This course interrogates contemporary Chinese youth culture through the lens of platformed digitality and its entanglement with state, market, and algorithmic power. Centering on major platforms such as Red, WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, and Bilibili, it examines how digitally mediated environments structure identity formation, self-fashioning, affective labor, and consumption practices, while also reconfiguring modes of political expression and geopolitical imagination in the age of AI. Engaging with key phenomena, including influencer (wanghong) culture, live-streaming economies, meme circulation, fandom publics, and digital nationalism, the course situates Chinese social media within broader debates in media theory, cultural studies, and political economy. Through case studies and critical readings, students will analyze how platform governance, algorithmic visibility, and state-capital relations shape everyday life and subjectivity in contemporary China. No prior background required. Taught in English.