Fudan University Professor talks about Social Media's impact on China at NCI China Seminar

Professor ZHANG Lifen giving a talk at NCI China seminar

13/4/2017

ZHANG Lifen, Professor in Journalism from Fudan University, gave an inspiring talk to Nottingham staff and students on “How Social Media is changing China” on 11 April as part of the China Seminar series organised by the Nottingham Confucius Institute.

“China is emerging, unexpectedly, as an insatiable consumer of social media in the world, rewriting human communication history…the Internet has reconfigured the way its people connect with each other and also how the nation is governed,” said Professor Zhang.

Take Wechat for example, the most popular social media platform in China. Its impact has been comprehensive and profound: not only can people in major cities live a cashless life with the platform allowing for all transactions to be made using a basic smartphone, it has also become a the key enabler for previously voiceless people, with viral social media campaigns championing cases of injustice, bringing truth into the open and forcing authorities to act. Professor Zhang presented the Lei Yang case as a perfect example of this.

Vigorous optimism over the social media boom in China does need to be reality-checked with contradictions arising from the strict regulatory regime and information control though. Social media, a national obsession and blessing to many, presents a dilemma for the government and the future of journalism in China. How to keep the right balance and ensure social media serves the public good is yet to be answered, concluded Professor Zhang.

Professor ZHANG Lifen obtained his undergradute degree in Journalism at Fudan University in Shanghai and stayed on as a research-teaching assistant. Later, as a recipient of the prestigious SBFSS scholarship (Sino-British Friendship Scholarship Scheme), he received his PhD in Communications (Media Sociology) from the UK’s University of Leicester. He has been Visiting Professor at the National Chengchi University in Taipei, the Baptist University in Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong and Fudan University in Shanghai. He has received various international media awards including Asia's SOPA Journalism Award, the BBC Onnasis Bursary and the State Street Award for Outstanding Contributions in Institutional Journalism. He is also a media leader at the World Economic Forum.

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当地时间4月11日下午两点，诺丁汉大学孔子学院举办了一场由上海复旦大学新闻学院张力奋教授主讲的关于“社交媒体如何改变中国”的学术讲座。讲座由诺丁汉大学亚洲知识交流部主任杰森.菲利（Jason Feehily）主持，吸引了许多诺丁汉大学的老师和同学的参加。

此次讲座主要围绕着中国社交媒体的历史、社交媒体如何改变中国以及社交媒体对公众和社会的影响三方面展开。当今的中国，社交媒体已经深深地刻入了中国人的生活，相比西方的社交媒体，我们似乎已经走在了时代的前列。然而张力奋教授以微信为立足点从过去中国的“无媒体时代”开讲至当下中国的社交媒体时代，横纵两面，正反对比，从政治到经济，从国家交流层面到老百姓点点滴滴的生活，从自身的体验到调查，深度解读分析社交媒体这把利剑对中国社会从观念到消费体验的改造，认为目前的繁荣是社交媒体过度补偿的结果。目前的中国社交媒体实际上处于一个既自由而又封闭的局域网中，这种境况给中国的政府和中国媒体行业带来了困境同时也对社交媒体的监管制度和信息控制与检查提出了更高的要求。

在最后的提问环节，张力奋教授也对现场的观众的问题进行了详细而深入的解答，让中外的听者对当下中国社交媒体的发展都有一个全面而深刻的认识。

张力奋教授本科毕业于上海复旦大学, 获新闻学学士学位后留校任教。后获SBFSS奖学金（中英友谊奖学金计划）赴英国留学，获得莱斯特大学传媒（媒体社会学）博士学位。曾任台湾政治大学，香港浸会大学，香港大学和上海复旦大学客座教授。获得过多个国际媒体奖项，包括亚洲新闻奖(SOPA)、BBC Onnasis旅行奖、道富机构新闻杰出贡献奖(State Street Award for Outstanding Contributions in Institutional Journalism)。