Blogging In China: Cultural Differences

The number of Internet users in China is increasing at a rapid rate.  The Internet opens up a whole new world of opportunities and knowledge for its users.  In China, a country where self-expression and outspoken criticism has long been a calling card for some harsh consequences, the opportunity to “blog” has provided a new avenue for people’s thoughts and feelings.

Some Chinese people are having a tough time adjusting to this newfound freedom.  An article from Xinhuanet.com shows that many Chinese people are discontinuing their blogs due to unwanted criticism from readers.

Recently, many well-known Chinese celebrities have also taken advantage of blogging to increase their exposure by discussing their lives and personal feelings on the Internet.  The problem that many of these celebrities are encountering relates to the “commenting” aspect of blogging.  The majority of these celebrities are usually only given positive admiration in media stories and are not accustomed to occasional criticism, negative opinions or remarks in their blog’s comment section.

Many blogs are read from Internet cafes, and the fact that some people leave harsh comments under fake names, results in some Chinese bloggers feeling defenseless. The notion of “face” or self-respect is a backbone of Chinese culture. To have someone write something negative about you goes against traditional cultural norms that stress respect among friends as well as strangers. In addition, it is very disrespectful in the Chinese culture to criticize someone in public or in front of others.  With this importance of face in Chinese culture, negative blog comments here are probably taken more seriously than other parts of the world where openly voicing one’s opinion is acceptable.

Even though some Chinese have stopped blogging, it is a trend that is still growing rapidly among the rest of the Chinese population. Currently, there are an estimated 15.2 million blogs in China, which some sources expect to grow to 28.6 million within the next year.  With this increase, and the self-expression and openness that blogging offers, the power of this phenomenon here seems almost limitless.