The Transsion Approach

Translating Chinese Mobile Technology in Africa

Miao Lu

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English

University of Illinois Press
23 December 2025

Series: The Geopolitics of Information

Technology translation as a framework for understanding tech flows today, and tomorrow

How do we explain China's tech rise in Africa? As Africa's top phone seller, the Shenzhen-based company Transsion has profoundly shaped the continent's digital transformation by providing affordable yet feature-rich mobile phones for the economically disadvantaged. Miao Lu draws on rich fieldwork in China and Ghana to delve into the company's operations and growing influence.

Critiquing technology transfer, Lu focuses on design, marketing, and repair to illustrate the multi-layered technology translations between China and Ghana. Borrowing the metaphor of deep ploughing, Lu examines the rural-centric and lower-class–oriented approach of translating mobile technology. Transsion challenges the cultural imagination of big tech. But the company is also evolving into a regional power that's adept at marginalizing small players and increasing local dependence. Lu's analysis explores the complexity that Shenzhen can act as Silicon Valley's ""South"" and Africa's ""North"" simultaneously. The middle space created by Transsion bridges globalization from above and below, which opens the door to new possibilities and inequalities.

By: Miao Lu
Imprint: University of Illinois Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780252089046
ISBN 10: 0252089049
Series: The Geopolitics of Information
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 23 December 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Miao Lu is an assistant professor in the Department of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University.

Reviews for The Transsion Approach: Translating Chinese Mobile Technology in Africa

""This insightful book unearths the complex dynamics of China-Africa engagement in the mobile phone industry, beyond the staid critique of data colonialism and extractivism, weaving a powerful narrative of technological translation, digital labor, and local ingenuity while capturing the geopolitical tensions at the same time."" --Payal Arora, author of From Pessimism to Promise: Lessons from the Global South on Designing Inclusive Tech