Constructing Pastoral China in Li Ziqi’s Intangible Cultural Heritage and Traditional Craft Videos
Abstract
Although rural images and female microcelebrity of Li Ziqi have been investigated, investigation on the connection between craft processes and domestic uses demands detailed textual study. This article examines the value of “traditional making” in the creation of an idealised image of “Pastoral China” in five Douyin videos. It takes a descriptive and interpretive approach to visual text analysis to link observations with cultural analysis, based on Stuart Hall's constructionist model of representation. The operational framework is based on the selection, emphasis, organisation and exclusion. The corpus encompasses heritage activities and traditional crafts, but does not assume that all activities are formally recognized as a heritage project. Rural environment is characterized by skilled production which is identified as a bridge between rural environment and valued outcomes. The repetition of the carving foregrounds practical knowledge, while the changes of the domestic space and the silk-quilt production relate competence with the provision of the household. The relationships provide evidence of the resourcefulness and cultural continuity of the rural. They reveal ambivalence in the productive activity of women and the focus on domestic roles. The interpretation of exclusion is not as the disappearance of modern production conditions, but as the limits of the craft-centred account. The contribution is the bounded explanation of the use of useful objects in organising a desirable rural cultural image. Audience effects and economic self-sufficiency are not ascertained. Popularity based selection, the five videos scope and the lack of a time-coded transcript reduces the generalisability and sequence level auditability.
Keywords: Li Ziqi, intangible cultural heritage, pastoral China, visual representation, traditional craftsmanship.
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Achmad, Z. A., Arviani, H., Santoso, N. R., & Artaria, M. D. (2025). Visual ethnography of global brands advertisement in addressing social distancing during pandemic COVID-19 crisis. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 41(3), 21–40. https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2025-4103-02
Anshar, M., Djamereng, A., & Ilham, M. (2024). Content analysis and audience receptions of online da'wah on YouTube social media. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 40(1), 173–187. https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2024-4001-10
Arfan, A., Rizal, A. R. A., & Kawuryan, M. W. (2023). Komunikasi nilai-kepercayaan di media sosial: Analisis terhadap kesan pempengaruh di platform TikTok [Value-belief communication on social media: An analysis of influencer effects on the TikTok platform]. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 39(4), 428–444. https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2023-3904-23
Cao, H. (2025). Exploring the promotion of musical intangible cultural heritage under TikTok short videos. Scientific Reports, 15, Article 21772. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-09723-3
Cen, C., Luo, G., Tian, Y., Fu, B., Chen, Y., Huang, S., Jiang, T., & Huang, G. (2024). Enhancing the dissemination of Cantonese Opera among youth via Bilibili: A study on intangible cultural heritage transmission. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, Article 1038. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03537-w
Chen, M. M., Dong, Y., Zhang, J., Qu, G., Sun, Z., Jiang, Y., & Hu, G. (2025). Body exhibition or idyllic imagination? Female microcelebrities in mobile short videos depicting the Chinese countryside. Frontiers in Communication, 9, Article 1489893. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2024.1489893
Chen, N., Mai, Y., Sun, Y., & Wang, J. (2026). Beyond visibility: Understanding public cultural responses to bamboo weaving intangible cultural heritage on Douyin. Heritage Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-026-02765-4
Hall, S. (Ed.). (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. SAGE Publications.
He, B., Luo, Z., Chai, Z., & Tan, G. (2026). Narrative strategies in short videos for traditional craftsmanship in intangible cultural heritage: Empirical evidence from Douyin. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 13, Article 1240. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-07166-3
He, Z., & Wen, C. (2024). Construction of digital creation development model of intangible cultural heritage crafts in China. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, Article 1745. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04331-4
Jiao, Y., Meng, M. Z., & Zhang, Y. (2022). Constructing a virtual destination: Li Ziqi’s Chinese rural idyll on YouTube. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 22(3), 279–294. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2022.2096178
Li, H. (2020). From disenchantment to reenchantment: Rural microcelebrities, short video, and the spectacle-ization of the rural lifescape on Chinese social media. International Journal of Communication, 14, 3769–3787.
https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/14236
Li, J., Adnan, H. M., & Gong, J. (2023). Exploring cultural meaning construction in social media: An analysis of Liziqi’s YouTube channel. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 23(4), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v23i4.237
Li, J., Peng, X., Liu, X., Tang, H., & Li, W. (2025). A study on shaping tourists' conservational intentions towards cultural heritage in the digital era: Exploring the effects of authenticity, cultural experience, and place attachment. Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 24(3), 1965–1984. https://doi.org/hbfkj4
Li, Y., & Hashim, H. (2023). Dissemination of traditional Chinese culture: A comparative analysis of Yunting and Ximalaya FM. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 39(4), 357–371. https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2023-3904-19
Liang, L. (2022). Consuming the pastoral desire: Li Ziqi, food vlogging and the structure of feeling in the era of microcelebrity. Global Storytelling: Journal of Digital and Moving Images, 1(2), 7–39. https://doi.org/10.3998/gs.1020
Liu, Y., Li, Y., Tao, W., & Wang, Q. (2024). Measuring intangible cultural heritage image: A scale development. PLOS ONE, 19(6), Article e0299088. https://doi.org/rrhr
Luo, X. (2026). Performing the digital pastoral: Environmental narrative, cultural nostalgia and commodified rurality in Li Ziqi’s videos. Media, Culture & Society, 48(4), 669–687. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437261417430
Rosales-Viray, K., & Viray, J. R. B. (2024). Negotiation of identities: The case of Aeta Ambala’s media engagement. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 40(1), 513–525. https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2024-4001-29
UNESCO. (2003). Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage. https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/convention-safeguarding-intangible-cultural-heritage
Vargas Meza, X., Hayashi-Simpliciano, R. S., Yokoyama, T., Nishimura, C., Nishida, R., & Ochiai, Y. (2023). YouTube Itak: A description of Ainu-related videos. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10, Article 825. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02336-z
Vidaurre-Rojas, P., Vela-Reátegui, S. J., Pinedo, L., Valles-Coral, M., Navarro-Cabrera, J. R., Rengifo-Hidalgo, V., López-Sánchez, T. d. P., Seijas-Díaz, J., Cárdenas-García, Á., & Cueto-Orbe, R. E. (2024). A social media adoption strategy for cultural dissemination in municipalities with tourist potential: Lamas, Peru, as a case study. Built Heritage, 8, Article 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43238-024-00128-1
Wang, H., Zhao, M., Hu, W., Ma, Y., & Lu, Z. (2024). Critical heritage studies as a lens to understand short video sharing of intangible cultural heritage on Douyin. In Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Article 613). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/rrhs
Xu, Q., Xu, Y., & Ma, C. (2024). Analysis of contemporary value and influence of intangible cultural heritage based on online review mining. PLOS ONE, 19(12), Article e0315805. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315805
Yan, Z., Lim, C. K., Halim, S. A., Ahmed, M. F., Tan, K. L., & Li, L. (2025). Digital sustainability of heritage: Exploring indicators affecting the effectiveness of digital dissemination of intangible cultural heritage through qualitative interviews. Sustainability, 17(4), Article 1593. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17041593
Ye, X., Ruan, Y., Xia, S., & Gu, L. (2025). Adoption of digital intangible cultural heritage: A configurational study integrating UTAUT2 and immersion theory. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12, Article 23. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-04222-8
Yi, C., Huang, J., & Song, L. (2025). Enhancing intangible cultural heritage dissemination through digital experience: An affective events theory approach. Heritage Science, 13, Article 438. https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-025-02017-x
Zhang, J., & Xu, C. (2024). A grounded theory-based model of information communication in cultural heritage digital reading on the social media from the perspective of the embodied theory. Heritage Science, 12, Article 208. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-024-01313-2
Zou, S. (2023). Curating a scopic contact zone: Short video, rural performativity, and the mediatization of socio-spatial order in China. Television & New Media, 24(4), 452–470. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476422112892
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
e-ISSN: 2289-1528