What’s not trending on Weibo: China’s missing climate change discourse

Given the central role of People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the global climate crisis, discussion and analysis of Chinese actions and pledges on decarbonization abound. However, less examined are the popular ‘demand’ side of climate change politics inside of China. Our article explores a new set o...

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Main Authors: Chuxuan Liu, Jeremy Lee Wallace
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2023-01-01
Series:Environmental Research Communications
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/acacee
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author Chuxuan Liu
Jeremy Lee Wallace
author_facet Chuxuan Liu
Jeremy Lee Wallace
author_sort Chuxuan Liu
collection DOAJ
description Given the central role of People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the global climate crisis, discussion and analysis of Chinese actions and pledges on decarbonization abound. However, less examined are the popular ‘demand’ side of climate change politics inside of China. Our article explores a new set of data to gauge public discourse in China related to climate change by looking at trending topics on the prominent social media platform, Sina Weibo. In over 348,000 trending topics on Weibo from June 2017 to February 2021, we find only 336 unique topics, that is 0.12%, related to climate change. Even in the rare occasions when climate-related topics start trending, we find a general lack of substantive engagement in Weibo posts.
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spelling doaj.art-73552439f13d42dab8dd3a6d463896412023-04-18T13:48:23ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Communications2515-76202023-01-015101100210.1088/2515-7620/acaceeWhat’s not trending on Weibo: China’s missing climate change discourseChuxuan Liu0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1125-4586Jeremy Lee Wallace1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7152-8481Stanford University 210 Encina West , 616 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305 United States of AmericaCornell University 211 White Hall , 123 Central Ave, Ithaca, NY, 14850 United States of AmericaGiven the central role of People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the global climate crisis, discussion and analysis of Chinese actions and pledges on decarbonization abound. However, less examined are the popular ‘demand’ side of climate change politics inside of China. Our article explores a new set of data to gauge public discourse in China related to climate change by looking at trending topics on the prominent social media platform, Sina Weibo. In over 348,000 trending topics on Weibo from June 2017 to February 2021, we find only 336 unique topics, that is 0.12%, related to climate change. Even in the rare occasions when climate-related topics start trending, we find a general lack of substantive engagement in Weibo posts.https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/acaceeclimate changeChinasocial media
spellingShingle Chuxuan Liu
Jeremy Lee Wallace
What’s not trending on Weibo: China’s missing climate change discourse
Environmental Research Communications
climate change
China
social media
title What’s not trending on Weibo: China’s missing climate change discourse
title_full What’s not trending on Weibo: China’s missing climate change discourse
title_fullStr What’s not trending on Weibo: China’s missing climate change discourse
title_full_unstemmed What’s not trending on Weibo: China’s missing climate change discourse
title_short What’s not trending on Weibo: China’s missing climate change discourse
title_sort what s not trending on weibo china s missing climate change discourse
topic climate change
China
social media
url https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/acacee
work_keys_str_mv AT chuxuanliu whatsnottrendingonweibochinasmissingclimatechangediscourse
AT jeremyleewallace whatsnottrendingonweibochinasmissingclimatechangediscourse