Daigou: Transnational Flows, Relatedness, and the Reproduction of the Chinese Family

Abstract

This dissertation discusses the impact and meaning of transnational daigou (buying-on-behalf-of) businesses, where Chinese immigrants, primarily women, supply networks of kin and friends in China with infant formula bought in Denmark. The circulation of goods and capital between consumers and suppliers results in an extensive transnational network based on mutual trust and morality. In this respect, the daigou practices constitute both vertical intergenerational and horizontal transnational forms of relatedness, which in different ways contribute to solving the conundrum of family reproduction in contemporary China and the Chinese diaspora.