Do you want to better understand Chinese hackers? If so, then you really need to better understand China.

Context matters.

Rui Chenggang is the anchor of "BizChina", a business show on China's CCTV International. He's a man with a daily television audience of up to 300 million people, and he has nearly 5 million fans on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter. He's possibly the most well known guy you've never heard of before.



Chenggang's two-part series, China's Economy – The Insider's View, on the BBC World Service is one of the more unique points of view that we've encountered recently. It's definitely worth a listen.

China's Economy – The Insider's View: Episode 1; Episode 2

And regarding Sina Weibo, to better understand a society, you should better understand its use of social media. For more analysis on how Chinese use of Weibo is affecting public activism, check out another two part series from the World Service.

It Started With A Tweet: Episode 1; Episode 2

The series presents several interesting case studies and mirrors the findings of a recent Harvard paper on: How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression [PDF]

Happy listening.

Edited to add: From PRI's The World: Chinese Microblogging Site Weibo Turns Three

"Weibo, China's closest cousin to Twitter, turned three Tuesday. It now has 350 million users who engage in a vigorous virtual square."