Le Recteur de l'Université catholique de Louvain fait savoir que

Ms. Chenna Wang

soutiendra publiquement sa dissertation pour l'obtention du titre de Docteur en sciences Politiques et Sociales

Cross Border Dàigòu Services on Global Consumer Goods - An Ethnographic Study of How Chinese Dàigòu Sell their Labor to Chinese Clients

Lien Teams

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, there has been a constant increase in the number of Chinese individuals participating in the cross-border purchasing of global consumer products and commodities. Those engaged in this very kind of trade are called dàigòu (代购). This research centres around Chinese overseas dàigòu in Europe. The Chinese word dàigòu does not just imply a new profession, but also a new form of shopping, and a new economic phenomenon. It is a concept that covers a whole variety of very different implications. It can refer to practitioners or professional shoppers, who engage in dàigòu activity, which also can describe the behaviour or the act of purchasing overseas products for friends or clients in China (used as a verb). Sometimes, this term could use to describe all practical concepts that are closely related to the dàigòu phenomenon and the dàigòu activity. The aim of this research is to analyse the new form of future globalization through the Chinese overseas dàigòu and their global dàigòu system.

With the help of dàigòu, “Spending the least money to buy the best things in the world" is no longer out of reach. Now, dàigòu to consumer (D2C) e-commerce mode has become an important consumption channel connecting Chinese consumers and overseas products. Because of the influence of global pricing and exchange rates of different countries, the price advantage of buying global consumer goods overseas is obvious. Any Chinese traveling abroad or on business in recent years has a chance to act as dàigòu. These occasional individuals dàigòu usually only need to go out of the country to satisfy independent single or multiple purchasing behaviours for third parties.

This research closely links virtual space, social connections, viz. the Chinese guānxi system, globalization, and dàigòu together and tries to use the new concept “global dàigòu system” to describe and analyse this social and cultural phenomenon. Through this research it became manifest that the commodity-cantered globalization process is not only concerned with isolated, individual objects themselves, it also breaks the relationship between people and products. Therefore, the author’s humble wish is that this dissertation may challenge previous scholars' research on globalization, i.e., to examine the flow of goods and the flow of people together. This research is based on the author’s field investigation in Belgium, and it analysed the cross border dàigòu service system based in Belgium and spreading across Europe. Through this research, it was found that dàigòu to consumer (D2C) e-commerce mode has already formed and changed the consumption habits of more and more Chinese consumers. Dàigòu and the global dàigòu system created by itself are forming a brand-new consumer culture and a new form of future globalization.

Membres du jury

Prof. Olivier Servais (Supervisor, UCLouvain, Doyen of ESPO) – Secretary of the jury
Prof. Anne-Marie Vuillemenot (Co-supervisor, UCLouvain, Co-director of LAAP)
Prof. Biao Xiang (External Committee Member, Professor of Oxford & Director of Max Planck)
Prof. Paul Servais (Jury member, UCLouvain, meritus Professor)
Prof. Frédéric Laugrand (Jury member, UCLouvain, Director of LAAP) – President of the jury