Project

The relationship between a mobile dating app and intimate relations in contemporary China

Program

Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Program in China Studies Predissertation Travel Grants to China

Department

Anthropology

Abstract

This study focuses on young adults and their use of Tantan, known as the “Chinese Tinder,” the most popular geosocial, swipe-based dating app in China. I aim to understand how and why Chinese young adults utilize Tantan to examine how mobile dating apps can potentially transform intimate relations in Contemporary China. To do this, I will conduct ethnographic research among a class and educationally stratified sample of single men and women recruited from Tantan, conduct content analysis on user’s app profiles, and investigation of their app management. The results will help us recognize the changes in the ways that people experience and create intimacy when there is a saturation of mobile app usage, an increasingly global phenomenon, while taking cultural particularities into account.