Supplementary information files for "Inhabitants of a national ‘walled garden’: everyday digital nationalism in China"

Supplementary files for article "Inhabitants of a national ‘walled garden’: everyday digital nationalism in China"

Digital media have played a significant role in the rise of nationalism in recent years. Existing research, however, tends to focus on more explicit or passionate expressions of nationalist feelings online. In contrast, there has been very little work on the relationship between everyday digital practices and the (re)production of national frameworks among ‘ordinary’ citizens. In order to address this lacuna, this study develops a novel theoretical framework that employs insights from studies of everyday habits, temporal rhythms and ‘common-sense’ knowledge. This framework is used to examine the everyday digital practices of ordinary people in China drawing on data from media diaries and semi-structured interviews with 45 participants. The Chinese digital infrastructure is particularly conducive to the formation of distinct national digital habits, due to its reliance on domestic platforms and the presence of the ‘Great Firewall’ that limits access to foreign platforms. Yet, as our analysis shows, the nationalizing effects of this digital infrastructure requires ‘buy-in’ from citizens. We first investigate how and why people’s digital activities tend to be confined to the national ‘walled garden’ of Chinese platforms. Second, we highlight the role of WeChat as the primary node in China’s digital ecosystem and demonstrate how ordinary citizens use it, in a largely taken-for-granted manner, to sustain a plethora of nationally bounded relationships and activities. Finally, we examine the tiny number of participants that move beyond this ecosystem and their motivations for both venturing out and returning ‘home’.

©The Author(s), CC BY-NC 4.0

论文《国家"围墙花园（walled garden）"中的居民：中国日常数字民族主义》补充材料。

近年来，数字媒体在民族主义兴起进程中发挥了重要作用。然而，既有研究多聚焦于网络上民族主义情绪更为直白或激烈的表达。与之形成鲜明对比的是，针对"普通"民众的日常数字实践与民族国家框架（再）生产之间关联的研究却寥寥无几。为填补这一研究空白，本研究构建了一套新颖的理论框架，吸纳了日常习惯、时间节律与"常识"认知相关研究的洞见。本研究借助媒体日记与对45名受访者的半结构化访谈所获数据，运用该框架剖析了中国普通民众的日常数字实践。

由于中国数字基础设施依赖本土平台，且存在限制境外平台访问的"长城防火墙（Great Firewall）"，其尤其利于形成具有鲜明特色的国家性数字习惯。但正如本研究分析所示，这类数字基础设施的民族化效应需要民众的认同接纳。其一，我们探究了民众的数字活动为何及如何被局限在中国平台构成的国家"围墙花园"之中；其二，我们着重阐述了微信作为中国数字生态系统核心节点的作用，并揭示了普通民众如何以一种近乎理所当然的方式，借助微信维系大量受限于国家边界的社交关系与日常活动；最后，我们分析了极少数跳出该生态系统的受访者，以及他们既选择"出走"又选择"回归"的动机。

©作者本人，CC BY-NC 4.0协议