Mitchell Gallagher, Wayne State University – Influencers and China’s Countryside

Social media influencers can change perceptions about a place through their content.

Mitchell Gallagher, PhD candidate in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University, explores how.

Mitchell Gallagher is a PhD candidate at Wayne State University, with research interests in East Asian politics, soft power, and international relations theory. Having spent seven years living in East Asia, Mitchell draws on firsthand experience to inform his work, which has been featured in various academic and public forums.

Influencers and China’s Countryside

Primitive, impoverished, backward—these terms once defined China’s countryside, historically overshadowed by urban development. Today, Chinese rural influencers like Dianxi Xiaoge have turned to domestic social media platforms, recasting the countryside as a thriving hub of tradition and natural beauty. With their content reaching millions, the countryside is now celebrated for its cultural richness, where quotidian village life, agricultural practices, and artisanal crafts resonate with a modern audience.

The wave of fascination in rural China has generated tangible economic fruitions. Forgotten villages are now tourist destinations. Traditional goods, once confined to local markets, are sold nationwide. The connection linking rural communities and urban consumers has strengthened, driving demand for authenticity and simplicity in a fast-paced, digital world. These influencers reignited interest in traditions long thought to be fading, using technology to weave the past into the future.

The Chinese government, spotting soft power potential, aligned this viral movement with its 2017 rural revitalisation strategy.

This digital transformation signals a change in how China perceives its rural roots. With more attention given to these areas, the potential for economic growth, cultural preservation, and social unity continues to expand.

Notwithstanding a persistent scourge of poverty and inequality in China, what was once dismissed as stagnant has surged into a vibrant force, kindling new forms of engagement and steadily narrowing the chasm between the sprawling cities and vast countryside.

This reimagined rural landscape is no ordinary aesthetic flourish; it is a shrewd manifestation of how social media platforms upend entrenched opinions and reshape the economic and social foundations of entire regions.

Read More:
[The Conversation] – Farms to fame: How China’s rural influencers are redefining country life