A group blog about Chinese tech, media and design
Blockchain Chicken Farm: And Other Stories of Tech in China’s Countryside
By Xiaowei Wang
FSG Originals, 256 pp.
Prototype Nation: China and the Contested Promise of Innovation
By Silvia M. Lindtner
Princeton University Press, 288 pp.
It’s really hard to get an on-the-ground view of…
Continue readingLooking at China and Seeing Ourselves: Two Ethnographies of Tech in China
China is now the largest car market. But many Western companies are discovering that simply transferring cars designed for Western users do not always appeal to Asian users. Point in case GM’s Cadillac, a car built for…
Continue readingInspiration for the future of cars from resource-constrained vendors in China
With her permission, we decided it would be fun to give a roundup of Tricia’s ethnographic adventures during the spring & summer of this year.
Hanging out at a bar, the ever evolving third space, “After a rock band performed, the stage became a tattoo station.”
Talking to a female massage worker in Changsha…
Continue readingTricia’s ethnographic adventures roundup
Follow Tricia in her adventures to put herself in the shoes of migrant workers in Wuhan and to understand youth at the borders (economically and geographically) are using technology in China.
First stop: Room, board and internet in an underground tunnel:
I’ve been touring underground tunnels looking for a short-term…
Continue readingTricia Wang, undercover migrant worker extraordinaire
Tricia Wang just posted her presentation from SXSW called “睡在网吧 [Sleeping at the Internet Bar] The Next 300 Million Chinese Users.” It has some great insights on the fringe community of migrants around China and how they are adamantly connected. Tricia observes that these migrants spent lots of time in internet bars/cafes because they’re cheap and because they can connect…
Continue readingChina’s digital underdogs