Hong Kong on Weibo: A Follow-up Study

Just a few days ago, I conducted a study to take a peak into the mainland Chinese perceptions of Hong Kong, using data from the social media platform Little Redbook. The results were quite revealing: it seems that among the younger generation on social media, Hong Kong is increasingly viewed as an ancient town tour site (古镇), diverging from its traditional image as a financial hub. This shift in perception might reflect the unique experiences of young people in mainland China, who currently face distinct challenges compared to other age groups. Given this context, I thought it would be interesting to contrast these findings with those from an "older" social media platform: Weibo.


For those interested, my previous findings can be accessed here.


To broaden the scope of this analysis, I further gathered a dataset comprising 52,256 user posts from Weibo, all posted since the full border reopening earlier this year (March to October 2023). This period also includes two major Chinese holidays: the May holiday and the October holiday. 


Now, let's delve into the heart of the matter. Here are the results from a dimension reduction analysis of the top 100 words associated with "Hong Kong" on Weibo.


Indeed, the results are slightly different from what I found on Little Redbook. On the left side, there are clusters of words mentioning general concepts like "Hong Kong trip", as well as the names of several universities in Hong Kong. In the absence of words expressing attitudes, emotions, or specific behaviors, I suspect these are from common advertisements, typical on Weibo. In the middle of the figure, you can find government-related words, including "HK customs", "Hong Kong TV", "visa", "immigration office", etc. These words are likely from advertisements, either public or private. Again, there's nothing specific about attitudes or behaviors. Interestingly, other locations like "Macao", "Guangzhou", "Shenzhen", "Canada" were also frequently mentioned alongside these local agencies, leading me to guess that these posts were made by travel agents.

It turns out my speculations are true. Looking into the raw data, we can see these Ads:

    


"Frozen eggs"???

I have to say, nowadays, obtaining useful information on Weibo, especially when searching for popular keywords, is challenging.

Okay, fine. But still, there is something in the results. Two clusters of words are about budget trips to Hong Kong, suggesting these are trending topics among mainland Chinese on Weibo. As seen before, similar to my previous findings, terms like "Citywalk", "special forces", some "concert tickets", and "movies" appear. There's no mention of luxury shopping, jewelry, fancy hotels, or international brands.

Apart from those advertisements, these trending topics align closely with what we observed on Little Redbook.


Similarly, let's identify some words of interest, even if they were not in the top 100 list, and see if they really matter:

Please note that the word "Hong Kong" is on the right-hand side and is closely associated with "Citywalk" and "special forces". 

While millions of Hong Kong locals travel north to Shenzhen for leisure, it appears that the same is true for mainland tourists travelling to Hong Kong. Could this be an opportunity for the two cities to exchange tourists, since they all seem to seek similar experiences? 



Location: Hong Kong

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