Social:Little Pink
Little Pink (Chinese: 小粉红; pinyin: xiǎo fěnhóng) is a term used to describe young Chinese nationalists on the internet. They are primarily active on social media sites blocked in China such as Twitter and Instagram.
History
Little Pink is a term used to describe young Chinese nationalists on the internet.[1][2] They developed notoriety for their self-organized online "expeditions" on various social media platforms through which they criticize individuals and groups with contrary views.[3]: 16 They are primarily active on social media sites blocked in China such as Twitter and Instagram.[4] Little Pinks use popular cultural elements like memes, emojis, and political irony to advocate for nationalist viewpoints.[3]: 16
The term Little Pink originated when a group of users started strongly criticizing people who published posts containing negative views and news about China.[5][6] It was used as a derogatory term referencing the background color of website Jinjiang Literature City, from which the group was believed to come from. However, this link was mistakenly exaggerated by the Weibo user who coined the term.[7] Within Jinjiang Literature City, this group became known as the "Jinjiang Girl Group Concerned for the Country", or the Little Pink, which was the main color of the website's front page.[8][4]
According to Yu Liang, the Little Pink movement origins from complex feelings in Chinese digitalized youth. Among these: the desire to feel taken seriously, especially in comparison to the western world; the opposition to Chinese and international "universalist" intellectuals, as Little Pink feel failed by the promises of 90s universalism and "end of history"; celebration of the Chinese State and state-owned enterprises, linked to a rise of Marxist views, as a reaction to the unbecoming inequalities in Chinese society; sense of individual failure and powerlessness, related to the lying flat movement.[9]
In the first days of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Little Pink expressed pro-Russia sentiments on the Chinese internet.[10]
Members
The Little Pink are different from members of the 50 Cent Party or Internet Water Army, as the Little Pink are not known to be paid for their work. In terms of demographics, according to Zhuang Pinghui of South China Morning Post, 83% of the Little Pink are female, with most of them between 18 and 24 years old. More than half of the Little Pink are from third- and fourth-tier cities in China.[8] This claim was contradicted by a research on The China Project, according to which the active participants of the movement in the Di Ba Expedition (2015)[lower-alpha 1] were mostly males.[7]
Responses
The Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper People's Daily and its daily tabloid Global Times have both praised the Little Pink, as has the Communist Youth League of China.[8]
Some Western critics have described Little Pink as "ultranationalist"[11][12] or "Han supremacy".[12]
In October 2021, the Little Pink were the subject of criticism by the satirical song "Fragile" by Malaysian singer Namewee and Australian singer Kimberley Chen.[13]
See also
- Patriotic Education Campaign
- Han chauvinism
- Fenqing
- Vatnik
References
- ↑ an online campaign during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests in which members of the Chinese internet subforum Di Ba organized mass postings on platforms like Facebook and Twitter to promote pro-China messages and oppose the protests.
- ↑ "The East is pink". The Economist. 13 August 2016. https://www.economist.com/china/2016/08/13/the-east-is-pink. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ↑ Asada, K.; Munakata, A.; Zhou, M.; Zhou, C.; Li, G. (December 29, 2022). "Inside China's online nationalist army". https://asia.nikkei.com/static/vdata/infographics/china-social-media/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Song, Chenyang (2025). Nationalist and Popular Culture Practices on Social Media: A Digital Ethnography of Chinese Online Fandom Nationalists. Bielefeld: Transcript. ISBN 978-3-8376-7926-7.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ruan, Lotus. "The New Face of Chinese Nationalism". Foreign Policy. https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/25/the-new-face-of-chinese-nationalism/. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ↑ Wei, Zikui (2019-10-01). "China's Little Pinks?". Asian Survey 59 (5): 822–843. doi:10.1525/as.2019.59.5.822. ISSN 0004-4687.
- ↑ Fang, Kecheng; Repnikova, Maria (June 2018). "Demystifying 'Little Pink': The creation and evolution of a gendered label for nationalistic activists in China". New Media & Society 20 (6): 2162–2185. doi:10.1177/1461444817731923. ISSN 1461-4448.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Tao, Anthony (2017-11-15). "China's 'Little Pink' are not who you think". https://thechinaproject.com/2017/11/15/chinas-little-pink-are-not-who-you-think/.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Zhuang, Pinghui (26 May 2017). "The rise of the Little Pink: China's angry young digital warriors". South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2095458/rise-little-pink-chinas-young-angry-digital-warriors. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ↑ "Mapping China's Youth Culture: Little Pink's Evolution". 2023-03-06. https://thechinaacademy.org/mapping-chinas-youth-culture-little-pinks-evolution-2/.
- ↑ Li, Yuan (27 February 2022). "Why the Chinese internet is cheering Russia's invasion". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/27/business/china-russia-ukraine-invasion.html.
- ↑ Garrick, John (3 September 2021). "The domestic and international consequences of Xi's political philosophy". Australian Strategic Policy Institute. https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-domestic-and-international-consequences-of-xis-political-philosophy/. "To understand the wave of 'little pink' ultra-nationalism washing across the People's Republic of China, it's instructive to examine 'Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era'."
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Cole, J. Michael (5 August 2021). "Olympics highlight dangerous Han supremacy in China: J. Michael Cole for Inside Policy". Macdonald–Laurier Institute. https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/olympics-highlight-dangerous-han-supremacy-china-j-michael-cole-inside-policy/.
- ↑ Hsia, Hsiao-hwa (21 October 2021). "'Fragile' song pillorying China's online troll army gets millions of views". Radio Free Asia. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/trolls-fragile-10212021125002.html.
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