bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Phoenix Kwong

World-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking attracted more than a million followers after he launched his own Weibo social media account on the mainland yesterday.
His first post, published at 10.12am in both English and Chinese, said: “Greetings to my friends in China! It has been too long!”
It has been almost 10 years since his last visit to China, when he took part in a physics conference in Beijing.

“It was an extraordinary experience,” he wrote, noting that his first trip in China was in 1985.
Hawking’s Weibo account attracted more than 140,000 followers in 30 minutes and 1.3 million by 6pm.
He received a warm welcome, with some social media users saying they were amazed at being able to follow Hawking on the Twitter-like service.
“In my physical travels, I have only been able to touch the surface of your fascinating history and culture,” Hawking wrote in his post. “But now I can communicate with you through social media.”
The British academic – who for 30 years held the Cambridge University Lucasian Chair of Mathematics once held by Isaac Newton – is confined to a wheelchair because of a degenerative motor neuron disease and communicates via a sensor on his cheek muscle to drive to a speech-generating device.
He said he hoped to share more about his life and his work with Chinese internet users on the new website. He added: “[I] hope to learn from you in reply.”
His greeting was forwarded more than 235,000 times and attracted more than 230,000 comments.
He received a warm welcome from the flood of followers. “Great scientist, welcome to Weibo,” former Google China chief and influential microblogger Lee Kai-fu wrote in a comment.


China’s border with Central Asia deemed concern amid demographic decline

‘Intrusive’: China retail giant sparks controversy over bride price, lavish wedding ban

Chinese province makes labour pain relief pledge to ease childbirth jitters

China is better off letting young people let off steam

China society

Welcome to Weibo world: Stephen Hawking’s Chinese social media account attracts a million followers on first day

British scientist Stephen Hawking hopes to share more about his life and his work with Chinese internet users on his new website. Photo: Reuters

No Caption Available.

China’s top cyber celebrity? ‘Papi Jiang’ from Shanghai has VC firms lining up as brand valuation hits record US$1.84 million

Jiang Yilei, 29, has posted 40 original videos on Weibo, where she has 8 million followers, and WeChat since September. Photo: Weibo

Post’s lifestyle site nabs award as one of 10 most influential Hong Kong media operations covering mainland China