
Bilibili: 85-year-old marine geologist becomes China’s latest social media star as science education gains mass appeal
- Wang Pinxian, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, accumulated 280,000 followers in less than a week on Bilibili
- His two posts on the popular video-sharing platform attracted more than 2 million views by Monday afternoon
Wang joins a growing number of scientists and research institutes making science more accessible to a general audience on social media, especially among the young users on various platforms.

The Institute of Physics, under the CAS, is one of the more active scientific organisations presenting content about popular science to a general audience online.
Having accumulated more than 1.5 million followers on Bilibili since offering its first video in 2019, the institute’s account has posted more than 570 videos, which has accumulated nearly 49 million views in total, including content ranging from knowledge-sharing to singing and dancing.
Some of the institute’s most popular postings include a video about the organisation’s canteen, which attracted more than 2.7 million views and 115,000 likes, made in collaboration with popular food influencer Daoyueshe. Its video about the first image of a black hole recorded about 1.3 million views.
Knowledge content, such as how-to videos and science popularisation, was one of Bilibili’s fastest-growing segments last year, according to the company, which said China’s Generation Z consumers made up most of its users.
