The aim of this paper is examine Chinese social media technology and culture as a distinctive form of mediated communication and practice. The Internet and social media have grown and become an essential part of the society and economy in China in ways that are increasingly dissimilar from that of the social media platforms outside of China. From the early roll out of the Internet, to the now pervasive presence of social media, Chinese Internet culture continues to reflect the unique interplay of technological changes, language affordances (Chinese as a character-based script), software development, user-generated interactional practices, and government censorship. Social media platforms and practices provide a rich, yet surprisingly underexplored source for the analysis of new and innovative practices within the distinct context of communication technologies and platforms for nearly one billion users. The papers in this special issue examine how the technologies and technological affordances of Chinese social media interact to afford distinctive discursive and linguistic practices across a range of interactional contexts.