Name: Author Talk: The Wall Dancers by Yi-Ling Liu
Start: 2026-03-16T18:30:00+00:00
End: 2026-03-16T20:00:00+00:00
Location: King's College London

Author Talk: The Wall Dancers by Yi-Ling Liu

How China’s internet really works: beyond the Great Firewall, from memes to censorship, and what it means for power, people, and the world.
About this Event

The China Correspondents’ Club of London and Young China Watchers jointly invite you for a talk by technology journalist Yi-Ling Liu based on her new book, .

Over the past three decades, China has built one of the world’s most complex digital ecosystems. While the Great Firewall is often portrayed as a blunt instrument of control, the reality on the ground is far more dynamic. Chinese internet users, platforms, and subcultures have continuously adapted, innovated, and found new ways to communicate within — and sometimes around — the system.

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.

This conversation will explore how people in China receive news and information today, how online discourse has evolved, and what this reveals about broader tensions between connection and control. Moving beyond headlines, the discussion will examine how digital life in China actually functions, from memes and group chats to censorship mechanisms and platform governance.

The talk forms part of the Club’s wider program of events that look into media, information flows, and perception in today’s China, with a particular focus on why these dynamics matter globally. Understanding how information circulates inside China and how it is received by its citizens is essential for anyone engaging with the country.

Yi-Ling will read an excerpt from her book, which will be followed by a moderated discussion and audience Q&A. Copies of The Wall Dancers will be available for purchase, with a book signing after the event.

The venue is the Nash Lecture Theatre, Strand Campus.

This event is made possible with the kind support of the Lau China Institute, King’s College China and Bonnier Books.

Yi-Ling Liu is a writer and editor covering Chinese society and technology. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, Harper's, and WIRED, and she is the author of (2026). Liu was the China Editor at Rest of World and a recipient of the Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award. She is currently based in London as a journalist-in-residence at the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism.

The China Correspondents’ Club of London is a professional organisation that supports international journalists reporting on China, Chinese journalists working in the UK, and journalism students.The Club is independent, non-profit, and non-governmental.

Young China Watchers (YCW) is a dynamic group of China-focused young professionals. Through regular roundtables and talks with senior figures in the China academic, policy and business communities, it provides a chance for engaged individuals to interact and discuss the most pressing issues emerging from China today.