In the world outside China’s ‘Great Firewall’, college alumni associations oftentimes facilitate conversation and event planning via Facebook groups. Chinese colleges, on the other hand, might be keen to gather regional alumni chapters via student-focused Renren, or in QQ groups.
Renren and similar products, however, are only available in Chinese – a major deal-breaker for the mixed-nationality foreign college alumni chapters in China’s largest cities. But along came WeChat, with its global ambitions and English-language interface. In fact, if my alma mater of Michigan State University is any indication, WeChat groups could become the go-to communication tool for foreign university alumni in China.
On a recent morning, I awoke to 84 unread WeChat messages from an unknown sender whom I nearly deleted as spam until I found that it was a group chat. I was added to the conversation by Dan Redford, president of the MSU Beijing Alumni Club. We had met a few times due to our shared passion for China, and the thousands of Chinese students attending MSU. More...
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