Chinese Former Journalist Turns to Substack
Chinese media personality Mimi Yana (米米亞娜), known for her feminist writing and coverage of women’s issues, launched her Substack account on August 9 following what she described as her forced departure from journalism earlier this year.
In her introductory post, Mimi Yana said that she was “kicked out of the journalism industry by Trump” (被特朗普踢出了新闻业) in early 2025 while working in the United States. Writing that she had “no power to control my own destiny” on “a land that promised democracy and freedom,” she described the experience as accelerating her political disillusionment. She did not spell out the circumstances of her departure, though this was likely related to federal grant arrangements affecting her outlet. The setback led her to delete all social media accounts and avoid reading news for an extended period. “This blow accelerated my disillusionment with politics,” she wrote.
Mimi Yana’s second Substack essay, published August 17 and titled “When Politics Fails, Can Art Answer Our Contemporary Dilemmas?”, explored her search for alternative ways to understand the world following her exit from journalism. The lengthy piece detailed her experiences viewing art exhibitions in Paris museums while grappling with political despair, examining works from David Hockney’s digital paintings during the pandemic to female artists like Suzanne Valadon who challenged male-dominated artistic traditions. The essay blends cultural criticism with personal reflection, questioning whether aesthetic experience might offer insights where political analysis fails.
