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Not everyone likes to be called “qin” — roughly equivalent to “dear” in English — so why do some online businesses insist on using it anyway? This is the first of a two-part series on the culture of China’s e-commerce industry. First-time shoppers on Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Taobao are often caught off-guard by the disarming tone of stores’ customer service staff. In contrast to the occasionally brusque approaches found elsewhere online, customer service workers on these platforms can seem almost sickeningly sweet. Their most common form of address for clients is qin , short for qinaide , or “beloved.” Sometimes they’ll drop in the even cutesier qinqin , or “sweetie.” Other stores go further, calling their customers xiaojiejie (“little sister”), xiaogege (“little brother”), or even zhuren (“master”) or dianxia (“Your Highness”). At first glance, the reason for using these kinds of affectionate nicknames seems clear: store
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