“In her intimate, inner history of the Chinese Internet, Yi-Ling Liu unearths lessons that apply worldwide as citizens struggle to assert their humanity against those who would homogenize what we see, believe, and consume. In the tradition of Vaclav Havel, Liu has given us an urgent, revealing guide for what Havel called ‘living within the truth.’”
—Evan Osnos, winner of the National Book Award and New York Times bestselling author of The Haves and Have-Yachts
An eye-opening exploration of the Chinese internet that reveals the intricate dance between freedom and control in contemporary China
In the late 1990s, as the world was waking up to the power and emancipatory promise of the internet, Chinese authorities began constructing a system of online surveillance and censorship now known as the Great Firewall. But far from being a barren landscape, the digital world that sprouted up behind the firewall brimmed with new subcultures and tech innovations, offering many Chinese citizens previously unimaginable connection and opportunity.
Today, as the country’s leadership intensifies its control of public discourse and Western headlines reduce the Chinese public to a faceless monolith, journalist Yi-Ling Liu presents an intimate portrait of China’s online ecosystem—and a crucial lens into the on-the-ground reality of life there. Tracing the last three decades of the Chinese internet’s evolution—from its lexicon to its memes to the precise nature of its censorship—she equips readers with a critical tool to assess the past, present, and future of a global power.
Drawing on years of firsthand reporting, The Wall Dancers weaves together the stories of individuals navigating China’s transformation into both the world’s largest online user base and one of its most populous authoritarian states. As these entrepreneurs, activists, artists, and dreamers experience the internet’s power as a tool for both control and liberation, they grapple with universal questions of success and authenticity, love and solidarity, faith and resilience
The Wall Dancers is at once an unforgettable work of human storytelling and a vital exploration of what it means to live with dignity and hope within the technological systems that now shape all of our lives.
PRAISE
“The Wall Dancers is history told in a gripping, novelistic style. It is at once a crash course in contemporary Chinese politics and culture and an epic story about human drive, desperation, and ingenuity against inordinate odds. Yi-Ling Liu has written a masterwork.”
—Jonathan Blitzer, New York Times bestselling author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here
“With profound nuance, clarity, and courage, Yi-Ling Liu writes about a cast of individuals who deftly navigate the complex inner workings of the Chinese internet. And yet in Liu’s expert rendering, their stories embody so much more: a history of China’s dramatic rise, a portrait of those who molded and were molded by it, and an examination of the true scorecard of the global internet on free speech and expression. At once intimate and expansive, The Wall Dancers is a masterpiece, made only more impressive by Liu’s own exquisite dancing. To gain this level of access and trust to sources in China and to breathe humanity and agency into an often faceless story can only be pulled off by a journalist of the highest caliber.”
—Karen Hao, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of AI
“Gripping from the first page, The Wall Dancers is a work of rare urgency and insight. Moving effortlessly between the intimate and the world-historical, Yi-Ling Liu pushes beyond the tired binaries that so often define Western views of China, offering instead a portrait of human lives full of contradiction, aspiration, and desire. In doing so, she vividly demonstrates that psychic self-censorship—and the generative possibilities born of solidarity and collective power—are not unique to China but a lesson for all societies confronting ascendant authoritarianism.”
—Brian Goldstone, author of There Is No Place for Us
“As Yi-Ling Liu shows in this masterful piece of reporting, China’s internet is not only a battleground for authoritarian leaders and their oligarchs but also the site of a vibrant counterculture of queer activists, feminist writers, edgy rappers, and tech bros turned sci-fi novelists. A rare report from inside contemporary China, The Wall Dancers is an important intervention in our often-simplistic debates about China.”
—Ian Johnson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Sparks
“Liu brings broad perspective and nuance to an issue that, despite its extensive global impact, is often discussed only in terms of its extremes. . . . If Liu’s text is in part revelatory of the particular ambitions, risks, and pitfalls humming beneath China’s internet domination, it is also a global cautionary tale. . . . A timely and sophisticated study that is eye-opening, and a touch eerie.”
—Kirkus