“I feel targeted because I’m Chinese”: Dynamics of ethno-nationalism, geopolitical grievance and collective mobilization at border crossings

National borders are an instrumental feature of the modern geopolitical landscape—powerful mediators of belongingness and feelings about global status and collective dignity. Most studies of border crossing usually take the perspective of a powerful technocratic state, treating the travelers as docile, passive bodies that are sorted, stereotyped and classified without any substantive recourse. Using content analysis of over 200 posts on Little Red Book from mainland Chinese crossing international borders, we show how Chinese travelers resist border examinations and perceived injustices through deployment of their own counter-narratives built around national victimhood. Ethno-racially, Chinese perceive their mistreatments principally in reference to the ostensible higher deference granted to White [Europeans] and a shared sense of injury toward those with Chinese passports. Additionally, we show that social media discussion of border indignities channels collective anger, leading to grassroots actions against offending actors in the cases of South Korea and Indonesia. Through these mobilizations, Chinese leverage the humiliation narrative present in Chinese political culture to counter discrimination and recover their national esteem. Thus, Chinese travelers use digital technologies to carry out their own informal policing of the border—replete with its own system of classifications, stereotypes, and national performances.