Neither "Platformization" Nor "Infrastructuralization": Government as a Platform in China

Critically engaging with the prevalent theses of "platformization" and "infrastructuralization" in the mainstream platform studies literature, this empirical study identifies socio-economic actors and examines their relations in digital governance mediated by data-driven platforms in the Chinese context. Through a case study of "the digital reform" in Zhejiang Province, and the affiliated smart city project-City Brain-in Hangzhou, the municipal capital, this study draws on data from participatory observations and interviews to (1) provide a historical context, in which "platformization" in urban governance is aimed to serve market-oriented socio-economic reforms; (2) argue that such "platformization" is shaped by the long-standing structural tension between centralization and localism, which has been renewed by digital data flows; and (3) understand the shifting public-private demarcation in social interactions and arrangements to deflect continual frictions between the state, local agents, and platforms in the domain of digital governance.