Everyone is a Curator: Digitally Empowering Ethnic Minority Music Sustainability in China

Author: Dr. Leonardo D’Amico

PART I: Digital social media in China and WeChat

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) officially recognizes 56 ethnic groups within its territory: in addition to the demographically and socio-politically dominant Han Chinese, the 55 ethnic groups that makeup about 8.5% of the country’s 1.411 billion population (National Bureau of Statistics, 2020) are often collectively called as “ethnic minority groups.”

Researchers have examined the depiction of ethnic minority individuals in popular culture and mass media in China (Blum, 2001; Gladney,1994; Hoddie & Lou, 2009; Kang, 2008; Schein, 1997, 2000; Yang, Ryan, & Zhang, 2013; Zhao & Postiglione, 2010). Nevertheless, few of the available studies of digital social media had any systematic examination of the visual content related to music in Chinese digital platforms. Some ethnomusicologists also indicated that to complement or further enhance their social relationships, people are increasingly using digital social media for interacting and socializing with others in China (Park et al., 2009). Another study conducted by Hui and Schroeder (2018) examines the interactive relationships between globalised ‘local music’ and a ‘global audience’, using Chinese music as found on YouTube as an example. However, little research has been conducted on the visual content of social media platforms related minorities music, particularly in Yunnan province where are concentrated 25 of the 55 ethnic minorities in China.

This study investigates the visual representation of ethnic minority groups in Chinese digital social media, in particular on one of the most popular digital social media platforms in China: WeChat. The research questions that guided the inquiry of this study are:

• What is the frequency of visual content related to ethnic minority musical heritage in digital social media in China?
• What issues and characters associated with ethnic minority people are visually represented in these digital social media platforms?
• What kind of music/performance is represented and what is the message they convey?

The authors conducted a content analysis of user-generated videos to examine the extent to which ethnic minority groups are visually represented and to explore the ways in which they are portrayed in one of the most popular social media platforms in China. 

1. Digital social media in China

In contemporary Chinese life, people regularly connect with one another via digital social media platforms (Hao 2014), and music and music-related activities are favorite mediations in this set of new communicative practices (Park 2019; Hui and Schroeder 2018). Digital social media have become one of the routine channels to extend or maintain individuals’ social connections, and they enable millions of users to socially interact with one another by overcoming time and geographic differences in a cyber-environment (Chai and Kim, 2012; Hsu et al., 2014).

Over the years, digital social media have become the most popular and fastest websites for information dissemination and private social interaction (Hughes et al., 2012). Popular SNSs such as Facebook and Twitter in US and WeChat and Weibo in China, allow individuals to express themselves, exchange information, and socialize. These sites attract and host millions of users. A variety of digital social media providers, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WeChat, provide users with more easy-accessible approaches to communicating with each other.

As of December 2021, China had 1,032 million netizens (CNNIC 2022). Since July, 2008, it has overtaken the United States as the country with the largest Internet population worldwide (Lagerkvist 2010: 12). As well as possessing the world’s biggest internet user base, China also has the world’s most active environment for social media. Of the online population of China, 91% have a social media account compared to 67% of people in the US (Wang 2016). Smartphones are the main digital device from which people gain access to social media. By 2021, the number of Chinese mobile internet users had reached one billion (CNNIC 2022; Statista 2022a), making mobile phones the most common device for access to the internet.[1]  For people who cannot afford a PC, a smartphone has become their first private access to the internet.

WeChat is one of the most popular digital social media in China and currently boosts of over 1.000 million active users worldwide (Statista, 2022b). WeChat is a cross-platform communication application combining the popular features of Facebook and WhatsApp. It allows users to create a profile, search for friends or find new friends within one’s geographical location. On this profile, users can send instant text messages, voice notes and make free voice calls. Further, WeChat allows users to post information, pictures and videos of interest, and comment on friends’ posts. All of these features make WeChat popular for online socializing.

• Interpersonal communication, relationship maintenance and social enhancement

There are many types of research on the use of different digital social media in China. Psychological and sociological studies indicate that interpersonal communication, relationship maintenance and social enhancement are critical factors that promote people to engage in digital social media use (Ryan et al., 2014; Smock et al., 2011). According to Stafford and Stafford (2004), as internet users, social gratification mainly refers to using the internet for interpersonal communication and social networking. Now digital social media can support both the maintenance of existing social ties and the formation of new connections (Ellison et al., 2007). In other words, users can sustain online and offline relationships or meet new friends through social interactions on social networking websites. The popularity of social networking Apps designed for mobile devices further remove limitations of geographic and time boundaries.

Some of this research assesses how personality traits and psychological factors are related to excessive use of social networks. For example, it seems that users who are always encouraged to pay continuous attention to digital social media are more likely to suffer tiredness, boredom and strain. Focusing on WeChat, some scholars named this phenomenon as social network fatigue (Zong et al. 2019).  Other behavioural studies based on the uses and gratifications theory developed a research model to examine what factors affect users’ liking behavior in WeChat (Gan 2017), to analyze WeChat’s impact on emotional well-being (Wu, J. 2014) or the “clickbait” phenomenon, the intentional use of exaggerated and misleading content to entice people to click on a link to a particular web page (Zhang and Clough 2020) on the same Chinese social network. Another interesting psychological study assessed how Big-Five personality traits, loneliness, social support, external locus of control, and social interaction related to the excessive use of the two largest digital social platforms in China: WeChat and Weibo (Hou et al. 2018).

Other research points out that social enhancement via WeChat is especially meaningful for the ethnic minority groups in Yunnan, as they often live in isolated mountain areas. According to the study conducted by Xinru Sun (2016) among the Pumi ethnic group, WeChat group connects people who live in the village with those from the outside world. Those who work as migrants in other cities would share their personal stories of living and working away from their village while also using this WeChat group to keep in touch with their hometown. 

Moreover, the “iconic language” used in smartphones facilitates their use by villagers in rural areas who are not literate, or do not speak or read Mandarin. In the so-called “impoverished villages” of Yunnan, the economically underdeveloped Southwestern border province known for its diverse ethnic minority communities, smartphones became an indispensable tool of communication. Like many other Chinese online streaming users, most of the villagers employ the short-video sharing apps Douyin (known as TikTok outside China) and Kuaishou (Kwai) to watch their favourite video clips and some are beginning to upload self-made videos recording their own cultural traditions. These video-sharing apps are particularly appreciated by villagers with a very limited educational level, since, with a little assistance from their better-educated relatives, they can share and enjoy one another’s content without struggling to understand written materials or complex user interfaces.

• Government control on Wechat

The Chinese internet ‘Great Firewall’ (fanghuo qiang) is actually the more difficult for people to climb. To this day China has completely blocked the world’s four most visited websites: Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter (Griffith 2019).

Any user wishing to sign up for WeChat has to provide a valid mobile phone number, and registration for a mobile phone number requires proof of identity. Tencent stores a record of virtually all of the phone numbers on each customer’s contact list, so the Chinese government—through a request to Tencent—could potentially have access to the list of contacts for any WeChat user.

Government rules have mandated that Tencent monitor domestic WeChat conversations to detect politically sensitive terms, such as those related to anti-Communist Party activity or the names of prominent activists. WeChat performs censorship on the server-side. When you send a message it passes through a remote server that contains rules for implementing censorship. If the message includes a keyword that has been targeted for blocking, the message will not be sent. Documenting censorship on a system with a server-side implementation such as WeChat’s requires devising a sample of keywords to test, running those keywords through the app, and recording the results (Harwit 2019).

Chinese citizens are generally accustomed to this kind of oversight, and they typically practice self-censorship in their communications. In small-group WeChat communications among friends and relatives, there seems to be little inclination for users to raise issues that are politically controversial.

• WeChat and the online videos

WeChat, a smartphone-based messaging app, is one of the most popular digital social media platform in China. First released in 2011, WeChat is a mobile messaging app developed by the Chinese company Tencent. In its home market of China, WeChat was marketed as Weixin (微信, literally “micro letter”) and was rebranded as WeChat in 2012 for international audiences. In 2018, WeChat surpassed one billion users, which was a significant increase from the previous year. With approximately 850 million monthly active users, it offers to its users what Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Venmo,  Grubhub,  Amazon,  Uber  and  Apple  Pay together offer in the West.

Today, WeChat is one of the leading social networks worldwide, ranking fifth in terms of active user number. The number of Tencent’s WeChat active accounts has been increasing steadily. As at the end of September 2022, the Chinese multi-functional social media platform had almost 1.31 billion monthly active users (Statista, 2022b).

Source: Statista 2022b.

WeChat is a closed social network and a contacts-based mobile-first application. It provides text messaging, voice messaging, and video calls, as well as multimedia sharing (links, photographs and videos). WeChat ‘moment’ (pengyou quan) is the personal profile, and the WeChat subscriptions/public account (gonggong zhanghao) is where users can subscribe information from more than 10 million accounts on the platform – ranging from media outlets and various institutions to personal blogs and more. WeChat also supports an integrated payment and money transfer system, allowing peer-to-peer money transfer and electronic bill payment.

Wang (2016) summarises seven features of WeChat that explains why this social network  is favoured by different groups of people: 1) smartphone- based; 2) visually oriented; 3) strong voice message function; 4) low degree of anonymity; 5) high degree of privacy; 6) closed community; and 7) high monetisation.

WeChat gives priority to the visual in a different way. Posting on WeChat is designed to be visual-orientated. For each posting, one has to upload at least one image first, before the text input area appears. As a result, it is effectively impossible to post anything on WeChat without an image. On WeChat, the word ‘album’ (xiangce) is used to refer to a user’s personal profile, which also highlights the importance of the visual. Studies have proven that visual clues are much more effective in directing attention to core information, enhancing comprehension of information and strengthening memorability (Burmark 2002).

According to the 2022 CNNIC’s report, in the last years, video clips became an important channel for information transmission and “have been integrated with sales of agricultural products and the culture and tourism industry, stimulating economic vitality” (CNNIC 2002: 47). It is interesting to note that up to December 2021, the user size of online video (including video clips) in China had reached 975 million, up 47.94 million from December 2020, making up 94.5% of all Internet users. The number of video clip users amounted to 934 million, an increase of 60.80 million over December 2020, accounting for 90.5% of all Internet users (CNNIC 2002).

The 49th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development indicates that: “In terms of Channels, instant messaging companies strengthened attracting and fostering content creators and assisted users in producing more quality video content through customized services and operational support as well as tools such as smart templates, augmented reality technology and automatic video editing” (CNNIC 2022: 28-29). The statistic survey reports also that “In 2021, new users of video clip applications contributed to further growth in the overall user size of online video, but the growth rate continued to slow down. The online video market saw an endless stream of high-quality products, expedited exploration and application of new services and technologies, and a clearer and brighter environment” (CNNIC 2022: 44).

Visually-orientated and mobile-based entry on WeChat also encourages users to take more photographs with their smartphones to capture ‘on the go’ occasions. These visuals are not only shared with others immediately, but also stored on WeChat for users’ future recall.

• We Chat Channels

Launched for beta testing in early 2020, WeChat Channels (微信 视频号) is a new short video platform within WeChat that lets users create and share short video clips and photos to their own WeChat Channel. It offers the possibility to upload, watch and share audio-video materials. Most of the content is provided by individual users, but corporate media are also distributed, including programs from major broadcasting corporations, movie studios, and record labels.

WeChat Channels is a multifunctional social media that combines all functionalities that may offer Google, Instagram and Facebook, Tik Tok at the same time. It allows the following type of posts:

• videos – up to 1 hour in length (from Q2 2021) with a video size of 2GB
• photos – up to 9 pictures in succession

Users can also discover content posted to other Channels (by their friends, and other accounts on WeChat) via the WeChat Channels feed. 

Each WeChat Channel post can include:     

• Multiple hashtags
• A location tag
• A short description
• A WeChat Official Account article link

The most popular content on WeChat Channels is very similar to what you’d find on Douyin or TikTok, where content creators and short video influencers can share posts with videos and pictures under their personal account or their official account. It’s of a viral nature and is led by trends and hashtags, like dance challenges and fashion and food-related videos.

Users just have to click on the ‘Discover’ tab in the main navigation bar on WeChat, select the ‘WeChat Channels’ option, and start scrolling through the content feed. In the feed, they’ll be able to view content in four separate tabs:      

• The default friends tab, which shows the most liked videos by a user’s friends    
• The follow tab, that features WeChat Channel posts from followed accounts     
• The trend tab, that includes popular content from unfollowed accounts    
• The location tab, that filters content to a user’s current location 

On either feed, users can like a post, comment on it, and follow the publisher’s account if they don’t already. They can also share posts to individual chats, group chats, and their WeChat Moments profile (that allows six-second video clips sharing).

Once shared, a WeChat Channel post is re-posted with a direct ‘go to channel’ link that’ll take users straight to the relevant WeChat Channel. This could be either a personal account or an Official Account, depending on the publisher.

For businesses, this is one of the main benefits of WeChat Channels, as it gives users a direct way to discover accounts they don’t already follow. This separates it from WeChat Moments, which only lets users view content posted by their friends. Users can also search for content under specific hashtags using the WeChat Channels search bar, which is another way they can discover accounts outside of their social circle.

In fact, this feed is ruled by an algorithm that displays content not only from your WeChat contact or the WeChat Official / WeChat Video Account you follow but also from the rest of WeChat. From Channels, WeChat users are able to explore content and follow users that are not in their contact and WeChat Official Accounts that they are not following.

PART II: Visual content analysis of three Yunnanese minorities’ music videos posted on WeChat Channels

This part is devoted to a discussion and analysis of user-generated videos on Wechat Channels (视频号) related to the musics of three ethnic groups located in Yunnan province (China’s Southwest region): Bai, Miao and Yi. This survey was limited to three ethnic minority villages:

• Qifeng village (起凤村), in Eryuan County (洱源县): Bai ethnicity, population of 3,399. 
• Xiaoshuijin village (小水井), Fumin County (富民县): Miao ethnicity, population of 469.
• Mayou village (马游), Yao ‘An County (姚安县): Yi ethnicity, population of 2,223.

Data were collected exclusively from WeChat Channels after a survey made online in November/December 2022, beginning with the identification of relevant musical content and the retrieval of basic data, followed by the “coding” of audio-visual material and analysis of their content. Coding is the most important step in content analysis. With visual objects, coding means attaching a set of descriptive labels (or categories) to the images (Rose, 2001). The videos have obtained from WeChat Channels search engine by typing the name of the ethnic group and the location (the names of the village and the county).

The main research goal was to develop and test a method for interpreting the visual expression of local culture and tradition on a popular social media platform (Wechat) through performative self-representation. The underlying assumption is that audiovisual self-representation of ethnic minorities is a type of visual culture product.

1. Case study 1: Audiovisual representations of Bai music of Qifeng on WeChat Channels

In this first case study, I have analyzed minority-related visuals (audiovisual products) with music content related to the Bai ethnic group posted on WeChat Channels, found using three keywords: “起凤村” (Qifeng village), “洱源县”  (Eryuan County), and 白族 (Bai ethnic group).

Bai, also called Minjia, are a people of northwestern Yunnan province, southwest China. Their language has been classified within the Yi group of Tibeto-Burman languages. Occupying a triangular area from Shigu on the upper Yangtze River down to Dali (Xiaguan) at the foot of Lake Er, the Bai in the early 21st century were estimated to number nearly two million, about half of whom lived on the fertile plain between the Cang Mountains and the lake. Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the Bai, in accordance with the Communist Party’s policy toward non-Chinese peoples, have been given status as a national minority. Their principal city, Dali, was from the 6th to the 9th century the capital of the kingdom of Nanzhao.

Qifeng village, Eryuan County, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, has a population of 3,399, of whom are all Bai. The village sustains various small community groups that practice various Bai music traditions on a daily basis. The villagers remain highly active in cultural practices, including religious rituals in the village temple, which accommodates three different religions (Daoism, Confucianism and Shamanism) and each religion has its own ritual music ensemble.

• Ex. 1. baizu diao (白族调). Amatorial video shot with a single hand-held camera in a house courtyard in Qifeng. It shows the performance of a Bai traditional song accompanied by a folk instrument called sanxian. The post indicates the name of the instrument (sanxian 三线) but not the name of the tune, neither the genre it belongs to (just the generic name “Bai tune”), nor the names of the performers. This song repertoire belongs to the genre called baizu diao (白族调lit. “tune of the Bai people”). The video has subtitles with the Mandarin Chinese translation of the lyrics sung in Bai. The post informs us that this music is played in the village on both festive occasions and in daily life. Posted by Dali Zhuzi Ge (personal account). Date: 18/04/2022. Duration: 2’39’’.

• Ex.2 Flute (笛子) tune. Amatorial video shot with a single hand-held camera in Qifeng, portraying the performance of a flute (dizi) player (no performer’s name, only referred to as “old”). The title of the video reports the location (Qifeng village) and the content (dizi performance). No information about the musician’s name but only about his age (70s). Dali Zhuzi Ge (personal account). Date: 18/03/2022. Duration: 37’’.

• Ex. 3. Work songs (harvest and fishing songs). The following is a professional video made by a TV production company (Eryuan Financial Media) in Qifeng, using a multi-camera system. The video-clip portrays various moments of the bountiful harvest of rice and fishing of the Bai people of Eryuan while singing work songs. Posted by the official account of a TV company Channel (云视新闻七彩云 Yún shì xīnwén qīcǎi yún). Date: 14/09/2022. Duration: 02’37’’.

• Ex.4 “Voice of Eryuan” (听见洱源). Short documentary professionally shot and edited in the Eryuan county surrounding. The voice-over comments on the sounds caught around expressing his fascination for the harmonious lifestyle of the village of Fengyu (凤羽) compared with the “hustle-and-bustle” of the city; the voice-over claims that these natural and human sounds make people feel relaxed and conduct an easy life. The video combines music, environmental sound, and speech (voice-over). Posted by the video production company Kunming cyber-port (昆明信息港) (official account). Date: 21/10/2022. Duration: 02’ 34’’.

• Ex.5 Bawangbian (霸王鞭) (Rattle Stick Dance). The video shows an outdoor performance of the Rattle Stick Dance, – the most representative and most widely spread dancing form of the Bai ethnic group in Yunnan Province – during a competition called “Plum Blossom Festival”. The shooting and the editing are professionally made using multi-cameras. The location indicated in the caption is Shiwai Liyuan (世外梨园) in Eryuan county. The background music is an orchestrated tune inspired by Bai traditional music. Posted by “Released by Eryuan” (洱原发布) (personal/official account). Date: 29/07/2022. Duration: 03’ 09’’.

• Ex.6. baizu diao (白族调). Video excerpt from a TV program on CCTV15 showing a Bai singer (阿吉希雅 Ājíxīyǎ) dressed in traditional clothes performing the folk song “Bai Moon Bai Sister”, sung in Chinese Mandarin with a pop-style arrangement in playback.  Posted by Ajixiya (personal account). Date 11/08/2022. Duration: 03’ 33’’.

• Ex.7 Bai choir performing at the Golden Hall in Vienna, Austria. amateur video showing a Bai choir directed by a conductor with a piano accompaniment, singing the folk love song “Playing strings for you in front of your door”. Amateur recording shot with a hand-held camera. Posted by Yangguang Rong (阳光榕) (personal account). Date: 20/06/2022. Duration: 03’ 56’’.

• Ex.8 Dabenqu (大本曲) (narrative singing).  The third video shows an example of Bai narrative singing (dabenqu 大本曲), performed by a Western singer (her name is not mentioned) and a sanxian player (no named). Amateur recording shot with a cell phone. No information about the performative context is reported. Posted by Student Wangji (旺吉同学) (personal account). Date: 08/08/2022. Duration: 01’ 54’’.

Case study 2: Audiovisual representations of Miao music of Xiaoshuijin on WeChat Channels

In this second case study, I have analyzed a series of videos with music content related to the Miao ethnic group posted on WeChat Channels, found by typing three keywords: Xiaoshuijin village (小水井), Fumin County (富民县), and 苗族 (Miao ethnic group).

Miao, mountain-dwelling peoples of China, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, and Thailand, who speak languages of the Hmong-Mien (Miao-Yao) family. Miao is the official Chinese term for four distinct groups of people who are only distantly related through language or culture: the Hmu people of southeast Guizhou, the Qo Xiong people of west Hunan, the A-Hmao people of Yunnan, and the Hmong people of Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Yunnan.

Xiaoshuijin village (小水井), Fumin County, Yunnan Province. Xiaoshuijin has a population of 469, of whom all are Miao, 80% of them being Christians. There are several choirs in the villages. The Miao village has developed a new music tradition Miao hymn, a hybrid of Miao traditional music, language, dance and costumes with elements of Western choral practices. With a rising reputation in singing Miao Christian hymns, these choirs have received national attention and participated in various commercial performances outside the community and also stage Christian singing competitions with performers from other Miao villages each Christmas. The singers work as farmers by day, gathering together to practice choir a few times a week as well as every Sunday.

• Ex.1 Miao Christian choir. This is a part of a TV-oriented documentary series professionally made. A voice-over (with captions in Chinese Mandarin) describes the location (Xiaoshuijing village), the local culture, and scenes of daily life, with a particular focus on the church choir tradition of the Miao people. Interviews with local people are intercut with daily life moments and brief performances of the choir. Posted by Anita (吗佳) (personal account). Date: 06/06/2022. Duration: 05’ 03’’.

Ex.2 Miao choir performing in a theatre (presumably in Xiaoshuijin) with the accompaniment of an accordion (no information relating to the performers is provided). Amatorial video shot with a hand-held camera.  Posted by Cai Hong (彩虹) (personal account). Date: 06/09/2022. Duration: 02’ 20’’.

Ex.3 Miao choir. The short amateur video shows the rehearsal of a choir from Xiaoshuijin village. The user refers in his/her post to the title of the song: “Don’t forget the man who dug the well when you drink water” (吃水不忘挖井人). Posted by YunBao client (云报客户端) (personal account). Date: 11/10/2022. Duration: 20’’.

Ex.4 Miao choir singing a patriotic song: “Fifty-six ethnic groups love China” (五十六个民族爱中华Wǔshíliù gè mínzú ài zhōnghuá). The choir performance, accompanied by an accordion, takes place in a big theatre (the location is not indicated). The audiovisual recording is made with a fixed camera placed in front of the stage. Posted by Rongrong Fumin (融荣富民) (personal account). Date: 31/08/2022. Duration: 03 50’’.

Ex.5 Miao choir in a TV show. The video is titled “Xiaoshuijin Peasant Choir” (小水井农民合唱团). It is part of a TV documentary broadcast by a Chinese satellite TV, Anhui Television (安徽卫视), focused on the choral tradition in Xiaoshuijin village. Posted by Hong Sheng dumpling restaurant (红升饺子馆) (personal account). Date: 12/10/2022. Duration: 06’ 54’’.

Case study 3: Audiovisual representations of Yi music of Mayou on WeChat Channels

In the third case study, I analyzed a series of videos with music content related to the Yi ethnic group (彝族) of Mayou village (马游), in Yao’an County (姚安县).

Yi, formerly called Lolo or Wuman, ethnic group of Austroasiatic origin living largely in the mountains of southwest China and speaking a Tibeto-Burman language. The Yi people numbered more than 7.5 million in the early 21st century. Their principal concentrations were in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, with smaller numbers in northwestern Guizhou province and in the northern part of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Almost two-thirds of the Yi live in Yunnan province. The Yi language is spoken in six relatively distinct dialects. Among lesser minorities within the Yi language group are the Lisu, Naxi, Hani, Lahu, and Bai.

Mayou village (马游), Yao’an County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture. Mayou has a population of 2,223, of whom 95% are Yi. Located among several high mountains, this village is home to two nationally recognized Yi intangible cultural heritage bearers in Meige and hulusheng respectively. Meige is the general name for the Yi’s comprehensive music tradition, including folk songs, dance and oral literature, all of which may be sung to the Meige tune family. The hulusheng is one of the oldest versions of the Asian free-reed mouth organ, and dates back c.2,500 years. The Yi language is one of very few ethnic languages preserved both in oral and written forms in China, this dating back to over 6,000 years.

Ex.1 Amateur video in which costumes and dances on a professional stage are showcased, accompanied by an introduction about the location of a female and a male host who wears a traditional dress. The hosts call the performance a “cultural banquet” (wenhua shengyan文化盛宴). The first hashtag (#民族文化旅游), meaning “ethnic culture tourism”, indicates the touristic purpose of the video. Posted by Changyou Yao’an (“changyou”, 畅游, in Chinese means “enjoy sightseeing”, so it is not clear if it is a personal account or a touristic official account). Date: 15/11/2022. Duration: 34’’.

This post mentions a touristic program called “Yunnan DOU is a beautiful scenery” (云南DOU是好风光, Yúnnán D0U shì hǎo fēngguāng) promoted by Yunnan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism.[2]  The project is aimed at digitally empowering cultural tourism revitalization and improve “rural cultural tourism” (乡村文旅” xiāngcūn wén lǚ) through digital social media. The word “DOU” (抖) refers to Douyin (抖音), known in the West as TikTok, because it is part of the “Rural Talent Program” (乡村英才计划, Xiāngcūn yīngcái jìhuà) a project of ByteDance company.

Ex.2 In this short amateur video, a host wearing a traditional Yi dress introduces herself as a Yi singer, Yi Zhou Lizhen (周丽珍). The video doesn’t show her singing but we hear a pop-style sound in the background. Posted by Debu A Zhen (personal account). Date: 17/11/2022. Duration: 45’’.

Ex.3 Propaganda professional-style video in which a Yi music and dance performance in Xinmin village has become a spectacle of ‘unity in diversity’ and ethnic harmony. The national authority (here represented by policemen marching in the village) is empowered through engaging regional diversity. The crowd in traditional costumes welcomes the arrival of the police officers. Dances were performed to recorded pop music. Posted by the official account of Yao‘an jingfan (Police of Yao’an County). Date: 10/11/2022. Duration: 39’’.

Ex.4 Amateur video recording of a large-scale tourists-oriented ethnic minority dance performance in a big theatre. Polished choreography is accompanied by a pop-rock soundtrack mixed with folk songs in the background. The post refers to Liangshan (Chinese: 凉山), officially the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in Butuo County, Sichuan province. Posted by Liangshan Xiao Ying (private account). Date: 31/07/2022. Duration: 06’ 56’’.

Results

The visual content of the user’s videos is a communication channel connection between the performers/hosts and the digital media users.

Three distinct ethnic minority groups were depicted visually in these user-generated videos analyzed on WeChat Channels: Bai from Qifeng village, Miao from Xiaoshuijin village and Yi from Mayou village. The Bai had the most visual representations.

Outcomes:

• Most of the user-generated videos analyzed (90%), related to ethnic minorities,  are performance-based—which almost always involved festive celebrations and singing and dancing—while less than 10% of the visuals depicted them in working or other activities. Visual content consists mainly of outdoor tourism performances that combine images featuring natural, cultural, and human resources.
• Almost all the ethnic minority characters in the visuals were wearing traditional ethnic minority clothes, including folkloric clothes, headdresses, and jewellery, despite the fact that most ethnic minority people in China no longer wear such clothes in their daily lives (Zhao & Postiglione, 2010). Nevertheless, “exotic” clothes are still regarded as the most distinctive features of ethnic minority groups, at least from the eyes of Han Chinese people (Blum, 2001; Schein, 1999). Apparently, digital social media display these visibly characteristic clothes to claim the “authenticity” of the presented ethnic minority content. According to Chu (2018), “Such a homogenous visual representation of ethnic minority in terms of their dress strictly limits ethnic minority individuals to the popular stereotype that ties ethnic minority culture to clothes and other selected sociocultural markers.” (2018: 144)
• Comments of the posts express mostly pride for minorities’ cultural traditions (expressed mainly by music and dance performances) as a distinctive sign of identity and/or a patriotic and nationalistic sense of “unity in diversity”.

This research reports how China’s social media WeChat constructed visual imagery by focusing on stereotypical cultural markers, such as ethnic food, singing and dancing, festivals, and ethnic harmony.

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Endnote:

[1] Up to December 2021, the proportions of Chinese netizens accessing the Internet through mobile phones, desktop computers, laptops computers, TVs and tablet computers were 99.7%, 35.0%, 33.0%, 28.1% and 27.4%, respectively (CNNIC 2022).

[2] See more on the Yunnan Net News on August 28, 2022 (Reporter Qi Junjun): https://m.yunnan.cn/system/2022/08/28/032251559.shtml (last access: December 7, 2022).