Qiao Collective is pleased to translate Chinese content creator Jianghuqizi’s latest work, “Shattering the Iron Wall,” a video essay that discusses Yahya Sinwar’s martyrdom through the lens of Chinese history. Read it here:

Nothing like a sprinkle of Sinophobia to drum up bipartisan support for regime change operations

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It's no surprise that China reporters don't want to engage with this message - many of them are ones who “took the jade pendant” so to speak. But Nezha2 likely resonates with a far larger audience - and we encourage you to give it a watch with the above lens! /END

To bring it all together: The Chan Sect is the US-led world order. The demons and dragons are the Global South, and the pristine heavens are beautiful because of the value extracted from the demons. Nezha first seeks to join the Chan sect, but then rejects their offer 14/15.

Nezha 2 is more than a mythological story - it tells you how to connect the story to the real world:.-Nezha repeatedly notes how “White House-y” Yuxu Palace is.-Wuliang offers Nezha a green pendant (green card) to surrender.-The Chan sect’s cauldron has a $ symbol on it 13/15

Compare this to other real-world or fantasy movies where:. -Beauty = virtue/goodness.-Light/Good vs. Dark/Evil.-The antagonists are othered and dehumanized.12/15

Nezha 2 begins by lulling you into accepting the world's hierarchy as it is, we begin by cheering Nezha capturing demons, even harmless marmots and 申正's students. We don't question it until we see the demons aren’t mindless monsters and the angels aren’t benevolent. 11/15.

Once out, the fight imagery is striking. In most films, beauty = good, ugliness = evil (elves vs. orcs, exorcists and demons, humans and zombies). In Nezha2, heavenly hosts clad in gold fight a ragtag group of demonic rebels. Out of context, you’d root for the angels. 10/15

Finally, the demons, dragons, and heroes unite to break out of the cauldron while angels push to keep them all down. Individual demons sacrifice themselves to help others escape. The class struggle metaphor here is almost a little too in-your-face. 9/15

Even the Dragon King has a moment of clarity: he breaks the demons’ chains, realizing they’re all part of the same oppressed class. The system pits them against each other, but their enemy is above - the Chan Sect, that pit them against each other 8/15

The big reveal comes when the Chan Sect head is shown to be behind the Chentang Pass massacre. As the demons and Nezha are thrown into the cauldron to be destroyed, they weep, they share their own cooked flesh - the horror of their exploitation can’t be ignored. 7/15

But the Chan Sect’s world order is built on cruelty:. -Demons in chains (even harmless ones like 申正's students) and destroyed to create elixirs.-Dragons enslaved as guards. Yet audiences might accept this as “normal” because demons are ugly, so they must be bad 6/15

Nezha’s initial goal is to join and rise in this system. His brothers already are. His friend Ao Bing aspires to join too. Even reformed demons dream of Xian status (symbolized by a jade pendant). The heavenly kingdom is beautiful—why wouldn’t he want to be part of it? 5/15

Humans 人: The underclass, can be wiped out en masse by the plots of others - but with potential to join the ruling class. Xian 仙: Ruling class. Live in heavenly palaces, feast on elixirs made from demons, maintain an angelic army that maintains the order of the world. 4/15

The Chan 阐 sect rules with a strictly defined racial hierarchy:. Demons 妖: Lumpenproles, who the Chan capture and distill into elixirs. Even “good” demons aren't spared. Dragons 龙: Enforcers, also enslaved but complicit: they are given better conditions to police others. 3/15

This isn't hugely surprising - while Nezha 2 has heartwarming messages of family and friendship - but its core political message is a brutal critique of the neoliberal world order that the China watcher crowd upholds. [Spoilers ahead!] 2/15

It's been three months since the record-breaking release of #Nezha2 and the usual China watcher crowd has been unusually silent. As the WSJ wrote nothing on Nezha2, their reporters had to link Caixin to comment - not on the film's content, but just its overseas earnings 1/15🧵

Register here: . Join us at this @DSAEastBay panel event (online or in-person) on March 29 from 3-5 PM PT! We look forward to discussing US imperialism under Trump and sharing our analysis of the US' hybrid war on China.

Join Qiao Collective for an in-person symposium titled ‘Between The US and China: The Chinese/Sinophone Left in Diaspora’ at California State University, Los Angeles TONIGHT from 6-9pm PST. Join via Zoom: