China 101
Zhihu
知乎
China's largest question-and-answer knowledge community, similar to Quora, whose hot list captures what educated Chinese internet users are debating.
Zhihu, roughly meaning do you know, launched in 2011 as an invite-only Q&A site and grew into China's biggest knowledge community. Users write long, often expert answers to questions ranging from physics to relationship advice, and its brand promise is serious, high-quality discussion.
Its trending list, rebang, differs from Weibo's hot search: it reflects what China's educated, white-collar internet users are puzzling over, not just what entertains them. Questions like how to evaluate a new policy, product, or social phenomenon regularly draw thousands of analytical answers.
Zhihu's influence extends beyond its own app: its answers are screenshotted and reposted across WeChat and Weibo, and its career, consumer, and tech threads are a rich source of context. For UnboxChina, Zhihu's hot list is a P0 source because it surfaces explanatory angles other platforms miss.