Who’s Who on China’s Twitter - Academia
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To celebrate the arrival of 2012, TeaLeafNation is bringing you a roadmap to the key players on Weibo, China’s Twitter. Please see Part 1 here.
Social activists - @于建嵘(1.3 million+ followers): Professor Yu Jianrong, one of the most influential people on Weibo, has built a reputation as a compassionate advocate of the downtrodden by helping voiceless laborers and peasants air grievances on his Weibo account. His office in Beijing is an unofficial stop for many who have suffered social injustice. He has (so far) managed to avoid the government’s ire; indeed he is often invited to give lectures to government officials on how to improve governance, though there is scant evidence that anyone has heeded his advice.
Sample tweet from Professor Yu (January 1, 2012): Didn’t the police and ministry of civil affairs promise to help all homeless begging children go home in 2012? We are all waiting!
Legal Community – @贺卫方(330,000+ followers): Professor He Weifang is the reigning high priest of Chinese constitutional law at Peking University. He was “exiled” to the wild wild west of Xinjiang for a minor teaching post from 2009 to 2011 because his critical writings had made the authorities too uncomfortable. He is now back in Beijing and continues to rile the government by advocating major legal reforms and the abolition of the death penalty on Weibo and in his blog.
Sample tweet from Professor He (January 1, 2012): On independence of judges: letting the presiding judges have complete power and take complete responsibility [for the cases] would help judges treat each case seriously. Maybe some are wary about giving complete power to the judges and worry about the abuse of such power. In fact, the judges who enjoy complete power will not dare to abuse the power because they need to take complete responsibility [for their actions].
Academia - @张鸣(260,000+ followers): Professor Zhang Ming, a prolific historian, is a vocal and often profane critic of the government and its treatment of history. The firebrand professor is easily lured into flame wars with conservatives or “fifty cents,” a term that refers to those bloggers suspected of being in the pay of the government.
Sample tweet from Professor Zhang (December 26, 2011): The Chinese fans of the Kim family are supporters of the Chinese government, but these fans can never convince government officials to send their own children to North Korea instead of to America. Of course, these fans would not want to live in North Korea either. These so-called fans are just comforting their little nostalgic dicks.
Stay tuned for more!
