This editorial introduces a themed section that focuses on the production of gender discourse and representations in the midst of tightening social and cultural control in China’s entertainment industry and digital media landscape. In various ways, the two articles featured case studies that exemplify how the production of gender discourses and representations in this context emerges from the interplay of state control, the market, and the digital realm and unfolds against the rise of platform capitalism and techno-nationalism. Both articles center on the intricate and sometimes contradictory configurations of gender within China’s state-market nexus.