China's netizens roast Global Times editor Hu Xijin on Clubhouse

NEW YORK -- If there is one dark art that thrives inside the Great Firewall of China, it is sarcasm.

One Clubhouse room called the Hu Xijin Fan Club became a sensation last week on the increasingly popular social app, named after the editor-in-chief of Global Times, the English-language tabloid belonging to the People's Daily, the Communist Party of China's official organ. Discussions went on for days with netizens -- including mainlanders joining through virtual private networks (VPN) to jump China's internet firewall -- outdoing themselves to express their "love" for Hu.