China’s ‘culture going global’ 2.0: Digital platforms, entertainment products and grass-roots cultural communicators

Since the official launch of the ‘culture going out’ strategy in the 2000s, scholarship has largely examined China’s cultural globalisation as a state-led project. However, from the late 2010s, a second wave—known as chuhai (‘going into the sea’)—has emerged, marked by changing political and economic contexts, new participants and different forms of cultural exports. This article examines the key characteristics of this phase, highlighting the growing roles of digital platforms, entertainment products and grass-roots cultural disseminators. It argues that these developments reshape China’s cultural globalisation and offer a more nuanced understanding of the state’s evolving soft power strategy.