Executive Summary 4

Introduction 6

1. The Values of Chinese Digital Technologies 9

  1.1 How history has shaped Chinese political values on technology 9

  1.2 How Chinese and European values compare in the digital realm 11

  1.3 How corporate and state values interact 15

  1.4 Societal engagement with and contestation of state values 16

  1.5 Conclusion 17

2. Government Use and Regulation of Digital Technologies 18

  2.1 Introduction to China’s digital governance 18

  2.2 China’s regulatory approach for digital technology 20

  2.3 Embedding digital technologies in the public sector 28

  2.4 Conclusion 30

3. The Adoption of AI Technologies in Chinese Society 31

  3.1 Raising Lobsters: agentic AI and the politics of adoption anxiety 32

  3.2 Snatching Rice Bowls: embodied AI and the local politics of displacement 34

  3.3 Hollow Trees: generative AI and the governance of emotional life 38

  3.4 Conclusion 40

4. Chinese Social Technologies are Reshaping European Life 41

  4.1 The Platform Landscape 41

  4.2 Xiaohongshu in comparative perspective: New platform, new values? 45

  4.3 Chinese technologies reshaping European cities: The emergence of "New Chinatowns" 47

  4.4 Chinese cultural power for European audiences: Chinamaxxing 49

  4.5 Hyper optimised ecommerce and European retail: Shein, Temu, Joybuy 52

  4.6 Conclusion 54

5. Conclusions and Recommendations 56

  5.1 Research findings 56

  5.2 Implications for Europe and the Netherlands 58

  5.3 Recommendations 60