4569 S.

Marshmallow Road
Tucson, AZ 5226
November 16, 2016
Dear Editor of Humans of New York:
Hello, my name is Alicia Verdugo and I am a reporter for H.O.N.Y, I recently conducted an
interview with Xinru she is a transfer student from Southern China. As I got to know her we
discussed the differences between China and the U.S. One topic that I found interesting was
Social Media in both countries. I believe that social media in Southern China is a community that
is unique and diverse.
Mandarin is her first language and English second, so understanding her was quite difficult. As I
conduct this interview I kept in mind to make her as comfortable as possible. Another tactic I
used was talking in a calm manner and not of a prosecuting or inferior manner. One topic that
struck my interest is the different forms of social media Southern China uses in comparison to
the United States.
So, in Southern China they have censorship laws that prevent them from using Facebook, Twitter
and Snapchat instead they use an App called Wiebo. According to an article I read and analyzed
by King, Pan, and Roberts China has special filters they use to procter what is (Pg.891)
appropriate under their censorship laws. These laws can interfer with natural rights that the
United States would not tolerate such as Freedom of Speech. Being able to post what individuals
feel without being prosecuted or arested.

A concept I have recently came across (Fuchs Pg.15) is that Social Media is a Capitalistic view
rather than everyone being able to post what they want. These websites are ran from private
businesses that inquire a hefty amount of wealth. The government has a sustancial amount of say
as well. Ensuring that Chinese Citizens do not watch or discuss any threatning topics. My
question is what are they scared of Asian Supremacy come on.
My audience might be wondering why I chose this picture as a profile well here it is Xinru, did
not want to be facially photograghed so I took a picture of a necklace her mother gave her. But
overall the meaning of this picture is China still controlling her Censorship to what she is
comfortable discussing and what is forbidden.
To conclude Xinru was an amazing person who is full of experiences and fun stories, I had great
pleasure of interviewing her. Social Media is a wide spectrum of what citizens can and cannot do
which in my opnion restricts them from creating creativity among themselves. Xinru will love
America as I have and generenations before me. She will be able to post on social media what
she wants without being thrown into jail. Social Media in China is diverse. Thank you for your
time I found reporting for H.O.N.Y to be very inspiring when conducting my interview as well as
profiling my community of Southern Chinas Social Media through an individual.
Sincerely,
Alicia Verdugo

Works Cited

Chin, G. "Censorship of Social Media in China." Science, vol. 345, no. 6199, 2014., pp.
886-888doi:10.1126/science.345.6199.886-l.

Fuchs, Christian. "Baidu, Weibo and Renren: The Global Political Economy of Social
Media in China." Asian Journal of Communication, vol. 26, no. 1, 2016;2015;., pp. 1428doi:10.1080/01292986.2015.1041537.