Scrolling in China: A Look at Social Media, Podcasts, & Young People Today

For non-Columbia affiliates, registration is required to access the Morningside campus. After registering you will receive an email with a QR code that must be presented along with a government-issued ID (your name must match exactly the name registered for the event) at either the 116th Street & Broadway or 116th Street & Amsterdam gates for entry. Please register using a unique email address (one email address per registrant) by 4:00pm on April 10 for campus access.

Names will be submitted for QR codes 1-2 days prior to the event. Registrants will receive an email from CU Guest Access with the QR code before or on the day of the event. NOTE: You cannot access campus using the QR code from Eventbrite.

Speaker: Fang (David) Weng, Asia Society Fellow; Visiting Scholar, Columbia Journalism School

Introduction by: Duy Linh Tu, Professor of Professional Practice in the Faculty of Journalism, Graduate School of Journalism

Over the past decade, China's media landscape has shifted from a centralized gatekeeper model to a fragmented, algorithm-driven ecosystem, and the generation that came of age during this transition has developed an entirely new set of instincts for how to find, share, and encode information. This talk maps that transformation, from the rise of WeChat public accounts and Douyin to the coded vocabularies and disappearing accounts that define life on the Chinese internet today. It will also explore the explosion of long-form podcasting as a space for slow, semi-private conversation in an era of short-video fatigue and algorithmic overreach.

Drawing on his experience as a leading creator of Chinese podcasts, Fang Weng brings an insider perspective to questions that are usually examined from the outside. The talk pays particular attention to the invisible architecture of self-censorship. It examines the emojis, homophones, and strategic silences that creators deploy not to evade detection, but simply to keep speaking. Furthermore, it highlights the audiences who have grown fluent in reading what is absent from a story as much as what is present.

This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and co-sponsored by Columbia Journalism School.

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Host or Publisher Weatherhead East Asian Institute