WEIBO'S HAWKISH SENTIMENTS

Stephen Hawking is a popular guy in China，far more popular than his cult status among nerds would suggest elsewhere. But even with this fact in mind， it still came as a surprise when he landed on Weibo and amassed over a million followers within six hours. Comments were almost universally adulatory， with many being tongue-in-cheek responses that gave Hawking near godlike powers of prophecy and more. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Weibo account is being managed by an LA-based marketing company， which is also helping with the translations. Hawking’s first post on the platform described his visit to China in 1985 and has evidently proven to be a hit with readers. He followed up a day later with another post，this one with information on a project to launch teeny-tiny light-propelled devices into space which will hopefully be able to reach speeds as high as 20 percent of the speed of light and carry out a flyby mission to the closest star to our sun in 20 years. - DAVID DAWSON