Send us Fan Mail
In China, WeChat, Alipay, and Didi can give expats and internationals something bigger than convenience: independence. That matters fast when daily life depends on local apps, and Keturah Kendrick’s experience in Shanghai shows how technology can reshape transportation, payments, communication, and the basic ability to navigate life abroad.
Keturah Kendrick is an international English teacher, author of No Thanks: Reflections on Freedom, and host of Unchained, Unbothered, a podcast centering Black women across the African diaspora. After growing up in New Orleans, spending 14 years in New York City, living in Rwanda, traveling across 13 African countries, and then moving to Shanghai, she experienced a major shift in her relationship with technology. In this conversation, she explains how someone who once resisted Instagram came to rely on WeChat, Alipay, Didi, translation tools, food delivery, and streaming to live more independently abroad and stay connected to home.
Original publication date: September 27, 2019
Keturah: https://www.keturahkendrick.com/
Listen for:
- How living in China changes expat internet habits
- Why WeChat is essential for expat life in China
- How Alipay and mobile payments change daily life in China
- Why Didi and translation tools help expats navigate China independently
- How expats use Chinese apps and Western social media differently
- Why Chinese social media is harder for foreigners to understand
- How online communities turn into real friendships abroad
- Why living abroad can increase connection to media from home
- How internet access becomes essential for expats and internationals
Why WeChat Matters for Expat Life in China
WeChat sat at the center of Keturah’s shift from reluctant tech user to someone who depended on digital tools every day. She used it for messaging, payments, translation, group communication, and even arranging rides when her phone initially wouldn’t download Didi. Combined with Alipay, Ele.me, Explore Shanghai, and SmartShanghai, these apps became less about “being online” and more about functioning independently in Shanghai.
How Expats Use Chinese and Western Apps Differently
Keturah used Chinese and Western platforms for different parts of her life. WeChat, Didi, Ele.me, and city apps helped her navigate Shanghai, while Facebook and Instagram kept her connected with friends, family, readers, and podcast listeners outside China. That split created two parallel digital lives: one for where she physically lived and one for the community she carried with her.
Why Living Abroad Can Increase Connection to Home
Living in China also made Keturah watch more American television than she had in the US. Shows like Pose, Queen Sugar, 90 Day Fiancé, and the Real Housewives franchises helped recreate the cultural conversations she no longer picked up naturally through coworkers, students, and friends. Streaming became another way to stay connected to home.
Keturah also challenges the idea that online relationships are automatically less real. Some of the people who found her through her podcast and book became genuine friends before they ever met in person. As she put it, “we’ve been met.”
By the end of the conversation, internet access no longer felt optional to her. She went from questioning why anyone needed Instagram to seeing internet access as essential modern infrastructure for work, communication, transportation, information, and independence abroad.
CONNECT WITH GUEST: KETURAH KENDRICK
Author: No Thanks: Reflections on Freedom
Podcast: Unchained, Unbothered
Website: https://www.keturahkendrick.com/
CONNECT WITH STEPH FUCCIO
Website: PodcastSteph.com
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
WeChat | Alipay | Didi | Ele.me | Explore Shanghai | SmartShanghai
Music by Damon Castillo, featuring “Sometime Guy.”
🌍 Tools & resources for living, traveling, and working abroad: https://geopatsabroad.substack.com/p/living-abroad-resources
🛍️ Geopats Abroad Stationary Store: https://geopatsabroad-shop.fourthwall.com/en-eur?utm_source=buzzsprout&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=geopats_shop&utm_content=episode_description
🛠️ Podcast & creator tools I use: https://podcaststeph.substack.com/p/podcast-tools-i-use
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geopatsabroad/
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnfWdoMjmqpcbULZw-hVgew
