From a poet’s social media prayer that her verse could “stop a tank” in Ukraine, to pensioners fighting in a park over the merits of President Putin’s war, China is witnessing a rare outpouring of public debate over the crisis.
As Russia’s catalogue of atrocities in Ukraine grows and is now even being shared on state media, discussion over the war is raging across almost all sections of Chinese society, from university lecturers to pop stars.
Despite the censorship of a number of high-profile critics of Moscow, there is widespread discussion over China’s next move and whether President Xi can continue to ignore western calls to isolate Russia.
The debate is largely ideological, say analysts, and focused on the two guiding principles of Chinese foreign policy — sovereignty and territorial integrity. Putin’s territorial integrity is threatened by Nato expansionism, Beijing says, but China’s army of social media users defend Kyiv’s right to resist invasion.
“It is about right and wrong,” Yun Sun, a China foreign policy expert, told the Financial Times. “I am struck by how intense the debate is, not just among policy folks, but also among ordinary people.”
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Images of two pensioners fighting in a Shanghai park after a row over Ukraine have been widely shared. The brawl left Shen Jianguo, 70, who backs Russia, with a bloodied ear.
Jin Xing, a talk show host, was one of the first public figures to speak out against the war. She mocked Putin’s nuclear threats against the West and told her 13.6 million followers, “stop the war, pray for peace”. After censors blocked that message, Jin was bombarded by pro-Russia responses, she said, including many telling her to “sympathise with Russia’s security needs”.
Yu Xiuhua, a poet, published an anti-war verse on WeChat. “I pray that poetry can stop a tank,” she wrote. Facing a barrage of criticism, she responded: “I pray that you will go to war.” She too has been censored, but screenshots of her poem and the exchange with her critics have been widely shared.
The two embassies in China are also taking part in what has been described as “Weibo diplomacy” to win support using the social media company, which is one of few channels available to diplomatic staff to promote their message. Here, the Kremlin wins backing for Moscow’s bid to “eliminate Nazi Ukraine” while the president is “Putin the Great” for many users.
A video blogger from the eastern city of Hefei, called Damingdezhu, questioned those who support Russia. “No matter what the reason is, there’s no question who launched this war,” he said. “For Ukraine, there’s no question the enemy is very powerful, but the Ukrainians do not give up fighting. Such a spirit deserves our support and affirmation.
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“What I don’t understand is why a matter of right and wrong should have become this controversial, and why there is no longer consensus on invasion and resistance?” Over three weeks, the video was shared 49,000 times and liked 21,000 times.
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Maoge, a blogger from of the southwest city of Chongqing, has grown more popular with posts supporting Russia. “Now Russians are beating up the US’s little brother and slapping Americans in the face, why can’t I applaud them?” Maoge said.
“Now even a fool knows that China and Russia are back-to-back allies. We are mutually indispensable strategic partners,” Maoge added. “Once Russia is revolutionised or divided by the Americans, China will face huge challenges.”
University staff too are speaking out. Professors from universities in Beijing, Hong Kong, Macao, Nanjing and Shanghai have said that China, a nation “once ravaged by war, where families were destroyed, where everywhere people were dying of starvation . . . sympathised with the pain of the Ukrainian people”.
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Wang Mingyuan, a law professor at Tsinghua University, blames “disinformation” for much of the popular support for Kyiv. His view is echoed by Ming Jinwei, a former journalist of the Xinhua news agency, the state propaganda arm.
“Under the banners of anti-war, humanitarianism and sympathy, they are labelling others, flogging others, and calling others ‘the dumb people who support the war’ to show their moral superiority,” Wang said. “But, essentially, they don’t understand the origin of the Ukraine crisis, nor do they understand China’s foreign policy. Yet they are mocking and criticising others.”
Perhaps the best-known Chinese voice on the war was Wang Jixian, 36, who had been living in Odesa, the threatened southern Ukrainian port city and key target for Putin. Wang, a computer programmer from Beijing, provided insight into the war for many Chinese via Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.
He was described in the West as the “voice of resistance in Ukraine”. In one video, Wang held up his Chinese passport and said: “These Ukrainian guards are not Nazis, they are IT programmers, common people, barbers — these are the people.”
“You say Russia is defending itself?” he said in another, in a response to trolling from Chinese Douyin users. “When does a country defend itself by attacking another country’s capital? You’ve accused me of accepting money from the Americans. I actually have donated money to the defence army, because these people are protecting my life.”
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Eventually, though, after being branded a traitor on social media Wang too was censored. Two weeks ago he became so frustrated, he stuck black tape over his mouth, silently gesturing to indicate he was unharmed. He said: “I want to remind you to see who is dying, who has been killed.”
