Zhihu

Zhihu Inc.
Type of businessPublic
Type of site
Knowledge markets, Q&A software
Available inChinese
Traded as
HeadquartersBeijing, China
Area servedWorldwide
Founders
  • Zhou Yuan (周源)
  • Li Shenshen (李申申)[1]
  • Huang Jixin (黄继新)[2]
Key peopleZhou Yuan (CEO)
Revenue CN¥3.599 billion (2024)[3]
URLwww.zhihu.com
LaunchedJanuary 2011 (January 2011)
Current statusActive
Zhihu
Chinese知乎
Literal meaningDo you know
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhīhū
Bopomofoㄓ ㄏㄨ
IPA[ʈʂɻ̩́.xú]
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingzi1 fu4

Zhihu (Chinese: 知乎; pinyin: Zhīhū) is a Chinese social question and answer site and news aggregator.[4] Originally based in Chengdu and with creators from Sichuan, China, the website launched on January 26, 2011. The number of registered users on Zhihu exceeded 10 million by the end of 2013,[5] and reached 17 million as of May 2015,[6] with 250 million monthly page views.[2]

History

Zhihu began development in August 2010. It went through a closed beta test at the end of December 2010.[6] The final product went online on January 26, 2011.[7][8] It has reportedly received funding from Kai-Fu Lee's Innovation Works, Qiming Ventures,[9] SAIF Partners, Tencent, and Sogou.[10]

In October 2011, Zhihu completed its A-round of funding for US$7 million from Innovation Works and Qiming Ventures.[7] In 2015, Zhihu completed its C-round of funding for US$55 million.[10]

In 2017, Zhihu officially commercialized. In August 2018, Zhihu completed its E-round of funding, raising US$270 million for a total company valuation at US$2.5 billion. On August 12, 2019, Zhihu completed a subsequent F-round of funding led by Chinese short video platform Kuaishou and technology company Baidu, garnering US$450 million. As a result, Baidu mobile app searches would directly return Zhihu content.[11]

On March 2, 2018, the Cyberspace Administration of China required all app stores to remove Zhihu for 7 days. The reason was stated to be insufficient monitoring and illegal content. On the same day, Android app stores removed Zhihu. On Apple App Store, Zhihu become unavailable for download. [12]

On October 9, 2020, a Video creation tool was launched on Zhihu. The tool is able to suggest images and generate voice over for text. This aims to reduce the technical barrier to video creation on the platform.[13] In December 2021, ten of Zhihu's shareholders, including Sogou and Tencent's investment arm, sold all of their stakes (78% ownership) in Beijing Zhizhe Tianxia Technology, the parent company of Zhihu. All shares were transferred to the founder and CEO, Zhou Yuan (Chinese: 周源; pinyin: Zhōu Yuán), who owned more than 99% of the company thereafter. This occurred three days after regulatory pressures from the Beijing branch of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), during which Zhihu was instructed to rectify practices that had led to unlawful release of information.[14][15][16] Zhihu's initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange came on March 26, 2021.[17] Zhihu started trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on April 11, 2022.[18] In July, 2023, Zhihu no longer supported anonymous posting, although anonymous content is also under the monitoring of Zhihu. Previous Posts won't be affected.[19] On June 29, 2024, Zhihu launched Zhida, an AI search product developed by Zhihu.[20]

In October 2025, at the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany, Zhihu unveiled the Yanyan Story Platform. Content on the platform includes books, digital reading, audio dramas, and cultural products. Some literary works on the platform are available in multiple languages, including English, Indonesian, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, and Thai. At the time, over 100 works had been licensed for domestic or international publication.[21]

Product

Zhihu functions similarly to Quora, where users may submit questions and answers, as well as upvote the best answer.[4] Zhihu also features expert panels and daily and weekly newsletters.[7]

Initially, user registration was primarily invitation-only, with referrals needed from a couple hundred registered users. Otherwise, new users had to apply to join by filling in a large amount of personal information and waiting for a reply.[22] Zhihu sought to host professional questions and answers, and then over time attract a more general community.[23]

Trending is a leaderboard where popular topics are shown, ranked by popularity evaluated with engagement metrics, including likes, shares, impressions, and more. It updates over time but is consistent for different users. Topics come from a variety of categories.[24]

Live

Live is where users, including individuals and organizations, can host live streams. Live streams in Zhihu can be set to unpaid or paid. In a paid live stream, participants are required to pay an amount of fee to watch.[25]

Zhida

Zhida is an AI search product developed by Zhihu. The meaning of its name is "direct answer" in Mandarin.[26] It is a productivity tool of innovation in large language model applications for users and creators.[20] It can integrate answers in content archive on platform with external links.[26] The purpose is to improve user experience in asking, searching, generating results, and summarizing. Both service entry points and an independent domain are offered. Users are able to choose between by content or by people for searching, and between brief or in-depth for the generation of answer .[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ 周源 (March 14, 2011). "知乎有哪些员工？" [Who are the employees at Zhihu?]. Zhihu (in Chinese). Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  2. ^ a b 高海英, ed. (May 14, 2015). "知乎：用知识串联世界" [Zhihu: Connecting the World with Knowledge]. 新华网新闻 (in Chinese). XINHUANET.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  3. ^ "Document". www.moomoo.com. Retrieved December 2, 2025.
  4. ^ a b Wong, Sue-lin (January 16, 2014). "In China, A New Space for New Questions". Tea Leaf Nation. Tea Leaf Nation, LLC. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  5. ^ Zhu, Xudong (July 13, 2013). "知乎月活跃用户突破1000万 进入快速增长轨道" [Zhihu has over 10 million monthly active users]. 腾讯科技 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  6. ^ a b 财视传媒 (May 6, 2015). "知乎创始人周源：我也曾是正宗程序猿" [Zhou Yuan, founder of Zhihu: I was once an authentic programmer too]. Sohu (in Chinese (China)). Sohu.com Inc. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  7. ^ a b c Bischoff, Paul (June 9, 2014). Horwitz, Josh (ed.). "A look inside Zhihu, China's answer to Quora". Tech In Asia. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  8. ^ 乐天 (March 28, 2011). skylei (ed.). 李开复爆料创新工场已投资问答社区网站知乎 [Lee Kai-fu reveals Sinovation Ventures has invested in Q&A community website Zhihu]. 腾讯科技 (in Chinese). Tencent. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  9. ^ "IN KEY INDUSTRIES". Qiming Venture Partners (in Chinese). Qiming. Archived from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  10. ^ a b 余一 (November 5, 2015). chunwzhang (ed.). "知乎确认已完成5500万美金融资 腾讯领投" [Zhihu confirms it has closed $55 million in funding led by Tencent]. 腾讯科技. Tencent. Archived from the original on August 19, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  11. ^ Lee, David (August 12, 2019). "Zhihu Completes Largest Funding Round Ever of $450 Million". Pandaily. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  12. ^ "因平台管理不严、传播违法违规信息 知乎被下架7天 - 21财经" [Zhihu removed from app stores for 7 days due to lax platform management and dissemination of illegal and irregular information - 21st Century Business Herald]. m.21jingji.com. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  13. ^ "知乎上线视频创作工具 图文可自动生成视频 — 新京报" [Zhihu launches video creation tool: text and images can automatically generate video — Beijing News]. www.bjnews.com.cn. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  14. ^ Li, Jiaxing (December 23, 2021). "Investors offload stakes in Zhihu after regulator issues directive to 'rectify' business". KrASIA. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
  15. ^ Woona, Ryane (December 20, 2021). "bazawin". bazawin.tech. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
  16. ^ Yang, Yingzhi; Woo, Ryan (December 20, 2021). "China summons Quora-like Zhihu for unlawful release of information". CNA. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
  17. ^ "Zhihu Inc. Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering". Zhihu Inc. InvestorRoom. Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
  18. ^ "Zhihu Inc. Launches Global Offering". Zhihu Inc. InvestorRoom. Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
  19. ^ "知乎：匿名功能将下线 — 新京报" [Zhihu: Anonymity feature to be taken offline — Beijing News]. www.bjnews.com.cn. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
  20. ^ a b c "知乎发布AI搜索产品"知乎直答" ，周源希望用提问发现世界 — 新京报" [Zhihu releases AI search product "Zhihu Zhida", Zhou Yuan hopes to discover the world through questions — Beijing News]. www.bjnews.com.cn. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
  21. ^ "Zhihu's Yanyan Story Makes International Debut at Frankfurt Book Fair, Showcasing China's Short-Form Literature to the World". The Manila Times. October 17, 2025. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  22. ^ Hu, Wei (May 27, 2011). "提交 "加入知乎申请" 后多久才能获得邀请" [How long after submitting the "Application to Join Zhihu" will I receive an invitation?]. Zhihu. Retrieved May 28, 2011.
  23. ^ "内容社区：始于内容，火于流量，困于商业化" [Content Communities: Starting with Content, Fueled by Traffic, Struggling with Commercialization]. 36Kr (in Chinese). January 25, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  24. ^ "What is Zhihu? The Q&A Platform For Growth". www.nativex.com. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  25. ^ Dudarenok, Ashley Galina (July 6, 2018). "Zhihu: China's Q&A social platform that's ripe for brands". Econsultancy. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
  26. ^ a b "Quora-like platform Zhihu bets on AI to become China's X and LinkedIn". South China Morning Post. April 4, 2025. Archived from the original on September 12, 2025. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
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