iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dake Kang

ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 03/08/2026

more than 8 percent of all American newspaper journalists work in Manhattan, up from 2 percent in 2005 www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Thank you to all my beloved friends and others who have my time in China special. It was a true privilege to bear witness to the changes taking place in a country that has become a second home to me. I will miss my time here and hope to be back one day. Till then…

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Yesterday was my last day as a credentialed journalist in China. I moved to Beijing in 2018. The past eight and a half years have been the longest I’ve ever lived in one city. It’s been the experience of a lifetime. 过去八年半的酸甜苦辣一下子涌上心头了

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Hi all, I’ve had to reset my Signal account because my chat history got corrupted. I am now reachable again on Signal at dakekang.93 大家好，由于我的 Signal 聊天记录损坏了，我不得不重置了我的 Signal 账号。现在大家可以再次通过 Signal 联系我，用户名是 dakekang.93

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Reposted by Dake Kang

不明白播客 @bumingbai.net · 21/05/2026

本期节目嘉宾是获得2026年普利策奖的记者Dake Kang姜大翼，获奖报道是一系列关于中国监控体系与美国科技公司之间复杂关系的调查。他在节目中分享了报道背后的故事。我们还聊到，他为什么说自己曾是个小粉红，外交部的谈话是怎样的体验，以及普通人对外媒的态度经历了怎样的变化？ youtu.be/reZHxTRbeTg

youtu.be

YouTube video by 不明白播客

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Thank you, hope you are doing well in Cornell!!

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Thank you, Flo!! And thank you for yours.

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Reposted by Dake Kang

🎃 🧙🏻‍♀️Yell 👻 Growler💀🎃 @yaelwrites.com · 04/05/2026

I am honored to share the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Best International Reporting with Dake Kang, Byron Tau, Aniruddha Ghosal and Garance Burke for our reporting revealing how Silicon Valley largely designed and built China's surveillance state and enabled human rights abuses.

The 2026 Pulitzer Prize Announcement
International Reporting
Winner: Dake Kang, Garance Burke, Byron Tau, Aniruddha Ghosal of the Associated Press and Yael Grauer, contributor.

US government allowed and even helped US firms sell tech used for surveillance in China, AP finds.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I have some belated, surreal news: My colleagues and I have won the Pulitzer prize for International Reporting. An incredible honor. And a real team effort. I’ve been neglecting this platform. Will do my best to keep up on BlueSky! www.pulitzer.org/winners/dake...

pulitzer.org

Dake Kang, Garance Burke, Byron Tau, Aniruddha Ghosal and Yael Grauer, contributor, of Associated Press

For an astonishing global investigation into state-of-the-art tools of mass surveillance, created in Silicon Valley, advanced in China and spreading worldwide before returning to America for secret ne...

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Reposted by Dake Kang

Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Great scoop by Dewey Sim Russian leader Vladimir Putin will pay a one-day visit to Beijing, just days after President Xi Jinping wraps up his closely watched summit with his American counterpart Donald Trump.

scmp.com

Exclusive | Russia’s Putin is heading to China next week, days after Xi-Trump summit

The Russian leader’s one-day visit, tipped for May 20, is unlikely to feature the pomp and elaborate details of the US president’s trip.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

30/With Myf Ma, @yaelwrites.com, @roosblad.bsky.social, Marshall Ritzel, Rebecca Blackwell, @byrontau.bsky.social, @garanceburke.bsky.social, and thoughts from @chinalawtranslate.bsky.social, Du Wen, @yaqiu.bsky.social, Holden Triplett, and many others who can't be named. Thank you.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

…that’s the kind of charge that @nyrolaelima.bsky.social’s cousin faced. She was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for sending her parents in Australia money to buy a house - a vivid illustration of the potential of abuse of this kind of tech: www.newyorker.com/culture/pers...

newyorker.com

China Cannot Silence Me

Speaking of the crimes committed against my family and other Uyghurs in Xinjiang has sparked a surprising reaction.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

A side note on this story: One of the other things we found is that this is the same sort of tool used to uncover so-called “terrorist financing,” which ensnared Uyghurs for sending money abroad - even for innocent things like sending down payments for a house bsky.app/profile/dake...

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

33/Nonetheless, Li's willingness to speak out makes him singular among the thousands targeted by Fox Hunt and Sky Net. Few others, if any, have criticized the Party publicly. Experts agree: Li and his family paid dearly for speaking out. "They see me as a traitor," Li says.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

32/Li now lives in the Texas desert, with a Christian church also in exile. He continues to speak out against the Party. Some Chinese dissidents question Li, saying he only speaks out to gain asylum in the U.S. Certainly, asylum would save him from prison. apnews.com/photo-essay/...

apnews.com

PHOTO ESSAY: In Texas, a former Chinese official targeted by Beijing's surveillance finds refuge

MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — The Chinese government is using an increasingly powerful tool to control and monitor its own officials: Surveillance technology, much of it originating in the United States, an A...

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

31/The state harasses lawyers Li hires to defend his family, warning them it’s a political case & the outcome is already determined. A plainclothes officer stopped me from taking photos at the courthouse (photo below), saying a “sensitive political case” was being heard.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

30/There's serious violations of due process. Interrogation transcripts are altered. The state refuses to provide evidence to lawyers. Details of the charges are secret. His relatives are convicted of receiving embezzled funds - before proving Li himself committed embezzlement.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

29/Li and his lawyers don't deny potential conflicts of interest, but deny criminal charges of bribery and embezzlement. His case is incredibly complicated, but case files I reviewed and 9 lawyers I spoke to show clearly that Li is being targeted for political reasons.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

28/Another fascinating tidbit: Leaked docs show that software sold by a former IBM partner to the Chinese state includes functions tracking suspected prostitutes... (Like corruption, affairs often aren't a problem for officials - until you're targeted)

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

27/(There is, indeed, a movie about Fox Hunt, that came out this year. Further back, a popular TV drama called "In the Name of the People" 人民的名义 also dramatizes the anti-corruption campaign) www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LNJ...

youtube.com

猎狐行动｜ Fox Hunt Movie | Official Trailer | 官方正式预告片

YouTube video by GSCinemas

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

26/Fascinating tidbit: A leaked photo of the internal police software used to hunt officials suggests the moniker “Sky Net” was inspired by “The Terminator." Xi is known to be a Hollywood fan, & state media describes "Fox Hunt" arrests as cinematic, "like a Hollywood blockbuster"

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

25/Using family as leverage isn't new. In Maoist China, your family background was often your fate. The concept of punishment across "three generations" was common. But with U.S. tech, police and Party investigators gained incredible visibility into everyone's ties and finances.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

24/Experts say it's part of a broad pattern: Chinese authorities use family in China essentially as hostages, pressuring targets overseas. They send agents to "persuade" targets to return. They stalk people from coast to coast, using night goggles and threatening notes

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

23/The Party arrests over 40 of his friends, family and former associates, including his pregnant daughter and elderly people suffering from cancer and heart disease. Three die in detention, his aunt is released in a vegetative state.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

22/The Party has a well-honed playbook, sharpened with decades of U.S. tech, that they use against Li. With surveillance across China & databases tracking calls, texts, banking data, it’s easy for police to pin anyone tied to Li. Read our earlier story: apnews.com/article/chin...

apnews.com

Silicon Valley enabled brutal mass detention and surveillance in China, internal documents show

U.S. technology firms such as IBM, Dell and Cisco largely designed and built China’s surveillance state, an AP investigation finds. The tech companies deny wrongdoing.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

21/At this point, the central government and Xi himself gets involved, enraged that what they see as an act of betrayal by one of their own, according to four people I talk to and backed up by the Party’s public statements and actions. They go after Li any way they can.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

20/At this point, it's still a local power struggle, confined to Li's home province. But things escalate dramatically when Li decides to speak out again: Publicly, to anti-government media overseas. He attacks the Party, calling it repressive & accusing it of a cover-up.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

19/But Li’s past comes back to haunt him. In 2020, his friend and ex-subordinate is arrested for criticizing the Party over COVID. Li is called and warned that associates of Xu – his former rivals in the Party – are going after him. In July 2020, he’s put under investigation.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

18/In 2017, Li is allowed to retire and given his passport back. This is important because this is essentially the system issuing him a clean bill of health. He leaves the country for cancer treatments, which I verified by reviewing his travel and medical records.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

17/The common thread running through these cases? The big crime isn't corruption. It's disobedience, disloyalty, betrayal. If you read the charges, what's listed 1st is always about "forsaking ideals", "losing Party spirit", "betraying your original aspirations". Corruption, adultery - that's 2nd.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

16/ -Former Guangxi governor: Rumor is that he was involved in smuggling rare earths to the U.S. when China was using it as leverage in trade negotiations. Another betrayal. -In contrast, ex-foreign minister Qin Gang - taken down after a scandalous affair - is now reported OK, in a low profile job

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

15/Take a few recent examples: -The minister of agriculture: Rumor is that he was arrested because he didn't take Xi's orders to secure China's food supply safety seriously. -Ongoing PLA purge: Rumors that China's missile readiness affected, secrets sold to the US. Xi was livid over the betrayal

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

14/In such an environment, the question of who gets targeted by the corruption crackdown is intrinsically a political question. If it was just about corruption, a lot more heads would roll. Instead, it’s often about power struggles. Or increasingly, whether you’ve displeased Xi.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

13/Anyone who's spent enough time in China hears the stories: dozens of luxury villas, obtained mysteriously. The wife-and-husband duo, one in business, one in politics. Not naming names, but all I can say is that it is isn't just common; it's ubiquitous.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

12/However, one thing I've learned is that many believe most higher officials in China are corrupt - '8 or 9 out of 10' is the popular refrain. “You have no idea how many people want to bribe you,” ex-official Du Wen told me. “People will line up to give you money.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk27...

youtube.com

你是贪官吗？独家对话李传良贪腐31亿市长出镜澄清

YouTube video by Du Wen 内蒙古杜文

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

11/Li goes into construction – almost certainly a violation of China’s civil code. Li's relatives also profited when Li was vice mayor. His wife & siblings did construction business – a conflict of interest. It’s hard not to conclude they likely profited from their ties to Li.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

10/After a year, investigators from Beijing come and uncover the full extent of Xu’s corruption. Xu is arrested and thrown in prison. But at this point, Li is frustrated and quits the government. He spends three years under audit before he’s allowed to retire.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

9/In 2012, Xi takes power and declares a sweeping crackdown on corruption. Months later, Li writes up a letter to report his boss. He kicks off a power struggle. Things turn ugly. Xu threatens him & his siblings and forces them out of their state jobs.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

8/Rather than investigate Xu, the Jixi authorities went after the protesters. Police said they were “strictly preventing” residents from complaining to the central government in Beijing, documents show. Li was aghast.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

7/Residents dug their heels in. They protested and hung banners declaring the city government's actions illegal. They threatened to go to Beijing to appeal to the central government.

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Dake Kang @dakekang.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

6/Residents protested against planned demolitions and development that would enrich Xu's associates. Xu declared an apartment complex, a culture center and a thriving shopping plaza as part of a "shantytown", slating it for demolition.

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