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World of Weibo

The stories taking China’s internet by storm

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“Beautiful example of globalism”
Jun 17, 2022 (WiC 589)

‘Half-and-half’ unites or divides. At least, that seems to be the case for Eileen Gu, or Gu Ailing, the double Olympic gold medallist born in California to a Chinese mother, whose goal of ‘using winter sport to connect people’ has often ...

KFC’s Psyduck has become the hottest toy this Children's Festival
Jun 3, 2022 (WiC 587)

“Gotta catch ‘em all” is how the Pokemon theme song puts it. That seems an appropriate message for KFC’s Pokemon-themed Children’s Festival meal boxes, which have taken the Chinese public by storm. Each contains either a music box ...

How to lie to parents

The Bilibili challenge
May 27, 2022 (WiC 586)

In an era of online learning and lockdown boredom it’s not surprising that Chinese high school students have been looking for outlets to vent their frustrations. They seem to have found what they are looking for thanks to an online challenge ...

The country's largest social media platform under fire for making user pay
Dec 4, 2020 (WiC 521)

Twitter’s feed is largely chronological. Facebook relies more on algorithms, which means that well-liked content or posts from friends tend to show up on top. In China, however, a few people have noticed that their Sina Weibo posts were not ...

The parent trap

A debate on whether older child should be responsible for raising younger siblings
Sep 18, 2020 (WiC 511)

In a lawsuit that has sparked much debate, two parents sued their adult daughter, Lili, because she refused to raise her two year-old brother. Lili’s parents are living on government subsidies and claim they are unfit to raise their new son. ...

What’s in a name?

Live-stream celebrity stirs debate on feminism
May 22, 2020 (WiC 496)

American singer Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus) took his mother’s maiden name when he was 13. Actress Whoopi Goldberg (born Caryn Elaine Johnson) chose her mother’s surname when she got her start in Hollywood. Of course, most people in ...

Kobe, in memoriam

Over a million Chinese netizens pay tribute to deceased NBA star
Jan 31, 2020 (WiC 481)

The impeachment proceedings against US President Donald Trump have struggled to hog the news headlines this week, as the international media focused more on Wuhan’s coronavirus outbreak. But news of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe ...

Arguing with his wife on the internet
Nov 1, 2019 (WiC 472)

Back in February, Li Guoqing, the co-founder of e-commerce firm Dangdang, announced that he had resigned from the company he started with his wife Peggy Yu back in 1999. He wrote that he had given up his stake in the platform once touted as ...

A little less Mac?

Chinese consumers complain about shrinking burgers
Jul 19, 2019 (WiC 460)

The Big Mac Index, compiled by The Economist since 1986, is used to measure purchasing power parity across the globe. The index is named after McDonald’s most popular burger, which is sold in more than 100 countries. But a basic assumption of ...

A bruised Apple?

Negative comments flood Apple's newly-opened weibo account
May 3, 2019 (WiC 450)

While most companies scramble to curate content to increase their social media presence, tech giant Apple has a very different strategy. It uses Facebook, but mainly to push ads during the holidays to promote new products. Even though it has 2.7 ...

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