“You Are First a Chinese Citizen, Then A Consumer”: Presenting and Balancing Identities Online as Chinese International Tourists

• Authors: Fangheyue Ma

Abstracts

EN

This paper is based on the analysis of 261 video and word posts collected from four popular social media sites on which Chinese tourists shared their consumption-related experiences during and after the trip. It investigates Chinese international tourists’ diverse presentations of self to a broad audience online through explaining their shopping experiences and product reviews. Tourists are expected to balance multiple identities carefully when they project themselves online as consumers-on the one hand, they present themselves as global consumers and trendsetters who are strategic and savvy; while on the other hand, they still need to preserve and even emphasize their national identity as Chinese patriots. Providing the much-lacking qualitative insight, this study enhances our understanding of international tourists and their consumption behaviors, the construction and presentation of a digital self, and how globalization operates at the micro-level.

Keywords

EN

China; International Tourism; Consumption; Social Media; Presentation of Self

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Qualitative Sociology Review
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 58-81

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Fangheyue Ma

• Florida Gulf Coast University, USA

• https://orcid.org/0000000177730341

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Identifiers

DOI

10.18778/1733-8077.17.4.04

Biblioteka Nauki

2028550