A new year brings a new chapter for What's on Weibo 🚀. Here, I share what’s changing at @WhatsOnWeibo and why.

@basspankai To be fair: she moved to China with her family when she was just a young girl and lived there for years before returning to Moscow. As a child, it is always easier to learn. Still, it's clear she hasn't lost the ability to speak it and she's in her late 40s now!

@franchinada He probably does speak some, as he also served there. He's just sticking to the script.

The text I translated from is Mao, Lin 毛琳. 2020. “25 Years of Transformation in China’s Internet: Two Leaps, Four Waves, and a Bet on the Future” [中国互联网25年变迁：两次跃迁，四次浪潮，一次赌未来] (, but that doesn't explain the Sina Shutdown Incident, which you can read in this book's excerpt here

RT @manyapan: If you're interested in the story behind this text: it's about the journey of Baidu and how two masterminds, Robin Li and Yu…

If you're interested in the story behind this text: it's about the journey of Baidu and how two masterminds, Robin Li and Yu Jun, in those early years orchestrated a shutdown of the popular Sina web portal, since the media company had failed to pay its server fees. They actually didn't shut down Sina's servers just because of the fee; they did it to promote themselves as China's main search engine. On that day (March 12, 2002), they warned journalists ahead of time to check Sina's search engine at 7:30 PM that night. Upon entering a search request, the engine displayed the message: "Due to Sina's unpaid fees, Baidu has temporarily suspended search services for Sina. For better search results, please visit " 😂 The journalists immediately started reporting on the issue, and Baidu was instantly famous. A big business lesson for both: Baidu decided that it was worth angering one of its server clients in order to gain massive recognition for itself. For Sina, the lesson was probably not to rely on others for its crucial functions (and to pay its bills on time).

@pacebend 😂 it's so unapologetically over the top, I love it

On Weibo, many people express their sadness over her death & the fragility of life. Hsu's Wechat account tag said "death is inevitable." She once said in an interview: "Death is not scary. What's scary is not being able to die. Aging is not scary. What's scary is living forever."

@xah_lee It's performance art!

@BethanyAllenEbr Ah I see now, found that very confusing for a sec😂

RT @JChengWSJ: The strained relationship between Beijing and Washington has cut into friendly interactions between Americans and Chinese pe…

@ElAnCapPe Ah I'd actually love a ginger coke now!!