The digitization of diaspora engagement: managing extraterritorial talent using the internet

Abstract

AbstractIn this article, I examine how the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) seeks to manage its skilled emigrants in the information age; I investigate the rationales, techniques and imageries underlying the use of the internet by the state. For the research, I used interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis to explore the case of London‐based Chinese professionals and their contacts with the PRC government. The findings demonstrate that two modes of internet use mainly manage these skilled emigrants. First, digitized diasporic associations play a key role in brokering the influences of the government among the diaspora. Second, the PRC government has set up websites to collect and manage information on skilled emigrants pertaining to their labour market potential. A nationalistic discourse of a caring and protective state of origin surround both governing practices. Nevertheless, some emigrants resist these internet‐mediated governing practices, through distrust and a calculated rationality underscored by a neoliberal logic.