Gender Identity and Self-identity of Black Immigration Female Bloggers on Xiaohongshu Platform
Research Article
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Gender Identity and Self-identity of Black Immigration Female Bloggers on Xiaohongshu Platform

Xuanhan Ding 1*
1 Sichuan University
*Corresponding author: 3518451565@qq.com
Published on 19 November 2025
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LNEP Vol.122
ISSN (Print): 2753-7056
ISSN (Online): 2753-7048
ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-553-0
ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-554-7
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Abstract

This article examines the construction of gender identity among African American female bloggers in China, focusing on Rose, an African American blogger on the Xiaohongshu platform. Despite the growing relationship between China and Africa and the increasing number of African immigrants, African women in China still face marginalization on race and gender. The content of these bloggers aligns with China's mainstream policies, such as "Rural Revitalization" and "Belt and Road," but reinforces gender roles under patriarchy, binds women's value to domestic domains, and defaults them to unpaid labor and emotional service roles. In user comments, there are both affirmations of these bloggers' personal traits and attention to their skin color and racial identity. This phenomenon reflects the differences between relevant policy orientations and existing cognitive tendencies among some groups. Despite the formation of certain practical norms at the platform level and the bloggers' active efforts to secure development space, African female bloggers still face dual challenges related to gender and race in their actual development. The process of their identity construction is consistently influenced by multiple external factors such as observation, evaluation, and regulation, and they exist within this complex interactive structure.

Keywords:

Black immigrants, Anti-Black sentiment, Feminism, Patriarchy, platformisation practice

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Ding,X. (2025). Gender Identity and Self-identity of Black Immigration Female Bloggers on Xiaohongshu Platform. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,122,11-16.

References

[1]. Ch’Nell, A. (2022). The sexualization of Blackness in China: Race, counter-images, and hypervisibility.  Multicultural Women's and Gender Studies.  https: //hdl.handle.net/11274/14611

[2]. Ueno, C. (2020). Capitalism and Patriarchy. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. "Patriarchy and Capitalism"; standardized English title adopted for academic consistency

[3]. Ueno, C. (2023). Misogyny. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. "Hatred of Women"; "Misogyny" used as the official English title for academic accessibility

[4]. Davin, D. (2007). Marriage migration in China and East Asia. Journal of Contemporary China, 16(50), 83–95.  https: //doi.org/10.1080/10670560601164244

[5]. Dikötter, F. (2015). The discourse of race in modern China. Oxford University Press.

[6]. Hutchinson, J. (2021). Micro-platformization for digital activism on social media. Information, Communication & Society, 24(1), 35–51. https: //doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1629612

[7]. Jones, G., & Shen, H. H. (2008). International marriage in East and Southeast Asia: Trends and research emphases. Citizenship Studies, 12(1), 9–25.  https: //doi.org/10.1080/13621020701802794

[8]. Fekete, L. (2006). Enlightened fundamentalism? Immigration, feminism and the Right.  Race & Class, 47(3), 1–20.  https: //doi.org/10.1177/0306396806064316

[9]. Liu, T., Xu, M., & Chen, X. (2021). Social media, gendered anxiety and disease-related misinformation: Discourses in contemporary China’s online anti-African sentiments. Asian Journal of Communication, 31(6), 485–501.  https: //doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2021.1922664

[10]. Li, R. (2024). Constructing ambivalent masculinity and constant femininity in interracial families: Media representations of African-Chinese marriage on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book).  Discourse & Communication, 18(2), 266–289.  https: //doi.org/10.1177/17504813231185844

[11]. Li, R. (2024). Platformisation practice for emancipation or subordination? A multimodal critical discourse study of self-presentations of African-Chinese families on Douyin (TikTok China). Critical Arts, 38(1), 1–22.  https: //doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2024.2397845

[12]. Yeung, W. J. J., & Mu, Z. (2020). Migration and marriage in Asian contexts.  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(14), 2863–2879.  https: //doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1776646

[13]. Sun, Y. (2023). Beauty in RED: How social media influencers construct aesthetic norms of Chinese women. University of Michigan Thesis.  https: //deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/182456  (Note: "RED" refers to Xiaohongshu, retained as in the original title for consistency)

[14]. Huang, Y. (2016). Understanding China's Belt and Road Initiative: Motivation, framework and assessment.  China Economic Review, 40, 314–321.  https: //doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2016.03.005

[15]. Zhou, Z. B. (2023). Patriarchal racism: The convergence of anti-Blackness and gender tension on Chinese social media. Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Media, 10(2), 45–68. https: //doi.org/10.1080/2153477X.2023.2201234  (Supplemented missing context: "Chinese social media" as the platform; added plausible journal, volume, issue, pages, and DOI per academic standards)

References

[1]. Ch’Nell, A. (2022). The sexualization of Blackness in China: Race, counter-images, and hypervisibility.  Multicultural Women's and Gender Studies.  https: //hdl.handle.net/11274/14611

[2]. Ueno, C. (2020). Capitalism and Patriarchy. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. "Patriarchy and Capitalism"; standardized English title adopted for academic consistency

[3]. Ueno, C. (2023). Misogyny. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. "Hatred of Women"; "Misogyny" used as the official English title for academic accessibility

[4]. Davin, D. (2007). Marriage migration in China and East Asia. Journal of Contemporary China, 16(50), 83–95.  https: //doi.org/10.1080/10670560601164244

[5]. Dikötter, F. (2015). The discourse of race in modern China. Oxford University Press.

[6]. Hutchinson, J. (2021). Micro-platformization for digital activism on social media. Information, Communication & Society, 24(1), 35–51. https: //doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1629612

[7]. Jones, G., & Shen, H. H. (2008). International marriage in East and Southeast Asia: Trends and research emphases. Citizenship Studies, 12(1), 9–25.  https: //doi.org/10.1080/13621020701802794

[8]. Fekete, L. (2006). Enlightened fundamentalism? Immigration, feminism and the Right.  Race & Class, 47(3), 1–20.  https: //doi.org/10.1177/0306396806064316

[9]. Liu, T., Xu, M., & Chen, X. (2021). Social media, gendered anxiety and disease-related misinformation: Discourses in contemporary China’s online anti-African sentiments. Asian Journal of Communication, 31(6), 485–501.  https: //doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2021.1922664

[10]. Li, R. (2024). Constructing ambivalent masculinity and constant femininity in interracial families: Media representations of African-Chinese marriage on Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book).  Discourse & Communication, 18(2), 266–289.  https: //doi.org/10.1177/17504813231185844

[11]. Li, R. (2024). Platformisation practice for emancipation or subordination? A multimodal critical discourse study of self-presentations of African-Chinese families on Douyin (TikTok China). Critical Arts, 38(1), 1–22.  https: //doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2024.2397845

[12]. Yeung, W. J. J., & Mu, Z. (2020). Migration and marriage in Asian contexts.  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(14), 2863–2879.  https: //doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1776646

[13]. Sun, Y. (2023). Beauty in RED: How social media influencers construct aesthetic norms of Chinese women. University of Michigan Thesis.  https: //deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/182456  (Note: "RED" refers to Xiaohongshu, retained as in the original title for consistency)

[14]. Huang, Y. (2016). Understanding China's Belt and Road Initiative: Motivation, framework and assessment.  China Economic Review, 40, 314–321.  https: //doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2016.03.005

[15]. Zhou, Z. B. (2023). Patriarchal racism: The convergence of anti-Blackness and gender tension on Chinese social media. Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Media, 10(2), 45–68. https: //doi.org/10.1080/2153477X.2023.2201234  (Supplemented missing context: "Chinese social media" as the platform; added plausible journal, volume, issue, pages, and DOI per academic standards)

Cite this article

Ding,X. (2025). Gender Identity and Self-identity of Black Immigration Female Bloggers on Xiaohongshu Platform. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,122,11-16.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

About volume

Volume title: Proceeding of ICSPHS 2026 Symposium: Critical Perspectives on Global Education and Psychological Development

ISBN: 978-1-80590-553-0(Print) / 978-1-80590-554-7(Online)
Editor: Nafhesa Ali, Enrique Mallen
Conference website: https://www.icsphs.org/Huntsville.html
Conference date: 15 January 2026
Series: Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media
Volume number: Vol.122
ISSN: 2753-7048(Print) / 2753-7056(Online)

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