Abstract
Amid the profound transformations of rural society, traditional authorities and value systems are undergoing significant disruption. Mediated peer interactions among children are no longer merely a form of entertainment, but have become crucial arenas where they exercise agency and participate in shaping these changes. Grounded in the theoretical framework of the new sociology of childhood, this study presents an ethnographic investigation of HL Village. The findings reveal that the official evaluative system, represented by the school, has lost its effectiveness within the peer world. As active social agents, children reconstruct interactional spaces, reinvent social rules, and generate internal hierarchies through intensive mediated peer communication. In doing so, they establish an alternative value system centered on “media capital.” This dynamic creates a fundamental tension between the disciplinary logic of the adult world and the reconstructive logic of children’s peer culture. Based on these findings, the study argues that the agency children exhibit in mediated peer interactions is deeply ambivalent: while it challenges traditional authority, it simultaneously reproduces new forms of inequality and digital exclusion. Moreover, this mediated peer interactions offers a micro-level lens through which to observe rural social transformation, as its unique culture of interaction both reflects and contributes to broader structural shifts.
Introduction
With the advancement of global digitalization, mobile media are profoundly reshaping the developmental environment of children in the Global South’s rural areas. A defining feature of this process is “mobile first,” as mobile phones have become the primary means through which children access the digital world (GSMA, 2023). However, this transformation is neither balanced nor simultaneous. Digital inequalities persist across different social groups, and the “digital divide” remains a central challenge in many regions (International Telecommunication Union [ITU], 2023). Against this macro backdrop, the internet penetration rate among rural children in China has reached 99.9%, signaling near saturation (China Internet Network Information Center [CNNIC], 2024). This sharp contrast with the general situation across the Global South offers a unique lens through which to examine the social consequences of the “post access era.”
The uniqueness of rural China lies not only in the speed of its digitalization, but more importantly in the intense collision between this digital expansion and the local social structure. Social transformation in these areas is marked by two core tensions: First, the erosion of traditional authority. Under the pressures of rapid urbanization and marketization, the authority once held by families and schools is increasingly being undermined. Second, a conflict of social values. The deeply rooted belief in “carp leaping over the dragon gate” (鲤鱼跳龙门, meaning the conviction that education is the only path to upward mobility) is clashing with growing disillusionment in the face of rigidified class structures, giving rise to sentiments such as the belief that “studying is useless.” This structural tension transforms the mobile phone from a mere communication tool into a complex symbol of societal anxiety: It embodies both the hope of educational assistance and the threat of digital addiction.
However, both global and Chinese studies on this topic have largely focused on the vertical relationships between children and adults—such as parental mediation, family upbringing, or academic achievement in schools. While this line of inquiry is important, it often overlooks the horizontally constructed, child-led mediated peer culture and its interaction with rural cultural transformation. This peer culture may be eroding traditional rural cultural forms and fostering new types of social relations. Drawing on ethnographic research in HL Village, this study aims to closely examine the mediated peer interactions among rural children and address the following question: In a society where traditional values and authorities are being challenged, how do children use media practices to reconstruct the boundaries of social interaction, reinvent informal social rules, and ultimately build power and identity within peer networks, thereby participating in the transformation of rural society?
Literature Review
Research on the New Sociology of Childhood
The historian Philippe Ariès (1962) argued that, in pre-modern societies, children were seen as miniature adults (un homme à plus petite échelle) (Dekker & Groenendijk, 2012). Modern society, through institutional arrangements such as law and education, established a “separation” between the world of children and adults (Pilcher, 1995), but still regarded children as passive “socialization objects” (Prout, 2008), subjecting them to adult discipline. However, this “protected childhood” model has been criticized for overlooking the diversity of global childhood experiences (Benedict, 1935; Leonard, 2016).
Unlike traditional theories that view children as passive socialization objects, the new sociology of childhood emphasizes that children are active and capable “social agents.” They are not only shaped by society but also actively participate in shaping their own lives and the world around them (Corsaro, 2005; Moss, 2022). The core of this theoretical shift lies in redefining children from biologically “immature individuals” to capable social agents (Qvortrup, 1993). Children’s agency and social competence are manifested in everyday micro-interactions (Hutchby & Moran Ellis, 1998), which have driven the development of child-centered research methods (Christensen & James, 2008). Qvortrup (1993), from a macro perspective, pointed out that childhood is not only an experience or concept but also a social category in contrast to adulthood.
Children’s Peer Culture Research
Building on the emphasis of children’s agency, Corsaro’s (1992) theory of “interpretive reproduction” posits that children do not merely internalize the rules of the adult world, but rather, through collective and creative interpretation and transformation of information, they produce unique “peer cultures” (Azmitia, 2002; DiBianca Fasoli, 2020; Henning, 2020). Peer culture is defined as “a stable set of activities, routines, artifacts, values, and concerns that children co-produce and share in ongoing interactions with their peers” (Corsaro & Eder, 1990, p. 197). This concept differs from the term “peer group,” which refers more to the group itself rather than the agency of cultural creators (Corsaro, 2014). This process not only shapes children’s worldview but also influences, to some extent, the reproduction and transformation of adult culture (Corsaro, 2014).
Children’s peer culture revolves around two core themes: the pursuit of social participation and autonomy, and the handling of conflict and social differentiation. In these interactions, children construct internal social orders through complex practices of negotiating friendship, status, and “moral order” (Cillessen & Rose, 2005; Corsaro, 2005).
In the digital age, media has become an important tool in the construction of peer culture. Media, through its dual roles of content and platform, is deeply embedded in children’s social practices (S. S. Lim, 2022), providing them with a platform to build “networked publics” (Horst et al., 2009). This has comprehensively reshaped peer relationships and social behaviors across age groups, giving rise to new forms of peer culture in the shape of Peer-to-Peer communities (Nolan & Moore, 2025), allowing children to engage in self-exploration and social interaction outside the adult sphere. However, the public nature of social media may also have negative effects, particularly regarding potential damage to mental health and social behavior (Vannucci et al., 2018; Yang et al., 2021).
In addition, media experiences learned in the family are often transmitted through peer interactions in environments such as schools (Vinter, 2012), and parents typically lack a full understanding of their children’s digital peer culture (Akarçay et al., 2024). Therefore, digital media can also exacerbate family separation by directing children’s social interactions outside of the parental view (Livingstone, 2007; Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 2008).
Media Practices of Rural Children
The “digital divide” between urban and rural areas is not only reflected in differences in infrastructure but also in significant disparities in digital skills, usage patterns, social participation opportunities, and cognitive and well-being outcomes (Teresa & Isabel, 2016). Therefore, the study of rural children’s media practices should go beyond the generalized concept of “digital natives” (Roos & Olin-Scheller, 2018) and shift toward exploring their unique experiences within specific social structural constraints (Livingstone, 2007).
In Global South countries, access methods primarily dominated by “mobile-first” approaches still prevail (Ling & Horst, 2011), and the access gap to the internet remains a focal point of discussion. In contrast, the internet penetration rate in rural China is nearly saturated, yet rural children’s media practices continue to be subject to multidimensional structural limitations. The “left-behind children” group in China, often raised in a grandparent-care model, frequently faces a lack of digital guidance at home (L. Wang & Mesman, 2015; Zhang et al., 2016), which exacerbates the differences in internet penetration rates and digital capital between urban and rural areas, collectively shaping the media environment of rural children. Studies have found that this structural disadvantage has a significant impact on rural children’s cognitive performance, and they are more likely to use the internet for entertainment, which is associated with a lower quality of life perception (X. Wang et al., 2021). In addition, local culture and social networks also influence rural children’s media use. For instance, rural communities often view the “digital, unsafe outside world” as something to be protected from, which intensifies the vicious cycle of social isolation and digital exclusion (Roos & Olin-Scheller, 2018).
However, rural children are not completely passive victims, but active media users. Media has become a key tool for them to maintain emotional connections, engage in social interactions, and construct their identities (Holmarsdottir, 2024). For instance, the internet has become an important compensatory strategy for Chinese left-behind children to maintain emotional connections with their distant parents (Zhou et al., 2025). At the same time, media provides children with the opportunity to build peer cultures in “networked publics” (Horst et al., 2009), allowing them to explore their selves and engage in social interactions outside the adult gaze. However, this may also lead to the “internet paradox,” where the strengthening of social networks may undermine local social ties (Kraut et al., 1998). Furthermore, media practices offer rural children opportunities to participate in cultural and social life (Victor et al., 2014).
In summary, against the backdrop of global digitalization, particularly in the Global South, where the access gap remains significant, rural children in China, with their nearly saturated internet penetration rate, provide a unique window through which to observe the intense clash between mediated peer interactions, media use, and local social structures. However, existing research often focuses on media relationships such as those between parents and children, largely overlooking how Chinese children exercise agency in the context of structural tensions arising from the loosening of traditional authority and conflicting values. These tensions shape how children construct peer interactions through media practices, redefine boundaries, power structures, and identity, and profoundly engage in the macro social changes occurring in rural areas. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap through an ethnographic approach, analyzing the intrinsic logic of rural children’s media-mediated peer interactions and their broader social consequences.
Data and Methods
This study adopts an ethnographic approach to explore the mediated peer interactions among rural children. HL Village was chosen as the field site not because of its uniqueness but because of its theoretical relevance, as it vividly reflects the digital life landscape in the post-access era. Unlike many regions in the Global South that are still striving to bridge the digital divide, HL Village has benefited from comprehensive national digital infrastructure, with smartphone penetration among children approaching saturation. This context enables the study to move beyond the basic issue of technological accessibility and focus directly on a more fundamental question: when digital technology becomes a routine rather than a scarce resource, how does it reshape social relationships and cultural practices?
Sample Selection
In terms of sample selection, our initial plan was to conduct random sampling across the entire village. However, considering the ethical complexities of research involving children and the need to build deep trust, we adjusted our approach. By establishing a partnership with the local primary school, we entered the field as a volunteer teacher. This role provided a natural point of entry, enabling long-term observation of children’s interaction patterns and the purposive selection of those who played different roles within peer culture as the main research subjects. In the end, we conducted in-depth and sustained follow-up with 12 children (see Table 1). We argue that this form of selection, based on long-term observation, is better suited to capturing the internal power dynamics and complexities of peer culture than simple random sampling.
Tracking Record Subjects During the Research Period.
Data Collection
From June 2019 to April 2020, we conducted a systematic ethnographic study of children in HL Village, closely observing and documenting the details of their daily lives. The initial fieldwork was followed by data collation and analysis, with supplementary visits conducted from March to May 2021 and from July to August 2022. These follow-up visits included in-depth interviews and served to expand and enrich the original data set.
During the core fieldwork phase, we shadowed the children throughout their daily routines. Each morning at 7:30 a.m., we arrived at their homes to walk with them to school, attended classes alongside them, returned home at 11:30 a.m. for lunch and playtime at the village entrance, and accompanied them back to school around 2:00 p.m. After school, we joined the children in their leisure activities. Acting as a “shadow,” we participated holistically in the children’s everyday lives and collected data through participant observation, informal interviews, daily field logs, and multimedia recordings (e.g., photographs and audio recordings).
With the children’s consent, the researcher used voice recorders and notebooks to document their speech and behavior in real time, conducting spontaneous interviews without disrupting their normal routines. At the end of each day, the day’s recordings, notes, and photographs were systematically reviewed and organized to ensure that the immediacy of the researcher’s impressions could be preserved in written form before fading over time.
Influenced by the New Sociology of Childhood, the researcher views children not as passive objects of research but as active social agents. Accordingly, the researcher’s core task is not to “extract” objective facts, but to enter the cultural world constructed by children themselves and to understand the processes through which meaning is negotiated (Corsaro, 2003).
Based on this perspective, we entered the field in HL Village in the role of volunteer teachers at the local primary school, deliberately avoiding emphasis on our identity as researchers. In fact, when we explicitly explained our research intentions to two children, they were unable to grasp the concept of “academic research” and simply saw us as ordinary volunteer teachers. We embraced this role positioning, refrained from taking on an authoritative stance, and instead built an equal and reciprocal relationship by becoming their friends.
Data Coding
This study employed different analytical approaches based on the specific research questions. For the first question concerning the current patterns of media use among children in HL Village (see the first section of “Findings”), we primarily relied on data from daily journals and observational records, supplemented by quantitative visualizations for direct presentation. For the themes discussed in Sections Two through Four, we applied thematic analysis to systematically process various sources of qualitative data, including interview transcripts, field notes, daily journals, and multimedia materials.
Thematic analysis is a systematic method for identifying, analyzing, and interpreting patterns within data, and it is particularly effective for uncovering the deeper meanings behind complex phenomena (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This study adopted a theoretically driven approach to thematic analysis. Rather than relying solely on bottom-up inductive coding, the analysis was guided by a specific theoretical framework. For instance, we used the concept of “agency” as a sensitizing lens to examine and code the data, with particular attention to how children actively exert influence and construct power structures within peer interactions.
In the coding process, we used NVivo 12 software to assist with data organization and coding. The analytical procedure followed the six-phase framework proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006).
Phase 1: Familiarization With the Data
The research team began by reading and organizing all raw materials. This phase involved multiple rounds of close reading. During this process, we wrote analytical memos to document initial impressions, theoretical reflections, and potential thematic cues, which helped build a holistic understanding of the data and its contextual nuances.
Phase 2: Generating Initial Codes
Building on systematic reading, we conducted open initial coding of the entire dataset (see Table 2 for examples). The goal of initial coding was to capture the core meaning of original statements using concise, academically grounded language, with a focus on children’s behaviors, beliefs, and interactions. Subthemes were formed as the first layer of categorization, grouping together codes with similar meanings. For example, the statement “What’s the use of good grades? You can’t eat them” was coded as “value judgment on the uselessness of academic achievement. “ Similarly, “Go buy me a drink, and I’ll let you play with my phone for ten minutes” was coded as “exchanging snacks for phone access.” A total of 23 initial codes were generated during this phase, primarily aimed at uncovering children’s discursive practices related to value negotiation, interactional norms, and identity expression within their peer culture.
Examples of the Initial Coding Process.
Phases 3 and 4: Searching for and Reviewing Candidate Themes
We grouped the initial codes based on their underlying conceptual connections, forming a set of candidate subthemes. These were then further organized into preliminary structures of core themes. Throughout this process, the theoretical framework provided analytical concepts such as “children’s agency” and “symbolic capital” as sensitizing concepts to guide the organization and interpretation of the codes. For example, codes such as “showing off phone brands,” “demonstrating gaming skills,” and “following internet celebrities” were categorized under the subtheme “acquisition of acquired symbolic capital.” We reviewed each candidate theme by comparing it with the original data, carefully examining internal coherence and external distinctiveness to ensure the credibility and logical consistency of the themes.
Phase 5: Defining and Naming Themes
In the final stage, we identified three core analytical themes:
Reconstruction of Interactional Space: from geographical proximity to Mediated interest-based connections;
Reconfiguration of Interactional Norms: the exchange within the digital gift economy;
Formation of Internal Hierarchies: competition for symbolic capital and the rise of idols.
Each core theme is composed of several subthemes, which in turn encompass multiple initial codes supported by original data. Together, these form the analytical framework and narrative structure of this study (see Table 3).
Development Process of Core Themes.
Phase 6: Writing the Report
We selected representative excerpts from the original data to illustrate the structural features of the three core themes and conducted detailed analysis within the theoretical framework. During the writing process, we maintained a close connection between data and interpretation, emphasizing the interaction between theory and empirical evidence.
To enhance the credibility of the study, we adopted investigator triangulation by inviting a researcher who had not participated in data collection to independently review the initial codes and subtheme classifications. In the first round of review, approximately 11% of the code classifications (3 out of 23) and two subtheme assignments showed discrepancies. These were primarily related to the boundaries between themes concerning “symbolic capital” and “mocking good students.” To address these contested areas, the research team conducted three rounds of collective discussion and repeatedly returned to the original data for comparison and theoretical alignment. A consensus was eventually reached, and revisions were made to the naming and classification logic of certain themes.
Ethical Considerations
The researcher is a native-born Chinese. Although the researcher currently resides in an urban area, they grew up in a rural setting and are fluent in the local dialect, which helped reduce cultural and linguistic distance with the children. Preliminary findings were also discussed with community workers, who expressed support for the local relevance of the study’s conclusions.
At the same time, we are aware that the researcher’s social identity as a “highly educated returnee from the city” may have been perceived by the children as a form of authority or judgment, potentially affecting field interactions. To address this social distance, we deliberately downplayed the image of a “typical adult” during fieldwork by engaging in shared activities such as games, chores, and daily routines to foster more equitable interaction. In the analysis, we also marked statements and behaviors that may have been performative and cross-validated them through interviews with teachers and parents to enhance the interpretive strength and reliability of our findings.
In terms of ethical implementation, this study strictly adhered to academic standards. We informed the guardians of the core child participants about the purpose of the research and obtained their informed consent. At the same time, we secured the children’s verbal assent in a manner appropriate to their level of understanding, emphasizing their right to withdraw at any time. All data were anonymized, and all names used in the text are pseudonyms to ensure the highest possible level of participant privacy.
Findings
Mediated Everyday Life: Spatiotemporal Practices Under Mobile Domination
In HL Village, the near-saturation of mobile phone ownership among children is not an isolated technological phenomenon but rather the outcome of intersecting structural factors. In the context of accelerating urbanization, the return of young parents to the village, often accompanied by underemployment and deep immersion in digital life, has led to frequent device replacement and a surplus of mobile phones within households. At the same time, blocked pathways to formal education and the erosion of parents’ cultural capital have prompted them to imagine mobile phones as digital tutors. By handing down older devices to their children, they attempt to compensate for educational deficiencies, thereby legitimizing children’s mobile phone ownership as a rational and even desirable practice.
As shown in Figure 1, compared to other media devices, mobile phone usage among children in HL Village reaches as high as 97.9%, followed by television (58.3%), computers (35.4%), and tablets (16.7%). Young parents have redefined the mobile phone from a simple entertainment tool into an educational “necessity.” However, this shift has also led to a form of “present absence” in parental supervision, setting the stage for the blurred boundaries between learning and entertainment in children’s media practices.
Proportion of device usage among children in HL village.
To enrich the empirical base and more precisely map the contours of children’s media practices, this study also employed daily log methods to track the spatiotemporal routines of 12 children. The findings reveal that, consistent with previous research suggesting children’s daily lives are largely structured by school routines and family meal times (Zhao et al., 2018), media usage among children in HL Village exhibits a distinct temporal and spatial rhythm. On weekdays, media engagement peaks during two unmonitored time windows: the midday break (1:00–2:00 p.m.) and late evening hours (8:00–11:00 p.m.) (see Figure 2).
A schematic representation of HL village children’s time use and daily rhythms.
Notably, some children extend their media use into the early morning hours, made possible by having a bedroom of their own. This spatial autonomy allows for unsupervised use, as many children secretly retrieve their own or a family member’s phone after their parents fall asleep and use it under the covers (see Figure 3).
Daily activity trajectories of 12 students in HL village.
On weekends, with school discipline lifted, mobile phones become a central feature of children’s daily lives almost around the clock (see Figure 4). For instance, TJH developed a regular pattern of phone or TV use based on his parents’ work schedule, with limited time spent on outdoor activities. The average weekend screen time for many children exceeds 5 hr per day, far surpassing recommended guidelines.
Weekly spatiotemporal activity trajectory of TJH (male, 12 years old).
This usage pattern—marked by bursts during specific time slots on weekdays and overflow on weekends—clearly illustrates how mobile phones have come to occupy the temporal and spatial gaps left by the retreat of adult supervision.
Reconstruction of Interactional Space: From Geographical Proximity to Mediated Interest-Based Affinity
With the deep embedding of media technologies, children in HL Village are using mobile phones to transcend the physical boundaries of their village and establish new forms of social networks based on shared interests rather than geographic proximity. This expansion of social space is not merely an extension of communication but reflects a conscious departure from the traditional place-based relationships that are weakening in an increasingly hollowed-out rural society. Mediated interest-based affinity (Ito et al., 2010) is gradually replacing geography-based sociality as the dominant logic through which children form and maintain relationships. It serves not only as a new framework for interaction but also as a spatial foundation for broader social imaginaries (Lange, 2014).
Taking the Bus to Meet Online Friends
In HL Village, traditional peer interactions based on physical proximity are being replaced by a new, media-mediated, cross-regional form of social engagement. When bored at home, TJH casually turns on the television, and it is rare to see him play with peers from the same village. He justifies distancing himself from local peers by saying, “I’m not close with the kids in my village, they’re too slow and don’t know how to play anything,” referring specifically to digital games.
After school, children no longer gather at village entrances or along the edges of farmland as they once did. Instead, they enter an intangible peer-constructed online space through WeChat, QQ, or in-game voice chat systems. Within this space, their social circles are no longer limited to peers from the same village or school but have expanded to include individuals from neighboring villages, towns, and even other provinces. What was once considered virtual interaction has now become deeply embedded in their everyday lives and normalized as a primary mode of communication. Under certain conditions, such online ties can be activated into real-life relationships (Ellison et al., 2007). LN, an 11-year-old, proudly shared during a casual conversation:
They (referring to parents and teachers) have no idea that I’ve had over a dozen girlfriends online. The one I’m with now is from the city. She said she wants to come see me, but I’m planning to take the bus to visit her during the holidays and give her the ring.
LN’s plan to “take the bus to meet an online friend,” whether or not it ultimately materializes, is symbolically significant in itself. It clearly illustrates that for this generation of rural children, physical distance is no longer a fundamental barrier to forming intimate relationships. Their emotional worlds and social imaginaries have already extended far beyond the geographical boundaries of the village. Through media, they are able to establish direct and private connections with distant others. This media-enabled cross-regional interaction is reshaping children’s traditional understandings of near and far, of us and them. It powerfully reveals how children, through media, can immediately access and gain recognition within broader social spaces that transcend the confines of their local environment.
After School Group Communication
Media not only enables children to expand their social connections outward but also reshapes existing peer relationships within the school context. Before the widespread adoption of mobile phones, school and village functioned as relatively separate social arenas. However, the spatiotemporal connectivity afforded by mobile devices has blurred and integrated these spaces.
A typical scenario illustrates this shift: after school, children connect through QQ or WeChat groups, where they systematically “divide tasks” by taking photos of homework answers and sharing them with one another:
(Observation Notes, Grade 5 QQ Group)
19:30 — The math class representative LBC asked in the group:”Who knows how to do Question 5 from Chinese?”
A few minutes later, the Chinese class representative ZXY replied: “I know, wait a sec,” and soon uploaded a photo filled with detailed solution steps.
Shortly after, TJH posted: “@everyone The answer to the last big math question is here. Let me know once you’ve copied it.”
The group was instantly filled with a stream of “1” s and “Got it” emojis.
This form of online “homework assistance” is far from a simple act of copying answers. It represents a creative extension of in-school collective relationships into digital space, forming an efficient, decentralized peer community. Within this community, children’s agency and individualization are emerging as powerful forces (Beck, Beck-Gernsheim, 2002). To a large extent, it is this media-enabled, individualized, and cross-geographical peer culture that has begun to dismantle traditional authority structures rooted in kinship and lineage. It opens up new social spaces and possibilities for autonomous practice among children. This space allows for the realization of individual agency and contributes to the formation of a diffuse structure of social opportunities in rural society. As children’s physical and emotional connections to the village weaken, rural society is gradually being propelled toward a modern institutional order (Li, 2004). For a child who lacks a mobile phone or the skills for networked sociality, the inability to participate in this new mode of interaction can be perceived by peers as a form of “social death” (boyd, 2014).
Parents in HL Village often remark that “they constantly start playing together after finishing homework” or “they’re always making shady friends online and can’t even be bothered to talk to us anymore.” This kind of statement—particularly “can’t even be bothered to talk”—signals a collapse of parental authority and the resulting “desacralization” of the parental role. In the absence of traditional clan structures, religious beliefs, and ritual support, the notion of filial gratitude is gradually eroded, and intergenerational relationships become more rational and self-interest driven. At the same time, the term “constantly” foregrounds children’s persistent desire to engage with peers in virtual spaces. It suggests that childhood is becoming a self-governing realm. Increasingly disconnected from school- and family-centered modes of socialization, rural children turn to their peer groups for emotional support and actively reconstruct the power dynamics within peer interaction.
Formation of Internal Hierarchies: Competition for Symbolic Capital and the Emergence of Idols
If the reconstruction of space lays the foundation for an alternative social order among children, then the way in which hierarchy and authority are established within this new space becomes the core mechanism through which that order is generated.
At HL Village Primary School, academically successful “good students” are not revered as expected. Instead, they are often the target of collective mockery. For instance, when LBC, the class monitor and top student, tried to manage a self-study session, she was openly challenged by classmates who mocked a “cute” video she had posted on Kuaishou (a popular Chinese short-video platform). The classroom quickly descended into chaos, and her authority collapsed. What ended the disruption was not the intervention of a teacher-appointed role model, but a single shout from SJY, a defiant “king of the kids” figure in the class who commanded informal authority by breaking the rules.
In this micro-level power struggle, it becomes evident that the official evaluation system represented by the school, centered on academic excellence, has lost its effectiveness. It is collectively resisted by students, alongside the broader rural Chinese cultural belief in the “carp leaping over the dragon gate,” which upholds the idea that education is the singular path to upward mobility. As the traditional narrative of “studying changes one’s fate” loses its persuasive power, the prestige once associated with being a top student fades within the peer world. In its place emerges an underground power structure rooted in the ability to “play well.” This new hierarchy departs from the classic indicators of peer status outlined by Adler et al. (1998), instead centering on a new form of symbolic capital generated through media practices (Bourdieu, 1986). This emergent capital manifests primarily in two forms:
“My Phone Is an iPhone.”
In the competition for peer power, the most fundamental form of capital is ascribed capital, represented by mobile phone ownership. Among children in HL Village, it is common to see comparisons over phone brands and quantity. For example, LYK often mumbles while others are using their phones: “Where’s my phone? Did my mom take it? We have three phones at home, don’t worry. If I lose one, it’s fine.” He adds, “My phone is an iPhone. I used to have a Vivo and also an Oppo.”
The mobile phone is no longer merely a functional device. It has been symbolically transformed into a visible display of family wealth, parental affection, and even personal “taste.” As such, it becomes the foundational criterion for hierarchy within the peer power field. Children who own phones naturally occupy the center of power, attracting the attention and allegiance of those with fewer resources.
This phone-centered hierarchy is not limited to verbal comparisons but is directly materialized in everyday power relations and spatial arrangements. For instance, LYG has gained significant peer prestige due to his possession of the latest iPhone, a form of ascribed capital. He further reinforces his status by selectively sharing access to the phone, allowing younger peers to play with it occasionally as a way to tactically manage social relationships and consolidate his central position within the peer network.
This power dynamic is visibly reflected in the spatial distribution of play. LYG occupies the central spot by the village wall, with his closest allies positioned directly beside him. Those with weaker ties are relegated to the periphery, often squatting at the edge of the group. This creates a clearly stratified spatial order, with the mobile phone as the symbolic center of a visible differential association structure.
Conversely, losing access to a mobile phone can result in the sudden collapse of one’s social status. After LJX’s phone broke, he was mocked as “the one who always plays with that little girl’s tiny phone.” The humiliation stemmed not only from the fact that he lacked a phone, but also from his violation of gender boundaries within the boys’ group by borrowing a girl’s “small phone.” To avoid this kind of “social death” and reenter the center of peer power, some children resort to stealing their parents’ phones. For many, this becomes a rational and even necessary survival strategy.
Look up to Gaming Masters
Ascribed capital merely serves as an “entry ticket” into the peer power arena. What truly elevates a child to the apex of the local hierarchy is the accumulation of achieved capital, which requires sustained personal effort. In HL village, such capital is most visibly manifested in two forms: exceptional gaming skills and a substantial online following. For boys in particular, gaming proficiency has largely supplanted traditional markers such as physical dominance or academic excellence, emerging as the central metric of masculinity and individual charisma:
“Do you admire LH just because he’s good at playing video games?”
“Yes. Most boys like playing games with him and hanging out with him. He even makes money from gaming—people say he can earn dozens of yuan a day from boosting accounts.”
“I think he’s handsome and cool.”
“Yeah, he’s my idol. The teachers might not like him, but we do.”
“Why don’t the teachers like him?”
“Because his grades are bad. But what’s the use of good grades? LBC, who ranks first in the class, isn’t even worth a pile of crap. She always wants to game with LH, but he never lets her.”
LH, who possesses outstanding gaming skills, may be seen by adults as a “good-for-nothing” troublemaker, but in the peer world, he is an undisputed “idol.” This phenomenon—accumulating symbolic capital through specific practices (such as gaming) to gain peer recognition—is not uncommon in studies of youth subcultures (Järvinen & Gundelach, 2007).
Make Money as Online Celebrities
Unlike boys whose peer power struggles center on gaming skills, girls’ peer culture places greater emphasis on “visibility” and “fame” gained through social media, with the number of followers being the key indicator. LMY, who has over 10,000 followers on Kuaishou, earns money through her influencer identity and lives a life where she can buy pretty clothes for herself, making her an admired and imitated “social person” among the girls. Her poor academic performance is entirely overlooked in peer evaluations. This reputation system, centered on “influencer capital,” together with boys’ “gaming capital,” presents a strong challenge to the school’s official authority. In a bottom-up fashion, it deeply participates in and shapes the value transformation amid rural social change. Through their media practices, rural children are actively creating new systems to assess self-worth and social status, directly responding to broader societal sentiments such as the belief that studying is useless.
Reconfiguration of Interactional Norms: The Exchange Within the Digital Gift Economy
In this newly emerged social space, children are far from being a disorganized crowd; rather, they creatively establish their own social rules to maintain order and negotiate status. Acting as astute social agents, they appropriate and transform the adult logic of renqing (reciprocal social favor), developing distinctive interaction strategies. These strategies range from short-term, calculated exchanges of goods to long-term relationship investments rooted in trust and commitment, together forming a complex and authentic renqing network within their peer world.
Homework for Phone Access
Within peer circles, a more widespread and creative form of exchange exists: using homework as currency to gain access to mobile phones. This exchange takes various forms, including borrowing phones to play games, receiving in-game items as gifts, helping with game level-ups, or borrowing game accounts. For instance, academically strong LJY regularly helps ZSY complete homework or shares answers in the class QQ group, in return for temporary access to ZSY’s high-level gaming account:
“TJH, how did you finish your homework so fast?”
“He either pays others or trades gameplay for homework. He hires people to write it. He’s fought with almost everyone in class, forcing them to do his homework. Sometimes he offers to let others play on his gaming account in exchange for homework, or just gives them money.”
This kind of transaction, which bridges the “top students” and “gamers” groups, is made possible because the children collectively construct a new system of value. In their eyes, “a completed homework assignment” and “access to a rare game account” are of equal worth. This equivalence itself challenges the school’s singular evaluation system and vividly reflects children’s capacity to reinterpret and reconstruct adult rules within their peer culture (Corsaro, 1992).
Snack Exchanges as Entry Tokens
Such exchanges often occur as unequal transactions between upper and lower grade students. Many younger children, whose homework is relatively simple, are not given mobile phones by their parents—who see no need for such a device—resulting in their exclusion from the “phone-owning camp.” In response, they often resort to the only resource they have control over: snacks, which they use as a form of “bribery” to gain the opportunity to play with these idolized older peers and obtain a ticket into this peer circle. As a result, one frequently observes the following scene: outside the school snack shop, several older students with mobile phones gather, waiting for younger students to voluntarily hand over their newly bought spicy sticks, sausages, or drinks. This one-sided offering of snacks has become an unspoken rule.
For the givers, what they receive in return is often not a guaranteed chance to actually handle a phone or formally enter the group, but merely the possibility of observing the “masters” up close and being symbolically acknowledged by the inner circle of power. The mere acquisition of such a possibility is, in itself, a form of “face” and lays the groundwork for future social interactions.
Discussion
In transitional rural China, children’s peer interactions mediated through digital technology are far from trivial play—they represent a profound cultural reconstruction driven by children’s agency. Their interactions revolving around mobile phones are not only a response to the structural transformation of rural society but also an active process of participation and shaping.
This study offers unique empirical evidence from post-access-era rural China to the field of the New Sociology of Childhood. It clearly demonstrates that children are not passive recipients of socialization but active producers of meaning. Their collective mockery of top students, idolization of gaming masters and internet celebrities, and the digital gift economy that equates homework with smartphone access are all vivid manifestations of what Corsaro (1992) terms interpretive reproduction. Children appropriate, transform, and even subvert adult rules and values to construct a relatively autonomous cultural world of their own.
This study demonstrates that rural children are actively constructing and exploring new forms of social relationships. As traditional geographically based ties weaken amid the process of urbanization, children are using media practices to transcend the physical boundaries of their villages and establish interest-based networks that span across regions. This shift from place-based to interest-based relationships indicates that children are not passively swept up in the wave of individualization brought about by modernity; rather, they are actively using media to craft new social identities and senses of belonging, thus participating in the reconstruction of social relations in rural society.
This study also deepens the understanding of mediated peer culture. Unlike previous research (e.g., Lim, 2022), which emphasizes digital media as platforms for sharing norms and shaping identities, this study finds that in societies undergoing rapid transformation, when the traditional narrative of “education changes destiny” loses its power due to widespread “educational disillusionment,” children turn to media to construct an alternative value system centered on media capital. Through this system, they seek dignity and a sense of achievement that is denied within the official evaluative framework. This constitutes a profound cultural resistance to dominant forms of discipline, carried out in the name of “play” but imbued with strong substitutive and resistant characteristics.
However, such practices of agency among children are fraught with contradictions and inherently reproduce deeper social structures. The mediated peer order and rules they establish do not constitute an ideal utopia. For example, the fierce competition over “ascribed” mobile phone capital and “acquired” skill-based capital has generated new forms of digital exclusion and social stratification within peer groups. Children who lack media capital are ruthlessly marginalized and may even suffer the humiliation of “social death.”
At the same time, in the process of accumulating media capital, children unconsciously reproduce entrenched gendered cultural scripts. Boys tend to gain status through competitive gaming skills, while girls are more likely to pursue popularity through adopting influencer identities. This divergence, boys relying on competence, girls relying on charm, reveals that seemingly subversive peer cultures often reinforce existing gender roles and expectations. Ironically, they practically identify with the “uselessness of studying” argument, yet fail to find a truly effective alternative path for social mobility. The identities of game masters or internet celebrities they idolize are unlikely to be transformed into sustainable cultural or economic capital. Ultimately, this may lead to the reproduction of social class in a new, more concealed manner, forming a closed loop.
These phenomena expose both the complexity and limitations of rural children as social agents. While they are capable of resisting and subverting certain traditional authorities such as school or family, they are also subtly shaped by deeper structural forces. Thus, their peer culture becomes a field of tension that allows us to observe how sweeping societal transformations are enacted at the micro level, in contradictory and embodied ways.
Limitations
This study employed an ethnographic approach to examine the mediated peer interactions of rural children in China. While prolonged immersion in the field allowed for a nuanced understanding of these dynamics, several limitations should be acknowledged.
First, as a single-site case study, the findings must be interpreted with caution in terms of generalizability. The particular urbanization trajectory of HL Village may have intensified certain observed phenomena. Future research could adopt multi-sited ethnographies to enable comparative analyses across rural communities at varying stages of development and within diverse sociocultural contexts.
Second, although the study highlights significant gender-based differences in the accumulation and use of media capital, it falls short of offering a systematic analysis of gender as a central analytical category. Future investigations could more explicitly foreground gender to examine how media practices intersect with the construction of gendered subjectivities and dispositions among rural children.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates that in transitional rural China, children’s mediated peer interactions are neither peripheral nor trivial, but instead constitute a central mechanism through which they interpret, negotiate, and at times resist broader social transformations. In response to the erosion of traditional authority and the disintegration of established value systems, children do not simply drift in confusion. Rather, they actively leverage media to construct an alternative peer world—one that is populated by new idols, governed by new rules, and embedded within new spatial imaginaries. The boundary between online and offline has become increasingly porous, giving rise to a routinized mode of practice that is deeply interwoven with the fabric of everyday rural life. What adults may perceive as merely educational media, in fact, provides children with a conduit for identity formation and the pursuit of broader social belonging.
These findings reveal the remarkable cultural agency and creative capacity of contemporary rural children. Yet, they also point to the contradictions inherent in this alternative order. Even as children subvert certain dominant norms—such as those imposed by school or family—they simultaneously reproduce deeper structures of social inequality and gendered division. The seemingly subversive peer culture, therefore, is not immune to the logics of exclusion and stratification. Engaging seriously with this vibrant yet tension-laden “underground world” offers a critical lens through which to understand how large-scale social transformations are enacted, contested, and embodied at the most intimate and localized levels. It may also serve as a crucial entry point for reimagining the role of education in the digital era.
Footnotes
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.