Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

“Crazy Jack” and the “Gay CEO” : Visions, Entrepreneurship, and the Chinese State in the New Digital Economy

Svensson, Marina LU (2021) In Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 50(1). p.63-85
Abstract
This article analyses the visions, careers, and companies of Jack Ma of Alibaba and Geng Le of Blue City. Jack Ma is a well-known business leader and visionary, whereas the less well-known Geng Le only began to receive more attention since launching a successful gay dating app in 2012. The article focuses on the personal narratives and visions of these two IT entrepreneurs. It provides new perspectives on the role of individual entrepreneurs in relation to the Chinese state’s global ambitions and vision of creating a “strong internet country.” It argues that the commercialisation and platformisation of the Chinese internet, and the growing transnational nature of Chinese IT companies, serve to make them more, not less, co-dependent of the... (More)
This article analyses the visions, careers, and companies of Jack Ma of Alibaba and Geng Le of Blue City. Jack Ma is a well-known business leader and visionary, whereas the less well-known Geng Le only began to receive more attention since launching a successful gay dating app in 2012. The article focuses on the personal narratives and visions of these two IT entrepreneurs. It provides new perspectives on the role of individual entrepreneurs in relation to the Chinese state’s global ambitions and vision of creating a “strong internet country.” It argues that the commercialisation and platformisation of the Chinese internet, and the growing transnational nature of Chinese IT companies, serve to make them more, not less, co-dependent of the state and its visions. The internet’s emancipatory potential is today increasingly conflated with consumption, and online spaces and social relations are subject to both commodification and datafication. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
China, digital economy, platformisation, internet, visions, Alibaba
in
Journal of Current Chinese Affairs
volume
50
issue
1
pages
22 pages
publisher
Institute of Asian Studies at the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies
external identifiers
  • scopus:85105247118
ISSN
1868-1026
DOI
10.1177/1868102621991558
project
Digital China
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
717c8630-7fe4-4700-b1f7-82a5c97f0558
date added to LUP
2021-05-18 22:38:22
date last changed
2022-04-27 01:58:02
@article{717c8630-7fe4-4700-b1f7-82a5c97f0558,
  abstract     = {{This article analyses the visions, careers, and companies of Jack Ma of Alibaba and Geng Le of Blue City. Jack Ma is a well-known business leader and visionary, whereas the less well-known Geng Le only began to receive more attention since launching a successful gay dating app in 2012. The article focuses on the personal narratives and visions of these two IT entrepreneurs. It provides new perspectives on the role of individual entrepreneurs in relation to the Chinese state’s global ambitions and vision of creating a “strong internet country.” It argues that the commercialisation and platformisation of the Chinese internet, and the growing transnational nature of Chinese IT companies, serve to make them more, not less, co-dependent of the state and its visions. The internet’s emancipatory potential is today increasingly conflated with consumption, and online spaces and social relations are subject to both commodification and datafication.}},
  author       = {{Svensson, Marina}},
  issn         = {{1868-1026}},
  keywords     = {{China; digital economy; platformisation; internet; visions; Alibaba}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{63--85}},
  publisher    = {{Institute of Asian Studies at the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies}},
  series       = {{Journal of Current Chinese Affairs}},
  title        = {{“Crazy Jack” and the “Gay CEO” : Visions, Entrepreneurship, and the Chinese State in the New Digital Economy}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1868102621991558}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/1868102621991558}},
  volume       = {{50}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}