Send message to Author

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.