Digital Romance and Intimacy Transformations among Chinese Rural Migrant Labourers

What are the intimate aspirations and everyday romantic lives of those who sustain China’s ‘world factory’? This book explores how digital dating platforms are reshaping relationships, partner selection and marriage among rural-to-urban migrant workers — a demographic that is often overlooked in studies of digital life.

Drawing on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Pearl River Delta factory towns, the study follows 62 migrant workers as they navigate love, desire and social expectations. It reveals how online dating creates new possibilities while also reinforcing existing inequalities. Platform features influence how users present themselves and form connections; however, family expectations, class divisions and gender norms still structure romantic choices. To explain this dynamic, the book introduces the concept of 'digital capital' to illustrate how familiarity with platforms and communication styles can improve relationship prospects, while remaining unevenly distributed. Conducted roughly a decade ago, when platformisation was still in its early stages, the stories in this book now often feel strikingly romantic compared to the increasingly gentrified landscape of contemporary digital dating.

This book will interest scholars and students of sociology, anthropology, digital media studies and gender studies, particularly those examining digital intimacy, social inequality, migration and contemporary Chinese society. It will also speak to readers who enjoy non-fiction love stories.

Tingting Liu (PhD University of Queensland) is a Chancellor’s Research Fellow at the Faculty of Design and Society, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Her research explores unconventional and often overlooked domains, uncovering engaging human stories through studies of dating, gaming, and cross-cultural communication.

Chris K. K. Tan (PhD University of Illinois) is an Assistant Professor at College of Arts and Sciences, VinUniversity in Hanoi, Vietnam. He currently researches the anthropology of new media in China and Vietnam.