For a decade or more, rural Chinese have been setting up online stores in their homes, hoping to make a living through e-commerce rather than factory work or farming. But any easy money there was in online selling is beginning to dry up. Village neighbors have been pitted against each other in competition for customers, unscrupulous merchants copy products and images from competitors with impunity, while rural residents also struggle to keep up with evolving trends like livestreaming. For over 10 years Dr Lin Zhang followed several of these rural entrepreneurs and their families, culminating in her latest book The Labor of Reinvention - Entrepreneurship in the New Chinese Digital Economy.
Featuring
- Dr Lin Zhang : University of New Hampshire Professor, author of The Labor of Reinvention - Entrepreneurship in the New Chinese Digital Economy
Where to buy the book
- The Labor of Reinvention, published by Columbia University Press
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-labor-of-reinvention/9780231551298
To go further
- Middle Earth episode #01 How to be internet famous in China (Part 1 of "China's internet and creation")
- Middle Earth episode #29 Online KOL marketing in China
Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions and hosted by Aladin Farré. If you have a China-themed cultural project like shooting your next documentary or look for a specific talent, please get in touch!
Chinese speaker? Follow our Bilibili account 阿拉丁_说电影
With thanks to Sean Calvo for music support.
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