A Critical Discourse Analysis of Weibo Discourse on the "Su Min Controversy"
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63313/SSH.9119Keywords:
Critical discourse analysis, Gender discourse, Weibo, Su Min controversy, Patriarchal ideology, Social media polarizationAbstract
This study adopts Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine the public discourse surrounding the “Su Min controversy” on the Chinese social media platform Weibo in August 2025. The controversy arose from a middle-aged Chinese woman’s personal choice to leave her marriage and family, which ignited a fierce ideological confrontation between traditional patriarchal values and modern feminist discourse. Through systematic analysis of Weibo posts, comments, and multimodal elements, the study identifies two opposing discursive strategies: (1) a moral-ethical disciplinary strategy that employs de-individualizing naming, appeals to the tradition of sacrifice, and engages in selective intertextuality to defend traditional family order; and (2) a rights-and-liberation counter-strategy that re-individualizes Su Min’s experience, invokes the modern discourse of individual rights, and constructs an identity of sisterhood to legitimize her departure. The findings reveal the resilience of patriarchal discourse in contemporary Chinese society, the polarization of public debate driven by social media logics, and the instrumentalization of personal experience by commercial interests. This study contributes to understanding how digital media both enables marginalized voices and intensifies discursive polarization in gender-related public deliberation.
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