About the Book
Chinese Social Networks in an Age of Digitalization investigates the impact of digital media on the traditional Chinese model of social interaction, trust-building, and social capital, known as guanxi. Guanxi is a system of cultural and psychological rules of networking that orders every interaction in China, from the labor market, to politics, to business, and even law. It is the lifeblood of the nation and nearly just as old. But how has guanxi kept pace with the modern rapids of digitalization?
This book is the first to examine how the rise of social networking sites is transforming guanxi in everyday networking in China, home to the largest population of users worldwide and nearly universal adoption in the nation. This monograph argues that digitalization is making guanxi liquid: that social and geographical boundaries are being melted away – and with it, people are experiencing a newfound liberation in how they network, trust, and feel toward others. Au asserts that Chinese modernity itself is transforming into what it calls a digital agora, a new intermediary space between the public and private spheres that balances obligations to both realms.
The book offers researchers and students a window into how digitalization is changing how people in guanxi fundamentally think about who to trust, how to interact and compose themselves, and what it takes to socially survive in a rapidly advancing age of digitalization.
Table of Contents:
1.Digitalization in China 2.Liquid Guanxi: Rewriting the Rules of Networking 3.Liquid Guanxi and Homophily: New Rules of Tie-building 4. Liquid Guanxi andSocial Currency Exchanges:New Rules of Tie-Maintenance 5. Liquid Guanxi and Emotionality: New Rules of Tie-Activation6. Liquid Guanxi and Social Support: New Rules of Proximity and Information Flow 7. Liquid Guanxi and Chinese Modernity: Toward a Digital Agora
About the Author :
Anson Au is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is an award-winning author of over forty research articles and three monographs. His research focuses on economic sociology, social networks, digitalization, and professions and organizations, with a regional focus on East Asia.
Review :
"Liquid Guanxi offers an innovative and much-needed analysis of how technology spurs social change. Through a variety of methodological approaches, Au demonstrates how unique historical and cultural features of China set out a distinctive national orientation toward social media. Yet, the rapid proliferation of digital networking has been at work transforming ancient, fundamental elements of Chinese social structure. Au’s subtle and sophisticated observations give us new theoretical tools for a fast-changing world and bring forth a highly original perspective on China’s future." Markus Schafer, Associate Professor of Sociology, Baylor University
"Drawing on interviews with youth in Hong Kong and statistical evidence from the Chinese General Social Survey, this book provides an insightful analysis of the ways in which guanxi operates in contemporary China in the age of social media. With the concept liquid guanxi, Au offers readers a fascinating look at the impact of digitalization on traditional cultural practices and social ties. With its innovative theoretical arguments and mixed-method analysis, Chinese Social Networks in an Age of Digitalization is a must-read for scholars and anyone interested in the intersection of technology, culture, and social networks in China today."
Sida Liu, Professor of Law and Sociology, University of Hong Kong, Author of Criminal Defense in China: The Politics of Lawyers at Work
"This book provides deep insights about how digital technologies and social media transform Chinese society. Anson Au leverages by far the richest and most detailed available data to offer novel and surprising findings about various areas of social life reshaped by digital technologies and social media in modern China. A must-read for anyone interested in media research, information technology, and Chinese society and economy."
Angelina Grigoryeva, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto
"While there is an abundance of literature on the impact of digital media on social life, Au’s book, adapted from his dissertation, focuses on a less studied area, China, where social networking site (SNS) usage is unparalleled in both absolute and relative terms and apps such as WeChat have become indispensable to everyday life. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, Au (sociology, Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ.) examines how SNSs transform guanxi—the intricate system of interpersonal networking that governs every interaction in Chinese culture—particularly in building, maintaining, and using personal ties. Citing modern social theory and philosophy, Au argues that SNSs are quickly melting away the status and geographical barriers in traditional guanxi and making it more liquid... [T]his book... offers a very meaningful look into the social changes brought about by digitalization in a vast country that rivals the West in its economy yet is so different in its social and political systems."
Y. Liao, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
"Au is to be commended for this in-depth study of guanxi and its complex evolution in the digital era. The book provides valuable insights into SNS use and networking behaviour among youth in Hong Kong's unique digital ecosystem, with the concept of liquid guanxi effectively capturing the increased flexibility and adaptability of these practices online. This makes it a significant contribution to the social science literature on guanxi and Chinese sociality more broadly."
The China Quarterly, Cambridge University Press
“Chinese Social Networks in an Age of Digitalization: Liquid Guanxi is a powerful examination of the complexity that exists between tradition and modernity in contemporary China. Au’s concept of liquid guanxi is an innovative and intellectually rigorous contribution to the study of social networks, digitalization, and Chinese culture. By offering this powerful understanding of how deeply embedded cultural practices are being remade in the face of technological change, Au’s book sheds critical light on the broader processes of social transformation occurring in China today… its interdisciplinary approach and sophisticated conceptual framework make it essential reading for scholars interested in Chinese society, digital culture, and the sociology of network theory. Au’s work challenges contemporary scholars to rethink how we understand not just guanxi, but the very nature of human relationships in a world that is increasingly defined by fluidity and digital transformation”.
Social Forces, Oxford University Press
“The book offers a thoughtful conceptual framework grounded in the Chinese context, exploring how social networking services have transformed the cultural and psychological dimensions of guanxi, the Chinese concept of social relational networks. It examines how Chinese people are adjusting their understanding, expectations, and interpretations of guanxi in the digital age. The book extends this inquiry into a broader ambition– arguing that the ‘liquidization’ of guanxi represents a project of modernity in China, a force that has guided Chinese civilization in social reform, economic development, and innovation…
The book is well structured and enriched by a wealth of research evidence, presenting its arguments with clarity and depth. This book will be particularly valuable for scholars and students interested in contemporary China, digital sociology, global media studies, and de-westernizing media research. Its framework of liquid guanxi provides critical insights into how technological advancements reconfigure social relations, becoming structural forces that shape cultural imaginaries, governance, and ideologies. The book offers a useful perspective on how social and economic transformations in China are mediated and reinforced through digital platforms.”
China Information, Sage Publications
