QQ, China's 'granddaddy' of social media scene, gains new life by appealing to Gen Z

When QQ was first launched, each user was simply issued with a unique QQ number, user name and profile, which enabled them to chat with other desktop PC users.

Eighteen-year old David Liu wasn’t even born when QQ, the messaging tool developed by Chinese Internet giant Tencent, was first launched in 1999. Its winking penguin icon went on to become a ubiquitous feature of online life in China, dominating the messaging market amid explosive growth in internet use.

A fall occurred as netizens shifted to mobile and new social platforms, but QQ is fighting back with a legion of youthful fans such as Liu, a freshman at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.