Xitong Chen

Xitong Chen is a PhD candidate in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh. His doctoral research examines local government–platform collaboration in China, focusing on how municipal and county-level governments engage with digital platforms, technology firms, industry associations and local businesses in local economic governance.

His research is situated at the intersection of Chinese political economy, public policy, platform studies and state–business relations. He is particularly interested in how local state capacity, bureaucratic incentives, market actors and platform infrastructures interact in shaping local development strategies and digital industrial upgrading.

His broader research interests include platform governance, collaborative governance, local government studies, China’s digital economy, and the political economy of technological development.

Chinese political economy; platform governance; local government; state–business relations; collaborative governance; public policy; digital economy; local industrial upgrading; China studies.

My research explores how local governments in China work with digital platforms and technology firms in the governance of local economic development. Rather than treating platforms simply as private companies, the project examines how they become involved in policy implementation, industrial upgrading, training schemes, data practices and local development strategies.

Through qualitative fieldwork, the project asks how local officials, platform actors, industry associations and local firms negotiate cooperation, responsibility and discretion in China’s digital economy.

MA in Politics and Media in East Asia, University of Sheffield