Yixuan Wang, Licheng Ying, Gegen Xiao, Jiahui Yan, Xiaoxu Li, Shuangting He, and Aosong Lin

appendix: Important Network Incidents from 2014 to 2015

Tmall “Double Eleven” Sales Nearly 100 Billion Since 2009, Ali Baba Group’s Tmall (then called Taobao Mall) has started to build the “Double Eleven” shopping festival. By 2015, the “Double Eleven” has spread from Tmall to the whole e-commerce platform, from domestic to global, and has become a shopping carnival for the online shopping force from e-commerce marketing day. On November 11, 2015, snapping up took place in the first minute and 12 seconds, and the turn- over reached 1 billion yuan. In the first 12 minutes and 28 seconds, the trading volume reached 10 billion yuan. As of 00:00 on the 12th, the transaction amount reached 91.217 billion yuan. In 2015, the “Double Eleven” event not only renewed the global 24-hour retail record of single e-commerce in terms of sales but also presented some new changes and features. First, wireless transactions have jumped to become the main bat- tleground for e-commerce consumption with 68% of orders. Tmall adds a lot of shopping experience to the mobile phone, whether it is from shopping settings, shaking or giving red envelopes. Mobile phones are becoming more and more people’s consumption tools, and the entire shopping experience has been fully integrated from the traditional PC to the mobile at an extremely fast speed. Secondly, cross-border business is

Y. Wang • L. Ying • G. Xiao • J. Yan • X. Li • S. He • A. Lin School of Society and Population, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

© China Renmin University Press 2020 291 S. Liu, J. Wang (eds.), The Internet Society in China, Sociology, Media and Journalism in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8237-6 292 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 growing rapidly and the trend of consumption internationalization is more obvious. In 2015, the “Double Eleven” was attended by netizens from more than 200 countries and regions on Tmall platform alone, and 460 million logistics orders were generated by the Communist Party. The phenomenon of “buy the world, sell the world” is more common. Third, the trading area has expanded and further spread to the real consumption. Goods and services that traditionally do not fall within the scope of e-commerce, such as automobiles, real estate, finance, aviation, entertainment and other fields, have also joined the “Double Eleven” promotional activities, showing a boom of nationwide consumption online and offline. Finally, the festival significance of “Double Eleven” celebrations is becoming increasingly obvious. In addition to shopping activities, the “Double Eleven” party broadcast live on TV on the evening of November 10 is also driving consumers around the world to jointly welcome the arrival of the “Double Eleven” zero point in 2015 while enjoying the festival culture. The “Double Eleven” is no longer just a shopping carnival for the purpose of coveting cheap goods, and it has begun to penetrate into social life in an all-round way, causing a profound cultural change (Lin Aosong).

An Incident on the “Ten-word Letter of Resignation” by a Female Teacher In April 2015, a photo of a resignation letter suddenly became popular in the moments and microblog, causing a heated discussion on the Internet. This resignation letter has only ten words—“the world is so big, I want to see it”—and was rated as “the most literary resignation letter” and “the most sentimental resignation letter in history” and so on. The photo of the resignation letter was forwarded by many official media and microblog “V”, and the topic of “the most literary resignation letter” on microblog reached more than 10,000 discussions and 1,992,000 readings, making the phrase “the world is so big, I want to see it” a popular online phrase in 2015. The author of this resignation letter is Gu Shaoqiang, the backbone teacher of Henan Experimental Middle School who has been teaching for ten years, and this “willful” resignation letter was approved by the leaders. The evolu- tion from an individual behavior to a public event reflects the social fact that the attitude expressed behind this letter of resignation toward life’s natural and unrestrained “willfulness” has become the public’s pursuit—“the world is so big, I want to see” can become a reason for a person to resign, and the person who resigned is still a middle school teacher who is steadfast, stable APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 293 and well paid to outsiders. In real life, people’s determination to pursue their ideal life simply is called out by the ten-word reason for resignation, which is also the “feelings” of “ten-word resignation letter” and the reason for its popularity. After the “ten-word resignation letter”, various “capri- cious” resignation letters appeared on the Internet, such as the resignation of girls because they couldn’t get up in winter, which also triggered social reflection on the capriciousness and responsibility of the younger generation (Lin Aosong).

An Incident on the “Strictest Tobacco Control Order” in Beijing On June 1, 2015, Beijing Tobacco Control Regulation, known as the “most strict tobacco control order in history”, was officially implemented, spark- ing public opinion and heated debate. According to the regulation, smoking was prohibited in all indoor public places in Beijing, including office buildings, restaurants, workplaces, public transport and so on, with a complete halt to all tobacco promotion activities, individuals found violating the prohibition will be fined the highest of 200 yuan, and smoking was prohibited in all the indoor public places “with the tops and covers” summed up by netizens. The implementation of Beijing’s “most controlled smoke order” has received attention not only from smokers, but also because it is expected to be a model of tobacco control in other cities. “Are you control- ling for smoking?” a topic issued by the World Health Organization on Twitter in support of the Beijing Tobacco Control Regulation campaign realized a discussion volume of 61,000 and a reading volume of more than 60 million. Most people expressed strong support for the implementation of the “most controlled smoke order”; it is believed that the “most controlled smoke order” implemented by Beijing will be used as an opportunity to gradually achieve the goal of smoke-free China. However, doubts have been expressed as to whether the regulations can actually be implemented and have the desired effect; or that measures such as “no smoking in public places and the workplaces” are too strict and are not fundamental tobacco control measures. Since the tobacco control regulation, the effect is relatively significant; with the help of the media, the Internet and other publicity, the public awareness of the Beijing smoking control regulations increased from 43.43% to 82.64%. In order to prevent tobacco control 294 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 orders from becoming “the most stringent on paper”, it is also necessary for the whole people to work together to discourage supervision (Lin Aosong).

An Incident on Qingdao Prawn On October 4, 2015, Mr. Xiao in Sichuan posted an article by microblog, saying that he was made to pay through the nose for a seafood meal at a Qingdao restaurant called “Shande Live Seafood Barbecue Home Cuisine”, and the price of 38 yuan was listed on the menu at the time of ordering, while the boss charged 38 yuan as the price of each prawn at the time of checkout. Garlic prawn cost 1520 yuan each. After complaining to the relevant local functional departments about “kicking the ball”, he paid the 800 yuan meal fee for his escape and left. Subsequently, the microblog attracted netizens’ attention. After being forwarded by multi- ple media accounts, public opinion reached a hot climax on October 7, forming the “Qingdao Prawn Incident”. The number of topics read on microblogs is close to 5 million, netizens have reported various experi- ences of tourism slaughter, prepared various jokes to ridicule the incident, and traditional media have also tracked the incident. On October 5, relevant Qingdao government departments started an investigation into the incident, punished the businesses involved on the 6th, and then issued a series of notices on standardizing the tourism market and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. The Qingdao prawn incident has highlighted the frequent loss of tourists in the tourism market in recent years and the mutual prevarication and inaction of relevant government departments, which has quickly aroused public dissatisfaction. The “friendly Shandong” tourism brand and Qingdao’s city image were severely damaged by the Qingdao prawn incident, which triggered people’s reflection on the tourism market norms, city image shaping and government management. At the same time, the Qingdao prawn incident shows the timeliness of information dissemination, the concentration of public opinion expression and the role of public opinion in monitoring and promoting the government under the network new media environment (Lin Aosong). APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 295

An Incident on the Suicide of Left-behind Children in Bijie At 23:30, June 9, 2015, four left-behind children in Tiankan Township, Guanqu District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province, died at home and were suspected to have committed suicide by drinking pesticides collectively. It is understood that four children—one boy and three girls—are siblings; the eldest brother was 13 years old, the youngest sister was only 5 years old, the father works abroad, the mother has been away from home for many years, and only four children were at home. A month ago, four children had dropped out of school without living expenses. The only food in the family was corn planted by their father last year. After the report was made, the local police immediately launched an investigation and the aftermath was carried out in an orderly manner. Several persons responsible for the incident were dealt with. After the incident was disclosed by media public opinion, it caused social shock. Premier Li Keqiang instructed that the temporary relief system should not be in a mere formality, that acts of omission and false implementation should be severely rectified and held accountable, and that tragedies should not occur again and again. Also in Bijie, Guizhou, on the winter night of 2012, five boys, including four left-behind children, died of carbon monoxide poisoning while escap- ing from the cold in the dustbin. The two successive deaths of left-behind children have exposed the contradiction and friction between the rapid development of the current urbanization process and the decline of the countryside, and have enabled the society to focus its attention again on the special group of left-behind children. The left-behind children in the countryside often have the dual problems of survival and psychology. The absence of family care and humanistic care makes them psychologically vulnerable to loneliness, inferiority and anxiety. Their emotional needs are difficult to meet and their psychological status is worrying. Even when social security assistance measures are in place, the risk of injury and suicide faced by left-behind children is much higher than that of other children. Faced with this situation, the government, society and family should work together to improve the psychological plight of the left-behind children so as to avoid the recurrence of such incidents. In the process of the incident, the network public opinion has always focused on the incident, urging relevant departments to deal with it as soon as possible, and inter- acting with the traditional media public opinion, demonstrating the powerful emerging force of the network public opinion platform as the representative of public opinion (Li Xiaoxu). 296 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015

An Incident on a Female College Student Helping the Falling Elderly Blackmailed in Anhui On September 8, 2015, Yuan XX, a student at Huainan Normal University, posted an article by microblog, saying that she helped the falling elderly and was blackmailed and found witnesses to prove her innocence. The netizen “@ Ren Fantong” said on her microblog that she was an eyewit- ness and could prove Yuan’s innocence. However, after that, three witnesses claimed to have heard Yuan XX admit to knocking down the old man and apologized to the old man. On September 21, the police decided that Yuan XX had contact with each other when riding past the old man, Yuan XX took the primary responsibility and the old man took the secondary responsibility. Internet public opinion began to shift from one-sided condemnation of the elderly to labeling Yuan as “dishonest” and criticizing her. The development of the incident was a wave of 30% setbacks, with several major reversals in the end. In this process, the parties and witnesses spoke through the network platform, and the public opinion field on the network evolved from the initial criticism of the elderly into a rational search for facts and even influenced the outcome of the event handling, showing that in the new media era, the network public opinion platform, as the expression space of public ideas in the virtual space, was deeply embedded in the social structure and interacted with reality. However, in this incident, the network platform not only provided the public with a full opportunity to speak freely, but also gave some radical and ambiguous speech fermentation space, highlighting the impact of the development of the network society on people’s social trust, sense of social participation and sense of social responsibility (Li Xiaoxu).

An Incident on the Investigation of Haze by Chai Jing On February 28, 2015, Under the Dome, a haze survey video shot by Chai Jing, a former CCTV anchor, at her own expense, entered public view and attracted great public attention. By 24:00 on the same day, the total click- through rate of Under the Dome on major video websites had exceeded 31 million. The documentary, which took a year to produce and lasted 103 minutes, was directed at the haze phenomenon and was released on the eve of the “two sessions” and quickly spread among major network platforms and WeChat moments. From the perspective of a mother APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 297 instead of a reporter of CCTV, Chai Jing made this video at her own expense with a view to directing the public as well as the social and government attention to the grim issue of environmental pollution. In the documentary, as a former media person, she appeared as a declaration of war, taking her daughter’s illness as an introduction, taking “sharing the same breath and destiny” as the theme, explaining common sense again with data, attribution and analysis, systematizing it and explaining it, and answering three questions: “What is Haze? Where does it come from? What shall we do?” She visited many pollution sites to find the source of haze, visited many countries to interview the experience of pollution control, and put forward action plans at the national and individual levels. This documentary shows a mother’s perspective, from which the conscience, responsibility and responsibility of the whole society can be further extended. With an intuitive form of expression, clear event sorting and huge dissemination effect, ordinary viewers can follow the understanding without hindrance within 100 minutes, and the topic of “Haze” will become clearer in China’s public life. As the main channel of documentary communication and the main position for netizens to explain and discuss, the platform of moments and microblog has pushed this topic to the forefront with its advantages of three-dimensional linkage communication, demonstrating its strong power of gathering social identity (Li Xiaoxu).

An Incident on Unlocking the Second Child in an All-round Way On October 29, 2015, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee concluded. The meeting decided to adhere to the basic national policy of family planning, improve the population development strategy, fully implement the policy that a couple can have two children and actively carry out actions to deal with the aging of the population. This is another demographic policy adjustment after the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee launched the implementation of the “selective two-child” policy in 2013. On the morning of December 21, 2015, the 18th session of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress first considered the Amendment to the Law on Population and Family Planning (Draft). The draft proposes that the amendment will come into effect on January 1, 2016. The draft also 298 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 revised the provisions on incentives and guarantees that are not compati- ble with the policy of fully releasing the two-child policy, removing the provisions on incentives for couples who marry late and have children late and parents with only one child. At present, China’s population structure has been distorted, with deep aging coexisting with severe childlessness. After the implementation of the comprehensive two-child policy, China’s total population peak is expected to appear in 2029, with a population of 1.45 billion and a population of 1.35 billion by 2050. During this period, the population will increase by 100 million to 150 million compared with the policy of not releasing the two-child policy. At present, the proportion of the elderly population in Chinese society continues to rise, and the new population will reduce the aging degree of China from 35–36% to 34–35% in 2050. Although the comprehensive two-child policy cannot stop the general trend of aging, it can slow down the aging of the population to a certain extent. At this rate, China’s social labor force is expected to increase by 30 million by 2050. The implementation of the comprehensive two- child policy will accelerate the release of China’s social demographic divi- dend. From the time when the policy has not been officially released to the public, the search index of “fully releasing the second child” on the internet platform has remained hot for a long time, and netizens have expressed their opinions on the policy. This shows that the network public opinion has its own logical system and stand, is an important channel for the public to express their attitude, and is also a real reflection of the realistic mental- ity in the lack of communication space (Li Xiaoxu).

An Incident on Yunnan Tour Guide Abusing Tourists On May 1, 2015, a video of female Yunnan tour guides verbally abusing tourists because they were dissatisfied with the low consumption of tourists was widely circulated on the Internet, placing female tour guide Chen XX at the forefront of public opinion. In the video, the tour guide was furious because she was dissatisfied with the tourists’ low consumption. She abused the tourists for several minutes, questioned where the tourists’ morality and conscience were, threatened the tourists and forced them to spend. During this time, the tour guide was arrogant. The abusive behavior of tour guides immediately aroused the public anger of netizens, pointing at abusive tour guides, while the online public opinion fell on the ground accusing the tour guides and their travel agencies involved. The Yunnan Provincial Tourism Development Commission also opened an APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 299 investigation into the incident and immediately released the results of the investigation and handling of the tour guide and related travel agencies. Later, the tour guide involved apologized and explained that she had made mistakes in swearing and expressed her “grievance” as a tour guide, and the truth of the whole incident was gradually restored. Chen XX is carrying a low-cost tour in Kunming, Dali, Lijiang and Xishuangbanna. The contract is signed as a “tourist shopping tour”. However, tourists did not spend much in the scenic area, so the tour guide was greatly dissatisfied. The transformation of the tour guide involved from a strong person to a weak person has triggered a shift in public opinion on the Internet. A large number of news reports have begun to pay attention to the survival status and embarrassing situation of the tour guide group, and some netizens have pointed the finger at the tourists involved, believing that they have failed to fulfill the travel contract, lack honesty and take advantage of it. As a fuse, the incident triggered the discussion of the deep-seated industry problems in tourism by the network public opinion and reflected on the “unreasonable low price” of tourism service industry. In the whole incident, there has been a huge shift in public opinion around the Internet. The focus of discussion has risen from the incident itself to the problem of the tourism service industry behind it, from blaming the tour guides involved on one side to sympathizing with the survival plight of the tour guide group and reflecting on the current situation of the chaos in the tourism service industry. Internet public opinion has gradually promoted the development of the incident and the restoration of facts, and exerted pressure on the deep-seated industry problems reflected by the incident, forcing Yunnan’s tourism service industry to make adjustments and changes. The phenomenon of tour guides forcing tourists to consume frequently in Yunnan Province and the incident of tour guides abusing tourists as a fuse have triggered the questioning and reflection of the chaos in Yunnan’s tourism service industry by the public opinion on the Internet. From this, we can see the huge influence of network public opinion and guide netizens to discuss the issue rationally, which is one of the important ways to promote social change (He Shuangting).

An Incident on Chengdu Man Beating Female Driver On May 3, 2015, Sina Weibo user “Chengdu Business Daily” released a 35-second video of a “Chengdu female driver being beaten up” which caused a heated discussion and then went viral on the Internet. In the 300 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 video, a male driver forced a female driver to stop and beat her in the street. During the whole process, the man kicked the female driver in the face several times and was cruel and violent. Netizens have denounced male drivers, calling them “scum men” and “perverts” and saying that their violence is too excessive and bad in nature. Subsequently, relevant news reports followed up, saying that the man had caused a fracture of the right shoulder and concussion of the female driver and bruises on her body and had been detained in criminal detention. The state media also responded to the incident and the impact of the incident gradually expanded. On May 4, the beating man made a sincere apology for the violence. His driving recorder recorded the video exposure and the whole “quarreling” process of the two men. In the course of driving, the female driver suddenly changed lanes and caused two accidents, which angered the male driver, who retaliated after forcing the female driver to stop under the overpass. The video caused quite a stir. Public opinion began to shift from sympathizing with female drivers to accusing female drivers of being wrong first. Later, netizens ripped out the records of female drivers for 26 driving violations and even exposed their records of opening houses. Female drivers, instead of male drivers, became the target of criticism by netizens. Although the female driver apologized for the first change of road, she was considered to be with ungodly attitude, even lying in the interview, and the father of the female driver also explained that public opinion was guided by the “water army” on the Internet and wanted to pursue the legal responsibility of the rumor mongers. The father and daughter’s post-event public relations behavior caused a great antipathy among most netizens, and the criticism of female drivers became fiercer and fiercer, with public opinion favoring male drivers. According to an online survey, nearly 70% of netizens think it is the responsibility of the female driver. In the whole incident, public opinion has turned sharply from one side to the other, denouncing hitting drivers to the criticism of female drivers by most netizens. The public relations behavior of female drivers who are strong in advance and weak afterward has been greatly questioned by public opinion. Through different public relations actions, both parties reshape or clean up their image in the incident and strive for the attitude of netizens, which is an important reason for the great change of public opinion. The man has changed from a “cruel abuser” to a “doer for good”, and his crisis public relations is suspected of being too hard. However, the women has changed from a “sympathized victim” to a “hated perpetrator” whose image has been recognized by the public APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 301 because of driving video and human flesh. Internet public opinion may be affected by the so-called water army in the incident, but most netizens are still able to judge the incident itself. The Internet has proved its ability to restore and judge the truth of the incident again, but in the process of restoring facts and criticizing mistakes, it is easy to overexert and hurt innocent people without proper guidance and restraint (He Shuangting).

An Incident on Gunfire at Qingan Railway Station in Heilongjiang Province On May 2, 2015, Xu XX, a man from Qingan County, Heilongjiang Province, stopped passengers from entering the station at the county railway station, and the police on duty stopped him. The man did not listen to the dissuasion and threw down young children to grab guns. He was shot down and killed by Li XX, the police on duty. After the network exposure, it attracted great attention from netizens and triggered a dispute over whether the guns used by the civilian police were reasonable. The police on duty carried great social pressure. Xinhua News Agency reported on May 3 that the scene of the incident was restored through surveillance video, but the complete video was not made public. Coupled with the video clips circulating on the Internet and the depth of relevant reports, the whole incident was clouded with doubts, causing netizens to question the truth behind the incident and make unlimited guesses. Dong XX, the county party Committee standing Committee member and deputy county magistrate in Qing’ an, expressed condolences on behalf of the provincial and municipal leaders to the injured policemen in the incident and affirmed their practice. Local railway police paid compensation to the family members of the deceased in the name of rescue. The deceased was cremated, his three children were sent to welfare homes and his mother was sent to nursing homes. Although the relevant departments immediately set up an incident investigation team to conduct investigation and evidence collec- tion, the video sent for inspection related to the incident has not been exposed, causing great doubts among the public on the Internet, and some netizens have even pointed out that the video is suspected of having been edited. The mainstream media have been voicing their voices, “push- ing back” the truth and demanding that the video be released as soon as possible. On May 14, the results of the investigation of the incident were released and the video on the scene was released: Xu attacked a police 302 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 officer at the scene and grabbed his daughter and threw her at the police officer. Prosecutors decided that the police shot legally. Moreover, Dong XX, a deputy county magistrate, was suspended for academic fraud and other issues, and the incident gradually subsided. Since the beginning of the incident, relevant departments have failed to investigate the incident, the truth of the incident has not been released in time, and relevant media reports have continued to dig for the information behind the incident, triggering questions from online public opinion. As for the shooting behavior of the police, the network is agitated and easily affects rational judgment due to emotion. It is easy to lose the initiative to launch an investigation under the “adverse force” of network public opinion. The incident revealed that while restoring the truth of the incident in time, we should also pay attention to and guide public opinion and public senti- ment on the Internet (He Shuangting).

An Incident on 12306 CAPTCHA From March 16, 2015, 12306 railway official website login screen began to use the verification method of selecting picture verification code in an attempt to crack down on cattle buying tickets through the application of new technology. However, the picture verification code has been criticized by netizens because it is difficult to identify it. On December 4, the report from Beijing Youth Daily—“Online Train Ticket Verification Code Is Pointed Difficult to Identify”—pointed out that the correct rate of one- time input by users is only 8%, and the number of 12306 Wonderful Verification Codes has reached 581. Subsequently, several mainstream media forwarded articles, which caused netizens to pay attention to and speak out. After being reprinted by a well-known blogger on Sina Weibo, the topic was hotly debated, and some even complained that “12,306 verification code has defeated 99% of ticket buyers nationwide, and I have no way to go home”. After that, netizens began to chant through the spoof image verification code, and various versions such as the northeast version and the star version of the spoof appeared on the network. While entertaining the spoof, netizens chanted the image verification code too low, making it more difficult to snatch tickets, believing that this method is putting the cart before the horse. Later, some official departments, including the railway department, began to respond to relevant reports, saying that the purpose of using the picture verification code was to prevent third-party ticket purchase software from cracking and prevent the APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 303 yellow bull party from damaging the fairness of ticket purchase in order to protect the rights and interests of passengers who really need to buy tickets, and called on netizens to offer suggestions, suggestions for modifica- tion and relevant improvement measures, hoping to improve service and user experience through adjustment so as to ensure the interests of the majority of users. In this incident, netizens caused the carnival of the whole people on the Internet through the entertainment form. We should see the people’s demands reflected behind this entertainment form (He Shuangting).

The Legality of Online Ride-hailing Industry Causing Disputes In recent years, the network taxi platform software, which was born under the background of the Internet, has gradually been favored by people (such as Didi Car and Uber Car). The car operation platform and car drivers use the Internet to promote the benefits of car, and establish WeChat and QQ groups to promote “legal and compliant” car business to build social identity. Taxi drivers also expressed their opposition and anger on the Internet, organizing protests and even some violent incidents. With the popularity of special cars, a series of problems have emerged. On June 25, 2015, several celebrities posted “Beat U, I’m afraid of the unlicensed cab” on their microblogs. The theme poster set off the topic of hidden trouble in car operation. In this regard, the attitude of all sectors of society is different. According to the current laws and regulations, the government administration believes that “private cars” are operating illegally by using private cars, that is, “unlicensed cab”. Traditional taxi drivers believe that private car access to the platform should be firmly prohibited from participating in the operation. The platform company and the car driver think that they belong to the leasing company and operate in compliance with the law. The main consumer of the special car holds a rather vague view, and supporters think that the network special car enriches the way of travel and makes up for the travel demand. Questioners consider the frequent criminal crimes and pricing confusion of car drivers and think that car operations should be tightened before the relevant laws and regulations are promulgated. It can be said that the free and diffuse nature of the Internet has brought the problem of Internet-based cars into the public’s view and kept fermenting. The social differences over the legitimacy of the 304 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 car also show the absence of government and legal supervision over the Internet car. Properly responding to such problems requires the government to give reasonable guidance and actively carry out relevant reforms, so that online ride-hailing car can participate in market competition in compliance with the law. There is no denying that the full penetration of the Internet into people’s lives has become unstoppable (Xiao Gegen).

A Video on Sanya City Manager Bullying a Director-General On the afternoon of December 4, 2015, Bi XX (former stationmaster of China National Radio’s Heilongjiang Journalists Station), 65-year-old, claimed that his bicycle and clothes were detained by urban management personnel for illegal parking while he was swimming in Sanya Bay. Later, he only wore shorts to protect his rights in downtown areas for more than four hours. He wrote an article about the whole process of the incident from his personal perspective and uploaded it to the Internet, which was then forwarded by several prominent figures on the Internet, thus arous- ing widespread concern. On December 7, Sanya Municipal Government announced that it had handled the matter and asked for a public apology. On the same day, someone issued a document accusing Bi XX of “depart- mental level cadres should not be a permit for throwing criminals” and reminding him to “flaunt naked and contradict Party discipline”. On the morning of December 8, Bi XX once again issued a letter reiterating his own experience and pointing out that Sanya’s urban management has not made an apology and explanation in person at present. Just as netizens thought the dust had settled, on December 12, a story titled The Latest Video Proof! Expose the Ugly Face of Director Bi! spread on the Internet, causing a reversal of events and causing a great stir. This article confirmed with several video surveillance that Bi XX did not “walk weakly to the city government” as he described himself after his bicycle and clothes were detained by the city management on the same day, but took a taxi to the city government and went home in the process. Later, Bimou admitted that he had lied and apologized for it, but said that it could not change the nature of improper law enforcement in Sanya City. Sanya city authorities said the video was not leaked from its organization. It can be said that the whole thing has attracted wide attention from the people’s government at a higher level, various media and netizens after the fermentation of the APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 305

Internet. The power of law enforcement in urban management is already a sensitive term, mixed with office officials and retired officials, making the impact of the whole incident exceed everyone’s expectations. Therefore, after the handshake between the virtual space and the real space, we should carefully and objectively reflect on the network behavior embedded in the social structure and the possible reaction of the network public opinion to the society (Xiao Gegen).

Wuzhen Summit of World Internet Conference The first World Internet Conference was held in Wuzhen from November 19 to 21, 2014, and Wuzhen was designated as the permanent venue. A year after the meeting passed quickly, but China’s Internet process has changed with each passing day. Take Wuzhen, the venue of this conference, for example, where the Internet is within reach. At present, the whole process of food, clothing, housing and transportation can be completed through code sweeping in Wuzhen without credit card and cash. Even an Internet hospital is opened here and medicine can be prescribed through app. It can be said that Wuzhen was rebuilt by the Internet, or that the Internet has fundamentally changed Wuzhen, and the genes of the Internet have also been slowly integrated into this ancient town. On December 16, 2015, the second World Internet Conference was held in Wuzhen, China’s largest and highest-level Internet conference. The theme of the conference was “Interconnection, Sharing and Governance-Building a Community of Destiny in Cyberspace”. This conference not only is broadcast live on traditional media but also has sub-venues on the Internet. General Secretary Xi Jinping and Secretary of the Secretariat Liu Yunshan attended the conference. Leaders of several countries, such as Russia, and more than 50 foreign ministerial officials were also invited to attend this Internet conference. The idea of cyberspace destiny community shows that heads of state and decision-making levels of multinational companies are aware of the importance of the Internet. Some people jokingly called it “non-mainstream” if they did not come to the conference because they were Internet users. This also shows from the side that the Internet has successfully transformed from a medium to an important part of the market. The extensive participation of representatives from many countries also proves that the World Internet Conference has transformed itself from the past meeting of Chinese Internet companies to a platform for all countries in the world to work together to find opportunities (Xiao Gegen). 306 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015

An Incident on MERS Virus Event On May 30, 2015, the official microblog of the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention published an urgent microblog “Urgently Seeking Passengers Accompanying South Korean MERS Patients”, and after that the microblog was widely forwarded and reported in the media, and it caused an upsurge of public opinion on the Internet. The incident hap- pened roughly as follows: a Korean man surnamed Jin was identified as a suspected MERS patient and was asked to be quarantined in South Korea, but successfully boarded a plane in South Korea and arrived in Hong Kong on May 26, 2015. The man took a bus to enter the mainland of China after hiding his illness in Hong Kong. On May 27, South Korean authorities informed China and the World Health Organization about the man. On May 28, Guangdong officials found the man in an emergency. Upon inquiry, he admitted to knowing his own situation and potential danger. On May 29, the man’s physical examination confirmed that he was positive. On May 31, the Guangdong Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission reported that the passenger’s illness had worsened and that 64 people had been followed up with his close contacts, but there were still 13 “missing” people, hoping to find them through the power of the media. With the further development of the incident, the Hong Kong side disclosed that two Korean women who were on the same plane as the Korean man were identified as close contacts and had to be observed in isolation, but they were rejected by the two parties. Finally, they were persuaded by the assistance and lobbying of the Korean consulate staff in Hong Kong. For a period of time, the Internet has caused condemnation and strong dissatisfaction of several Korean nationals and even all Koreans involved. For example, Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily calls the man surnamed Jin a “poisonous man” who walks around. Judging from the whole incident, the greatest anger of netizens is their dissatisfaction with the disregard for other people’s lives by several Korean nationals. At this time, the relative freedom of cyberspace provides a relatively free platform for netizens to vent their personal emotions. In addition, judging from the official posting of microblogs, the emergence of the network has played an important role in improving government services and speeding up the timely and effective delivery of government information. It can be said that the establishment of the network platform provides a new way for the government to establish public trust and improve the service level (Xiao Gegen). APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 307

An Indecent Sex Video in Uniqlo Fitting Room On the evening of July 14, 2015, an indecent video of Uniqlo fitting room was posted on Weibo. According to media reports, the video con- tained a clear guide word “Welcome to Uniqlo Sanlitun Store”, which caused netizens to speculate on the purpose of the video. According to the details of the video content, some netizens think that indecent video is Uniqlo’s marketing behavior of “using two unknown professional actors”. From a marketing point of view, Li Shilu, a financial think tank of Tencent, believes that video clicks exceed 100 million in two hours, which is equivalent to giving Uniqlo a free advertisement in a single day. On the morning of the 15th, Uniqlo’s official microblog issued a statement saying that it had reported to the relevant media platform at the first time and firmly denied the marketing hype. Many Internet watchers also said that Uniqlo, as a traditional Japanese enterprise, could hardly do this kind of marketing that undermines the image of the enterprise. With the rise of the incident, many brands such as H & M, Zara and Dragonfly FM have taken advantage of the market. On the afternoon of the 15th, the Internet Information Office interviewed the leaders of Sina and Tencent, ordered them to carry out an investigation and severely punished the suspected vulgar marketing and other acts. On the evening of the 15th, Beijing police took five people, including the male and female protagonists in Uniqlo’s indecent video, for investigation. A large number of netizens participated in the comments of the incident, making fun of the “Duan Zishou” and con- ducting a “human flesh search” on the video’s leading men and women, and even a large number of citizens took photos in front of Uniqlo Building in Sanlitun, Beijing. The indecent video of Uniqlo fitting room caters to the curiosity of netizens and their desire to spy on others, spreading viruses through the Internet and setting off a public carnival. After the incident, the network information office and the Beijing police reacted quickly, reflecting that China’s ability to conduct network governance according to law is improving (Yan Jiahui).

An Incident on Shampoo Advertisements by Jackie Chan Being Pranked “I actually refused to shoot this shampoo advertisement”, it was Jackie Chan’s advertisement for overlord shampoo in 2004. Because of the spoof of netizens, “I actually refused” and “Duang” became the most popular 308 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 buzzwords on the Internet. On February 20, 2015, Jackie Chan, a blogger on the video website of Beery and Beery, edited with Pomerang’s Divine Comedy My Sliding Shoes last year and released the ghost animal video My Shampoo, which was then frantically forwarded by Weibo Big V and many netizens, and the fever soared. “Ghost Animal” is derived from Japanese vocabulary and refers to a kind of video with high synchroniza- tion rate of rhythm and sound and picture by video clips and repeated pictures or sounds with high frequency. Originally this video format was relatively small, but after adding such factors as pop songs, overlord shampoo incident and Jackie Chan’s celebrity effect, it was quickly accepted by the public, resulting in the popular parody of “Duang” this year and “when I first ... I actually refused”. The word “Duang” appeared more than 8 million times on Weibo and was discussed more than 300,000 times. Even the BBC in Britain reported on the popularity of “Duang”. Jackie Chan also used the word “Duang” on his microblog, reflecting his image of not being angry with the people because of being spoofed. “Duang” is a word with only pronunciation and no font meaning, but this does not affect netizens’ enthusiasm for this hot word, but gives netizens the freedom to understand and express it. The popularity of “Duang” is the result of the interaction between the presence space and the absence space. The contrast between Jackie Chan’s image of a decent hero and the shampoo with carcinogenic ingredients caters to the audience’s interest points through spoof videos. It is widely spread through the Internet and forms a trend of public opinion, reflecting the netizens’ criticism of false advertisements with an entertainment spirit, which has profound reality (Yan Jiahui).

An Incident on Bi Fujian’s Improper Speech On April 6, 2015, a video featuring CCTV host Bi Fujian singing and commenting on The Taking of Tiger Mountain on the dining table was widely disseminated on the Internet. Bi Fujian used insulting words to Chairman Mao and said he “hurt us bad”. The video caused a great stir on the Internet and caused a heated discussion among netizens. Some netizens think that this is just a joke made by Bi Fujian at a private banquet and should protect personal privacy and freedom of speech. The person who posted this private video on the Internet should be blamed. In response, some netizens pointed out that Bi Fujian’s remarks were “abusive” and did not fall within the category of freedom of expression, and APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 309 that the so-called private banquet was actually foreign activities that had cultural exchanges with Belarusian ambassadors and others. Some netizens pointed out that Bi Fujian not only is a citizen but also has the identity of a party member, CCTV staff, veteran soldiers and public figures. He should abide by CCTV’s rules and regulations and party discipline and pay attention to the social impact on the public. On the 8th, Youth.cn published Bi Fujian Owes an Apology to the People of the Whole Country, believing that Bi Fujian has touched party discipline as a party member, challenged morality as a citizen, and broken the bottom line of professional quality requirements as a host. On the same day, Bi Fujian was removed from the title of Red Army Primary School Love Ambassador by the National Red Army Primary School Construction Project Council, and CCTV also issued a statement saying that it would seriously investigate and deal with Bi Fujian’s remarks. On the 9th, Bi Fujian’s name had disappeared from CCTV’s official website. On the same day, Bi Fujian issued an apology on his microblog saying, “My personal remarks have caused serious adverse effects in society, and I feel very remorse and sad- ness. I sincerely apologize to the public. As a public figure, I must learn lessons, be strict with myself and be strict with myself.” The outflow of indecent videos from Bi Fujian caused the public image he had established for many years to collapse instantly, even losing his CCTV job. In today’s society where the Internet and self-media are increasingly developed, the phenomenon that public figures’ private words and deeds are exposed on the Internet is not uncommon, and the impact of the incident will be infi- nitely magnified with the spread of the Internet, resulting in uncontrolla- ble consequences (Yan Jiahui).

An Incident on Blue, Black, White and Golden Skirt On February 25, 2015, an American girl posted a photo of a dress with horizontal stripes on her social networking site and said that she had a disagreement with her friends about the color of the dress. She thought the color of the dress was white and gold, while her friends thought it was blue and black. The photo was forwarded 360,000 times on US social networking sites in three days. Netizens pointed out their own colors, and the debate quickly spread to other US social networking sites. Many US stars such as Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber also joined the debate, which was also reported by the BBC, Daily Mail, Time and other well-known media. The photo was introduced into China on the 27th and quickly 310 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 posted on the Weibo hot search list, causing a heated discussion among Chinese netizens and Weibo Big V. Most netizens started a big debate over what they thought was the “Blue and Black Party” and the “Platinum Party”. Some netizens felt that they saw other colors such as blue and gold, blue and brown, while others felt that sometimes they saw blue and black, and sometimes they saw platinum. As the debate intensified, some netizens lamented that they had lived for so many years before they found themselves color blind. The debate was accompanied by curiosity about the reasons. Various technical analysis posts for different people to see the phenomenon of different colors appeared one after another, and various professional netizens also gave scientific explanations. Bevil Conway, a neuroscientist at Wellesley College, said: “When you see this picture, your brain is correcting this color difference according to the sunlight. So if people think the light source is blue and ignore the blue part, they see white and gold. And if they ignore the golden part, they see blue and black.” That is to say, because of the light problem in this photo, people do have individual differences in their perception of skirt color, which has nothing to do with color blindness. The “blue-black and white-gold dress” has crossed regional, cultural and linguistic restrictions with the help of graphic expressions. The dress itself has many possibilities for interpretation, which provides room for debate. The addition of stars has also promoted the discussion of topics, making an ordinary dress popular all over the world through the Internet (Yan Jiahui).

An Incident on the Terrorist Attacks in Paris At about 9 p.m., November 13, 2015, shootings or explosions occurred in various public places in Paris, France, killing 129 people and injuring 352 others. At 9:20 p.m., a suicide bomber detonated his vest in Stade de France, killing a civilian. At 9:25 p.m., gunmen in unlicensed cab shot at the crowd at Le Petit Cambo Edge restaurant, killing 15 people and seriously injuring more than 10. At 9:30 p.m., a second suicide bomber detonated a human bomb near the French stadium, leaving no casualties. At 9:32 p.m., gunmen in unlicensed cab shot at the crowd at Cafe Bonne Bière restaurant, killing five people and seriously injuring eight. At 9:36 p.m., gunmen in unlicensed cab shot at the crowd on the balcony of La Belle Equipe restaurant, killing 19 people and seriously injuring 9. At 9:40 p.m., a suicide bomber detonated his vest at Comptoir Voltaire restaurant, causing serious injury to one person. At 9:40 p.m., three terrorists APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 311 entered the Bartak Orchid Concert Hall in 11th District and fired AK-47 at the audience. At 9:53 p.m., 400 meters away from Stade de France, a suicide bomber detonated his bomb without any casualties. At 10:00 p.m., survivors in Bartak’s Orchid Hall were kidnapped. At 12:20 on the 14th, French police stormed the concert hall after discovering that the attackers had killed the hostages. The attackers then detonated their bombs, killing three attackers, at least two of whom died in the explosion. After the incident, the extremist group ISIS issued a statement taking responsibility for the terrorist attacks in the French capital Paris. French President Hollande said that Paris was hit by an unprecedented terrorist attack and the country entered a state of emergency. US President Barack Obama said on the terrorist attack in Paris that it was a terrorist attack against all mankind. Under the background of information age, with the popularization of information technology and network, international terrorism has also begun to occupy cyberspace. In cyberspace, the international community does not have a unified code of conduct and standards for cyberterrorism. Internet social media provides a broad platform and tool for terrorists to recruit personnel, raise funds and publicize extremist ideas, which also makes the spread of terrorism reach an unprecedented speed (Wang Yixuan).

Tu Youyou Winning the Nobel Prize Attracts Attention Tu Youyou, female, born on December 30, 1930, is a pharmaceutical scientist, lifelong researcher and chief researcher of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine and director of Artemisinin Research and Development Center. After years of research on the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine, the outstanding contribu- tion is to create new antimalarial drugs-artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin. At 5:30 p.m. Beijing time on October 5, the Nobel Congress of Caroline Medical College in Sweden announced that it would award the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Irish medical researcher Campbell and Japanese medicine scientist Takamura, as well as Chinese pharmaceutical scientist Tu Youyou, in recognition of their discovery of groundbreaking treatments for malaria and new treatments for ascaris infection. This is the first time that a Chinese has won a Nobel Prize in science, which means that China has finally broken the curse that Chinese people have no chance of winning a Nobel Prize in science, rewriting 312 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015

China’s record of “zero” in the field of Nobel Prize in science. Subsequently, this incident aroused strong concern and heated discussion from domestic and international public opinion. After the announcement of the results of the Nobel Prize, Baidu’s search for “Tu Youyou” keyword exceeded 600,000 and 360 comprehensive search exceeded 300,000, Baidu’s media index peaked at 4200, and the number of full-text news searches with “Tu Youyou” as the keyword reached 47,700. As of 17:00 on October 9, Tu Youyou won more than 32,000 online news articles on topics related to the Nobel Prize, more than 8200 posts on relevant forums, more than 5600 blog posts, more than 2300 reports on relevant traditional media, more than 670 reports on relevant news clients and more than 16,300 articles on WeChat. According to the data, microblog public opinion on topics related to “Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize” began to appear on the Internet on October 5 and showed a trend of blowout. On the 5th, public opinion reached a peak of public opinion, with more than 730,000 microblogs on Sina Weibo on the same day and more than 400,000 microblogs on Tencent’s microblog. The popularity of public opinion continued to rise on the 12th (Wang Yixuan).

An Incident on the Explosion in Tianjin Binhai New Area At 23:30 p.m. on August 12, 2015, a dangerous chemical (hereinafter referred to as dangerous chemicals) warehouse exploded in Tianjin Binhai New Area, causing more intense secondary explosions in many factories around it. China Seismological Network Express reported that the first explosion occurred at 23:30 p.m. on August 12, with a near-earthquake magnitude of about 2.3 tons of TNT and the second explosion 30 minutes later with a near-earthquake magnitude ML of about 2.9 tons of TNT. The final official figure was 165 victims and 8 missing. The explosion in Tianjin Port caused huge casualties and serious damage to the surrounding environment. Experts estimate that the two explosions are equivalent to 24 tons of TNT. After the accident, about 500 tons of highly toxic sodium cyanide were scattered and left in the environment. A large pit with a diameter of about 100 m and full of water formed at the origin of the accident explosion once exceeded the standard by more than 40 times, and a certain amount of cyanide was also measured at the soil environmental monitoring points arranged around it. In the process of detect- ing the surrounding air, many kinds of organic substances such as xylene were found to exceed the standard, and the accident area sewage outfalls were also detected to exceed the standard by three to eight times. APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 313

Thousands of brand-new cars were burned in the parking lot not far from the explosion site. The houses within 1 km of the accident site suffered heavy losses and some residents were injured, and residents in nearby communities were also unable to return home after the incident. This is a rare public safety accident in China. As of August 24, 2015, 785,909 pieces of relevant information had been monitored in Tianjin Binhai area. There were 149,071 related online news reports, 455,270 microblogs, 87,050 forums, 50,655 blogs, 29,657 WeChat, 6141 print media, 6147 mobile phone clients and 1918 videos (Wang Yixuan).

An Incident on the Capsizing of the “Oriental Star” Tourist Passenger Ship At 21:30, June 1, 2015, the “Star of the Orient” passenger ship belonging to Chongqing Orient Shipping Company carried 456 people, including 405 tourists, 46 crew members and 5 travel agency staff. It suddenly encountered rare severe convective weather on its way from Nanjing to Chongqing and sank in Jianli waters in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. As of June 13, 2015, after repeated verification and confirmation by all parties concerned, there were 454 people aboard the “Star of the Orient”, of whom 12 were successfully rescued and 442 were killed. All the bodies of the victims have been found, and the search and rescue work has ended since then. On December 30, 2015, the investigation report on the sinking in the Yangtze River was released. According to the investigation conducted by the State Council, the sinking of the “Star of the Orient” passenger ship was a particularly catastrophic event caused by a strong wind and heavy rain attack caused by a rare severe convective weather (squall line accompanied by downburst). The investigation team found that the ship “Oriental Star” encountered a squall line accompanied by a downburst attack as it sailed to the Yangtze River’s Damchau water- way, with an instantaneous maximum wind force of 12–13 and heavy rain. Although the captain adopted the wind-resistant measures to stabilize the ship, under the action of strong winds and heavy rain, the maximum wind pressure tilting moment reached more than twice the maximum wind- resistant capacity of the passenger ship, the ship continued to retreat, was out of control, tilted into the water and capsized in more than a minute. The investigation team found that the passenger ship’s ability to withstand wind pressure and overturning is not enough to withstand the extreme weather. The captain and the chief officer on duty did not have enough knowledge of extreme weather and its risks, and did not respond ade- 314 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 quately in an emergency. The investigation team also recommended that the 43 relevant personnel responsible for the problems found in daily management and supervision and inspection should be given disciplinary and administrative sanctions. After the sinking of the “Star of the Orient” passenger ship, China’s mainstream media reported quickly. It is particularly noteworthy that many traditional media have used new media meth- ods to report. For example, WeChat, microblog and various clients, as well as restoring the capsized moment of the sunken ship with 3D animation, have improved the spreading power and authority of the incident (Wang Yixuan).

An Incident on the Stock Market Crash in June 2015 At the beginning of 2015, China’s stock market went crazy, showing a situation of losing control. On June 12, the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Composite Stock Index (Shanghai Composite Index) once reached 5178.19, and the stock market was filled with optimism that 6000 was just around the corner, which also became the beginning of the stock market crash. On June 15 (Monday), the Shanghai Stock Exchange plunged by 2.00% to 5000 points, while the GEM dropped by 5.22%. On June 19, the Shanghai Stock Exchange plunged by 6.42%, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange fell by 6.03%, the GEM dropped by 5.41% and the Shanghai Stock Exchange fell by 13.32% that week. Thousands of stocks fell in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange and 1088 of all 2780 stocks fell. On July 8, 2015, Shenzhen Stock Exchange closed at 1884.46, down 40.0% from June 12, the lowest in 2015. On July 9, 2015, the Shanghai Composite Index hit 3373.54 points, down 34.9% from its peak on June 12. In the face of the stock market crash, the government launched a number of rescue policies, including reducing the issuance of new shares, increasing the quota of qualified overseas institutional investors (QFII), providing fund protection to major securities dealers, cracking down on rumor mongers and punishing those deliberately short selling. However, the stock market has always been in a violent shock, with the Shanghai Stock Exchange closing down 8.49% to 3209.91 points on August 24, dropping all the gains since the bull market in 2015. A large number of shareholders suffered heavy losses in the stock market crash. Some people said that the stock market crash “robbed the wealth of the middle class”. APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 315

In the cyberspace, the stock market crash has become a hot public issue for discussion. Some netizens have created the banter of “chivalrous man, protecting the country” to express their strong dissatisfaction with the unreasonable intervention and withdrawal of political power in the stock market, which has led to the suffering of retail investors. More netizens have extensively discussed the causes of the stock market crash and their personal responses in such online communities as microblog, WeChat, moments, Tianya and Zhihu, as well as conspiracy theorists and rational analysts. The stock market crash has further verified the perceptual order characteristics in China’s financial market under the network condition. Although the public discussion triggered by the stock market crash cannot eliminate the potential stock market risk in the future, it has played a certain role in promoting the maturity of the Chinese stock market and prompting Chinese citizens to view this financial platform rationally (Ying Licheng).

An Incident on Petrochemical Explosion in Zhangzhou, Fujian At about 18:55, April 6, 2015, an explosion occurred in the PX project on the Gu Lei Peninsula in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, which caused widespread concern and discussion among netizens. In 2007, the project was originally intended to be launched in Xiamen, and was eventually located in Zhangzhou due to public protests. PX (xylene) is a low-toxic chemical product. If it is properly managed, it will not do much harm to itself. Therefore, netizens have been divided into “pro-PX” and “anti-PX” groups, and the relatively rational “pro-PX” group once prevailed. The problem is that there are serious problems in the management of Zhangzhou PX project. On January 24, 2013, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued a punishment letter to the owner unit of Zhangzhou Gulei PX project for its potential environmental problems. On the early morning of July 30, 2013, a hydrocracking pipeline in Gulei PX Project in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, which had not yet been put into service, cracked and flash ignited when it was flushed into the hydro- gen test pressure, but no serious harm occurred. Even so, the person in charge of the project still did not take it seriously and the pipeline finally exploded again on April 6, 2015, causing 12 minor injuries and 2 serious injuries. After investigating the accident, the relevant departments trans- 316 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 ferred to judicial organs 13 persons suspected of crimes, and punished 11 people, including Zhang Zhou’s executive vice mayor Liang Weixin, with disciplinary and administrative sanctions. As PX project has always been one of the hot topics on the Internet, the accident quickly fermented on the Internet and had a huge impact. On the microblog, the blog about Zhangzhou PX incident reached 33,222,000 reading and 18,000 commenting. Some netizens said: “So how wise it was for Xiamen citizens to boycott the project to settle in Xiamen, but the Xiamen municipal government did not insist on its own way but listen to public opinion, otherwise it would be hard to imagine that if the explosion occurred in Xiamen, the tourism-based this beautiful city would no longer exist.” Some netizens were worried about the potential harm of Dalian’s PX project, and others questioned the accountability of the accident and the government’s responsibility in the accident. The safety accident and its fermentation on the Internet have strengthened people’s concern about the environmental and social impact of major chemical projects, and promoted the public to realize that public issues are closely related to themselves, but it has also brought a huge impact on the PX industry, which is already in recession (Ying Licheng).

An Incident on Warehouse Fire in Harbin At 13:14, January 2, 2015, a fire broke out in the reinforced concrete residential building at the intersection of Taigu Street and Nanxun Street (727 Taigu Street). The building that caused the fire was an 11-story building with a “mouth” shape as a whole, with shops on the ground floor, warehouses on the second and third floors and residential buildings on the fourth and higher floors. In the process of firefighting, the fire building collapsed several times, with a collapse area of 3000 square meters, killing 5 firefighters and injuring 14. More than 2000 residents and street merchants were affected and the open fire was extinguished by the early morning of January 4. After preliminary judgment, it was felt that the fire may have been caused by the overload of electric heating, but the serious disaster caused by the collapse of the building has something to do with the fact that the fire building itself is a “rotten-tailed building” with a simple load-bearing structure, too long burning time and too low fire resistance of the floor, and the concrete loosening due to the alterna- tion of heat and cold after the fire, thus causing serious damage to the whole building. The fire aroused great concern among netizens. The APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 317 microblog reading on the theme of “Harbin Fire” has reached 176,766 million times and has been discussed more than a thousand times. On the one hand, netizens prayed for firefighters who died tragically in fighting the fire bravely, and on the other hand, they asked for the cause of the fire to be traced and the aftermath of the residents handled well. Some residents reported that they had reported to the relevant government departments that there was a burning smell downstairs, but no one paid attention to it, pointing out that the fire was directly related to the inaction of the local government. In addition, in order to make money for renting out fire passages, the residential property charges illegally, resulting in rescue dif- ficulties, which is also the reason why the fire cannot be controlled in time. A netizen from Tianya Forum wrote a four-character poem titled Harbin’s “1·2” Fire Sacrifice (Businessman’s Loss of Morality, Officials’ Dereliction of Duty, People’s Loss of Home, Media’s Loss of Say) and said very deeply about the responsible parties in the fire and the lessons to be learned from it. Unfortunately, the original post has been deleted, but the post is still vis- ible today. On December 25, 2015, the investigation team decided that the incident was a major fire accident, held four enterprises and 56 persons responsible for the accident, and punished the administrative personnel who were in default. In the process, netizens played a certain role in promoting public opinion (Ying Li Cheng).

An Incident on Freeloading He Jiong On May 3, 2015, Qiao Mu, an associate professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, provided a List of Registered Staff with Salaries of Beijing Foreign Studies University on his microblog. Among them was He Jiong, a well-known host, ranked 869. Qiao Mu believes that although He Jiong was registered in school, he hadn’t been working in the university for many years, and his related work, mail and contact would have to be handled by other teachers. This freeloading behavior was extremely wrong in his view, and he must come to work before occupying the registration and receiving wages. The “freeloading” incident quickly triggered a con- troversy on the Internet, and supporters of He Jiong think that he has brought important intangible assets to the north and the outside world, and it is understandable to occupy the establishment. Opponents believe that He Jiong’s non-employment is indeed a violation of the relevant regulations. On May 18, 2015, Beijing Foreign Studies University issued a statement through its official microblog, saying that “after careful consid- 318 APPENDIX: IMPORTANT NETWORK INCIDENTS FROM 2014 TO 2015 eration, He Jiong offered to resign and the school decided to respect He Jiong’s choice”. The statement also said that from 2007 onward, He Jiong mainly undertook the work of publicity of school image, construction of campus culture and promotion of influence, and returned the salary to the school. He Jiong himself said: “I was originally expected to be proud of myself in Beijing Foreign Studies University, and I could leave if I left the school to be disputed.” His approach has received widespread support. But soon after, Qiao Mu pointed out that he had been verbally abused, insulted, intimidated and cannibalized by He Jiong fans, and that his wife and children had also been threatened, demanding an apology from He Jiong. He Jiong denied that he had direct responsibility for the matter. Qiao Mu deleted all microblog content after several exchanges failed, and the “freeloading” incident came to an end. The incident attracted wide attention, with 177,600 comments from May 13 to 26, 2015, alone. Although the incident did not have a serious negative impact on He Jiong and Beijing Foreign Studies University in the end, there are two aspects worthy of reflection: First, how university system management matches the needs of special talents, ensuring that there are no deviants and making full use of effective resources; the second is how to combine sticking to views and maintaining civilization in the network public space, which not only has the ability to judge right from wrong, but also can’t abuse and attack those who hold different positions, resulting in negative effects (Ying Licheng). Postscript

“Internet” is not only a scientific term but also a new living environment and lifestyle, and even a symbol of the national development strategy. The development of Internet in China not only promotes the transformation of traditional industries to “internet plus” but also stimulates new business models, new product types and new consumption patterns. The contact, use and participation of individual netizens in the Internet through online shopping, online marketing and online payment are closely related to the national economy and people’s livelihood, and the connection between individuals and macro-economy has become more specific and direct in the networked era. The 2016 study report on China’s Internet Society was studied and compiled under the above background. In the same way as the previous annual report was structured, the annual “thematic report” and “thematic report” are still set in this report. The “theme report” discussed the “social dimension of the Internet economy”, including the background of the rise of the Internet economy, the analysis of the main connotation of the Internet economy, the social basis of the development of the Internet economy, the social impact of the Internet economy and a profound reflection on the development of the Internet from a sociological perspective. Choosing “Social Dimension of Internet Economy” as the theme not only responds to the general trend of “internet plus” development in the new era, but also intends to grasp the changing trend of social behavior, social

© China Renmin University Press 2020 319 S. Liu, J. Wang (eds.), The Internet Society in China, Sociology, Media and Journalism in China, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8237-6 320 POSTSCRIPT concept and social structure in the network era in general from a sociological perspective, and tries to give academic care and in-depth thinking to the development of the network society from a theoretical perspective. The “special report” focuses on more important network events or issues in 2014–2015, such as “Baidu Hemophilia Bar Sold”, “Tianjin Explosion”, “Online Shopping Carnival”, “the Rise of Taobao Village”, “Hot Electronic Red Envelope”, “Network Information Consumption”, “Network Micro- public Welfare” and “Moments Economy”. This report insists on the consistent writing style, that is, from the perspective of sociology, presenting readers with a rich and colorful picture of the network society through discussion and discussion, with a view to contributing to a deeper and comprehensive understanding of the network society and its influence. This report is academic, interesting and readable. It can be used as a reference for the study of network society and a reading material for the majority of netizens to understand the network society, participate in network activities and think about network issues. The division of work for preparing this report is as follows:

Chapter 1 Wang Jianmin and Wang Chunjin Chapter 2 Cheng Shiqiang Chapter 3 Shao Zhanpeng Chapter 4 Zhang Jun Chapter 5 Zhang Rong Chapter 6 Wang Dongmei and Zhuang Jiachi Chapter 7 Song Jinhao Chapter 8 Song Chenting and Sun Fei Chapter 9 Liu Xiuxiu Appendix Wang Yixuan, Ying Licheng, Xiao Gegen, Yan Jiahui, Li Xiaoxu, He Shuangting and Lin Aosong

Liu Shaojie