Originally published in the Eye on Digital China newsletter on Saturday, November 14, 2026.
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In one week, at least 242 hashtags about the Jensen Huang scandal trended across China’s social media platforms. The conversation began with a cheating scandal. After Huang stepped down as Nvidia CEO, it turned into a debate over US–China tech rivalry and what it means to be a Chinese face in American tech.

What a week it has been. Earlier this year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang went completely viral in China for his surprise appearance at the Xi–Trump summit in Beijing and for casually enjoying noodles in the hutongs. That almost feels like a lifetime ago now that Huang is at the center of this unprecedented backlash.

As I started writing about Chinese responses to Jensen Huang’s explosive mea culpa letter following reports of a relationship with former Megaspeed tech executive Alice Huang,^[1] new reports of a second and third affair with Nvidia employees quickly followed. Then Huang resigned as CEO of Nvidia, the world’s leading AI chipmaker. This newsletter therefore comes later than I planned—but that may actually be a good thing, as it’s allowed me to track how the conversation evolved during the week.

While the main storyline in the West was all about a Chinese female spy infiltrating the most powerful US chip company and a tech billionaire whose affair raised national security concerns, the main narratives in China largely dismissed the spy angle as an anti-China smear and focused on completely different aspects of the scandal.

From November 8–14, at least 242 different hashtags about the Jensen Huang/Nvidia scandal trended across China’s most popular social media platforms, with at least ten reaching No. 1 on the trending charts.

While the initial focus was on Huang’s infidelity to his family, there was a clear shift in social sentiment on Chinese social media after he announced his resignation as Nvidia CEO on November 12.

Meanwhile, there has also been some online censorship of the story.

Originally published in the Eye on Digital China newsletter on Sunday, October 25, 2026.

The protests in France have been trending in China all week. The ways in which they are being discussed perhaps reveal more about Chinese views of France and Europe—and about China’s own place in the world today—than about the protests themselves. Here are five of the main narratives shaping the discussion.

Over the past week, the widespread protests and unrest in France have been trending on Chinese social media. From October 18 to today, turmoil in Paris and other cities consistently appeared in the top trending lists on Weibo, Kuaishou, and other apps, with Chinese netizens and commentators discussing the situation in various ways under numerous hashtags.

The topic remained trending all week not only because of the October 17–18 riots and their aftermath, but also because of the new round of protests on October 24, for which French authorities deployed 70,000 police officers and the Chinese embassy in France issued new warnings.

Here, we’ll take a closer look at five dominant narratives surrounding the protests in France on Chinese social media, and what this says about Chinese perceptions of France and Europe, from common ideas about the decline of Europe to the protests being a form of “historical karma.”^[1]

1. “France Has Lost Control”: A Nation in Crisis

How can a developed country like France fail to maintain basic order? One dominant framing of the recent protests on Chinese social media is that they demonstrate the French state’s inability to keep the situation under control, indicating a crisis of governance and security.

One of the highest-ranking hashtags among more than 300 trending topics on Chinese social media apps related to the unrest in France is: “France is out of control” (法国失控了). Along with hashtags like “France is in chaos again,” that hashtag first came up last Sunday on Weibo during a weekend filled with looting, arson, destruction, and violence by groups of rioters in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille, and elsewhere.

The perceived weakness of President Macron’s leadership was highlighted on Chinese social media through memes and jokes mocking the leader for attending a Celine Dion concert right before the situation escalated. A commentary on Sina compared the concert to company executives holding a celebration banquet and handing out bonuses just before the firm collapses, framing the riots as a “run on…