Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

Home Found Me in the Feed: Constructing Ethnic Identity and Imagined Communities through Social Media by Internally Mobile Korean-Chinese Youth

Siqi Pan*
Harbin Institute of Technology

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

Research on digital media and migration has focused mainly on transnational migration and diaspora. Less is known about ethnic minority youth who move within one country. This qualitative case study draws on semi-structured interviews with four Korean-Chinese students who left the places where they grew up to attend university. It examines ethnic identity, hometown belonging, and everyday social media use. The interviews were analysed thematically. Participants rarely chose or shared content for explicitly ethnic reasons. For most, being Korean-Chinese remained in the background of everyday life, becoming more noticeable only in particular social situations or encounters with familiar languages, songs, and cultural symbols online. Participants nevertheless differed in ethnic salience, regional or hometown attachment, Korean-language use, and responses to familiar online content. Posts from existing contacts and local content encountered during ordinary browsing helped maintain connections with home, although these connections were not always understood in ethnic terms. In some cases, familiar local content led participants to imagine others who might recognise the same places or experiences. The study introduces the term "hometown-based imagined community" to describe this occasional sense of connection. By distinguishing hometown belonging from ethnic identification, it extends digital migration research beyond transnational diaspora and shows how internal educational mobility makes different forms of belonging relevant for different individuals. The findings suggest that support programmes and institutional policies should not assume that shared ethnicity automatically produces community, but should offer flexible, place-sensitive opportunities for mobile students to connect through everyday experiences.

Keywords: Internal migration in China; Korean-Chinese diaspora; Social media practices; Ethnic identity; Imagined community
Published: October 20, 2026
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2026.37830
Volume: CHR Vol.121
pp. 252-264
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