“…Akin to trying to drink from a fire hose, the researcher faces an overwhelming barrage of information, opinion and untethered comment. Research so far have tended to focus on certain particular topics (for example, recent work includes the rise of new web-based modes of discourse (Xu, 2012), the impact on young Chinese definition of self (Liu, 2011), the way this kind of media is used to mull over national disasters (Inwood, 2011) and using the Chinese netizen community as a barometer to gauge the wider Chinese public's view of Chinese foreign policy and its perceptions of other countries (Hu & Lei, 2010;Shen, 2011). Other research has focused on certain communities, for example, the way how Chinese students at foreign universities use social networking sites and discussion forums to ease their adaptation to new environments (Lin et al, 2011;Ye, 2006) as well as how internet use reflect the kind of cultural differences that affect adaptation (Wei et Certain corners of the Chinese-language internet provide particularly useful glimpses into this mediating role.…”