SPEAKING & CONSULTANCY | CHINA MEDIA & TREND INTELLIGENCE
Decoding China’s digital culture, society, AI trends, global influence and the media narratives that matter.
Manya Koetse is a sinologist and analyst specializing in China’s digital culture, Chinese social media, and online trends. She works with media organizations, companies, and institutions to help them understand China’s fast-changing online ecosystem—from platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu to broader developments in AI, public discourse, and consumer culture. She also helps brands, agencies, and strategy teams translate emerging trends and online narratives into relevant insights.
From Online Trends to Strategic Insight
In 2013, Manya founded What’s on Weibo, an international platform known for its in-depth analysis of Chinese social media and online culture. Today, she publishes Eye on Digital China, her internationally read newsletter about the stories, trends, debates, and shifts shaping China’s digital society. Her work is followed by journalists, academics, policymakers, and diplomatic professionals, and regularly cited in international media and academic research.
For more than twelve years, Manya has closely monitored Chinese platforms and online trends. Drawing on trending topics, public debates, memes, AI developments, and emerging media formats, she places current developments in a wider historical, cultural, and societal context. She explains not only what is happening in China, but why it is happening, what it reveals about the society behind it, and how these developments translate into relevant insights for media, technology, retail, policy, and strategy.
Manya’s work is regularly cited in international media and academic research. She also contributes as a China expert to outlets including NOS, BBC, and CNN.
Image via NPO / Innovation Day
Speaking, Briefings & Consulting
Manya takes audiences behind the scenes of China’s online world. Using current and accessible examples from Chinese platforms, she shows how digital culture, societal change, technology, consumer behavior, political communication, and China’s international influence are interconnected.
She is available for keynotes, public lectures, private briefings, workshops, and consulting sessions, working with audiences ranging from large conferences to small boardrooms. Her clients and audiences include media organizations, brands, editorial teams, digital agencies, investment firms, public institutions, diplomatic organizations, and strategy teams.
Recent engagements include a session with the Dutch national broadcaster on China’s changing media landscape and a briefing for the diplomatic community in Beijing, hosted by the Dutch Embassy, on the evolution and influence of Chinese social media. Manya was also invited by the European Union Delegation to China to speak about international public diplomacy and changing censorship dynamics, and contributed to ReConnect China on evolving Chinese political narratives.
Keynotes & Focus Areas
From Superapps & AI Dramas to Chinamaxxing and Labubu.
Manya’s sessions can provide a broad introduction to Digital China or focus on a particular trend, sector, or question. Previous assignments have included insights into what drives China’s Gen Z for marketing agencies, Chinese healthcare innovation for hospital executives, and China’s transition from traditional to platform-driven media for editorial teams. Every talk, briefing, or workshop can be adapted to the audience and the specific questions they want to explore.
What do Chinese social media platforms reveal about the society behind them? Through trending topics, online debates, memes, and digital subcultures, Manya provides a rare view of what is capturing public attention in China—and why it matters.
China’s development into a digital world power, including superapps, artificial intelligence, emerging media formats, platform-driven communication, and the relationship between technology, business, and government.
How Chinese platforms, brands, entertainment, online communities, and cultural products—from TikTok to Labubu—are reaching international audiences and reshaping China’s global influence.
The relationship between digital convenience, data, privacy, censorship, and oversight in China, including public attitudes toward technology and misconceptions surrounding digital governance and the social credit system.
How social pressure, demographic change, shifting gender roles, online communities, influencers, and an uncertain future are shaping China’s younger generations, their consumer behavior, and the wider landscape for brands, retail, and online marketing.