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Short abstract:

This article aims to explain the impact of Chinese online platforms WeChat, Xiaohongshu and Jingdong (Ochama) on the lives of Chinese communities in the Netherlands.

Long abstract:

The complex relationship between Chinese platform companies and overseas Chinese communities has gained attention in sociology and media studies in recent years. This article aims to explain the impact of Chinese online platforms WeChat, Xiaohongshu and Jingdong (Ochama) on the lives of Chinese communities in the Netherlands. The paper answers the question: how do different Chinese online platforms influence and reshape the lives of overseas Chinese communities in the Netherlands? What types of impacts do they have? This paper attempts to explore the overseas Chinese’s responses and strategies towards the impacts. It is worth noting that “Going out” Chinese platforms are not only WeChat, Xiaohongshu and Jingdong, and that it is not only platforms from “China” that are influencing this community, but also transnational mediums such as Youtube and LinkedIn, which are also influencing the Chinese community abroad. The reason why this study focuses on these three platforms is that they conduct direct and “variegated” influences on the Chinese community at different scales. Secondly, there is a certain degree of mutual embeddedness and competition between these three platforms. The comparative study of these three platform firms provides a (micro) political economic perspective to understand the “go out” strategy of Chinese platform companies.

This study highlights the plurality of digital platforms, the plurality of their impacts, the plurality of their “anxiety of influence”, and rejects the single perspective of “Chinese Digital Capital”. More importantly, this paper aims to explain these changes at the micro level using individualised data and cases.

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Short abstract:

Beyond the material profits on commodities in religious sites, such as prayer beads, emulates and bubble tea, this paper discusses another facet of capital- Buddhist Merit. The paper explores how through the digitalization of religious tourism and goods, a form of cyber-merit is being produced.

Long abstract:

Spiritual and religious tourism has in the past two decades developed into an economic sector in the PRC. Capital runs through the hands of devoted pilgrims, believers, spiritual seekers, near-temple shop owners, and local officials all taking part in the growing transnational economy around sacred places of traditions such as Mazuism, Buddhism and Daoism (Zhang 2021; Shepherd 2018). Parallelly, scholars have noted cyclical patterns of digital capital that have transmigrated to the online sphere, affected physical spaces and vis-à-vis (Zhang Roast & Morris 2022), among them, heritage and religious spaces (Shmushko 2023). Beyond the material profits on commodities offered in religious sites, such as prayer beads, charms, emulates, and bubble tea, this paper discusses another facet of capital- Buddhist Merit. The paper explores how through the digitalization of religious tourism and goods, a form of cyber-merit is being produced. Cyber-merit, in this multifaceted, transnational spatial context, can be seen as cultural and spiritual digital capital (Park 2017) accumulated by Chinese netizens, with the mediation of Chinese social media platforms.

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This paper focuses on the social side of Chinese fibre optic networks in Switzerland. It ethnographically explores how representatives of Chinese Information & Communication Technology firms and their Swiss partners navigate public concerns, emphasising Swissness and envisioning high-tech futures.

Long abstract:

This paper focuses on a particularly contested case of Chinese digital capital—Chinese fibre optic networks in Switzerland—and the involvement of both Chinese and Swiss companies. In Switzerland, as elsewhere, Chinese technologies play a pivotal role in these networks. Despite Switzerland generally being more receptive to incorporating Chinese technologies compared to other Western countries, there is a growing scepticism within the Swiss public regarding potential future dependencies and cybersecurity concerns. This paper is based on ethnographic field research in Switzerland, including interviews with representatives of Chinese companies in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and their Swiss partner companies, participant observation during industry events and data centre visits, and documentary analysis. By emphasizing the everyday, social aspects of digital infrastructures, it asks how Chinese and Swiss company representatives navigate these public concerns. I demonstrate how, in an increasingly tense geopolitical setting, they attempt to disassociate these technologies from their Chineseness. This is reinforced by employing European workers who advocate for the company, presenting their companies as European and highlighting their Swissness. Meanwhile, Swiss partners often conceal their Chinese collaborations and technologies. Moreover, company representatives present their technologies as future-proof, promising an ever more digital and automated era, necessary for sustained innovation and economic power. These presentations are framed around narratives envisioning a sustainable and green high-tech future for all.

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Short abstract:

Drawing on my fieldwork exploring consumption choices among Mandarin-language platform users in Vancouver, Canada, this paper examines the tension between individuals who have brought their Chinese digital capital overseas and platforms that intend to capitalize on such capital outside China.

Long abstract:

This paper explores the reactions of emigrant users to Mandarin-language platforms in their host country, examining the implications when individuals with Chinese digital capital encounter platforms seeking to exploit it beyond the Chinese market. It draws on my year-long dissertation fieldwork in Vancouver, Canada, where I utilized interviews, observation, and digital ethnography to understand the intricate dynamics of Mandarin-language platform utilization, work engagement, and entrepreneurial endeavours. Vancouver's landscape provides a rich tapestry of Mandarin-language platforms catering to the diverse needs of emigrants, spanning from take-out services to urban mobility solutions. Entrepreneurs and investors, inspired by the successes of similar platforms in China, seek to replicate this triumph in the relatively untapped Canadian market. However, findings suggest these attempts may face unexpected challenges. While emigrant users initially rely on Mandarin-language platforms upon arrival, their dependence gradually wanes as they adapt to their new environment. Interviews and observations reveal a shift in perceptions and lifestyles, with users developing skepticism towards these platforms, influenced by negative stereotypes rooted in the business strategies employed by Mandarin-language platforms in Canada, which they associate with unfavourable tactics and ethics they found in platform companies in China. In summary, this research illuminates the complexities of transplanting Chinese platform models abroad, underscoring the evolving dynamics between emigrant users and Mandarin-language platforms in their new societal context.

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Short abstract:

It discusses how Chinese digital entrepreneurs see themselves as 'time travellers" in Southeast Asian market. By adapting the predatory "cash loan" models and credit algorithms that once worked in China , they achieve certain temporal agencies in Southeast Asian market.

Long abstract:

Starting in 2017, Chinese fintech companies began introducing a specific digital loan product to the Southeast Asian market. Known as "cash loans," the product is an unsecured payday loan with data-driven instant approval, digital money transfers, and predatory interest rates and collections. Once popular and lucrative in China before heavy regulation in 2017, the model has been characterized by Chinese media as a "debt scam" that manipulates people and causes individual over-indebtedness. Based on ethnographic data, I trace how Chinese entrepreneurs reproduce cash loans in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries with specific temporal ideologies. On the one hand, based on their experiences in the Chinese digital market, they believe that Indonesia today is just like China ten years ago in terms of infrastructure and regulations. They feel like "time travelers" who can use their memories to reproduce market success by copying models that worked for infrastructures and regulatory environments in China. On the other hand, they are adapting certain temporal-spatial logics for algorithmic risk assessment that have been well tested in China's fintech market. The credit apps monitor borrowers' smartphone behavior to capture temporal data. The data feeds algorithmic models that generate credit scores for people with no recorded financial history. I use "China time machines" to describe the devices that assemble different temporal-spatial ideologies in the trans-Asian market-making of Chinese digital capital. Chinese digital capital has become a defining force in the global South through the rapid circulation of "China time machines" in underdeveloped and under-regulated digital markets.