Microblogging: The New Cultural Revolution in China

Back in the 1960s, Mao Tse Tung’s Red Book was China’s first and foremost communications tool; today its microblogging.

In the 1960s, China’s telephone, cellphone, television, IPad and laptop all rolled into one, the Red Book from which emanated all social communication.

It was also China’s version of the Bible, the Talmud or the Koran. It was the source of all wisdom, its guide to social life - the veritable handbook to live the model life.

These days, the Red Book has been replaced by Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, just better. Unlike Twitter, Weibo allow users to also upload pictures and videos.

If Google has become the verb for Internet searches, Weibo is Chinese for microblogging and is likely to mean that in multiple languages as Weibo expands across Asia and the globe.

Celebrities, public intellectuals and opinion leaders invited to open Weibo accounts turned the market leader in microblogging into a fad – one that at times shapes public debate.

Weibo means one is cool. To comment on an event, start a fad or launch a discussion of some public significance, one “weibos.”

Launched in August 2009 by Sina, one of China’s largest internet companies, Weibo, and similar services offered by its competitors - Sohu, Tencent, and Netease – is based on Twitter’s concept.

Messages are transmitted in Chinese characters capped at 140 characters. The structure of Chinese means one can convey far more information that fits into Twitter’s 140 characters written in the Roman alphabet.

As of April this year, Weibo had 140 million registered users. It expects that number to climb to 200 million by the end of this year. If Sina Weibo were a country, it would be Russia. This year’s expected hike is the equivalent of the population of Britain.

Weibo appeals to Chinese cultural traits. The Chinese are often too shy to communicate with words and prefer instead pictures and videos. To the Chinese, a Weibo speaks a thousand words. Youths often meet to communicate with another via Weibo rather than in verbal conversation.

When two high-speed bullet trains collided last week, Weibo was the vehicle for public outrage. The rapid burying of casualties prompted Weibo users to question the government’s figure of 40 dead and 200 wounded. Bullet trains became a metaphor for China’s rapid pace of change and calls for a slowing down.

Journalists on the scene broadcasted their live reports on Weibo. Calls for blood donations were issued on Weibo and soon followed by pictures of people queuing to donate. Within a matter of minutes, Weibo had turned the collusion into a community affair, forcing the tradition print and broadcast media to follow suit.

One of the most popular messages on Weibo a day after the collusion read: “Dear China, please slow down your fast-moving pace. Wait for your people, wait for your soul, wait for your morality, wait for your conscience. Please do not derail the train, do not collapse the bridge, do not make traps in the road, and do not make buildings fragile. Slow down, let everybody live in freedom and dignity. Do not leave anyone behind and safeguard them to their destination.”

Weibo has pushed the boundaries of news reporting. It has become a tool that allows ordinary citizens to seek accountability from their leaders and government.

Weibo has allowed opinion leaders to shape public opinion and at times influence the agenda for the government. Take Yu Jianrong, a professor of China Academy of Social Science, with 890,832 followers on Weibo. Earlier this year, he wrote a Weibo calling for the public to take a picture of a suspicious child and uploaded it to Weibo to combat child trafficking. Thousands of pictures have since been widely circulated and more than 9,300 children rescued.

It’s a steep learning curve for the communist party to engage with microblogging. Its swift transmission makes it difficult for the party to censor Weibo like it does print media and websites. In fact, microblogging might actually be eroding censorship.

It is however too early to celebrate. Weibo’s 140 million or even 200 million mostly urban, educated users is a minority in a population of 1.2 billion, many of whom still rely for their communications at best on a telephone.

Nonetheless, Weibo is surely reshaping Chinese society, and possibly more extensively than the original Cultural Revolution.



(Teresita Cruz-del Rosario is Visiting Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. She was formerly Assistant Minister during the transition government of President Corazon Aquino. She has a background in sociology and social anthropology and specializes in development and development assistance, migration, governance, and social movements. She can be reached at [email protected]. Wang Runfei Phillie is a Researcher at Center on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He can be reached at [email protected].)