Selling rural China

The construction and commodification of rurality in Chinese promotional livestreaming

Bibliographic Data

ID11268152
AuthorsLizhen Zhao (0000-0002-6375-6230, University of Massachusetts Amherst, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume46
Issue3
Pages481-499
Publication date2024-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedia Culture & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0163-4437 • E-ISSN: 1460-3675
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/01634437231203883
OpenAlexW4387401917
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited22

With promotional livestreaming transforming the digital culture and e-commerce landscape in China, rural streamers take this opportunity to not only harvest economic rewards but also construct rural identities and associated imagery. Employing a digital ethnographic approach, this article closely explored how rural spaces and rural labor activities are constructed and commodified in Chinese promotional livestreaming. I argue that although rural streamers’ creative use of platform-afforded liveness and interactivity enriches Chinese digital culture by making everyday life in rural spaces visible, this constructed rurality is, however, flattened, decontextualized, and romanticized – thus, ready to be commodified and sold to the audience. In addition, agricultural labor is made hyper-visible, generating the possibility for demystifying said labor process, while other forms of labor, mainly affective labor and labor for negotiation with the platforms, are made invisible, undervalued, and exploited, deepening the precarious condition of such platform-dependent labor

China · Commodification · Economics · Economy · Ethnography · Interactivity · Liveness · Marketization · Multimedia · Political science · Rural area · Rurality · Sociology · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

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