Between WeChat and WhatsApp: translocal belonging among mainland Chinese professional migrants in Hong Kong

This study adopts a translocality perspective to examine (1) how mainland Chinese professional migrants in Hong Kong (re)configure their digital habitus through WeChat and WhatsApp—two dominant platforms in their everyday lives—and (2) the affective outcomes of such reconfigurations. Drawing on three rounds of fieldwork in Hong Kong and in-depth interviews with 21 Chinese professional migrants, the study reveals that a subtle form of translocal belonging emerges through cross-platform interactions. This belonging is entangled not only with mediated intimacy but also with the surveillance gaze, multilingual pressures, concerns about social exclusion, and shifting life stages. Specifically, participants primarily used WeChat to cultivate and manage contingent intimacy for purposes such as fulfilling family obligations in mainland China and addressing survival needs in Hong Kong, whereas they employed WhatsApp for local integration and professional communication. For these professional migrants, physical departure did not constitute genuine disconnection with a place, but social disconnection—such as deleting these platforms—did. The study contributes to the understanding of mediated belonging among educated migrants in the Global South.