If you entered the virtual ‘corridor’ of the app clubhouse this weekend, for invitations and iOS only, you would see discussion rooms in Chinese titled ‘young people on both sides of the close free chat’, ‘Living room for investors in Silicon Valley, ” ‘Are there any internment camps in Xinjiang?’ and “is now the best time to go back to China?” Inside the rooms, thousands of people from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and other Chinese-speaking diaspora around the world stood patiently in line for hours, even days, for a chance to clear their minds for a few minutes. to speak, while others calmly and tentatively. Most rooms have been running uninterrupted for days. Moderators from one time zone would hand over a room to the other people, often after staying up all night.
For the first time in more than a decade, certain users in mainland China, usually walled in by the Great Firewall, were able to interact on the same social media platform as the rest of the world and communicate freely with other Chinese-speaking communities and diaspora. (YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook were blocked by the Great Firewall in 2007, 2009, and 2009.) For a younger generation, this is the first time they have been able to communicate directly with their peers across the Strait or other boundaries.
After a weekend, many users are described as ‘memorable’, and the app has been placed behind the Great Firewall since early Monday morning US Eastern time or early Monday night Beijing time. Many stay on the app via a virtual private network connection, warning each other not to log out because Chinese phones cannot receive the required verification code to log in again.
Clubhouse was first made popular in China by Elon Musk, who has a cult among technically savvy Chinese and joined the platform on February 1st. Despite the app not being available in Apple’s Chinese App Store, many found ways to download it, eager to try out the new audio “drop in” social media platform themselves. Invitation codes for the app were on sale on Chinese social media for up to 300 yuan ($ 47). Long queues arose in WeChat groups, where the next person entering the clubhouse would invite those behind them. These users represent the highest strata of China’s socio-economic strata, with access to an iOS device, a foreign app store, social connections with an early invitee, or free time to wait for an invitation code.
Early users were attracted by the high density of Western technology investors and entrepreneurs on the platform. As Chinese-speaking users reached a critical mass, the curiosity took over across the border. Rooms aimed at connecting those outside mainland China and those inside mushrooms. Those inside were eager to learn from different views and perspectives outside, and those outside were keen on authentic voices from within. The result? A decade of pent-up demand for communication with the other side of the Great Firewall has been unleashed in the clubhouse.
Early discussions were very controversial, including screaming matches. However, the moderators quickly solved the problem by laying down rules: one speaker at a time, limited time only, without interruption. (Unlike platforms like Twitter, moderation on Clubhouse contributes a lot to civilization.) Rooms that solved the civilization problem also addressed the stock problem. Many rooms had rules where one male speaker should be followed by a female, or an Uighur speaker by a Han speaker, or rules that users could only share accounts with the first person – no answers, rhetorical questions or comprehensive generalizations over a whole group not allowed.
Many also attribute the civilization of the conversations to the humanizing effect of voices. “As soon as you hear someone’s voice break, you can not help but feel empathy,” one man in the room on the evening of February 2 titled “the night of clubhouse is blocked” – collecting 100 light moments from our visit to clubhouse. He continues, “human voice raises the temperature of the conversation to body temperature.” He admitted that he had been to tears several times during his short time in Clubhouse.
Whether it was political, all the discussions were sincere, intimate, emotional and full of gripping personal reports. Chinese-speaking people at home and abroad, who sometimes spoke softly, sometimes fervently or even tearfully, in their iPhones shared their thoughts on and experiences of free speech (or lack thereof), racial discrimination, China’s treatment of minorities, sexism, mental illness, domestic violence, and more.
A Taiwanese woman shared her experience in Shanghai while trying to fit in while retaining her identity and not being misunderstood by her mainland colleagues. A worker in the Chinese technology industry told of the toll that China and his family had ‘996’ (six days a week, 09:00 to 21:00) overtime. A Cantonese woman spoke about how her friendship with her friends in Hong Kong has suffered during the protests against extradition legislation in recent years. A student from mainland China has expressed concern about whether democracy would make China as divided as the United States. Uighur activists told of the torture they endured daily because they did not know when they would see their families again. In response to such a story, a Chinese man said, “If I had experienced what you had, I’m not sure I would be as strong as you.”
During the one week it was customary to hear users say, in different flavors of the Chinese language, that Clubhouse taught them to listen (one spends much more time listening than talking) and that it is a honor was to hear from others.
In addition to first-hand accounts and views, information also traveled across the border to Clubhouse. Activists traded notes on best practices against doxing; software programmers traded salary ranges between Shenzhen and Silicon Valley; domestic violence victims traded notes on self-care.
Friday night, commemorating the death of China’s whistleblower, hundreds joined a quiet room entitled ‘Silent Remembrance of Doctor Li Wenliang’. In another room that reduces depression, each “speaker” played a song while exchanging no words.
Clubhouse week gave us a brief look at what an internet with unfiltered Chinese voices might look like. These voices also enriched others’ understanding of China. Since the app is now blocked, and a small group of chat partners with VPNs is excluded, both sides can guess. The blocking feels cruel and personal as it happened at the moment when the appetite for communication was just optimally stimulated, and then so many souls longing for a sense of connection, belonging and cultural identity just began to imagine new possibilities.
“We all have the right to speak and be heard,” said a woman in the aforementioned ‘highlight moments in clubhouse’ room. “We all have the right to genuine human commitment.”
Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America and Arizona State University that explores emerging technologies, public policy, and society.