The concept of ‘sharing’ in Chinese social media: origins, transformations and implications

ABSTRACT

In this article we present an analysis of the concepts of fenxiang and gongxiang – the Mandarin words for ‘sharing’– in the context of Chinese social media. We do so through an interrogation of the words fenxiang and gongxiang as used by Chinese social media companies. Using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, we created screenshots of 32 Chinese social network sites between 2000 and 2018 and tracked changes in the usage of fenxiang and gongxiang over time. The Mandarin translations in some ways operate like the English word, ‘sharing’. Fenxiang has the meaning of participating in social media, and gongxiang refers to technological aspects of sharing, while also conveying a sense of harmony. However, the interpersonal relations implied by fenxiang, and the political order implied by gongxiang, are quite different from those conveyed by ‘sharing’. Together, fenxiang and gongxiang construct a convergence of micro-level interpersonal harmony and macro-level social harmony. Thus, the language of sharing becomes the lens through which to observe the subtlety, complexity and idiosyncrasies of the Chinese internet. This article offers a new heuristic for understanding Chinese social media, while also pointing to an important facet of the discursive construction of Chinese social media. This implies a continuing need to de-westernize research into the internet and to identify cultural-specific meanings of social media.

KEYWORDS:

• Sharing
• Chinese social media
• de-westernization
• language
• web archives

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Xiaolin Bai, Zohar Kampf, Neta Kligler-Vilenchik and Limor Shifman for reading and discussing earlier drafts with us, and the anonymous journal reviewers for their extremely helpful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We are acutely aware that the collectivism-individualism dichotomy has its limitations, including over-generalization and Western-centrism (Oyserman et al., 2002; G. Wang & Liu, 2010). Furthermore, collectivism itself is a diverse concept (Oyserman et al., 2002), such that Chinese collectivism is not necessarily the same as Japanese collectivism.

2 https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/chinas-social-media-boom#

3 For example: ‘Our war of resistance is holy and arduous. Everybody can fenxiang the honor of victory.’ 4 October 1942, Dagongbao Guilinban.

4 For example: ‘The British government insists to fenxiang the secret of the atomic bomb.’ 27 September 1949, Dagongbao Xianggangban.

5 For example: ‘Reading this cheerful letter, I fenxiang the happiness of the young man.’ 25 January 1953, People’s Daily.

6 For example: ‘It was 9 pm when I got back. My heart was still beating fast, and I didn’t even think about having dinner. I was so eager and thrilled to fenxiang my joy with everyone. Whenever I met a comrade, I spoke excitedly: “I met Chairman Mao today! I met Chairman Mao today!”’ 12 August 1966, People’s Daily.

7 All translations are the authors’.

8 Xiaonei translates as ‘on campus’, while Renren means ‘everyone’.

9 The quote is from the Report to the Seventeenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China on 15 October 2007.

10 http://tech.qq.com/a/20090804/000306.htm.

11 https://www.tencent.com/en-us/abouttencent.html.

12 http://home.baidu.com/home/index/company.

13 See his manifesto, Building Global Community, https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-global-community/10103508221158471.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Luolin Zhao

Luolin Zhao is an assistant researcher at the Center for Studies of Media Development at Wuhan University and a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Journalism and Communication, Wuhan University, P.R.China. Her research interests include China's web history and the interaction between social media and popular culture.

Nicholas John

Nicholas John is a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of The Age of Sharing. His research interests include unfriending, sharing, and the limits of our knowledge about social media.