WeChat and the Chinese Diaspora: Digital Transnationalism in the Era of China's Rise

WeChat, launched in 2012, has become the most favored Chinese social media, revolutionizing personal messaging, group communication, and community business activities among Mandarin-speaking migrants worldwide. This book explores how WeChat's infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, technical capabilities, content, and sense of community have constructed a diasporic Chinese world, influenced by China's rise and Western anxiety.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 274 pages
Publication date: 29 January 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

WeChat, the international version of Weixin, was launched in 2012 and has quickly emerged as the most favored Chinese social media platform. With its global availability, equal popularity among individuals both within and outside China, and widespread adoption by Chinese migrants worldwide, WeChat has profoundly transformed the ways in which Mandarin-speaking migrants communicate, engage in group discussions, conduct business activities, produce and distribute news, and access and share information. This comprehensive book delves into a diverse range of issues related to the functioning and usage of WeChat across different regions and communities among the newest members of the Chinese diaspora.

The author argues that digital/social media platforms afford a significant degree of individual agency and collective capacity for sustaining an "imagined community." The book demonstrates how WeChat's combination of infrastructure, regulatory frameworks, technological capabilities, content, and sense of community has resulted in the creation of a distinct diasporic Chinese world, coinciding with China's rise and concerns about Chinese influence in the West.

Chapter 2 of this book is available for free download as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license, allowing for non-commercial use and distribution with proper attribution.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367724306