COM Research Seminar: From Bilateral Creatives to Wanghong: A Schizoanalysis of Chinese Platforms and Digital Culture by Dr Jian LIN
30 Sep 2024 (Mon)
On September 30, 2024, Assistant Professor Jian LIN from the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, presented a profound seminar entitled "From Bilateral Creatives to Wanghong: A Schizoanalysis of Chinese Platforms and Digital Culture."
In his talk, Prof. Lin applied the concept of schizoanalysis, developed by Deleuze and Guattari in 1983, to explore the intricate relationships between capital and state power in managing Chinese platformed cultural production. His analysis reveals how this state-capital complex fosters both new opportunities and precarious conditions within the platform and creative economy, while also highlighting systemic divergence in governance and the complex, multifaceted subjectivities of creative individuals.
The seminar explored how these dynamics create contradictory forces that shape the nature of platform capitalism in China—a landscape marked by conflicting interests, creating opportunities for autonomy and innovation, yet also limiting them due to ongoing tensions between state control and capitalist influences. He emphasized the irony of people's desire for public expression and better lives being suppressed through censorship and the exploitation of creativity and the Wanghong phenomenon. The seminar drew around 20 participants, including faculty, Ph.D. students, and scholars from various fields.
