Chinese youth performing identities and navigating belonging online

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the experiences of belonging of young Chinese internet users through an analysis of their online identity practices. Drawing on a qualitative research project about online citizenship practices of 31 young Chinese citizens from mainland China, I explore their experiences of belonging on two online platforms (Weibo and WeChat) and the identities formed and sustained through these experiences. The results show that young people experience different senses of belonging in different social media spaces. Their strategies in navigating these experiences are informed by (a) their perceptions of online spaces as private or public, and (b) using online identity performance as a supplement to or escape from identities in physical life. I argue that young Chinese internet users experience different senses of belonging by flexibly appropriating the affordances of social media platforms for communication and networking; these senses of belonging play a key role in forming and sustaining their identities, and are crucial for their wellbeing.

KEYWORDS:

• Belonging
• identity
• social media
• Chinese youth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Jun Fu http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4361-7345

Notes

1. The city tier system is a way to divide cities in China into specific categories to document consumer behaviour, income levels, and local trends. The system is based on a series of indexes, such as population size, the scale of Gross Domestic Product of a city. The use of this system was started by the private sector and there is no official list so far. Note referenced: http://www.sinostep.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-china-city-tiers/, accessed July 18, 2016.