Every morning I'm in the habit of scrolling through Weibo's trending list.
Tips
usage
Near-synonym of 热搜 (rèsōu, 'hot search') - both refer to the trending feed. 热搜 is most associated with Weibo's specific trending-search panel; 热榜 is the more generic term used across Toutiao, Zhihu, Bilibili, Douyin.
culture
Chinese platforms aggressively promote and gamify trending lists. Brands and PR firms pay to push topics onto a 热榜 (上热榜 'rush onto the trending list'). Topics that fall off suddenly are sometimes 撤热搜 (chè rèsōu) - pulled by the platform on regulatory or PR grounds.
