Social media take parade to the world

V-day parade is displayed on a phone, Sept 3,2015.[Photo/IC]

Full of pride and excitement, Shao Yixi watched a broadcast of Thurday's victory parade in Beijing via YouTube in Australia and described the experience as unforgettable.

Shao, 27, said a mass of information about the parade was available on Twitter and Facebook "so I told myself not to miss the big event even though I was not at home".

The parade commemorated the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War.

"I burst into tears when I saw the national flag being raised against the backdrop of a blue sky. I was lucky to see so many posts about the parade overseas, and I'm proud of being Chinese," she said.

China Daily New Media Lab reported 1,696 posts on Twitter related to the parade by 3 pm on Friday, while 12,038 news reports on the topic were also broadcast on foreign media websites.

"Parade", "China" and "military" became the three hottest words on social media platforms over the past two days, the report said.

On Thursday, 55 reports on the parade posted by Xinhua News Agency were forwarded 3,588 times on Twitter. Some foreign media, including CNN and the BBC, also reported on the parade through their new media, it added.

The parade was also a highlight on Chinese media platforms.

Liu Dengke, a military surgeon working in Qinghai province, said he followed the parade on popular instant messaging tool WeChat, instead of watching TV.

"Pictures of the parade taken by my friends in Beijing reminded me of my soldiering life, and the interaction on WeChat brought the ceremony closer to me," Liu said.

The parade had also been a hot topic on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like service, since Thursday. Of the top 15 topics, 13 were related to the parade, with hits on a page view of "the 70th anniversary of the war" reaching 800 million by Thursday.

Millions of netizens took part in discussions, showing their respect for the war veterans and their pride in the parade, Sina Weibo said.

Xinhua said the parade was also broadcast on Air China Flight CA1369 from Beijing to Sanya, Hainan province, through satellite-receiving antennae and the Wi-Fi system on Thursday. It was the first time that a live program had been broadcast through advanced technology on an aircraft in China, it added.

Yin Qiming, a new media operator in Shanghai, said social media allowed people to become "reporters" and share stories about the parade, "easily making us more involved in such big events and enabling us to enjoy them more", he added.