Agree with this! I get most of content and inspiration from WeChat public accounts I follow.
Even most content which is censored starts off in WeChat. And then sites like CDT helpfully archive it for China nerds like me! (Which also helps find new WeChat accounts).
"Everything has been said before. But since nobody listens, we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.” — André Gide, Le Traité du Narcisse (1892) 
Often paraphrased as "Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again."
The original French is:
Toutes choses sont dites déjà; mais comme personne n'écoute, il faut toujours recommencer. 
A MAGA YouTuber lived in China for 6 months then came back to tell his 250k viewers that China has zero free speech, zero free religion, and because of that Chinese are suffering under CCP oppression. Even 宣传部门 would blush at how over the top his message is.
Peter Navarro dubbed himself a China expert 10 years ago, then aggressively defended his lack of Mandarin and physical visits to China.
Then there was that Spaniard who tried to argue and whitesplain to a Uyghur about the dystopian hellscape that is his home province, before saying something racist about his English and abruptly hanging up
I'd say misinformation about China, especially after liberation day, is now more viral than COVID
No, you can have WeChat on an American phone. But, using an American phone in China is problematic in all sorts of ways. If you're in China, and you don't want to live a messed up digital life, you really do need a China phone with an account in a China Bank to tie to. I can link purchases to my American card, but anything over 200元 pays an extra 3%. I've experienced larger amount (>5000+元） purchases linked to an American card NOT go through on WeChat, but they do go through on Alipay. I don't know why.
"A foreign correspondent in China who isn’t on WeChat would be like a political reporter not using Twitter"
Many political reporters probably could have benefitted from not using twitter.
"I often gauge a Chinese acquaintance’s international engagement by how much they use email"
This sounds like a rather unreliable metric.
Overall I agree that everything else being equal it's better to be on WeChat, but there are almost certainly specific topics where WeChat's usefulness may be limited (there is also a lot of baseless gossip and nonsense), and certain researchers/commentators whose analytical abilities mean that their output is valuable regardless of WeChat usage.
Agree with this! I get most of content and inspiration from WeChat public accounts I follow.
Even most content which is censored starts off in WeChat. And then sites like CDT helpfully archive it for China nerds like me! (Which also helps find new WeChat accounts).
Which accounts would you recommend for a Chinese watcher to follow?
@Andrew What is CDT?
This even needs to be said?
apparently...
"Everything has been said before. But since nobody listens, we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.” — André Gide, Le Traité du Narcisse (1892) 
Often paraphrased as "Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again."
The original French is:
Toutes choses sont dites déjà; mais comme personne n'écoute, il faut toujours recommencer. 
That's exactly what I thought! But apparently it needs to be said. ...
A MAGA YouTuber lived in China for 6 months then came back to tell his 250k viewers that China has zero free speech, zero free religion, and because of that Chinese are suffering under CCP oppression. Even 宣传部门 would blush at how over the top his message is.
Peter Navarro dubbed himself a China expert 10 years ago, then aggressively defended his lack of Mandarin and physical visits to China.
Then there was that Spaniard who tried to argue and whitesplain to a Uyghur about the dystopian hellscape that is his home province, before saying something racist about his English and abruptly hanging up
I'd say misinformation about China, especially after liberation day, is now more viral than COVID
In China, the least used APP on my phone....is "Phone".
All communication is in WeChat. If I actually called someone, they'd be upset.
Honestly kind of shocked to learn there are China Watchers NOT using WeChat - how do they even collect information at this point???
What accounts would you recommend
for a China watcher to follow
I want to be on WeChat, but I don't know anyone that can get me in
You need a Chinese phone no.
No, you can have WeChat on an American phone. But, using an American phone in China is problematic in all sorts of ways. If you're in China, and you don't want to live a messed up digital life, you really do need a China phone with an account in a China Bank to tie to. I can link purchases to my American card, but anything over 200元 pays an extra 3%. I've experienced larger amount (>5000+元） purchases linked to an American card NOT go through on WeChat, but they do go through on Alipay. I don't know why.
"A foreign correspondent in China who isn’t on WeChat would be like a political reporter not using Twitter"
Many political reporters probably could have benefitted from not using twitter.
"I often gauge a Chinese acquaintance’s international engagement by how much they use email"
This sounds like a rather unreliable metric.
Overall I agree that everything else being equal it's better to be on WeChat, but there are almost certainly specific topics where WeChat's usefulness may be limited (there is also a lot of baseless gossip and nonsense), and certain researchers/commentators whose analytical abilities mean that their output is valuable regardless of WeChat usage.
Is this in response to anyone in particular? I mean, has any "China expert" under 60 openly stated they refuse to have a WeChat account?
Fascinating thank you !