Thousands of messages posted on the Internet every day in China get censored. Until now, little has been known about how the Chinese censorship machine works — except that it is comprehensive. "It probably is the largest effort ever to selectively censor human expression," says Harvard University social scientist Gary King. "They don't censor everything. There are millions of Chinese [who] talk about millions of things. But the effort to prune the Internet of certain kinds of information is unprecedented."

Western media organisations are trying to demonise China and promote revolution and national disintegration as they hate seeing the country prosper, the head of China’s official Xinhua news agency said in comments published on Wednesday. China’s ruling Communist Party has in recent weeks been tightening controls over the internet and reminding state media of its responsibility to promote a “correct political direction”, as President Xi Jinping dashes hopes his administration will embark on political reforms.

Ahead of the G20 meeting, president Xi Jinping has met his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. It’s the third meeting between the two leaders this year. Both sides vowed to boost their comprehensive cooperative relationship. Xi says China-Mexico relations have entered a new phase, and that the two countries should continue to boost bilateral investment and economic cooperation.

“You Irish people are white because you eat potatoes!” a Beijing taxi driver announced to my Irish husband on a trip before moving here, about a decade ago. We all laughed, though he didn’t seem to be entirely joking. “Who’s Irish?” asked the Chinese-American writer Gish Jen in her story collection of the same name, exploring cultural differences and misunderstandings in the United States. “Who’s Chinese?” is the question here.

One Hong Kong university and 15 in mainland China have made the list of the best places to study if you want to be chief executive officer of a global company. Polytechnic University was ranked 72nd out of 100 universities worldwide in the Alma Mater Index, a new study by Times Higher Education, which rates universities based on the studies of Fortune Global 500 CEOs.

China's new envoy to the United Nations Liu Jieyi has presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN Headquarters. After an official ceremony, Liu told reporters China will continue to firmly support the UN, uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and play the role of a responsible major country in world affairs. Liu said that being the most universal, representative and authoritative international organization, the UN bears the expectations of the people all over the world and shoulders a significant mission.

In a 1958 article in The Atlantic, the Sinologist George E. Taylor considered this Moscow-Beijing alliance in an article entitled "Why We Do Not Recognize Red China." Aside from the era-appropriate use of the term "red"—scholars then distinguished between the Communist-led Chinese government on the mainland and the Nationalist-led one in Taiwan—Taylor's essay argues that the United States shouldn't recognize the Communist government ruling Beijing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has left Beijing to attend the G20 summit in St. Petersburg and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek, in what is his third overseas visit since he became president in March this year. His trip, which will also include visits to Central Asian countries, has attracted extensive attention. The Chinese and Russian leaders appear very close on the international stage, reflecting the special relationship between China and Russia and triggering the topic of a China-Russia alliance once again.