The speakeasy economy of WeChat

Joyce Hu / The Verge

It doesn't make a very strong first impression for an app with over a billion users

I was amazed at how disorganized the app was when I first opened it. The design was drenched in a green color. I didn't understand why the media feed was limited to low quality photos. Basic navigation was not easy to understand. I knew that WeChat was the most powerful app in the world. Is this the one?

Most non- Chinese college students don't know much about the messaging service. Those who have a connection to China are the ones who use it the most. As I learned more of the language and became more entrenched in local Chinese student life, WeChat became a portal into an alternate Bloomington where thousands of Chinese in southern Indiana come together to create their own social communities and economies.

Features from nearly every app on your phone can be found in the messaging and social media app. For users who aren't based in China, the app can be used to contact friends in China. There are many other features that can be found withinDiscover andMe. The Discover section contains the social media feed, verified accounts from companies and individuals, and thousands of mini programs that act as apps within the app, ranging from bike rentals and online shopping to travel and package delivery. While the majority of businesses and apps represented are domestic Chinese, major brands such asAirbnb, Lego, Yves Saint Laurent, Aldi, Air New Zealand, and thousands of other foreign brands use these mini programs to directly connect with their Chinese customers, which allows one to completely avoid the company's

The Me tab within the wallet combines a user's bank accounts, identification cards, and health information, making it the most powerful part of the app. The app's capabilities extend to nearly every service imaginable, thanks to the integration of all of this information. These are not limited to food delivery, bike rentals, train tickets, utility bills, health certificates, car buying, investments, charity donations, and thousands of miniature apps. It is easy to pay in a physical store by scanning the cashier's barcode or holding your account's barcode in the app.

It might seem crazy to use a single app for most of your screen time. This type of cross-functionality is not taken for granted in China.

Due to my lack of a Chinese bank account and the international version of the app, I was not allowed to use many of the features that WeChat had to offer. Due to data privacy reasons, the Chinese version of WeChat is slightly different and lacks many features. I didn't have enough time to read enough Chinese to comprehend the features.

I traveled to China for the first time as a student at Tsinghua University in Beijing in the year 2000. I realized what true digital convenience could look like when I used WeChat. To simplify my digital life, I used the app to pull up a restaurant's menu, place all of my transportation options on one screen, and more. It took a while to get used to being in the world of WeChat. The lack of interaction with waitstaff in restaurants, save for the bringing and clearing of food, was a new experience since ordering and payment all happened via WeChat. I used to have a group chat for every class, occasion, and friend group combination.

I wanted to expose myself to more Chinese culture and social scenes in Bloomington after I returned from China. By scanning some of the community-orientedQR codes found in the windows of Bloomington's many Chinese stores and restaurants with links to their " channels" my feed quickly became filled with postings of local events, newsletters from local Chinese farmers, used luxury car sales, and daily menus for innumerable restaurants

I found the ultimate Chinese-style convenience in Bloomington thanks to friends' recommendations and a flurry of forwarded RQ pictures. I was able to get fresh coconut smoothie and piping hot dumplings at my desk within 15 minutes, suggesting that there was a large smoothie- and dumpling-making operation going on in one of the dorm buildings. The girl with the Hello Kitty backpack who brought me the smoothie was gone when I asked about the virtual kitchen.

As my Chinese improved and I became more involved in the student life on campus, I started to understand why WeChat is so important for Chinese living abroad. A direct link to many of the creature comforts they miss from home can be found on WeChat. Similar to Facebook groups that cater to American expatriates, WeChat also provides a support network with access to services such as US tax return assistance. It gave me a way to stay in touch with China in a time when it was hard to get there.

I moved to Germany to work in consulting after graduating from Indiana University. A quick search through the various official accounts and a quick chat with some of the Chinese visa applicants standing in line with me at the foreigner's office quickly opened another secret world of WeChat, filled with expat groups, grocery delivery services, German immigration lawyers, and yes, more dumpling

It can feel troubling for some in the international community. A strict adherent to Chinese data security laws, WeChat uses its parent company's server to automatically detect sensitiveKeywords in content that prevent users from spreading topics considered to be sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party. This is done without the sender or the recipient being aware that it was not okay. The mere possibility of speech restrictions is enough to raise the alarm for some leaders despite the fact that the data transmitted between two non- Chinese accounts does not have to follow mainland Chinese internet security laws. The US and India both took steps to ban the app in response to the concerns.

We would be losing more than just an app if it were blocked in the US. Chinese culture is reflected in the overwhelming nature of WeChat. There is a sense of being at the pulse of the Chinese-speaking world, which makes it worth wading through the constant promotional messages that fill my group chats and the app's massive, un-filterable social feed. The taste of Chinese technological convenience and a ticket into the hidden world of the overseas Chinese community is what it is. While I enjoy the secret delivery services and event invites, I am most grateful to WeChat for providing me with a daily dose of life in China, a country I hope to return to one day.

He is a graduate of Indiana University and lives in Germany.