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Social Media Interactions and Chinese Identities SOCIAL MEDIA INTERACTIONS AND CHINESE IDENTITIES: A COMPARATIVE ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF CHINESE YOUTH AND RURAL WOMEN’S IDENTITY CONSTRUCTIONS Yini Wang School of Creative Industries Faculty of Education and Arts University of Newcastle This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 2018 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that the work embodied in the thesis is my own work, conducted under normal supervision. The thesis contains no material which has been accepted, or is being examined, for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to the final version of my thesis being made available worldwide when deposited in the University’s Digital Repository, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 and any approved embargo. Signed:_______________Yini Wang_______________________________________ Date:__________________09.17.2018______________________________________ Yini Wang BA (Advertising) The University of Newcastle i Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that the work embodied in this thesis contains published papers of which I am a joint author. I have included a written declaration below endorsed in writing by my supervisor, attesting to my contribution to the joint publication. By signing below I confirm that Yini Wang was the primary contributor to the following publication: I JUDITH SANDNER attest that Higher Degree Research candidate YINI WANG was the principal contributor to the conception, design, writing and revision of the paper/publication: Wang, Y., & Balnaves, M. (2017). Intersubjective benevolence in youth online Chinese communities. In J. Fulton & P. McIntyre (Eds.), Creating space in the fifth estate (pp. 89-109). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Dr. Judith Sandner Date: 18/9/18 ii Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 Social Media Interactions and Chinese Identities: A Comparative Ethnographic Study of Chinese Youth and Rural Women’s Identity Constructions – Yini Wang – November 2018 ABSTRACT The contemporary political and economic context in China has shown strong momentum for the development of information and communications technologies. The impacts of these technological developments have drawn wide discussion by both Chinese and western intellectuals. However, current research on Chinese identity practices in these contexts focuses mostly on the political aspects of Chinese online participations and the activities of the younger generation. Yet alterative groups of emerging Internet and social media users, especially older rural women have rarely been looked at. The polemics of Chinese identity constructions in online spaces is therefore open for investigation. This thesis meets this challenge by contributing to an understanding of Chinese identity played out in ordinary contexts through social media integrated as part of everyday life activities. Specifically, it interprets how Chinese youth and older rural women engage with social media, thereby making sense of themselves and their identity roles. The research has been enlightened by social phenomenology and social constructionism theories and adopted an ethnographic methodology. The methods involved 5.5 months of fieldwork in Hunan University and Hanpu Town in Changsha, China in 2015. Accounts were collected from 26 final-year university students who were aged between 21-25, and 25 rural women who were aged between 40-52, and were based on both online and offline participant observations, in-depth interviews, informal interviews, participants’ diaries and questionnaires. The evidence uncovered from the fieldwork demonstrates that Confucian cultural values and norms have been unreservedly cultivated in Chinese online self- presentations for both the younger cohort’s and the older women’s everyday identity performances. The thesis proposes a new model of the differential mode of association proposed by the Chinese anthropologist Xiaotong Fei (2012) adding new interpretations of the Chinese ‘situational self’ that speak to the transformations brought about by social media within the current dynamic of Chinese social, cultural and political contexts. iii Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been possible without the joint financial support of the China Scholarship Council and the University of Newcastle. I am deeply grateful to my supervisor Professor Mark Balnaves who believed in this project from the very beginning and who ushered me into the philosophical journey of social phenomenology and social constructionism. He has been supportive since the day I landed on Australia. I am especially indebted to Dr. Judith Sandner, who took up the stressful supervisory role midway. Thank you for your encouragement and the extensive invaluable feedback you provided. A special thanks to my fellow doctoral students who I worked with in the ‘Vegas Room’ at the University of Newcastle. Dr. Robert W. Taylor, Dr. Victoria Jack, Dr. Denise Mohan Tan, Dr. Caitlin Parr, Dr. Leicha Stewart, Ed Reddin, Karen Nobes, Ngaio Stobbs, and Kurt Sengul. Ta, for your ‘bloody’ supportive ‘no worries’, the fun ‘drinky-poos’ and heaps of unforgettable Aussie cultural experiences! To my colleagues in the School of Creative Industries at the University of Newcastle, Associate Professor Phillip McIntyre, Associate Professor Craig Hight, Associate Professor Susan Kerrigan, Dr. Janet Fulton, Dr. Michael Meany, Dr. Simon Weaving, Dr. Harry Criticos, Dr. Deb Wise, Dr. Melanie James, thank you for your support. Many thanks also to other members of staff that were so kind to me, Leanne Fitzgibbon, Deb Cook, George Hyde, Daniel Conway and previous staff Dr. Kyle Holmes. My heartfelt thanks also go to other staff and fellow doctoral students from the IT department at the University of Newcastle. Dr. Raymond Chiong, Dr. Marc Adams, Dr. Xin Gu, Philipp Rouast, Hussain M. AI Jaroodi, Mehdi Abedi, Hamid Heydarian, Zongwen Fan, and Xinyu Li. I am also grateful to Professor Rosalind Smith, my supervisor when I worked at the Centre for 21st Century Humanities at the University of Newcastle. Thank you for your mentorship. Also, many thanks to Amanda Hall-Griffin, Kristy Atkins, Linda Hutchinson, Jenny Noble and other staff who I worked with at the centre. I have special lovely friends to thank. Geoff Hookham and his family! Steven Moore, Thilani Hasanthi Dias, Nashwa Najib, Jiexi Hou, Guichao Wang, Jun Li and Hanghe Zhang. I’m fortunate to have met you and have your love and support throughout my PhD candidature. iv Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 My sincere thanks to the people who participated in my research. My research would have been impossible without the aid and support of you. To my parents and relatives in China, you’ve always been a source of love and energy in my life. Finally, to my boyfriend, thank you for your companionship, your tolerance, and your love. v Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 In memory of my grandparents. vi Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 2 DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE IN CHINA ............................................................................................................................. 8 2.1 THE “INTERNET PLUS” AND CHINA’S INFORMATION ECONOMY ............................... 8 2.2 THE URBAN-RURAL DIVIDE ................................................................................... 13 2.2.1 UrbanisatIon and the “Hukou” System ......................................................... 13 2.2.2 Internet Use in Rural China ........................................................................... 16 2.2.3 DIgital DIvIde ................................................................................................. 17 2.3 SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE ................................................................................... 19 2.3.1 QQ .................................................................................................................. 21 2.3.2 WeChat ........................................................................................................... 25 2.3.3 Sina WeIbo ..................................................................................................... 30 2.4 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 31 3 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 33 3.1 IDEAS ABOUT IDENTITY ......................................................................................... 33 3.1.1 IdentIty TheorIes Across DIscIplInes .............................................................. 33 3.1.2 Self-PresentatIon ............................................................................................ 35 3.1.3 Self and IdentIty in OnlIne Contexts .............................................................. 38 3.1.4 Self-PresentatIon and PrIvacy ....................................................................... 40 3.1.5 SocIal ConstructIonism and IdentIty .............................................................. 42 3.1.6 SocIal
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