Chinese Social Media I

This book, the first of a two-volume collection, presents a contemporary analysis of Chinese digital platforms from an insider's perspective. It examines the evolution, phenomena and underlying logics of Chinese social media platforms and practices.

Bringing together insights from dedicated researchers, successful practitioners and keen observers of Chinese social media, this volume sheds light on various facets of Chinese social media. It explores issues such as social media governance, platformisation, creativity, censorship, media affordance and representation. The chapters also investigate distinctive Chinese social media phenomena and practices, including the 'momo army', the trend of sending text as voice messages, various humorous meme cultures and the unique 'danmaku' (bullet screen comments) feature prevalent on live-streaming and video-on-demand platforms. The industry-related chapters provide valuable insights into the intersection of social media and contemporary art, music, e-music and non-fungible tokens in China.

This volume is a valuable resource for academics and students in media and communication studies, as well as social media researchers, China studies enthusiasts, industry professionals and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Chinese social media dynamics.

Xiaying Xu is associate head of department and associate professor in the Department of Communication at Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College. His research interests focus on China's creative industries and social media.

Mengmeng Zhao is an independent corporate communication educator and researcher, specialising in public relations, corporate branding, sustainability and ESG. She teaches public relations and communication research part time at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and is also a social media content creator, with around 100,000 followers on various platforms. She has also translated seven bestselling books on branding and marketing.

May Ying Wang is an associate professor in the Faculty of Business and Management at Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College. Her research interests include big data in e-commerce, fintech, recommendation agents and human-computer interaction.