When Chinese government accounts learn to meme — and face the risks

(Edited and refined by Candice Chan, with the assistance of AI translation.)

“Six Live Snakes In Their Pocket” (《裤袋里掏出六条活蛇》), “Prawns Under The Bridge” (《门前大桥下，来了一群虾》), “Understanding Customs, Supporting Customs, Becoming Customs” (《理解关关，支持关关，成为关关》)… These attention-grabbing headlines come from “Released by Customs” (海关发布), the official WeChat account of China’s General Administration of Customs.

This government-run account reportedly has more than 1.4 million followers, and at least 61 of its posts have attracted more than 100,000 views, with its most popular drawing over 600,000. Chinese netizens consider it one of the accounts best at “zhenghuo” (整活) — internet slang for creating entertaining, attention-grabbing content.

In China’s online lexicon, “zhenghuo” broadly refers to the art of using memes, trendjacking and finding novel ways of presenting content to make it more engaging and shareable.

The Shenzhen Public Hygiene and Health Commission, with over ten million followers, has also shown its skills in zhenghuo.

When Shenzhen News published its ranking of the city’s outstanding government-run accounts for June, it highlighted a post by the top-ranked Shenzhen Health Commission urging people to stop forcing their children to find a partner (《别再强行给孩子找对象了，毁他一生，也折你福报！》). The ranking commentary said the article “starts with the family pressure created by older relatives urging young people to marry and have children, before cleverly shifting its focus to healthcare for the elderly”. It praised the post for its plain-speaking, down-to-earth language, saying it made a hot topic accessible and the official platform more approachable.

In recent years, government departments across China have been expanding their presence on new-media platforms such as WeChat, Weibo and WeChat Channels. The number of government new-media accounts has grown rapidly, along with their reach.

A report released by Tsinghua University last December showed that as of October last year, there were 82,151 government new-media accounts in China, including 54,878 WeChat official accounts, 9,721 Weibo accounts and another 17,552 accounts on platforms such as Toutiao and Renminhao. The figures did not include the numerous Chinese government accounts that have also established a presence across overseas platforms.

China has also introduced various awards and rankings for government new media, establishing a system for regularly evaluating their performance. For several years, the Cyberspace Administration of China has nominated 100 accounts that stand out for their online efforts to engage the people, while Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai and other cities regularly publish rankings measuring the reach of government new-media accounts. These initiatives reflect the authorities’ sustained investment in, and emphasis on, developing such platforms.

Zhang Zhian, a professor at Fudan University’s School of Journalism who has long followed the development of government new media, told Lianhe Zaobao (LHZB) that government departments and the public previously interacted mainly through government hotlines and websites. As the internet developed — particularly with the widespread adoption of Weibo from 2009 onwards — interaction between officials and the public became more frequent, open and dynamic.

Zhang added that many local governments realised that maintaining official Weibo accounts could boost the government’s image and encourage greater interaction with the public. The emergence of WeChat took this a step further, allowing government accounts to produce content in a more systematic way. Together with platforms such as WeChat Channels, they have developed into broader communications networks, delivering more substantial, in-depth content.

Zeng Fanxu, a tenured professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Journalism and Communication, also told LHZB that government new media was once used primarily to publish policies and notices, but has since taken on a much broader range of functions, including providing public services, responding to public concerns, promoting culture and tourism, and shaping a city’s image.

In his view, this reflects a broader shift in government communication, away from one-off dissemination of information towards building regular engagement and long-term trust with the public. “A well-run government account has, in effect, become an important window through which a city presents itself to its residents and the outside world.”

Does going viral require an online sense?

With government new media now forming a vast communications network, the challenge for individual departments is how to stand out among tens of thousands of official accounts.

Analysts say accounts such as those by Customs, the Shenzhen Health Commission and Zhejiang Publicity have succeeded because they have broken with conventional government communication, winning over audiences with an instinct for what works online, plain-speaking language and more varied forms of interaction.

A representative of the Suzhou Industrial Park News Centre, which was recognised last year as one of China’s outstanding government operators on overseas social media platforms, told LHZB that government accounts in China are encouraged to make their content accessible, relatable, flexible and innovative. The centre draws on the same approach when running its overseas accounts.

Government new media has also increasingly ventured into crossover programmes and short dramas in an effort to stand out. Dongguan’s urban management authorities have used short videos such as “A Salute to Doctors” (《致敬城市医生》) to showcase urban management and grassroots services, while Hainan police have adopted cinematic storytelling in anti-scam videos to make fraud-prevention messages more accessible and entertaining. In June this year, the Shenzhen Health Commission launched “Becoming a Miracle Doctor in a Short Drama” (《重生之我在短剧里当神医》), using the popular micro-drama format to spread medical knowledge.

Zhou Xiaopu, a professor at Renmin University of China’s School of Journalism and Communication, told LHZB that the popularity of these accounts partly reflects public frustration with the stiff official language and bureaucratic prose traditionally associated with government communications. “Once they manage to break out of that traditional mould, people immediately become more receptive.”

Chinese communications scholar Wei Wuhui likewise told LHZB that those born in the 1990s and 2000s tend to be more adept at zhenghuo. The first requirement, he said, is to be down to earth and know what is trending online; the second is to innovate rather than simply copy what others are doing. “People aren’t interested in content that is simply recycled. Younger internet users in particular will find it unoriginal and think you’re flogging a dead meme.”

Tsinghua University’s Zeng, meanwhile, said that having an online sense is about much more than knowing the latest slang. It means understanding a platform’s audience, the pace of communication and the prevailing mood online. “The strength of these accounts lies not simply in their humour, but in how they have changed the way government institutions communicate with the public. At heart, it is about judgement.”

In practice, these considerations have become an important part of how government new-media teams plan their content.

One practitioner with six years’ experience running government new-media accounts shared several tips on RedNote (Xiaohongshu): “Take note of important occasions”, “Be selective about jumping on trends and learn to exercise judgement”, and “Never force a trend where it doesn’t fit.”

Hard to give accounts personality in a polarised online world

Beyond technical know-how, government accounts that remain successful over the long term generally also need adequate funding, support from departments in charge, and some room for error.

Zhang said financial backing is the first prerequisite for a successful government account. In a period of reduced government staffing and budgets, departments in wealthier regions are keeping their accounts running by outsourcing some of the work. “It cannot be done without money.”

He added that behind a creative government new-media team is often an open-minded superior who is willing to tolerate the occasional misstep.

Citing controversies involving the Shenzhen Health Commission account, Zhang said its immediate supervisor had been willing to withstand the pressure, while Shenzhen’s publicity establishment was relatively open and tolerant, which gave the account room to grow.

In 2021, the Shenzhen Health Commission’s WeChat account published an article on World AIDS Day, with the headline spelling out explicitly that unprotected anal sex is dangerous and Shenzhen had recorded 1,678 new AIDS infections, 60% through male-to-male transmission (《“无套后入”有毒！深圳新增1678人染艾滋，六成经男男传播》), prompting complaints that it was vulgar and merely chasing clicks. In July this year, an image in a post against smoking was criticised as being unfriendly towards women. The account responded in the comments with “quan ni hao” (拳你好, lit. fist hello), a sarcastic jab at feminism, drawing it into another online controversy.

While such controversies have not displaced the Shenzhen Health Commission as one of China’s leading examples of government new media, Zhang noted that the country’s online public sphere is highly polarised, meaning that almost any topic can quickly become a flashpoint. “Government accounts cannot ignore the need to manage risk.”

At the same time, he observed that successful government accounts tend to have strong and distinctive personalities. “But once they become too cautious, they lose their edge. It is very difficult to strike the right balance.”

Zeng believes such tensions are somewhat inevitable. Once government new-media accounts enter social media platforms, they become subject to the pressures of traffic, algorithms and competition for attention, as more emotionally charged and confrontational content generally has a greater reach.

But while social media platforms seek to maximise engagement and the amount of time users spend on them, government communication should serve the public interest, clarify facts, solve problems and build social trust, he said, and the underlying logic is not always the same.

Government accounts are also fundamentally different from ordinary self-media accounts, Zeng said. “They can have personality, but they cannot become entirely personal. They can show emotion and engage with trending topics, but they cannot turn public issues into emotional ones, or create division, prejudice or anxiety simply to generate traffic.”

This article was first published in Lianhe Zaobao as “中国政务新媒体花式“整活” 流量与风险难平衡？”.

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