Social media in China redraws old battle lines between left and right
Social media like Weibo is helping China have the type of debate it hasn't seen in decades
"P*** off and go abroad" is an insult that writer Li Chengpeng faces every day. Many conservatives want the former soccer commentator to leave the country and don't shy away from telling him so on microblogs or to his face at book readings.
Such reactions, blunt as they are, show how much political debate in China, beyond the rigid lines of Communist Party discourse, has changed and how hip writers like racing driver Han Han and Li are in the thick of it.
The leftist wumao [government-paid online commentators] are looking for a fight with liberals," he said. "That's why that group seems to be bigger than it actually is
"Students who took to the streets in support of the government during the Olympics have not turned into conservatives," said Xiong Wei, a Peking University law scholar, referring to the 2008 protests in Beijing by hundreds of students opposed to "foreign interference" in Tibet.
Much of the change has been driven by Sina Weibo, the Chinese social network similar to Twitter that had 500 million users last year. Officials have been able to pull down controversial posts and block search terms on sensitive topics, but posts spread fast before being removed.
"Weibo has changed the opinions of many people. Back then, many people supported the government in what they saw as an attack from the West," Xiong said. "Many have now realised that they had been wrong."
The lines have been redrawn between left and right, or what others call conservatives versus liberals or patriots versus the West, he added.
"The values Li talks about are not Western, but universal," said Hu Yong , a Beijing-based liberal media scholar. "In this sense, it's enlightening."