This book examines China’s digital economy and its reach into the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. It shows how the Asia-Pacific region with an existing large Chinese diaspora is seen as a ‘cultural landing pad’ for Chinese content and ideas. In addition to these regional investigations, the authors trace China’s growing technological status as an innovative nation through four policy approaches: culture+, industry+, Internet+ and platform+. Other + characterizations include intelligent+ and social+. These + characterizations show how China is rejuvenating, drawing technological knowhow from the region, and adding to its cultural power.

Drawing on the political economy of the media, industry analysis, platform studies and cultural policy studies, the book shows that China’s commercial digital platforms are increasingly recognized outside China and can disseminate Chinese culture more effectively than government-supported media. The authors provide a comprehensive analysis of how Chinese cultural and creative industries became digital, as well as investigating the key players and the leading platforms including Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, TikTok, Baidu, iQiyi and Meituan. The book argues that China’s commercial digital platforms are increasingly recognized outside China and in many cases can disseminate Chinese culture more effectively than government-supported media, although this does not necessarily translate into influence. 

The sites chosen suggest that there is widespread ambivalence to China’s political messaging combined with an uneven reception of its popular culture. The book provides a critique of Western bias in soft power metrics and draws on empirical data to provide alternative readings.

The authors also analyse in detail Beijing’s changing policies towards the governance of culture, Internet technologies and digital platforms. The book illustrates how Chinese cultural power is extending overseas and the challenges of Chinese platforms, products and services in overcoming stereotyping and ‘threat’ perceptions.

Michael Keane is Professor of Chinese Media, School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Curtin University, Australia.

Haiqing Yu is Associate Professor and Vice-Chancellor’s Principal Research Fellow, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University Australia.

Elaine Jing Zhao is Senior Lecturer, School of the Arts and Media, University of New South Wales, Australia.

Susan Leong is Senior Lecturer, Digital Media and Communication, School of Arts and Social Sciences, Monash University Malaysia.

List of Tables; List of Abbreviations; Acknowledgements; Introduction: A Giant Awakening?; PART 1 China’s ‘+’ Long Game; 1. Culture +; 2. Industry +; 3. Internet +; 4. Platform +; PART 2 The Asia- Pacific as a Chinese Cultural Landing Pad; 5. Assessing the Evidence; 6. East Asia: Hong Kong and Taiwan; 7. South East Asia: Singapore and Malaysia; 8. Oceania: Australia and New Zealand; 9. From Cultural Presence to Innovative Nation; Appendix: Survey Conducted from August to December 2019; Notes; Index.

“A book length study of China’s internet+ and its increasing influence through cultural and media content on social media apps in the Asia-Pacific region. The authors’ thorough understanding of the digital development in China and their empirically rich, conceptually solid study on China’s influence in the world make the book a most thought-provoking and rewarding read.” — Dr Xiaoling Zhang, Chair Professor in Creative Industry, School of International Communications, University of Nottingham Ningbo China

China’s Digital Presence in the Asia-Pacific fills a lacuna in the historiography of the influence of Chinese digital technologies beyond the borders of mainland People’s Republic of China (PRC). It ultimately contributes greatly to the subfields of Chinese digital industries, technology, and economic strategy. This book is required reading for anyone grappling with the TikTok discourse, Chinese digital technology, 21st-century economic policy, and cultural reception, and lays the groundwork for new approaches in scholarship on the “going out” of Chinese culture.—International Journal of Communication, 17 (2023), pp. 4511–4514, Nicholas P. Fernacz, University of Southern California.