Contenu du sommaire : Rethinking Global China through Migrants in the Margins: Precarity, Agency, and Multi-directional Mobility

This article examines how Mainland Chinese sex workers in Hong Kong's “low-end” red-light districts experience and reproduce racial and social boundaries. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, it argues that given women's precarious and marginalised status, engagements with difference often negate opportunities for cross-cultural openness and instead take the form of “tactical cosmopolitanism” – situational practices of distancing and superiority used to restore dignity and legitimise their presence. These interactions frequently reinforce racial hierarchies shaped by stigma, illegality, and embodied risk. The paper situates these dynamics within broader debates on cosmopolitanism and “globalisation from below,” revealing how exclusion and hierarchy can persist, and even be reproduced, within contexts of mobility and desire in Hong Kong's low-end sex markets.

This study examines the dynamics of (im)mobility among Myanmar migrant workers, who constitute the largest group of foreign labour migrants in China. Based on interviews and participant observations with migrant workers in both the border and non-border areas of China, this article examines how multiple dimensions of migration infrastructure – including geopolitics and migration policies (institutional dimension), social ties and affective relations (social dimension), and ethnic-based migration brokerages – interact in shaping the (im)mobility of Myanmar migrant workers. It points out that infrastructural interruptions, including border closures, changes in visa policy, and the collapse of the administrative management system caused by the coup in Myanmar, have disrupted the mobility of labour migrants between China and Myanmar, and trapped them in a state of “stuckness” during the pandemic. However, social infrastructure, composed of social ties and intimate relationships, and ethnicity-based migration brokerages, are found to have become activated to sustain their everyday lives in China and their desire to return to their hometowns. This paper contributes to the understanding of China's socioeconomic transformation in the age of migration, which is an integral component in China's development.

In the fiscal year 2023, more than 24,000 Chinese nationals were apprehended at the southwest border of the United States. Drawing on interviews and digital ethnography, this paper finds that post-Covid-19 undocumented Chinese immigrants, also known as zouxian migrants, rely on information and communication technologies (ICTs) to mediate and facilitate international movements. This finding shows that digitally mediated social networks are a continuum of the social networks that have facilitated waves of Chinese migration to the US since the mid-nineteenth century, yet they are distinguished by faster information flow and broader reach in the twenty-first-century digital age. Moreover, this paper finds that ICTs played dual roles in international migration. On the one hand, ICT use makes the migration process more accessible, affordable, and manageable by providing migrants with access to information, resources, and social networks. On the other hand, ICT use exposes migrants to misinformation, disinformation, and selective success stories of unauthorised border crossings, obscuring the physical, emotional, and financial tolls of undocumented migration. These selective migration narratives leave migrants ill-prepared for the dangers and challenges ahead while exposing them to the risk of social media surveillance and control. By underlining these dynamics, this paper contributes to the existing literature on undocumented Chinese migration to the US and the digital mediation of migration.

Using a heritage conservation project in Anyang as a case study, this paper explores the current challenges for planners to navigate China's planning system. It argues that, similar to decades ago, local governments still dominate the planning and implementation of local projects and reduce planners to technicians. To understand the root of this issue, it is necessary to properly situate planning within the political system. Characterised as fragmented authoritarianism, China's political system grants planners de jure power, yet without de facto power. In the meantime, the constant interplay between decentralisation and (re-)centralisation has actually centralised planning power in the local state, particularly local top leaders, making the local planning process more authoritarian than fragmented and further constraining planners' de facto power.

This article introduces anti-poverty drama (fupin ju 扶貧劇) as an emerging televisual genre in contemporary China that portrays the country's poverty alleviation efforts under Xi Jinping. The rise of anti-poverty dramas marks a shift in the state's media strategy – from direct political messaging to more sophisticated branding that frames poverty alleviation as all-encompassing and success-driven. This article examines how these televisual productions blend entertainment with ideological function to construct a vision of rural development that appeals to audiences as national citizens, shaping public discourse and emotional identification. Through close analysis of a 2020 drama set in Guizhou – historically one of China's poorest provinces – I show how recurring narrative formulas, character archetypes, and visual tropes contribute to a form of televisual nation-branding that is culturally resonant, politically strategic, and economically productive. Anti-poverty dramas not only enhance the CCP's ruling legitimacy by mediating between propaganda and popular culture, but also generate symbolic capital for formerly impoverished places reimagined as sites of promise.

This article explores how local community agencies are shaped by state-driven development programs and relevant institutional contexts. Focusing on the Construction of Beautiful Villages policy in northern China, this research draws on six months of qualitative fieldwork. The article uses a framework based on state simplification and techno-politics and argues that the simplification of development programs is not only a function of the state but is also actively pursued by local governments aiming to execute tasks with minimal contestation. The agency of local communities is further constrained under the mutual impact of simplifying and depoliticising mechanisms. Village cadres are relegated to coordinators among county-township officials, third-party companies, and villagers, while their role as political agents diminishes due to the loss of financial autonomy and authority. Recent reforms reducing the power of village chiefs have limited political negotiation opportunities, making it difficult for villagers to access policy information and governance processes. The villagers' complex feelings towards the state are marked by gratitude to the national government and dissatisfaction with local governance. Although awareness of the problems of grassroots governance grows, villagers become increasingly constrained in effecting change. Limited participation channels and a shrinking public sphere due to outmigration and individualisation contribute to their depoliticised conditions. This research enhances the understanding of local agency and illustrates how the interrelated processes of depoliticisation and simplification mutually shape policy outcomes.

This article explores the social norms and cultural practices among same-sex attracted men in a Chinese urban park, challenging the prevailing narrative that these spaces are primarily used for sexual encounters. Through ethnographic research, the study reveals how these parks serve as vital community hubs where men form deep friendships, discuss personal issues, and share experiences. The park's strict rules and norms facilitate diverse social activities, allowing men to navigate their identities and build a shared culture. The research highlights the use of humour and “joking relationships” as tools to ease communication and strengthen group cohesion. By examining these interactions, the study provides insights into the complex social dynamics and the importance of these spaces for same-sex attracted men in urban China.