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This is a series of articles published by Kai Fu Lee. I did the translation after graduation from university in summer to learn more about the technology trend and practise my translation skill.


Translation of Kaifu Lee’s post on LinkedIn - My Adventures in China Social Media

李开复LinkedIn文章翻译之二十一 – 我在中国社交媒体上的探险

Many people followed the news, and sent me their condolences about my recent predicament. With news like this, most of my American friends assumed that social media in China cannot thrive, due to tighter controls. While the controls are tighter, one must realize that social media is infinitely more open than other media in China, and Sina has built a solid product integrating images, video, structured dialog, and longer tweets. As a result, Sina Weibo has become the media of choice that people flock to find or share information, and to voice or hear opinion.

不少人最近都关注了那条消息,并给我最近的窘境发来了慰问。通过像这样的一些消息,我的大多数美国朋友认为中国的社交媒体因更加严厉的管制无法繁荣起来。尽管管制更紧了,我们必须意识到社交媒体与中国的其他媒体相比要开放的多得多,而且新浪已经发布了一个集成了图片、视频、结构化对话和更长微博的可靠产品。结果是,新浪微博已经成为人们成群结队地寻找或分享信息,并表达或聆听观点的媒介。

In the past 3 years, I’ve been one of the most vocal members of the Chinese social media, and have accumulated 30 million followers on Sina (and another 24 million on Tencent Weibo). I am not an activist and have no agenda. I am regarded as a moderate but direct microblogger. People follow me because of my content (covering parenting, leadership, personal growth, current events, high tech, investing, overseas news), my style (I tell it like it is, and work hard to tell a good story despite limited keystrokes), and my diligence (I tweet every day 10-20 times, except last few days :-)).

在过去的三年中,我一直是中国社交媒体最自由发表意见的成员之一,还在新浪积累了三千万的粉丝(另有两千四百万在腾讯微博上)。我不是个激进主义者也没有什么目的。我被认为是一个温和但直接的微博客。人们粉我是因为我的内容(覆盖育儿,领导力,个人成长,时事新闻,高新技术,投资和海外新闻),我的风格(我实话实说,并努力在有限的键盘敲击中讲个好故事),还有我的勤奋(我每天发十到二十次微博,除了前几天,呵呵)。

Here are some of the things that I have tweeted about:

  • Voiced strong objection to the blockage of GitHub.com, and the site was unblocked in 18 hours (though I cannot be absolutely sure there was a causal relationship).
  • Strongly objected using law enforcement to remove s plug-in software that helps users automatically check train ticket websites for availability. This was raised at news that ministries were considering outlawing plug-in. Later, the ministry said it was just a rumor, and that there was no legal basis for it.
  • Led a boycott of a TV show that has repeatedly embarrassed participants, and even publicly and wrongfully accusing them for what they didn’t do. The TV show eventually apologized to the “overseas students”, and changed its behavior.
  • Led a campaign with 60 businessmen against short sellers who publish inaccurate information and slam innocent Chinese companies, who were listed in the US but were not experienced in fighting back. This helped rebuild confidence in Chinese companies, and hopefully increase the chances that they will continue to be listed in the US.
  • Live broadcast and commentary of the Taiwan presidential election, along with commentaries and history, to give people a feel of what a democratic election would be like, and what macro-conditions and steps were required. The people can then judge for themselves whether and when it might be suitable for China.
  • Shared many useful tips and fun products not known or available in China, though sometimes things got out of control!
  • Assisted many worthy causes, from philanthropy to public awareness (such as the air pollution situation – sharing my home’s air purifier filter drew a lot of attention!)
  • Assisted the unveiling of local corruption and suppression by forwarding and supporting netizens who appear to have facts behind their claims. In several cases, real-time photos of suppression were sent and massively forwarded, and eventually higher authorities intervened, and brought justice to the situations.

​这是我发过的一些事:

  • 强烈反对屏蔽Github.com,随后这个网站在18个小时内就解禁了(尽管我不能确定这之间有因果关系)
  • 强烈反对使用法律强制性移除帮助用户自动检查火车售票网站是否有票的插件。这是听说有关部门在考虑宣布插件不合法提出来的。后来,该部门说这只是个谣言,并没有支持这种行为的法律依据。
  • 领导了对一个反复让参加者难堪的电视节目的抵制活动,该节目甚至公开地、不妥地因为一些莫须有的事儿谴责参加者。这个电视节目最终向海外学子道歉,并改变了它的行为。
  • 领导了一个和六十位企业家一起反对做空者的活动,这些做空者发布不实的信息,还猛力抨击无辜的那些在美国上市但毫无反击经验的中国公司。此举帮助建立了中国公司的信心,并很可能增加他们将来继续在美国上市的机会。
  • 实时播报和评论台湾领导人选举,随着各种说明和历史一起,让人们感受到民主选举的样子,以及民主需要什么样的宏观条件和步骤。这些人能在之后判断出是否以及民主什么时候对中国来说是合适的。
  • 分享了很多实用的小贴士和中国不知道或买不到的有趣产品,虽然有时候会有些失控!
  • 给很多有价值的事业提供帮助,从慈善到公众意识都有(比如说空气污染情况 – 分享我家的空气净化器吸引了很多的注意力!)
  • 通过转发和支持一些网民,这些网民的言论背后看起来有事实根据,从而帮助揭露了地方腐败和镇压。在几次事件中,实时的镇压照片被发出来并被大量地转发,最后上级机关出手干预,给这些事件带来了正义。

This is only a partial list of my involvement, and my involvement is only a tiny fraction of the overall social media community. Regardless of any setbacks and obstacles, I am confident that China is building up a significant population of socially responsible netizens, who will make a difference to the future of China. I can’t wait to return when my hiatus ends!

这只是我所参与事件的一个部分列举,我的参与对社交媒体社区的总体来说也只是极小的一部分。不考虑那些挫折和障碍,我对中国正在建立一批不可忽略的、有社会责任感的网民有信心,他们会对中国的未来有很大影响。我等不及在禁言结束后重返微博了。

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