Contested Boundaries: Platformisation, Gender, and the Evolution of Jinjiang Literature City

This paper explores the platformisation of Chinese webnovels and its distinct gender divide by adopting a “platform biography” approach to Jinjiang Literature City, the largest nüpin (women’s webnovels) platform in China. Borrowing Benjamin Nicoll (2019)’s concept of “minor platforms”, I conceptualise Jinjiang as a major/minor platform in the platformisation of Chinese webnovels, highlighting its distinct value as being both the most influential nüpin platform, and a site accommodating alternative expressions of gender and sexuality. The study traces Jinjiang’s negotiations with industry and state, as it evolves from a community-driven space into a major player in China’s pan-entertainment ecosystem, and in the state-platform governance scheme of webnovels. Jinjiang’s biography serves both as a critical re-examination of the role of platforms, and a lens to reveal the compromises, cooperations, and conflicts that (de)construct, push, and reshape the boundaries of nüpin.