Reconstructing makerspaces in China: mass innovation space and the transformative creative industries

In recent years, the makerspaces and so-called “mass innovation spaces” (MISs) in China have been under heavy scholarly investigation. However, despite the proliferation of MISs and growing interest in understanding this phenomenon, the definition of MIS has also been a concern in this field. Meanwhile, there has also been a tendency to link these reconstructed MISs with the development agenda of the local creative industries. What is an MIS, and how is it similar and different from the general understanding of makerspaces in the context of China? What can we learn from China’s adoption and appropriation of MISs in relation to the transformation of creative industries? To answer these questions, we conducted a semantic network analysis of the mission statements from 305 Chinese MISs. The results show that the Chinese MIS is quite different from the makerspace in terms of space, activities, values, philosophy, community, and organization. By examining the reconstructed MISs, this article provides some examples of how the Western, Californian ideology-centered concept of “makerspace” is repurposed as a new site with many alternative imaginaries that are interwoven with what we term “Shenzhen ideology”—a mix of socialism and technological determinism and a fusion of social conservatism and economic progressivism.