“WeChat” Ethnology and Writing Culture

Zhao+Xudong

Abstract：The popularity of the social media app “WeChat” draws our attention to the issue of the arrival of a WeChat era. It could be said that WeChat is a new participatory opportunity for ordinary Chinese people. In such an era， whenever you are in China or in other areas of the World， if you do not participate， you might be dropped by those people who do participate. Therefore， we need to rethink the real living conditions of current Chinese people. The result of this rethinking is that this kind of situation has two sides， i.e. barriers and opportunities.

“WeChat ethnography” indicates the arrival and growth of an era. It may not last very long， or maybe it will last just a few years， and we even do not know its applications in the future. However， it is more likely to be continued， until a new tradition of WeChat culture matures， and another kind of medium replaces it. At first we could say that a kind of driving force which cannot be rejected has come from the ordinary peoples redefinition of social and cultural values —this is a new kind of strength—and， this strength will rewrite formerly unshakable social consensus， general rules， and ethical values. Moreover， it will amend， repair， revise or even overthrow all things in the past through the space of WeChat in which each individual can have a personnel voice. All the special cases which happen on the WeChat platform are also pushing the change of the common values into the past， and this might be the most prominent representation of the strength of WeChat.

WeChat friends circles and representations of human commonality have become a new research field. In the past， when we talked about the value of human commonality， it was indeed very difficult to express. Concerning the characteristics of the era of WeChat， the function of the WeChat friends circles in the daily life is only “sharing” and “interacting”； there is no relationship between leaders and subjects， and also there is no formal construction of authoritative awareness. All the people in the WeChat group are equal. Any kind of expression could be attacked by other members of the group. In this sense， writing an ethnology of WeChat is actually writing a description of the community life of ordinary people. Everyone has his own Wechat circle of friends in which he is the center. He does not need first to confirm someone as a center， and then see whether his marginal position still exists. Moreover， the more important thing is that everyone is a center. This also indicates that there is no real center in the world of the circle of Wechat friends， and that， actually， this center might only exist in the mind of each participant.

On the platforms of the diversified selfmedia， we have noticed new changes in the ways of social communication in China driven by WeChat. It not only uses script， i.e. writing， but also voice， visuals， and different kinds of live telecasting. WeChat shops，WeChat novels and cartoons， etc. have even appeared. In addition， it can raise social issues， i.e. a gradual growth of selfconsciousness of subjectivity. One cannot deny that a new problem has to our attention， that is， a new technology builds a bridge between people who have been divided by traditional technologies in the past. However， WeChat is still a kind of technology， and it will also encounter the dilemma of a conflict between the technologys invasion of peoples lives， and the preservation of cultural systems. The former cultures might be facing the danger of disappearing before they have been transformed into a new kind of cultural form. When a knowledge production era such as WeChat ethnology arrives ， it is obvious that we cannot ignore this point completely， and only enjoy the “out of the ordinary” revelry brought about by WeChat. At all times， we must be aware that opportunity is always accompanied by risk.

Actually， culturally speaking， WeChat is helping to hold a divided society together again in the virtual world—this was once an expected situation of social unity， but it had been collapsed due to modern technology. However， it seems that WeChat make this kind of divisive technology lose its role. This might be one of the opportunities brought by WeChat， for us to reconstruct our society. On the one hand， we should note the crisis of its future development， and on the other hand， we should note that it can also remobilize resources and strengthen social unity. In a word， risk and opportunity coexist here. We can provide more indepth discussions on this point， but， there is no final conclusion. WeChat transmissions breakup the monopoly of many things in the world， for instance， the monopoly of information， resources， lifestyles， etc. In the past， you might have no way to realize these aspects， but now it has becomes very common. All in all， what we should notice is that within this background， a researcher can obtain a lot of information and knowledge from the internet， he/she should consider how to play his/her active creative role—this is the basic thing. Therefore， we should grasp the general characteristics of the WeChat era—if it can be called as era—and only by doing this can we truly know our research orientation in the future.

It is clear that in the era of WeChat， peoples basic lives are influenced more and more by the internet. This is a very definite reality. For instance， when it is not easy for us to hail a taxi on the street， instead， we learn to install “didi taxi” software. Otherwise calling a taxi becomes an uncertainty. In addition， it has also caused a revolution in the way we pay for things. Nowadays， many companies do not ask you to pay cash， instead， you can pay through Wechat， Alipay， etc.— For the banking system， this is a revolutionary transformation. Some booking services online are also the same— one can make an appointment online for cutting ones hair， having ones car cleaned， reserving a tour guide， etc.， and then pay online. Actually there are a lot of other new ways for making payments， and many news ways are being created. All of these new revolutions have brought big changes， and they will influence the transformation of cultural concepts.

Another situation is that the change of function in the society is pushing the transformation of social structure. In other words， if all people call a car through “didi taxi” software， then is the existence of the taxi company still necessary？ It is clear that the existence of the taxi company is becoming less and less important， and its existence is only due to the consideration of a stable system. However， it is not a model for the future. This is because its existence is based upon a kind of structural resistance or ossification. It will be completely transformed —and this will happen sooner or later. Hence， functional change of function is pushing structural change. Traditionally， it was the structural change which influenced functional change， but now， this has changed. Nowadays， even ordinary people can push changes using the function on the Wechat platform. This is worthy of our concern. Moreover， how will this kind of pushing influence changes in social structure？ This question might be what we should be more concerned within the future.

In addition， the “flattening” or leveling of the world through the internet has become more and more prominent. This might be closely connected with The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman. Indeed， it is the internet that makes communication in the world become more convenient， and makes people have no sense of distance. If we want， we can open Wechat at any time， and communicate with people in any part of the world， such as England， France， U.S. etc. The internet creates a “flat” world. The original world was uneven， and places were separated by mountains and oceans. However， nowadays， the internet creates a flat world， a unified world， and a globalized world.

As the Wechat era arrives，instead of a reserve of encyclopediastyle of knowledge， web searches have become a new normal for knowledge production. In the past， when we talked about a reserve of encyclopediastyle knowledge， people would reserve more knowledge in their own brains， and it was better if one could memorize specific people or things in ones mind. But， it seems that this is no longer necessary in todays situation. Nowadays， even the tour guide can hold an Ipad， click “baidu” and then tell you information about the tourist spot—this might already be a new kind of “tour guide”， or it might be a trend in the future.

Hence， the direct result of the virtual networks “entering” the peoples daily life is the fragmentization of the arrangement of peoples time in their daily lives. This has become the general view of those people who are nowadays influenced by the internet. Ones regular life is influenced or interfered with by mobile ringtones， messages， Wechat， email， etc. Network connections take tremendous amounts of information from different parts of the world and concentrate it on the screen of an individuals mobile phone and computer. Web searches helps to change peoples traditional way of storing knowledge. Peoples knowledge is no longer stored in their brain， but stored in the virtual storage.

Actually， there is a kind of decentralized living space in present society. In the world of the internet， everyone is actually a center. Today， we can have a selfconsciousness and selfexpression on the platform of Wechat— this kind of selfexpression will become more prominent in the future. Along with the era of Wechat， there is also an era coming in which finance drives consumption， at which point a state of “finance is life” becomes a reality. Internet finance is not simply an issue of finance itself. The more important thing is that it is also a sociocultural issue. The recent transformation of the financial payment model will not only exist in the field of finance， but will also appear in economic， political， social and cultural fields.

This implies a change in peoples consumption model. In this model， you can even consume when you do not have money. For instance， you could consume after grabbing a “red packet”. The change in the payment model actually stimulates peoples desire for consumption， and influences peoples desire for the consumption of the rich commodities online. Lastly， in the era of Wechat， a scenario for a human community is easy to be realized—this is actually realized through spreading or mutual influence of the fans in Wechat. In the present world， and especially on the platform of Wechat， many things have been connected by accident， so， their occurrence is not an inevitable result. However， what has happened will bring an inevitable result due to the accidental connections.

Clicking， interaction， sharing， and encouragement in Wechat groups have become a new and basic model of group life， and， have become part of peoples daily needs， even though the members are only there virtually. This is the situation of people today. Here it can involve the issue of writing about culture， or the issue of writing anthropological ethnography. In other words， all information， resources， and expressions contributed to the Wechat group by individuals have become basic materials for us to use to write ethnography in the era of Wechat. This also indicates that todays anthropology is， more or less， like building blocks or pieces in a puzzle. Anthropologist need to put together those various “pieces” or “blocks” from the internet， and produce a new anthropological understanding of them.

In other words， in this sense， we can ask whether the current writing of ethnography will be changed to a kind of in which pieces are inserted？ I think this expectation might be possible， because it is just from within this process that we get a lot of experiences which we cannot get in the field. Many of our ideas are first inspired when we surf the web or enter a Wechat friend circle， and we then go to the field to search， trace or track down these significant clues. We might observe it in the field， or find a link with our understanding， or the experience in the field could be presented on the web， WeChat and WeChat friends circle even though you might not be in the field. Some certain expressions， words， or images will stimulate anthropologists indepth thinking. I think these connections should be noticed by the anthropologists， because these connections may be a peculiar effect resulted from a meaningful “insertion of pieces” of a cultural experience.

Today， many people might still do the fieldwork with a singledimension method. But， the ethnography written from this method will have ignored the expressions in the WeChat platform. Therefore， we need to pay attention to the materials， pictures or information in WeChat and on the internet， and only then will we notice the new approach of fusion and “pieceinserting” between different cultures. Cultural innovation might often start here.

Key Words：WeChat ethnography； ethnographic writing； blockbuilding writing style； “group studies”； writing culture；

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