The Production Of Transnational Space:Study On Chinese Overseas Students’ Crossborder Shopping On WeChat

Cross-border shopping is not only the medium of trans-regional consumption,but also contains complex social relations between multiple stakeholders,with cultural implications.We Chat has become an important platform for cross-border shopping because of its functions of information exchange,interpersonal relationship building and e-commerce.Cross-border shopping on We Chat is a reproduction of the traditional cross-border shopping mode and also a manifestation of spatialization of media.Based on the perspective of space production,we can rediscover the social relations of buyers,consumers and other stakeholders of We Chat cross-border shopping,and finding what kind of space structure is generated by cross-border communication activities based on We Chat.How to launch cross-border shopping on We Chat platform? How does We Chat change the traditional mode of cross-border shopping and create a new transnational consumption space? In this transnational space,what kind of complex relations exist among the various stakeholders of cross-border shopping?This paper adopted Lefebvre’s space spatial triad theory to analyze the crossborder shopping behavior of Chinese overseas students on We Chat(Daigou).Crossborder shopping on We Chat is regarded as a digital transnational consumption space,and the construction of spatial discourse and the operation mechanism of space are discussed through the methods of online ethnography and interview.Space is generated by social relations.In the digital transnational space based on We Chat,the intricate relationships among overseas students,consumers,regulators and We Chat platform affect the production of space.The three dimensions of space production,namely space practice,space representation and representational space,are the focus of this paper.Special space refers to the physical activities and capital conversion of each stakeholder in the digital transnational consumption space.In the representation of space,buyers maintain the stability of spatial order through the formulation of rules and the construction of fashion discourse,the digital transnational consumption space is perceived to construct and shape their identities,with more mobility to pursue their dreams,while consumers also decode the discourse in space.Representational space is a space full of contradictions and conflicts,and there are visible or invisible oppression and resistance between public opinion,regulators,platforms and buyers.The construction of digital transnational consumption space is one of the manifestations of mediatization in the field of transnational consumption.We Chat as a media cross different border and reorganize relationships.Its informational and interpersonal affordances create new spatial discourse.The digital transnational consumption space has many characteristics,such as disembeding,extensive communication,mobility and so on.It has become a place for buyers to imagine their identity.At the same time,when the social practice of cross-border buyers has become normal on We Chat,contradictions and conflicts also lurk in the evolution of social conventions and norms in daily life.The power relations in cross-border consumption space undergoes a change on We Chat that buyers can conduct space practice and representation in more ways.The production of digital transnational consumption space is full of consumerist discourse,but it is still restricted by power space.