel project, I had to do a lot of research about Chinese culture, Chinese society. You see, I’m really a transplant, because I wasn’t raised in China. I felt like there were a lot of gaps and holes. I wanted to be accurate. I did a lot of research, and I was also a film critic when I was in Japan. So, it didn’t come from nowhere: I was going to screenings, and writing about films as my way of getting in touch with my parents’ roots. So I started noticing interesting things about indie Chinese films.

I had this opportunity to teach a film and culture course at the Beijing Center for Chinese Studies through UIBE, University of International Business and Economics. Teaching the course made me realize that there was a lot of English scholarship on filmmakers until the millennium. After that, there’s not much follow-up. I thought maybe somebody should write about this. And I decided that I would be the person.

Your book features seven Chinese indie filmmakers, all born in the 1980s — the bā líng hòu 八零后 or post-’80s.

The overriding impression of the book is that these people grew up in an audiovisual environment quite different from you and me, who are a little bit older. They are internet natives.

I remember when YouTube launched, around the time we first met in Beijing. I started making this YouTube program. It was very much based on a TV model — landscape screen, starting with theme music, and then opening credits and so on. Whereas these people grew up when that was already, not completely destroyed, as it is for the TikTok generation, but it was already crumbling. Their first film experiences were not necessarily in a cinema.

What’s the difference between people like that and us?

I think the distinction is more pronounced in China. The before and after groups. Let’s talk about the sixth-generation filmmakers. These are the ones who came of age and were active in the 1990s, and that was pre-internet. The number of films they viewed were limited and they were mostly trained by a handful of film academies. Whereas the post-’80s are the first generation to embrace all kinds of digital technology.

First off, they can view so many more films than the previous generations. More importantly, the digital technology advancement coupled with education reform, and the deregulation of the colleges and mushrooming of a large number of colleges that offer these film courses, which went from five schools to 120 in the space of five years, meant that they didn’t have to be limited by that handful of film official training grounds.

And the internet and digital cameras lowered the bar for filmmakers. They are really mostly viewers turned filmmakers who, through watching movies, learned to make them intuitively. They make movies for viewers their age and maybe a little bit younger. They can just watch and watch, and they watch like 20 movies if they want because it’s so easy.

And then they learn to make movies intuitively. They make movies for viewers, their age and maybe a little bit younger. The previous generations, fifth and sixth, did not understand the audience’s taste in the same way. This is what gives the edge to the post-’80s filmmakers.

Is that edge a good thing? There’s an independence of thinking, and aesthetics, and subject matter which wasn’t possible for previous generations. Cinema used to be an art form that required a certain time and money commitment. However, their generation grew up with almost infinite choice. How has this affected their filmmaking?

Well, like I said, the bar is much lower. So, that means a lot of films get made, and you’re going to have a lot of low-quality films. Although there are also those who take their artistry seriously and are true to their art form.

They have the option of pairing up with private studios, which came along after the year 2000. This allowed indie filmmakers to start making more commercial films. In other words, the indie filmmakers from the post-’80s age bracket have more choices, not just in terms of what kind of movies or what platforms are used, they also have the choice of working with private studios. Before that, it was all state owned.

After the year 2000, because of deregulation and some of the other reasons, there was a rise of private, nonprofit companies. They came about to help serious indie filmmakers to make art films. That’s something that was not available to the previous generations, who used to either have to go with the state-owned enterprises, be the mouthpiece for the government, or go underground and do renegade film if they wanted to stay true to their expression. The later generation had a lot more options available to them.

What are those options? How are they distributing their films? How are people seeing the films, and how are they making money out of the films?

In the beginning, they did what the sixth generation, the previous underground type of filmmakers, did: They took their art films to international festivals, and then tried to attract a foreign company to invest in their films. Later, when these private studios in China were burgeoning, the industry started to really need more talent.

That is when the commercial sectors started to try to lure the indie filmmakers to work with them. Because the indie filmmakers tended to spend more time working on their scripts, they often had better storylines and their voices were fresher.

You started seeing the commercial sector and the indie sector coming together. So you saw a peak rise of the Chinese film industry between 2006 and 2015. In that 10-year bracket, there was a double-digit increase in the market. During that time, a lot of the indie filmmakers also started to get attention, for better or for worse. Sometimes it’s good. A lot of times it’s not.

But those became the choices available to them as well. In the beginning, smaller studios worked with them, and then later, the bigger companies also came after them.

One thing in common among the people you profile in your book is that they are actually passionate about film. They’re not just in it for the money. They want to make films of meaning.

What are they and the younger cohorts doing now?

Until about five years ago, these indie filmmakers had grassroots film festival platforms to showcase their films as a testing ground, such as the China Independent Film Festival and the Beijing Independent Film Festival. These are the main ones, there are quite a few smaller ones. Or, of course, they could also go overseas to international film festivals.

But there’s a political change now, and the censorship came down quite hard. Things especially started happening in 2017 because of the new film law and then just got tighter and tighter. In 2018, the Propaganda Department of the CCP took over as the regulatory body, which made the censorship process tougher for a lot of the films. So long story short, if you are making a feature film, you really have to be prepared to spend a long time to work with the censors.

Especially after 2018, as there’s been a lot more flat rejection of film scripts, and not very much negotiation room anymore. Before, filmmakers could still negotiate, but after 2018, when the Propaganda Department took over, it certainly has become even tougher.

Since 2021, there has been a new set of guidelines for visual media, even tougher rules, on what can be shown. Now, even homosexual themes, and certainly smoking, drinking, and adultery, which all used to be in a gray area, are forbidden.

There is also the COVID impact and digital controls becoming much more widespread. So if you try to make a sensitive film, or with some sort of social commentary, you’re going to have a really hard time getting by the censors. I have one filmmaker who made the unfortunate choice of trying to do a very sensitive film, about a rape case.

He has been trying to negotiate with censors since 2017; it’s been years. Because this film was invested in by several studios, he does not want to stream it online. This certainly is one option available, but he says, “I cannot do that. I can never recoup the investment. So I’m going to sit on it. I’m going to see if after a few years when things are not so sensitive anymore, maybe I’ll get a call. Maybe I’ll get an okay.”

This is one approach. The other approach, depending on whether you’re making documentaries, which can be even more hard-hitting, would be to target a very niche market, and forget about trying to pass censorship. You can make the film outside China, work with a foreign company, and don’t count on coming back and showing your film in China. That certainly is another option.

They’re sort of stuck.

In the next few years, nothing would allow us to think that things might improve. We’re only seeing things are getting tougher.

You’re a global person who grew up in Japan, lived all over the world, Hong Kong, Beijing, the United States. How do you see China’s post-’80s filmmakers compared with their peers in other countries? What’s different about them to the equivalent person in America or Japan or India?

Well, let’s put it this way. The censorship is much tougher in China, that’s for sure. And there are a lot of topics you cannot talk about, even though…I have to add that the censorship process is not like things are always getting together. There’ll be a loosening, too.

During the ’80s, when the fifth-generation filmmakers came about, they had a very lucky time, because that’s when China was very open. And then you see the tightening after 1989. Things started loosening up again, in the mid-’90s. Then you see these tightening up and then things loosening up again.

This is something that the filmmakers, young filmmakers, have to reckon with. They have to always try to test the water. Back to the same filmmaker who made the unfortunate choice of producing a very sensitive film in 2017. He timed it wrong. But being able to time, or produce a film at a good timing is very important. And that’s one aspect that, say, American filmmakers wouldn’t have to worry about.

But having said that, I do think that America also has censorship of a different kind. You have the rating system and you have the political correctness issues. Filmmakers still have to follow rules, they can’t just go ahead and produce a film with any topic at any time.

It’s just that the Chinese filmmakers live with their reality and they have to do a better job of figuring out what is actually doable at a certain given time. Like this filmmaker, because he made a film about a sexual abuse case, and this topic would have been totally fine two years ago, before the film law came out. So there’s constant guessing. Things are changing. Who is the new leader coming out? What is this person like? So they have to do a lot of guesswork.

If you wanted to recommend one film for somebody who doesn’t know about this generation of Chinese filmmakers, would you be able to recommend one?

I would recommend two. I would say the first one, Lǐ Ruìjùn’s 李睿珺 Fly with the Crane (告訴他們,我乘白鶴去了). That one deals with death. Life and death. And from a very unusual perspective, an old man’s self-questioning.

If I have no say in how to come into this world, can I not have a say about how to exit the world? And it has to do with a Chinese local policy that bans burial. You have to do cremation.

In the countryside, older people have no qualms about talking about death. In fact, in the film, this particular old man used to be a coffin maker. And because of this new policy, he finds his business slowing down because nobody’s ordering coffins anymore. Yet he’s more concerned about facing his own death and has already reserved his own coffin. Now he’s realizing, “Maybe I’ll never get to use it because I’m going to end up getting cremated.” And that really upsets him. He feels that his soul would not be lifted. He will end up being a pile of ashes.

He’s really bothered by this, and his grandchildren are the only ones who have time to even talk to him.

The director uses interesting ways of contrasting the very active grandchildren’s play in their games and then this old man’s meditative thinking. And then in the end they together devise a plan, and the children will help their grandpa to exit the world.

What’s the second one?

The Coffin in the Mountain (心迷宫) by Xīn Yùkūn 忻钰坤. He’s heavily influenced by the Coen brothers. It’s set in a village in Hunan Province, where there are many families with secrets to hide. A murder takes place. We don’t really know what’s what because the timelines are scrambled.

So he created a brain teaser and the viewer has to figure out what happened. So he gets to make a social commentary about all the issues that are taking place in a sort of Wild West, a dark place in a Chinese village.

What Chinese films are you watching now?

Old ones. Not necessarily new ones. One of the films I have watched was made by a Taiwanese filmmaker in 2017 and is called Love Education (相爱相亲).

There’s a film called An Elephant Sitting Still (大象席地而坐), a very dark film, but by a very talented filmmaker called Hú Bō 胡波. Got all kinds of rave reviews. That’s on my list. I started watching it, not quite there yet.

But then the last one that came highly recommended is called The Wild Goose Lake (南方车站的聚会) by Diāo Yìnán 刁亦男. You may have heard of Diao Yinan, he also made Black Coal, Thin Ice (白日焰火). He’s a very talented, slightly older filmmaker, but he has this magic touch of combining the commercial element with social commentary, and also knowing what is allowable. So he has made very successful films, crime films, mystery films, and still managed to make money for the investors.

Jeremy Goldkorn worked in China for 20 years as an editor and entrepreneur. He is editor-in-chief of SupChina, and co-founder of the Sinica Podcast. Read more