The Wuhan University Incident: Social Media, Gender Backlash, and Online Affective Polarization in Contemporary China

• In Event: Asia and Asian American Section Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 6: Asia and Asian America Section Roundtable - Gender

Abstract

In contemporary China, gender has emerged as a primary axis of affective polarization, creating pronounced social antagonism and becoming a dominant fault line in the digital public sphere. This research utilizes the “Wuhan University incident” as a critical case to examine this shift. The event began in 2023 with viral sexual harassment allegations by graduate student Yang Jingyuan in Wuhan University's library, triggering a national moral outburst. However, the narrative reversed in 2025 following a court ruling of “deliberate distortion” and the discovery of systemic academic fraud in Yang’s thesis. This reversal sparked intense affective polarization and massive gendered backlash across Chinese social media.

The central thesis is that once gendered affective enclaves are formed online, truth – such as legal verdicts or audits – fails to bridge the polarized divide. Instead, these facts are repurposed as discursive resources that exacerbate reactionary backlash. This study demonstrates that even in a sociopolitical context lacking inter-party competition or institutionalized political participation, affective polarization can still emerge and escalate to acute levels, fueled by digital identity-based grievances.

I employ a mixed-methods approach analyzing longitudinal datasets (n > 300,000) from Weibo and Douyin across the initial mobilization and the 2025 reversal phases. Quantitatively, I utilize structural topic modeling and LLM-based sentiment classifiers to measure the escalation of out-group animosity. Further, I run a dynamic regression model to analyze how user characteristics predict individual susceptibility to affective polarization. Qualitatively, digital ethnography of influential threads reveals how “factual anchors” are culturally repurposed to fuel gendered tribalism.

Ultimately, this work illustrates how polarization and post-truth dynamics are sustained through identity-based emotional alignment on social media. By examining the enduring nature of the backlash, the paper highlights the structural challenges of disrupting digital tribalism and argues that achieving social cohesion requires addressing the underlying affective drivers of polarization.

Author

• Teng Zhang, Kansas State University