Political Science

Chinese online nationalism as imaginary engagement: an automated sentiment analysis of Tencent news comments on the 2012 Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands incident

Q. Zhang and C. Wang

This research by Qiaoqi Zhang and Cheng-Jun Wang explores how Tencent shapes news narratives to manage popular nationalism, particularly during the 2012 Diaoyu Islands incident. Through extensive sentiment analysis of over 500,000 comments, the study unveils the shift from stimulative to restrictive nationalist narratives to maintain social governance, revealing the emotional dynamics that influence online nationalism.

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Index

Abstract

This paper investigates how Tencent, a leading Chinese internet enterprise, frames news to regulate popular nationalism, focusing on the 2012 Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands incident. Using automated sentiment analysis of over 500,000 news comments, the study reveals that audience online nationalism is significantly influenced by Tencent news, user engagement, and emotions. Tencent initially used stimulative nationalist narratives but shifted to restrictive narratives to prevent online nationalism from jeopardizing social governance. Restrictive news decreased popular nationalism compared to stimulative news. Love, anger, and disgust increased support for China, while happiness had the opposite effect. Online nationalism, as imaginary engagement, stems from the collusion of platforms, government, and audiences, contributing to maintaining government legitimacy. The computational approach offers valuable insights into nationalism research.

Publisher

Humanities & Social Sciences Communications

Published On

Apr 04, 2024

Authors

Qiaoqi Zhang, Cheng-Jun Wang

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