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Chapter 7. The Yihuang incident

Chapter 7. The Yihuang incident

7.1 Introduction

Due to the boom in the microblogging market, social events in the Weibo age can

be spread at a faster speed and discussed over a wider range, ultimately leading to a
settlement, be it satisfying or disappointing. The reasons for choosing the Yihuang inci-
dent to study include that demolition has always been one of the fundamental issues in
economic development for over 40 years since China’s reform and opening up policy.

More importantly, resettlement is a crucial problem that directly relates to urbaniza-
tion. The Yihuang incident is a highly representative case that contains key elements
inherent in the demolition process in China. The case is also significant in the way that
it took place in the first year of the development of Weibo, and represents the earliest

and the most typical public event that both the victims and regular internet users used
the microblog service to safeguard their lawful rights and to interact with government
departments through Weibo.
This chapter discusses the relationship between the public and media companies

through the Yihuang incident, which represents one of the three relationships in the
triangular system. Here, the public includes both cyberspace netizens and the general
population. In terms of media companies, it focuses on those which are most prominent
in hosting Weibo, as it was the most influential social networking platforms during the

Yihuang incident. As an extension of physical interpersonal relationships, it helps to
build new connections between Weibo users, which makes it a significant space for
people’s interpersonal activities.
In the same way as the previous two case studies, semi-structured interviews and

a questionnaire survey were conducted for data collection. Compared with the previous
two chapters, the Yihuang case in this chapter represents a classic event concerning the
urbanization issues in China. It attempts to investigate the interactive relationship be-

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