The rise of the Little Pink: China’s angry young digital warriors

Who are these angry Chinese dominating the internet with their jingoistic rage, where are they from and how did they emerge? We tell you

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Young Chinese looking at a smart phone. With the technology the army can go to the frontline at anytime. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:00am, 26 May 2017Updated: 7:42pm, 13 Jun 2017

Chinese student Yang Shuping’s comments at her graduation day at the University of Maryland in the United States were arguably innocuous. She joked on Sunday about the smog in her home town and praised the freedoms she had enjoyed in the US. Her comments, however, triggered a huge backlash in China as internet users accused her of distorting the truth and belittling her home country.

Days earlier, Chinese actress Xu Dabao turned heads on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in a bright red dress featuring the five stars of the national flag. The dress prompted accusations that she had desecrated the flag.

The two cases this week have highlighted the growth of nationalism on the mainland, particularly among the young. Young people fired with patriotic zeal are known in China as the “Little Pink”, as “xiaofenhong” in Chinese. Along with the “50 cent gang” – internet commentators paid to sing the praises of the government – the Little Pink are regularly seen online trying to guard China against even the remotest hint of criticism.

Who are the Little Pink and where are they from?

Contrary to perceptions that most online patriots are angry young men, the Little Pink are mainly female. Some 83 per cent of these keyboard warriors identify as female, according to a Weibo analytics tool developed by Peking University. Research published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says the Little Pink are predominantly young women aged between 18 and 24.