I was quoted in Business Insider’s story on how Chinese watched the presidential debate.
The Chinese government has one major reason for censoring the debate live-streams, according to Kecheng Fang, a University of Pennsylvania doctoral student researching Chinese politics and the founder of CNPolitics.org, an independent website on Chinese politics.
“Letting the public know how democracy works has its risks. People might start asking, ‘Why don’t we have our own debates?’ or, ‘Why can’t we choose our leader from the top two candidates?'” Fang told Business Insider.
Despite the Chinese government’s worries, most Chinese people are uninterested in the US election, don’t understand how it works, or have zero knowledge that a presidential debate is occurring, according to Fang. A niche population, composed primarily of elites, follow the election and the debate intently.
Full text here.