Mothers' day at an abortion clinic - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Fieldwork in China has brought sociologist Tricia Wang in many strange situations. Like the abortion clinic, where she worked, offering discounts on Mothers' Day, but only for the more expensive treatments, she tells on her weblog.

Tricia Wang:

We found out that only the least bloody abortions were discounted. The bloodier the abortion, the less expensive and more affordable, but those are also the most invasive. 

The participant I was with chose a less expensive package so she didn’t advantage of the Mother’s Day discount. After they performed the procedure, they gave her the option of buying food, like milk and bread, all of which were pre-packaged. The nurses tried to get her to buy the more expensive food products, telling her that it would help her heal. 

I’ll dig up that picture and my field notes to give everyone a glimpse  of abortion practices and culture. I have a whole folder of abortion advertisements and magazines that I need to sift through. Since I spend so much time with students, abortion ads are thrown into your face every where you go.

More at Tricia Wang's weblog.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Related articles

• Bars and bonding, field work in China - Tricia Wang(chinaspeakersbureau.info)

  ---

• A massage job and a laptop in Henan - Tricia Wang(chinaspeakersbureau.info)

  ---

• What migrants work really is like - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• What the censors did not allow - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)

A massage job and a laptop in Henan - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Sociologist Tricia Wang reports on a massage worker in Henan, an interview she had while investigating migrant workers and the way they use mobiles, computers and other communication tools. They are fully part of daily life, Tricia Wang describes on her weblog.

Tricia Wang:

Her husband works as a miner in Guizhou, she works as a masseuse in Changsha, Hunan. They see each other 1 time a year and have a 1 and half year old daughter who they have seen once since she was born. Her husband's mom takes care of her. When they went home during Chinese New Years, her mother-in-law  told her daughter to call her, "mommy." Though, when her baby cried or smiled, she looked to her mother-in-law, and not her or her husband.  I asked if this made her feel sad, she said, 

"what does it matter? sure I feel sad, but back in our town this is normal. Everyone has their parents raise their baby. We all work in cities far away." 

She uses a feature Nokia phone & only texts on it. She bought a laptop so that she could chat with her husband when he goes to the Internet cafe. She uses wifi from another office downstairs. The massage boss has wifi but put a password on it when he saw workers streaming movies when they were resting. During breaks, everyone does their laptop out and they joke that they could open up an internet cafe. She locks her computer up downstairs when working and sleeps with it next to her in the dorms because things get stolen all the time.

More on Tricia Wang's weblog.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.    

Related articles

• What migrant work is really like - Tricia Wang(chinaspeakersbureau.info)

  ---

• Bars and bonding, field work in China - Tricia Wang(chinaherald.net)

  ---

• What the censors did not allow - Tricia Wang(chinaherald.net)

  ---

• Will 'real name' policy threaten online discourse? - Tricia Wang(chinaspeakersbureau.info)

  ---

What the censors did not allow - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Yesterday That's Shanghai published Tricia Wang's much praised story on the life of migrants. But because it is a China based publication, censors need to have a look at it first. Not much went missing, she reports on her weblog. only the part on the Chengguan, local law enforcers with a pretty bad reputation among migrants.

The censored part:

 "Officially know as City Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau (城市管理行政执法局), it is not really clear what the chengguan are supposed to do. But what they are known for doing is making migrants' live miserable in cities across China. There are many stories of chengguan beating vendors, smashing their products or food, and taking bribes. It is also common to hear about chengguan killing street vendors. A recent incident in Guizhou led to a riot when a chengguan killed a disabled migrant. Stories of chengguan exploitation of power are so pervasive that appeasing them with bribes becomes the key to a street vendor's success. Giving bribes is a matter of life or death. But for migrants who do not have enough money to bribe, they have to constantly be on the run. Constant running means that a street vendor cannot establish a business in the long term. So for a street vendor like this family I am with, finding a place to set up a cart in a chengguan-free site is a matter of survival and success. A stable place to sell food would give them a stable income to expand their business or go into another line of work."

I am grateful that the censors only cut out that section, they were quite flexible on the other stuff I wrote. Another lesson learned about China, it's important to learn how to write between the lines; keeping it ambiguous is sometimes the best strategy.

More on Tricia Wang's weblog.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers request form.

More on Tricia Wang's research into China's migrants' life on Storify.  

Related articles

• What migrant work is really like - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Reaching customers in a meaningful way - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Lack of institutional trust hampers computer industry - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Chengguan vs street vendors: a never ending story? (pixelofasia.wordpress.com)
• Most sought-after speakers December 2011 (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Looking for the bad guys, the shanzai story - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

What migrants work really is like - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Together with a migrant family, sociologist Tricia Wang went out to sell dumplings. In That's Shanghai she reports about the tough life of migrant workers, trying to make ends meet.

Tricia Wang:

It’s 4am. Children’s footsteps patter outside, water pours from a faucet, pots are pulled out. I overhear Li Jie. “We barely have enough to buy meat for tonight’s dinner. I hope we have return customers today.” 

I’ve been living with Li Jie and her family for a few days. She is one of the 200-300 million rural people who have made their way to cities in the hope… I don’t know how to finish that sentence. Usually newspapers finish it with “in the hope of a better life” or “in the hope of securing a job.” Maybe I can finish it by the time I tell you about a day in Li Jie’s life. 

By 4.30am, we are eating breakfast crackers and drinking soda. It’s so hot during the day that it’s refreshing to wake up to breathable air. Li Jie’s husband, Mr. Long, and her younger brother, Ray, are putting the batteries into the bike carts to go to the market. The men leave before 5am. 

I stay with Li Jie and her son. We take the dumplings out of the freezer and for the second day in a row they’re sticky. Everything that needs to be kept cold is put inside the freezer, but it’s unpredictable. Sometimes it works too well and the beers explode. 

Most of the time it doesn’t work that well. The dumplings get sticky and uncookable while the beers are perfectly chilled. The family decided to start selling dumplings when Ray’s friend told him about a construction site where vendors have been selling food without encountering any chengguan. Officially known as City Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau, chengguan have been known to give migrant workers a hard time.

Read about the rest of Tricia's week report in That's Shanghai.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.


More about Tricia Wang's investigations at Storify.

Related articles

• Reaching customers in a meaningful way - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Lack of institutional trust hampers computer industry - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Bars and bonding, field work in China - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Looking for the bad guys, the shanzai story - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Most sought-after speakers February 2012 (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

Reaching customers in a meaningful way - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Sociologist Tricia Wang dives into the world of China's migrants to investigate the place of internet and mobile communication in their communities. In Market Sentinel she explains how how study relates to the needs of companies to understand their customers.

Tricia Wang:

 I do think that companies are hungry to reach their customers in more meaningful ways. People want authenticity and they want value. Companies want to deliver this. Though I’m not sure if this is translating into a greater demand for ethnographically driven research insights… just yet. 

One of the hurdles to overcome is that people still mistake ethnography for marketing or the other way around. But much in the same way that we now recognize the value of design in the production process, I’m hoping to see companies embrace ethnographic methods in the strategic development. Five years ago no one valued user experience and now it’s central to many tech companies. 

DS: Your work requires you to observe people and investigate what motivates their actions and behaviour. Is the “power of the peer” as strong outside of west as it is in? 

TW: I haven’t noticed a difference in the strength of peer groups as if one place has stronger peer group influence than another. This is because the universal power of the peer group speaks to the deeply social quality of human beings. We all care deeply about how people around us perceive and receive us. We are all dealing with insecurity, growth, and identity in different ways. 

However, the notion of the “peer” is relative and is cultural. The declaration of one’s peers in online peer groups unfolds in different ways depending on the social context. An interesting case study is the Chinese equivalent of Linkedin that failed in China. Why? Was it because Chinese people didn’t care about peer groups ? No, the answer is that Chinese people didn’t want to be explicit about their social connections with their peers.

More in Market Sentinel


Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Related articles

• Bars and bonding, field work in China - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Lack of institutional trust hampers computer industry - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Looking for the bad guys, the shanzai story - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Telecommunication changes for 2012 - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

Bars and bonding, field work in China - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Now and then researcher Tricia Wang gives us a peek into her field work into China's migrant worlds and their usage of internet and mobiles. For example here, from a bar - the living room for many - which turned into a tattoo shop.

Tricia Wang:  

I was hanging out the bar pictured above. After a rock band performed, the stage became a tattoo station. 

I love doing fieldwork in third places. Not only do I get to see all the different ways a space is used throughout a day, it's really easy to find people to talk to. 

Plus at a bar, a few drinks into the night, everyone is willing to talk. Good thing that I have high alcohol tolerance, not that that really matters considering that Chinese beers are the equivalent to water. I don't feel the alcohol but all the people I hang out with do. Makes my work a lot easier! It's more easy to watch who talks to who, who hits on who, and who goes to sleep with who.

More stories on bonding between cooks on a cellphone.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? 


Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request from. More on Tricia's Wang research in China's underbelly in Storify.   

Related articles

• Looking for the bad guys, the shanzai story - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Lack of institutional trust hampers computer industry - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• The new global consumer: Chinese - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Telecommunication changes for 2012 - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)

Telecommunication changes for 2012 - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Sociologist Tricia Wang maps out for 88-bar.com the competitive playing field between China's largest telecom providers, China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile. What can their customers expect for 2012?

Tricia Wang:

From the clouds to the ground, 2012 looks like it’s going to be an exciting year for mobile  industry. China Telecom is going abroad to offer mobile services for the transnational elite who travel between China and North America. China Unicom just launched a new mobile internet platform, the Wo-plus Opening System. Let’s see how long China Mobile 600 million 2G users can wait for 3G before switching to Unicom or Telecom. Now that China is the world’s largest smartphone market, how will the future of hardware and software evolve? We already have a glimpse from HTC of their new Sina Weibo smartphone. And then to top if off, both China Telecom and China Unicom may lower broadband prices! 

With all these technical and market changes, one of the big questions for 2012 is will Chinese citizens will be relieved of telecommunications costs? Or will 2012 could be the equivalent to the 1996 Telecommunications Act in the United States where institutions benefited more from telecommunication reforms than individuals? [1] We’ll have to see who benefits from thee anti-monopoly investigation. 

With the stable divisions of China Unicom, China Mobile, & China Telecom, we don’t hear of potential industry shake ups like this very often. I imagine that Chinese Telcom scholar, Eric Harwitt, is giddy with news. But luckily we have Marc Laperrouzag, so we won’t have to wait a few years for a book or paper to be published to stay up to date on the details. 

Let’s hope for faster and more equitable broadband access in 2012! 新年快乐!

More in 88-bar.com

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. She will be in Europe for an academic conference in Switzerland and is available for speeches in the third week of February. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch, or fill in our speakers' request form.

More on Tricia Wang's exploration of China's economic underbelly at Storify.

Related articles

• The new global consumer: Chinese - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Looking for the bad guys, the shanzai story - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Lack of institutional trust hampers computer industry - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Smartphones for the masses - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Internet users want games and porn - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)

My life as a street vendor - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Doing fieldwork among migrants offers sociologist Tricia Wang unprecedented insights in the life of the uprooted part of China's society. On her weblog she recalls her days when she joined a migrant family to work as a street vendor, staying with the family of a friend.

Tricia Wang's fieldnotes:

Tricia Wang in the summer of 2011

I can hear the husband and wife fighting about this every night. It puts a lot of stress on the family. The mother is getting nervous that they are not even close to turning a profit. Everyday around dinner time, she

says, "we have to start making at least some money so that we can buy food.We need to buy meat." She needs cash to buy food for dinner. The most they have brought in so far was 200RMB on a good day. But most days only make 100RMB. The friend who told them about this place was supposedly making 500-600RMB a day. The younger brother keeps reminding the family of the friend's situation. Then the husband says that his friend makes a lot of money because sells good food. He pointed out that they didn't have return customers. All the other street vendors' carts had regular workers but no one ever came back to their cart. 

Everyday activity has begun to wear on all of our bodies. Trips to the supermarkets, washing clothes, and going to the bathroom seemed to be a big ordeal. 

Unloading and loading takes a total of 3 hours a day (4 rounds in total per day). Each bike ride to the market involves a total of 1 hour of loading and unloading items back into the room. Someone had to unload the cart, put everything inside the room, and then hide the valuable stuff (e.g. batteries) with a blanket. The reason why they have to go to the market in the morning and after lunch is because the freezer doesn't work properly. As a result, they could only buy food that can be cooked immediately. Not unloading is not an option because they need the free space in the cart to bring groceries back and they can't leave their belongings outside and not have it stolen. 

Anything involving water takes ten times longer because there is only 1 faucet for every 4 homes. And there is only 1 pipe for every 5 faucets. So if any of the 20 families use a faucet, none of the other 19 families have access to a working faucet. Someone is always washing vegetables, dishes, hair, or clothes unless it is 3am in the morning. A few times we were not able to get arrive at the construction site in time to sell food because we were waiting to use the faucet. Water costs 10RMB/person/month. As a result, most of the food is not washed well or at all; it is soaked, and the same water is then used to soak other vegetables.

More on Tricia Wang's weblog

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. She will be in Europe for an academic conference in Switzerland and is available for speeches in the third week of February. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch, or fill in our speakers' request form.

 More on Tricia Wang's experiences in China's economic underbelly in Storify.

Related articles

• The new global consumer: Chinese - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Lack of institutional trust hampers computer industry - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Internet users want games and porn - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Looking for the bad guys, the shanzai story - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• The new global consumer: Chinese - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)

Lack of institutional trust hampers computer industry - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

People and institutions in China's computer industry do not trust each other, stalling innovation, argues sociologist Tricia Wang on her weblog. Without trust there will be no collaboration, and no innovation.

Tricia Wang:

But these collaborations are still far and few between and more importantly, they operate independently from each other. Industrial social structures matter in how industries form, as demonstrated by AnnaLee Saxenian's research on the emergence of Silicon Valley in California. Her analysis revealed that tech companies in Boston, Massachusetts Route 128 operated in a decentralized and independent fashion, while companies in California's Silicon Valley adopted a more decentralized but cooperative system. She argued that Silicon Valley was able to generate more innovation because its unique industrial structure encouraged collaboration between companies. 

Trust is an essential factor for collaboration. The missing ingredient in Route 128 wasn't investment or human capital, it was trust. Without the underlying social bond of trust, companies were largely isolated from each other, which prevented collaboration. Lack of collaboration hindered healthy levels of sharing and competition. 

The Chinese tech industry is set up more like Route 128 than Silicon Valley. There are pockets of innovation in China, but the innovators are not networked, nor are they collaborating. A common question that Chinese people ask is why China does not have a Steve Jobs. Whenever I hear this question, I ask myself, could Steve Jobs have created Apple in Route 128, instead of Silicon Valley? I'll leave that question for the experts to ponder.

More on Tricia Wang's Weblog.

An earlier installment on her latest publication, on the lack of common stories that bind China's computer industry, you can find here.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. She will be in Europe for an academic conference in Switzerland and is available for speeches in the third week of February. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch, or fill in our speakers' request form.

More on Tricia Wang, exploring China's underbelly, on Storify.

Related articles

• Internet users want games and porn - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Looking for the bad guys, the shanzai story - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• The new global consumer: Chinese - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Migrants' dreams and technology - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Internet cafe: alternative childcare for migrant workers - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

Looking for the bad guys, the shanzai story - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Sociologist Tricia Wang discusses what is holding back China's computing industry from creating disruptive innovation. The lack of a common story that binds the industry, is one of a set of shortcomings, she argues on her weblog. Perhaps with the exception of mobile: shanzai.

Tricia Wang:

I would like to point out an interesting story that comes from the mobile industry, the story of shanzai. What started out as a response from a few rogue mobile hardware producers in Southern China who wanted to avoid paying the government taxes on handset producers, has now spawned a whole industry of shanzai products that goes beyond the original definition of being cheap copies of existing products. Shanzai mobile makers did what Nokia, HTC, Samsung, and Motorola could not do - they met the user needs of millions of new cell[phone users (more on this topic from me). By working outside of the dominant infrastructure of mobile producers, shanzai makers went wild with producing mobile phones with new features that were relevant for low-end users. Shanzai mobiles has give the low-end market, that was once dominated by Nokia, a greater number of choices in mobiles at a lower cost. Shanzai is still in the process of moving beyond the perception of being a copy culture to a bottom-up innovation culture, so it is not a story that is embraced by the programming community at large right now. 

All stories need a good enemy. For shanzai makers in China, it was the government that levied oppressive taxes. For hackers in the West, is was the education system that tried to prevent them from exploring self-directed learning. So who are the bad guys in the eyes of Chinese programmers?

More on Tricia Wang's weblog  

More about Tricia Wang, exploring China's digital underbelly in Storify.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Related articles

• Migrants' dreams and technology - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Smartphones for the masses - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Internet users want games and porn - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• The Future of Computing in China: Stories that Bind (techrice.com)

The new global consumer: Chinese - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Researcher Tricia Wang sends us through her websitea telling advertisement from Guangzhou depicting the new global consumer: a Chinese couple, served by a while male. "The entire global economy right now depends on the Chinese elite and middle-class to spend."

Oh how this Toyota Highlander advertisment is reflective of the new global order.  I saw this picture in Guangzhou's domestic terminal. A Chinese couple is getting out of their Japanese brand car into what appears to be a private yacht. A white male greets them, taking their travel items and appears to be eager  in their service. 

This advertisement reflects a new Chinese imaginary - one that is global, expansive, unlimited, and exploratory. It also tells us who has the power to live out this imaginary. 10 years ago or even 5 years ago, I don't think this advertisement would've existed. But now companies have turned to the Chinese consumer, encouraging them to participate in this lifestyle. The entire global economy right now depends on the Chinese elite and middle-class to spend. But how long can this go on for until we see the next crisis? For how long can each system create "value"?

More on Tricia Wang's website

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch, or fill in our speakers' request form. 

Tricia Wang, exploring China's underbelly.

Related articles

• Smartphones for the masses - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• The essence of trans-Atlantic conversation - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Why Weibo is cuter than Twitter - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Internet cafe: alternative childcare for migrant workers - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Internet users want games and porn - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

Smartphones for the masses - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop suggest that smartphones are only in reach of 10 percent of the population. Wrong, says researcher Tricia Wang, who is observing how the remaining 90 percent in China is getting ready to purchase a smartphone.

From her weblog.
Tricia Wang explains what the Taiwanese firm Mediatek is doing in the market for smartphones:

I have several thoughts about Elop's comment:

• There are already companies that are ready to offer the 90% a very affordable smartphone.
• It is misleading to think that this 90% won't spend more on cellphones than they did on feature phones.
• Ahtough this 90% can't afford a smartphone now, it doesn't mean that they don't want one in the near future.

It would've been more accurate for Elop to say, "previously, 90 percent of the world could not afford a smartphone or a high-end device, but we are going to see affordable smarpthones enter the market and users who will spend more on mobiles...This creates an opportunity." 

But I suspect that the reason why Nokia's CEO made his statement is because the market has yet to see the flooding of affordable smartphones. This is because Mediatek, the platform on shanzai phones, up until recently has only been able to offer 2G chips, not 3G chips.  But Mediatek is beginning to produce Android smartphones with their 3G MTK6516 cellphone chips, the first affordable shanzai smartphone. And now that Mediatek has sorted out legal issues with Qualcomm in a across-patent liscensing deal, they are moving upmarket and ensuring that their 2G customers transition to their 3G handsets. 

So this means guerilla warfare on the smartphone market: Chinese cellphone makers will soon be producing smartphonesthat are much less expensive than the current array of smartphones ( i.e. iphones, HTCs, samsungs, and ericssons).

Can Nokia and Microsoft together work out a strategy to fight this new development? Tricia Wang:

In my research with non-elite users around the world, Nokia has always been at the heart of every conversation about cellphones. But I've noticed the decreasing ownership and desire of Nokia phones in the last 3-4 years, and it is even more apparent over the last year. The 3G market among non-elite users is already being created by current advertisement for high-end smartphones from iphone to HTC to Motorola. Cellphone vendors are selling 3G phones even in second hand cellphone markets. So even if non-elite users can't afford these phones, their desires for one are being nutured.High-end smartphones are paving the way for shanzai smartphones.

More on Tricia Wang's weblog.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch. You can also use our speakers' request form.

Related articles

• Migrants' dreams and technology - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Internet cafe's: alternative childcare for migrant workers - Tricia wang (chinaherald.net)
• Internet users want games and porn - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

Internet users want games and porn - Tricia Wang

Tricia WangSociologist Tricia Wang analyzes on her website the wonderful world of shanzai, or the mobile knockoffs that are so popular in China. More than features, she tells, Chinese internet users want games and porn on their Nokia N9 knockoff.

Tricia Wang:

But it wasn't the impressive overload of OS interfaces, dual-sim card, 3.8″ WQVGA 240×400 resistive touch screen or the  1.3MP rear and front facing camera that caught my attention.

It was an advertisement on Taobao that revealed much more about what Chinese users want: games and porn (two areas I research). Below the description of the knock off, the first and most prominently placed feature of the Noka N9 was Talking Tom - a game that could that operate across platform. The writing in red claims that:

In all of history, this is the most versatile Talking Tom ever!!
史上功能最全的会说话的TOM猫！!

Then below three rows of Talking Tom screenshots, is another ad for a game that allows you to watch females strip when you blow on the microphone:

Most deliciosly evil game of pretty girls stripping!!

邪恶的美女走光游戏！！！

Then below the stripping games are more pictures of other games included in the phone from Angry Birds to Fruit Ninja.

If users just want games and stripping apps, then do they really need any of the other features that are offered in any of the original OS's  on phones that cost 3-15 times as much as knock offs? Not really, at least according to this Taobao advertisement which shows that it is possible to reduce user needs down to a few most necessary apps. The success of Shanzai mobiles tells us that the purity of an OS actually matters little to these users. They just want a phone thatlooks like a smartphone with games and basic features. The interesting point here is "looks like."  The Noka N9 is a semi-smartphone （半职能手机) that looks like a smartphone but doesn't have the full features of a pure smartphone. In previous interviews that I have conducted with shanzai phone users, they expressed that they valued durability (i.e. droppability. not longevitiy) and affordability in a phone. But in more recent interviews, they now the new value for non-elite users is to have a phone that can do the things that they see smartphone users doing - like interacting with more complex, interactive, & graphically rich stuff - like Talking Tom & Girls Stripping.

More on Tricia Wang's weblog.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.
You can also fill in our 'request a speaker' form.

Related articles

• Migrants' dreams and technology - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Internet cafe's: alternative childcare for migrant workers - Tricia wang (chinaherald.net)
• Why Jack Ma will not buy Yahoo - Helen Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

Migrants' dreams and technology - Tricia Wang

Sociologist Tricia Wang investigates the dreams and ambitions of migrants in China, and their usage of mobile phones and the internet. Agenda Beijing interviewed her on her findings and how her search fits into her own life. A snippet:

We’ve also seen one of the world’s most rapid expansions of mobile phones and Internet architectures in China, and the Chinese administration has successfully ensured that its digital revolution has reached an immense number of new users. This alone makes China an incredibly unique place to do for research on digital culture. 

What are some of these workers’ hopes and dreams? 

They actually share the same dreams with most people around the world: finding a stable job, meeting someone special, giving their parents a more comfortable life, and having opportunities to improve their life chances. This current period of development in China is like a big race to reach the dream of having a comfortable life, but not everyone has an equal start; people from villages and smaller cities face challenges that more long-settled or life-long urbanized people do not. 

Is technology the ticket into the middle-class for migrant workers? 

I wouldn’t say ever say that technology alone is the ticket for upward economic mobility—technology per se is almost never a silver bullet for economic development. However, I would say that digital technology is an important factor among many others such as social and economic stability, access to education, and health in helping migrants get ahead. 

In what ways do you see migrant workers’ constructing their own technological needs?   

I don’t necessarily see people constructing technology needs, but I see people constructing social needs and using technology to fulfill them. Young people (but not limited to them) want to feel validated. They want someone to listen to them, and to care about them. Deep friendships are created out of multi-player games. In the in-game chat or post-game chat on QQ, they are often willing to share really emotionally complex and deep things about themselves that they feel they can’t share with their offline friends or family.

More in Agenda Beijing

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Related articles

• Internet cafe's: alternative childcare for migrant workers - Tricia wang (chinaherald.net)
• Tricia Wang hits mainstream websites with sleeping internet users (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Rating the internet cafe's - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Sleeping in Internet Cafes: The Next 300 Million Chinese Users [Slideshare] (techrice.com)

Internet cafe's: alternative childcare for migrant workers - Tricia Wang

The China Digital Times points at research by sociologist Tricia Wang, in an article about the problems surrounding childcare for migrant workers. By lack of alternatives, internet cafe's have become an unlikely replacement for schools and other childcare. Earlier in TechRice:

Internet cafes are a huge phenomenon across China. They have a somewhat unsavory reputation as a place to play games or watch porn, but internet cafes serve as a second home or cheap child-care for some Chinese. This an older slideshare that I somehow missed, but an amazing look into the lives of many Chinese netizens.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Sleeping in Internet Cafes: The Next 300 Million Chinese Users [Annotated]

View more presentations from TechRice

Related articles

• Tricia Wang hits mainstream websites with sleeping internet users (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Rating the internet cafe's - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Living as a migrant worker "Are we too dirty?" - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Most-sought speakers August 2011 (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

Rating the internet cafe's - Tricia Wang

Sociologist Tricia Wang researches mobile and internet behavior among China's migrant population and rates the many internet cafe's she visits between 1 and 10. Warm hot dogs are a plus, the protein of the internet cafe.

Some fieldnotes on her weblog:

Cafe rating - 8 stars: air-conditioned, requires identification cards and they appear to check them, no mosquitos or flies, keyboard and mouse appear to be clean, available warm food (hot dog in food display, bathroom located on same floor as cafe (2nd floor), cloth on chairs are in place, no nuts or food scattered on ground, the workers seems responsive when customers need help, cubicles in back appear ot be new

keyboards are not stained with dirt though the keyboards are black so it would be hard to see the dirt -but I don't see food encrusted in between the keys

estimate: total of 100-120 computers, 60 computers are being used with around 40 people playing games and 15 people watching videos and 5 people on websites browsing, 40 females and 20 males, I see 5-6 couples together, there are 2-3 people napping at all times

most customers playing games have a soft-drink or sugar beverage with them, some have lots of wrappers of candies and other snacks spread around their keyboard

within the last hour, two customers (one male & one female) bought 1 hot dog each, the meat is kept warm in a transparent plastic food display with a light, you can see the oil on the hot dog bubbling up, 1RMB each, customers went back to their computer and began playing their game, the female was playing a dancing/clothing game of some sort, male playing first person CS-like game..

More at her weblog.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Related articles

• The essence of trans-Atlantic conversation - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Living as a migrant worker "Are we too dirty?" - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Why Weibo is cuter than Twitter - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)

Living as a migrant worker "Are we too dirty?" - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Sociologist Tricia Wang is trying to blend in as a migrant working in Wuhan and reports on her weblog about her experiences. "Are we too dirty for your eyes?"

When we sat down on the empty seat, I accidentally lightly brushed my backpack against the man sitting to my left. I immediately apologized.  But he didn't respond, he just looked alarmed that I had touched him and gave me a glaring look that told me immediately that I shouldn't even be sitting near him. He wiped off the part of his arm that my bag had brushed as if I had dumped dirt on his suit.

His action alone made me super conscious of my physical condition -  the dirt on my toes, my oily face, and my blackened clothing from working with food vendors. I hadn't showered in two days and that's all I kept thinking after he looked at me.  I glanced around around and saw people staring at us. I immediately made a boundary in my head and called them "city people." As Yang Jie kept talking, I kept noticing the "city people" in their daily showered bodies, freshly washed clothing, and dirt-free toes.

I then received a text message so I pulled my phone out. I immediately noticed the man next to me look at me curiously - he saw that I not only had a smartphone, but probably what looked like a real iphone (it is a real iphone). I texted back to my friend in English, and this is when he became super aware that something was off - it's hard to explain the look on his face, but he just kept looking over my shoulder as if his eyeballs were going to pop out. He then looked at  Yang Jie up and down and then at me up and down.

The more he looked, the more I just glared at him and the more upset I became. I wanted to say out loud, "what are you looking at? Do you have a problem? Aren't we too dirty for your eyes?"  But I was with Yang Jie and I didn't want to make a scene. I'm sure she receives this kind of treatment every day and she has learned to ignore it. It angered me that I could feel his judgement seeping onto me, and I could feel that the minute he saw me texting in English his level of disdain at me decrease. Texting in English in combination with owning an iphone are signifiers of an education and he picked up on it immediately.

More, including a fast growing number of comments, at Tricia Wang's weblog.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need her at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

Related articles

• Tricia Wang joins China Speakers Bureau (chinaherald.net)
• Survival tips for Wuhan - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Why Weibo is cuter than Twitter - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• The essence of trans-Atlantic conversation - Tricia Wang (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Wage inequality root of unrest - Wang Jianmao (chinaherald.net)

Why Weibo is cuter than Twitter - Tricia Wang

All too often Sina's microblog service Weibo is described as a kloon of Twitter. Sociologist Tricia Wang in Wuhan has been using Weibo for a few months and starts to report on her weblog about the differences of the two. About fun, love and entertainment.

About a regular Weibo message:

"Do you like finding interesting people? Weibo is a fun place! Hurry up and discover classmates, celebrities, and cute girls and guys on Weibo!"

One thing that I've noticed is how much Weibo will explicitly push the idea of finding "cute" people to follow who aren't celebrities. Other than pointing users to celebrity's accounts, you don't see Twitter sending out messages to discover "cute" or "pretty" people on twitter. This message to all Weibo users emphasizes that it is a place to find interesting people, celebrities, classmages, and cute people. You don't see an emphasis on Weibo being a place to find out good information about local and national politics and news, even though that is why many people use it.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Related articles

• Survival tips for Wuhan - Tricia Wang (chinaherald.net)
• 7 things Sina Microblog (Weibo) has that Twitter doesn't (nolastyleportal.com)
• Tricia Wang joins China Speakers Bureau (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

Survival tips for Wuhan - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang comes up with some really useful tips to get around in Wuhan, and possibly other cites in China. In her weblog she claims this is valid for all rather busy, messy cities, but we cannot imagine you need these tips in Shanghai or Beijing.

• In Wuhan, taxi drivers will scream at you. 50% of the time they aren't really screaming - they're just talking. The other 50% of the time they really are screaming at you. It's hard to tell the difference. Taking a cab in Wuhan will make you miss the civil cab drivers in Beijing.
• Cab drivers will not answer back in putonghua; they answer back in the local Wuhan dialect.  I've learned how to speak conversational Wuhan dialect and understand them.
• If you are going a short distance that may be a 10-15 minute walk but need to get there as soon as possible, don't actually tell the cab driver because they won't find it worth their time to take you. Tell them that you need to go somewhere farther and then pretend to get a phone call that requires you to get off the cab asap.
• If after running an errand at Walmart or Carrefour and you are carrying stuff like big house stuff or lots of grocery bags, no cab will stop for you. You must hide your stuff behind a car and only carry 1-2 bags in your hand, flag a cab down, open the door and put one bag in the car, and then ask them to open the trunk.

More about transportation in Wuhan, on her website.

Tricia Wang is a sociologist researching how migrants are using cellphones and computers in urban China. She is also a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

Related articles

• Chinese cuisine: the fish neck (fonstuinstra.net)
• Tricia Wang joins China Speakers Bureau (chinaherald.net)
• The yin and yang of the Chinese Dream - Helen Wang (chinaherald.net)
• Wage inequality root of unrest - Wang Jianmao (chinaherald.net)