CONSTRUCTING A WANGHONG MUSEUM: A MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON DOUYIN
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55197/qjssh.v6i4.772Keywords:
museum, multimodal critical discourse analysis, wanghong economy, social media, DouyinAbstract
Cultural heritage institutions increasingly engage with social media platforms to broaden their reach and transform their public image. This study examines how the Sanxingdui Museum in China constructs its wanghong (online celebrity) identity through Douyin (TikTok China). We employ multimodal critical discourse analysis to investigate 300 popular videos from the museum’s official account. The analysis reveals that the museum develops a dual identity as a playful cultural idol and an authoritative guardian. The playful persona emerges through five key attributes that transform archaeological artifacts into accessible cultural symbols. Meanwhile, the authoritative dimension positions the museum as both a knowledge gatekeeper and performer of national confidence, maintaining scholarly credibility while engaging contemporary audiences. This duality creates a synergistic relationship where institutional authority enhances the credibility of entertainment content, while playful elements increase accessibility and engagement. The museum’s approach demonstrates how cultural institutions navigate between educational missions and digital platform demands, transforming heritage preservation into symbolic consumption experiences. The findings illuminate the intersection of China’s national cultural strategy promoting cultural confidence with the attention-driven dynamics of social media platforms. Sanxingdui’s success reflects broader transformations in cultural communication, where traditional institutions adopt market-oriented strategies to revitalise heritage for contemporary audiences. The study contributes an analytical framework for understanding multimodal discourse in digital cultural spaces and provides insights into the commodification processes that reshape cultural heritage presentation in the digital era.
References
[1] Agostino, D., Arnaboldi, M. (2021): From preservation to entertainment: Accounting for the transformation of participation in Italian state museums. – Accounting History 26(1): 102-122.
[2] Arnaboldi, M., Diaz Lema, M.L. (2022): Shaping cultural participation through social media. – Financial Accountability & Management 38(2): 299-321.
[3] Basch, C.H., Meleo-Erwin, Z., Fera, J., Jaime, C., Basch, C.E. (2021): A global pandemic in the time of viral memes: COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and disinformation on TikTok. – Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics 17(8): 2373-2377.
[4] Baudrillard, J. (2016): The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures. – SAGE 224p.
[5] Bonacini, E. (2018): Heritage Communities, Participation and Co-creation of Cultural Values: The #iziTRAVELSicilia Project. – Museum International 70(1-2): 140-153.
[6] Booth, P., Ogundipe, A., Røyseng, S. (2020): Museum leaders’ perspectives on social media. – Museum Management and Curatorship 35(4): 373-391.
[7] Budge, K., Burness, A. (2018): Museum objects and Instagram: Agency and communication in digital engagement. – Continuum 32(2): 137-150.
[8] Cao, L. (2024): From online to onsite: Wanghong economy as the new engine driving China’s urban development. – Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 56(4): 1061-1076.
[9] Capriotti, P., Losada-Díaz, J.C. (2018): Facebook as a dialogic communication tool at the most visited museums of the world. – Profesional de La Informacion 27(3): 642-650.
[10] Carah, N., Angus, D. (2018): Algorithmic brand culture: Participatory labour, machine learning and branding on social media. – Media, Culture & Society 40(2): 178-194.
[11] Chen, M. (2023): ‘Guochao’ heyi ‘chuquan’: Jiyu bowuguan wenchuang duanshipin de neirong kaocha [How ‘Guochao’ went viral: A content analysis of museum cultural and creative short videos]. – China Television 6p.
[12] Chen, X., Valdovinos Kaye, D.B., Zeng, J. (2021): #PositiveEnergy Douyin: Constructing “playful patriotism” in a Chinese short-video application. – Chinese Journal of Communication 14(1): 97-117.
[13] Fairclough, N. (2023): Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. – Routledge 10p.
[14] Fan, T., Lin, Z. (2022): Toward Tourists–Media–Cities Tourism: Xi’an as a Wanghong City. – Sustainability 14(19): 18p.
[15] Fernandez-Lores, S., Crespo-Tejero, N., Fernández-Hernández, R. (2022): Driving traffic to the museum: The role of the digital communication tools. – Technological Forecasting and Social Change 174: 8p.
[16] Fletcher, A., Lee, M.J. (2012): Current social media uses and evaluations in American museums. – Museum Management and Curatorship 27(5): 505-521.
[17] Gori, E., Romolini, A., Fissi, S. (2020): Social Media Digital Innovation and Stakeholder Engagement the Museum 4.0. – Int. J. Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism 3(1): 7p.
[18] Guan, Z., Zhou, O.T. (2024): Wanghong e-commerce in/as China’s economic transformation: A case study of beauty wanghong. – Global Media and China 16p.
[19] Han, X. (2022): Platform as new ‘daddy’: China’s gendered wanghong economy and patriarchal platforms behind. – Internet Policy Review 11(1): 1-34.
[20] Hu, K. (2023): Wanghong and the Wanghong Economy in China: A Systematic Review from a Cross-cultural Perspective. – Academic Journal of Business & Management 5(22): 122-132.
[21] Hua, X. (2024): Xi stresses building China into cultural powerhouse by 2035. – The State Council of the People’s Republic of China 2p.
[22] Hua, X. (2022): Full text of the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. – China Daily Web Portal 76p.
[23] Huang, H., Chen, H., Zhan, Y. (2023): A Study on consumers’ perceptions of museum cultural and creative products through online textual reviews: An example from palace museum’s cultural and creative flagship store. – Behavioral Sciences 13(4): 15p.
[24] Huang, Y., Ye, W. (2024): ‘Traffic rewards’, ‘algorithmic visibility’, and ‘advertiser satisfaction’: How Chinese short-video platforms cultivate creators in stages. – Convergence 30(1): 659-682.
[25] Huebner, E.J. (2022): TikTok and museum education: A visual content analysis. – International Journal of Education Through Art 18(2): 209-225.
[26] Jenkins, H. (2006): Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. – NYU Press 368p.
[27] Jing, S., Xinxin, W. (2019): Wanghong and Wanghong Economy: A Review Based on the Celebrity Theory. – Foreign Economics & Management 41(4): 18-30.
[28] Kidd, D.J. (2014): Museums in the New Mediascape: Transmedia, Participation, Ethics. – Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 176p.
[29] Komarac, T., Ozretic-Dosen, D., Skare, V. (2020): Managing edutainment and perceived authenticity of museum visitor experience: Insights from qualitative study. – Museum Management and Curatorship 35(2): 160-181.
[30] Kress, G.R. (2010): Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. – Taylor & Francis 232p.
[31] Li, J., Zheng, X., Watanabe, I., Ochiai, Y. (2024): A systematic review of digital transformation technologies in museum exhibition. – Computers in Human Behavior 161: 30p.
[32] Liang, Y., Shen, W. (2016): Fan economy in the Chinese media and entertainment industry: How feedback from super fans can propel creative industries’ revenue. – Global Media and China 1(4): 331-349.
[33] Literat, I. (2021): “Teachers Act Like We’re Robots”: TikTok as a Window Into Youth Experiences of Online Learning During COVID-19. – AERA Open 7(1): 1-15
[34] Lou, C., Yuan, S. (2019): Influencer marketing: How message value and credibility affect consumer trust of branded content on social media. – Journal of Interactive Advertising 19(1): 58-73.
[35] Luna-Cortés, G. (2017): The influence of symbolic consumption on experience value and the use of virtual social networks. – Spanish Journal of Marketing-ESIC 21(1): 39-51.
[36] Machin, D., Mayr, A. (2012): How to Do Critical Discourse Analysis: A Multimodal Introduction. – SAGE Publications Ltd. 61p.
[37] Mägi, R. (2024): Museum-audience interaction within permanent exhibitions of natural history museums: A systematic literature review. – Museum Management and Curatorship 19p.
[38] Manna, R., Palumbo, R. (2018): What makes a museum attractive to young people? Evidence from Italy. – International Journal of Tourism Research 20(4): 508-517.
[39] Mondloch, K. (2022): The Influencers: Van Gogh Immersive Experiences and the Attention-Experience Economy. – Arts 11(5): 2-16.
[40] Najda-Janoszka, M., Sawczuk, M. (2021): Interactive communication using social media – the case of museums in Southern Poland. – Museum Management and Curatorship 36(6): 590-609.
[41] Robinson, H. (2020): Curating good participants? Audiences, democracy and authority in the contemporary museum. – Museum Management and Curatorship 35(5): 470-487.
[42] Russo, A. (2011): Transformations in cultural communication: Social media, cultural exchange, and creative connections. – Curator: The Museum Journal 54(3): 327-346.
[43] Schellewald, A. (2023): Understanding the popularity and affordances of TikTok through user experiences. – Media, Culture & Society 45(8): 1568-1582.
[44] Shi, M., Wang, Q., Long, Y. (2023): Exploring the Key Drivers of User Continuance Intention to Use Digital Museums: Evidence From China’s Sanxingdui Museum. – IEEE Access 11: 81511-81526.
[45] Sichuan Daily (2025): San xing dui ‘dingliu IP’ qiaodong yiji wenlv xinshichang [Sanxingdui’s ‘Top Streaming IP’ unlocks a billion-level new market for culture and tourism]. – Sichuan Daily Web Portal 2p.
[46] Stuedahl, D., Smørdal, O. (2011): Designing for Young Visitors’ Co-composition of Doubts in Cultural Historical Exhibitions. – Computers and Composition 28(3): 215-223.
[47] Taibanguai, K., Suraratdecha, S. (2022): Strategies to Grab Attention: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Online Selling Posts. – NIDA Journal of Language and Communication 27(42): 47-67.
[48] Tang, L., Wang, C. (2022): The Research on the Comparison of Hanfu Fashion Short Videos on Douyin and Tik Tok. – 2021 International Conference on Social Development and Media Communication (SDMC 2021) 6p.
[49] Van Aalst, I., Boogaarts, I. (2002): From Museum to Mass Entertainment: The Evolution of the Role of Museums in Cities. – European Urban and Regional Studies 9(3): 195-209.
[50] Vassiliadis, C., Belenioti, Z.C. (2017): Museums & cultural heritage via social media: An integrated literature review. – Tourismos 12(3): 97-132.
[51] Vázquez-Herrero, J., Negreira-Rey, M.C., López-García, X. (2022): Let’s dance the news! How the news media are adapting to the logic of TikTok. – Journalism 23(8): 1717-1735.
[52] Wang, J., Ma, Y., Min, L., Geng, J., Xiao, Y. (2025): The impact of social media fashion influencers’ relatability on purchase intention: The mediating role of perceived emotional value and moderating role of consumer expertise. – Acta Psychologica 258: 10p.
[53] Wang, Z., Cui, R., Cong, T., Liang, H. (2021): Overseas dissemination of ancient chinese costume culture from the perspective of cultural confidence. – Fibres & Textiles in Eastern Europe 3(147): 111-116.
[54] Wilkin, N., Garrow, D., Ryder, C. (2025): From overlooked objects to digital ‘icons’: Evaluating the role of social media in exhibition making and the creation of more participatory and democratic museums. – International Journal of Heritage Studies 31(1): 102-122.
[55] Yuan, M. (2021): The Intangible Cultural Heritage Communication Based on Douyin Short Video Platform: Content Curation, Participatory Culture and Empowerment. – China Literature and Art Criticism 12p.
[56] Zhai, J.Q. (2023): Rang geng duo wenwu he wenhua yichan huo qilai’-xuexi Xi Jinping guanyu wenwu he wenhua yichan gongzuo de zhongyao lunshu [‘Bringing more cultural relics and cultural heritage to life’-Studying Xi Jinping’s important expositions on the work of cultural relics and cultural heritage]. – Literature of Chinese Communist Party 8p.
[57] Zhang, A., Roast, A., Morris, C. (2022): Wanghong urbanism: Towards a new urban-digital spectacle. – Mediapolis 7(4): 16p.
[58] Zhang, J. (2024): Digital Revitalization of Museums: An Analysis of the Digital Marketing Strategy of the Sanxingdui Museum. – Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences 86(1): 170-176.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 DING XIJIA, ROSLINA ISMAIL
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
