Strangers in the Borderlands: WeChat and ethical ambiguity in Yunnan, China.

Developed in 2011, WeChat integrated a digital wallet function two years later. It has since become a seemingly indispensable part of everyday life in China. Armed with this highly versatile app, users can now pay their bills, hail taxis, order food, book hotels, and even give alms to roadside beggars. However, research into WeChat sociality remains largely focused on the cities, and this urban bias obfuscates the social experiences of using WeChat for the vast number of people who still reside in rural regions. This article addresses this lacuna by presenting ethnographic data gathered in the remote mountains of Xishangbanna in Yunnan Province. Using the concept of strangership, we argue ethical ambiguity surrounds WeChat's arrival. The app affords more contact with the outside world for otherwise-isolated villages, but not all contact with strangers has brought about positive economic and social changes. Would-be adulterers also make use of WeChat to find extramarital lovers. As such, this article contributes to the anthropology of strangership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]