Cultivating the Imagination of China and the Western World: Foreign Influencers on Chinese Digital Platforms

Social media influencers with a foreigner profile can play a critical role in fostering mutual understanding across various cultures. The research focuses on a rising genre of social media channel on Chinese digital platforms: foreign influencers. Given the policy context and widespread skepticism toward Western media, these influencers offer audiences an insider’s perspective to better comprehend other nations, as well as a third-party viewpoint for understanding China. This study investigates how foreign social media influencers on Chinese digital platforms shape Chinese audiences’ intercultural understandings, examining the interplay of political, cultural, and commercial filters in this process. Drawing on Van Dijk’s ideological square, Fanon’s postcolonial critique, and Brons’ theory of othering, we employ grounded theory to analyze in-depth interviews with 15 active followers. Findings reveal a tripartite filtering mechanism: (1) Cultural filters position influencers as trusted cultural brokers for foreign societies yet shallow outsiders regarding China; (2) State filters show audiences rejecting overt propaganda while relying on state media’s symbolic authority to validate influencers’ legitimacy; (3) Commercial filters drive audiences to dismiss flattery as performative while accepting critical yet “friendly” perspectives. The study demonstrates how audiences negotiate self-other dichotomies within China’s ideologically saturated digital ecosystem. The “three-filter” model advances theorizing on mediated intercultural engagement in platform societies.