Group Chat Persona on We Chat I believe most people got into We Chat like my husband and I did: being first persuaded by several school friends and then being added into the class group. One schoolmate of mine has 6 groups: primary school, secondary school, high school, university, master, and PhD; and this is not rare. Most classmates have other groups as well, but they all admit that they are most active in our Class 8 group. Class 8 was the best class in an elite high school with 48 students, among whom three couples got married even though one couple got divorced. There were lots of crushes among these boys and girls, who are not parents of teenage children. What WeChat offers that Facebook and Weibo do not, is the function called group chat, where everyone’s input can be seen by all. I guess for group discussions to last, but it is crucial that new topics are being brought up all the time. During the past two months, Class 8 group chats are mostly following five streams. 1) Finding other classmates. The group grew from 23 to 36 since I joined two months ago. Through group chats, we find out where our long-lost classmates are even it means to call their parents. Recently we identified a girl who’s married to a British guy and lives in UK. She doesn’t have a smart phone, but those who live in Chicago, Vancouver and Toronto are already in the group. Every time a new member joins the group, all the rest send in greetings. 2) Child education. Related links are shared and discussed. Some difficult problems come up in their children’s homework are posted for classmates to solve. 3) Money issues. Those who work for bank are being asked questions relating to on-line payment and investment etc. 4) Health issues. Three dentists and a former psychoanalyst are being consulted when family members and friends have problems. 5) Politics. There are two “talents” serving the group in ways most other groups may not have. A former doctor for mental illness, who is very good at ancient style Chinese writing, supplies seasonal things like New Year couplets, and greeting messages that can be sent to various customers of our classmates, so they can all show off some literary talent. Then, there is me, whose long-lost memory of the high school years all came back suddenly after using We Chat. I started to write blog portraits in series: the first series is on the ten boys who used to share a table with me; the second is on girls who are the apples of many eyes of boys, etc. Everyone being written so far is happy and sort of feeling flattered, as my writings contain interesting details that they never knew. I published 32 blog articles on them in the past seven weeks, and each blog would generate more memories and discussions. I have been asked to add info and anecdotes. So these blog articles began as personal memories and ended up to combine group memoires. I haven’t written stories like these for years and now I feel like a column writer since there is a group of readers waiting to read the next story. And this anticipation does help me to write. (blog.sina.cn/smlouisa) The most fascinating thing that can be done on We Chat is an activity called Group Watching (圍觀), which is one of the favorite things Chinese people do in public places—from watching a street fight to the participation in denouncement meetings. The first time I experienced it was when a classmate announced that he would join a half-Marathon one day with more than 5000 others in Shenzhen. A girl suggested group-watching him. I was curious how that could be done, but in fact it was easy. He sent pictures of himself before start, and we sent up cheers in text or stickers (usually animated). Then he sent pictures of himself at finish line, we follow up by congratulation notes. Another person often being group-watched these days is a government official, who is a member of a democratic party instead of CCP. He is in charge of moving peasants living in the mountain areas of Shaanxi to the lower land where government have built flats for them. He is a good official in the way that he insists to visit each family in the mountain himself. He was once furious as a local town leader did not expect him to visit the families himself and told him there were 83 families in the town, asking for 4,150,000 yuan allocation allowance. He walked the mountain and found there were only 8 families! As we all believe he is doing a good job, we cheer him on whenever he is on his way to Southern Shaanxi. He would send pictures from his car during the long rides and snapshots of villagers from his mobile. Whenever we see his pictures, mostly girls, we would tell him to keep warm, drive safely, and bring good tea for us, etc. Birthday greetings are more fun on We Chat. One person who remembers a classmate’s birthday will start and others see it will follow. On the we chat screening, birthday cakes will fall like snowflakes whenever we type in “Happy Birthday” in English or in Chinese. Girls who need to cook for their kids or parents’ birthdays can also show off their dishes and sweets. Whenever a girl does not, one boy who remembers all the crushes would pick out a boy or two who once had a crush over the girl and tease him/them!
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 09:31:50 +0000
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