This week’s featured article in New Weekly (新周刊) focuses on the Internet in China. Part 1 of their feature is a highlight of the “Best of the Web 2009,” chosen by the magazine, industry insiders, and netizens. Below is that list, excerpted.
China’s Homepage: Sina News (新浪新闻)
Innovator: Hou Xiaoqiang, CEO of Shanda Literature (侯小强)
Most valuable website (News category): Yeeyan
Nominations: Caijing, Financial Times CN, Wikipedia, Yeeyan (财经网、FT中文网、维基百科、译言)
Most valuable website (Commercial and financial category): Taobao
Nominations: Anjuke, East Money, LetPower, 360buy, Taobao (安居客、东方财富网、记账网、京东商城、淘宝网)
Most valuable website (Opinion category): Tianya
Nominations: Baidu Tieba, Cat898, Mop, Tianya, Sina Microblogging (百度贴吧、凯迪社区、猫扑、天涯社区、新浪微博客)
Most valuable website (Services category): DianPing
Nominations: DianPing, O.cn, Kuxun, liba.com, 55BBS (大众点评网、都市圈、酷讯旅游网、篱笆网、我爱打折网)
Most valuable website (Social category): Kaixin
Nominations: Facebook, Hainei, Kaixin, 51mole.com, RenRen (Facebook中文版、海内网、开心网、摩尔庄园、人人网)
Most valuable website (Multimedia category): Tudou
Nominations: Haoting, Top100.cn, Tudou, 1ting, Youku (好听音乐网、巨鲸音乐、土豆网、一起听音乐网、优酷网)
Most valuable website (Literature and arts category): Qidian
Nominations: Artbaba, Qidian, Readnovel.com, Artron.net (Artbaba、起点中文网、小说阅读网、雅昌艺术网)
Most valuable website (Fashion category): Haibao
Nominations: Fashion Trend Digest, Haibao, Modern Party, onlylady (FTD观潮网、海报时尚网、摩登夜会、onlylady)
Best niche website: Douban
Nominations: Douban, Songshuhui, Kongfz.com, Xitek, Pepo.cn (豆瓣、科学松鼠会、孔夫子旧书网、色影无忌、小众玩家门户网)
Best blog: Li Chengpeng
Nominations: Han Han, Hong Huang, Huang Jiwei, Li Chengpeng, Lian Yue (韩寒、洪晃、黄集伟、李承鹏、连岳)
The second feature portion is “China’s Internet Life Red Paper,” and the third is “The Internet: Putting People First.” An excerpt from the “Red Paper” on how the effects of the Internet are being felt offline:
In February 2009, the “Eluding the Cat” case broke out in Yunnan and attracted the country’s attention. The Yunnan Publicity Department then made the unprecedented move of inviting netizens to form an investigation committee. “Eluding the Cat” became a popular Internet phrase. Later in May 2009, because the police evaluation of the “5·7” incident was unsatisfactory, netizens created the term “qishima” [homophone of “70 km per hour”] to satirize the car’s purported speed. Then in July 2009, “Pull Down Pants Gate” and other videos spread on the net; discussions and debates about the post-90s generation flourished.
Today’s Internet is no longer simply an illusory world. Not only does it affect reality to some degree, it also provides an effective outlet for expression.
“The Internet’s three big forms of physical exercise” are “buying soy sauce,” “doing push ups,” and “eluding the cat.” Each has come from actual news. “The Internet’s 10 mythical creatures,” with “Grass Mud Horse” leading the way, were a form of netizen expression. Human flesh search engines showed their strength starting from 2006 Heilongjiang’s “kitten killer” incident. Today, the phenomenon has developed to the point that after most news events happen, different degrees of the “human flesh search engine” will be at work. And breaking Internet news is becoming increasingly popular; the country’s entertainment reporters all go to Tianya to look for news sources, and Sina celebrity blog posts have also become the content of traditional media reports.
[…] From reality to the Internet, every tragedy has a comedic conclusion. Chinese people have experienced 30 years of enormous change in their lives; online, they have experienced 15 years of enormous change. Netizens have gone from being spectators to participants, creating the content of the Internet, and have become society’s watchdogs.
