Abstract
The article presents findings on how German-speaking expatriates in China use the multi-functional messaging application WeChat. The paper is structured as follows: After the introduction (1.), in which the societal relevance of WeChat and its potential for sociolinguistic research is addressed, the current state of research is presented (2.). Subsequently, the main features of WeChat are explained (3.). After that, the method used to acquire the data on China-based German speakers’ WeChat usage is described (4.): Between Nov. 2018 and April 2019, an online survey was conducted, and answered by 208 individuals. The answers provided form the basis of the results, which are presented in the fifth section. The last section (6.) contextualizes the findings and discusses perspectives for further research. After the bibliography, an appendix is given. It provides the link to the publicly available dataset on which the presented research is based.
Highlights
The messaging application WeChat (微信, Wēixìn, ‘micro message’) was introduced by the Tencent corporation (腾讯, Téngxùn) in 2011. (Zhou/Hentschel/Kumar 2017: 3)
One could for the most part regard it as the Chinese internet, since most users won’t ever need to leave the app, regardless of what their online business might be
It is widely considered a very influential platform: “If future events take place that fundamentally change China, there is still a fair chance they may occur on the super-sticky platform of WeChat.” (Chen/Mao/Qiu 2018: 101) The ever-growing number of so-called micro-apps makes WeChat the focal place for everyone based in China to go about one’s online business
Summary
The messaging application WeChat (微信, Wēixìn, ‘micro message’) was introduced by the Tencent corporation (腾讯, Téngxùn) in 2011. (Zhou/Hentschel/Kumar 2017: 3). It is widely considered a very influential platform: “If future events take place that fundamentally change China, there is still a fair chance they may occur on the super-sticky platform of WeChat.” (Chen/Mao/Qiu 2018: 101) The ever-growing number (literally hundreds of thousands) of so-called micro-apps (apps within the WeChat app, see below) makes WeChat the focal place for everyone based in China to go about one’s online business. This makes it useful to those new to China, arriving and being unfamiliar with its (digital) culture and possibilities. WeChat’s user interface is available in multiple languages, which makes it accessible as a tool for expatriates to support them
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