From Platform Capitalism to Digital China: The Path, Governance, and Geopolitics

The “platform turn” across various disciplines has introduced a new framework for analyzing the global digital economy. This special issue critically engages with existing discussions by adopting a broad political-economic perspective on the platform economy in China. Aiming to deconstruct and contextualize the dominant concepts of “platformization” and “infrastructuralization,” we focus on three central themes under the overarching framework of Digital China : “Platform cum Infrastructure along a Techno-developmental Path,” “Platform Governance,” and “Platform Spatiality and Geopolitics.” These themes collectively deepen our understanding of the temporal and spatial dynamics of platforms, as well as their conceptual significance as evolving processes and outcomes. More importantly, we highlight how the development of Chinese platforms reflects not only the contours of China’s contested integration into global capitalism but also the state’s shifting socio-economic priorities and its broader aspiration to establish a distinct “Chinese model of modernization.”