Rural Chinese youth on Kuaishou : performing gender, labor, and rurality

This study explores how a digital platform constructs rural influencer's manhood in China. While research on China's Wanghong industry has primarily focused on urban, heterosexual female influencers, the practices of male digital labor in rural areas remain understudies. This research fills this gap by exploring the self-representations of 38 rural male digital influencers, categorizing their posts into six distinct themes: idle, skillful, positive, dramatic, nostalgic, and quasi-queer performances. This research probes how these rural influencers deploy signs of lower-class status on Kuaishou to engage viewers, foster community, and boost visibility while simultaneously reinforcing their marginalized positions within societal hierarchies. The findings, informed by Connell's theories of masculinity, reveal a gradual transformation from a marginalized to a complicit manhood as these influencers achieve success, which further reinforces social stratification. Despite their increased visibility, the influencers remain constrained by platform dynamics and limited upward mobility, leading to the emergence of protest masculinities as a response to their entrenched social status. This research contributes to the understanding of the intersection between gender and class on digital platforms and its implications for the construction of masculinity.