Ill, vulnerable and kind: a corpus-based study of the discourse representation of older adults on Weibo

This article offers an in-depth analysis of the evolving representations of older adults on Weibo, a leading Chinese social media platform, using a self-compiled corpus of nearly 7 million tokens from posts spanning January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2022. We utilize a corpus analysis tool to identify four-grams and perform concordance analysis to determine thematic categories and track their frequency changes over time. The findings reveal significant shifts in the portrayal of older adults, highlighting not only deteriorations in health but also perceived declines in cognitive abilities, moral standing, and societal roles. This evolved depiction paints older adults as increasingly isolated, outdated, and vulnerable, suggesting a nuanced form of marginalization compared to pre-pandemic portrayals. This study contributes to the existing literature by delineating the complex dynamics of older adult representation on Chinese social media against the backdrop of a rapidly aging population.