CC BY
1— ФИЛОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ НАУКИ —
Научная статья
https://doi.org/10.23672/SEM.2024.64.67.010 УДК 801
ПОСТРОЕНИЕ ОБРАЗА КИТАЙСКОГО ГОРОДА НА ТИК-ТОКЕ
Цао Иньфэй, Лю Яньдун
Российский университет дружбы народов им. Патриса Лумумбы
Аннотация. В данной статье исследуется, как китайские города используют возможности коротких видеороликов для привлечения туризма, инвестиций и талантов. Авторами были проанализированы успешные короткие видеоролики, посвященные городу, выделив такие особенности, как культурное наследие, природная красота и местная кухня. В нем также рассматривается роль пользовательского контента в формировании имиджа городов, а также проблемы и возможности, связанные с появлением коротких видеоплатформ. В статье утверждается, что короткие видеоролики являются мощным инструментом формирования позитивного имиджа китайских городов и способствуют пониманию того, как индустрия коротких видеороликов Китая трансформирует то, как города представляют себя миру. В ней рассказывается о ключевых особенностях успешных коротких видеороликов, ориентированных на город, и предлагаются рекомендации для городских властей, советов по туризму и других заинтересованных сторон о том, как использовать возможности коротких видеороликов для содействия экономическому росту и культурному обмену.
Ключевые слова: короткое видео, Тик Ток, китайский город, видеоролик, позитивный имидж, культурный обмен.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF CHINESE CITY'S IMAGE ON TIK TOK
Cao Yinfei, Liu Yan Tong
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia
Abstract. This article explores how Chinese cities use the power of short videos to attract tourism, investment and talent.
The authors analyzed successful short videos dedicated to the city, highlighting such features as cultural heritage, natural beauty and local cuisine. It also examines the role of user content in shaping the image of cities, as well as the challenges and opportunities associated with the emergence of short video platforms.
The article argues that short videos are a powerful tool for creating a positive image of Chinese cities and contribute to understanding how China's short video industry is transforming how cities present themselves to the world. It describes the key features of successful short videos focused on the city and offers recommendations for city authorities, tourism boards and other stakeholders on how to use the opportunities of short videos to promote economic growth and cultural exchange.
Keywords: short video, Tik Tok, Chinese city, video clip, positive image, cultural exchange.
With the continuous development of technology, various media platforms are emerging in an endless stream, especially the emergence and popularization of short videos. Gradually participate in advertising the image of the city and play an increasingly important role. As we all know, Tik Tok has become the most popular app for short videos.
Cities and communication are closely linked to all spheres of modern human activity. Research in the field of urban communication is of great importance in a globalized society for expanding the understanding of urban life, improving information policy, and developing relationships between people when they interact with each other in an urban environment.
Cities are the basis of human existence, its living environment, the product of human civilization and
wisdom. Beijing, Shanghai, London, New-York, Tokyo, Paris - these global megacities are not only famous cities, but also symbols of their countries. Their influence in recent years, in the context of competition between regions and countries, has become decisive, due to which the image of the city as a business card of the country is being paid more and more attention.
Before new media changed the basic way of communication, the image of the city and the country was mainly spread through traditional channels such as newspapers, radio and television. With the advent of diversified sources of information, new online media have become the main source of forming and spreading the city's image.
At that moment, the images of cities are becoming more vivid, coming to the public's attention in a dif-
— ФИЛОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ НАУКИ —
ferent form. With the wide distribution of short videos, the image of the city is undergoing more and more changes, gravitating towards stylistic diversity. Thus, the city's image enters a new era of communication with society.
The transition from urban planning to communication is an inevitable tr end of urban image research in China. In recent years, the discussion about the spread of urban image has not produced a single result in the field of communication science. Depending on the direction of their own research, scientists put forward different views on the spread of the city's image, which can be di vided into two categories.
Based on basic views on communication, most scientists use the classic al linear Laswell model of communication as a research guideline. Communicators who use this model as a basis for research believe that communication and the formation of an urban image is a process of one-way transmission of information and influence on the audience, which includes many factors (for ex ample, the source of information, the broadcast channel, the addressee, and the final effect of communication).
Based on the priority of publicizing the city's image, some scholars consider broadcasting the city's image to promote it for the government, the media, citizens, and other communication groups. Based on the recognition and approval of the city image, the subject of communication selectively uses various social networks to spread this subjective impression and transmits the image of the city in various symbolic ways to achieve its goal.
In his article «City Image Communication: Structure and Strategy», Chinese researcher He Guoping gave a clear definition of the structure of image communication in relation to the city. He believes that communication is an integrated method of functional positioning of an active urban subject and diffusive behavior of urban image elements. In this article, the author showed that functional positioning of a city is the main condition for spreading its image [1, p. 3], [2].
Positioning is the starting point for spreading the city's image and deter mines the main content and direction of development of urban communications. Combining the above points of view, He Guoping argues that the communication and dissemination of images of the city is initiated by an official entity using various social networks to transmit, communicate, and receive feedback.
From the point of view of promoting the image of the city, the starting point is the requirements of the senders of the message, who believe that with the help of certain behavioral instructions, it is possible to encourage recipients to perform certain actions or participate in them, which is a kind of utilitaria n approach.
The starting point for spreading the city's image is the audience, and the goal is to eliminate the uncer-
tainty of information. Information is the content of a message that is more accurate and convincing. From the point of view of communication methods, propaganda appears as a one-sided communication activity that is repeated many times.
Basically, this is a method of communication in which the communicat or transmits information to the recipient without feedback and does not pay att ention to their reaction. However, a two-way exchange of information is more preferable, which allows us to fairly objectively and impartially pay attention to the needs of recipients, making it easier to achieve the desired results [7, p. 77-78].
Previously, communication of the city's image was mainly managed by the government and consisted of targeted advertising of the city, which was br oadcast on the main channels in the form of propaganda films about the city. Scholar Tan Lin believes that communication with the government is based o n the mission and values of the government. Wang Tiantian noted that the m ain feature of the distribution of propaganda films with the image of the city in China is that the government determines the political attributes of the image propaganda film.
Excessive political interference affects the distribution of a propaganda film depicting the city. Thus, in the early stages of spreading the image of th e city, everything was mainly reduced to propaganda. In a more recent period, with the advent of many new media outlets, the main form of broadcasting su ch messages has changed and at the moment image communication is underg oing a transition period. This period can be called the transition from propaga nda to distribution [3, p. 22], [4].
Key elements of the city's image are made up of general characteristics that relate to people's subjective assessments and emotional perception of the city through the experience of visiting it, including natural features. At the sa me time, representative natural landscapes and artificial buildings in a given a rea are also objective images of the city, covering natural landscapes, buildings, transport systems, and other technical means.
The main premise of visual image research is to try to study the effect of constructing the meaning of visual signs in the field of communication, whic h allows us to understand how the image affects the viewer with a «rhetorical image». In comparison with the special emphasis of language rhetoric on spee ch activity, language styles, and pragmatic effects, rhetorical objects of visual rhetoric indicate visualized text forms, emphasizing the possibility of using images to achieve certain rhetorical goals.
Traditional mass media present the general image of the city to the public through separate forms, such as text and images. In fact, the audience is mo re likely to combine the image of the city and propaganda in the media through imagination in order to create a subjective image of the city in their minds.
— ФИЛОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ НАУКИ —
Tik Tok is not only a technological platform for content production, but also a communication platform. For example, video clip creators are focused on the music community. From the point of view of product design and operation, Tik Tok is focused on managing the social behavior of users.
In the Tik Tok product design, popular videos will be displayed on the main page, and on the right side of the interface there are buttons to leave a m essage and go to another resource. Users can interact with Tik Tok by perform ing these actions, and establish new contacts and a corresponding profile in the media environment.
One of the most intuitive ways to interact is to communicate with the us er in the comments field. Comments are an integral part of TikTok content, si nce 51.5 % of Tik Tok users prefer to read comments, and 19.4 % of Tik Tok us ers participate in interaction with comments [5, p. 9-10], [6].
In promoting the image of urban tourism, the role of comments is even more important, since they embody public opinion about urban tourism. Positi ve user reviews about city attractions will create a good reputation as the basis for the image of urban tourism.
The comments area is public. The user can activate the comments area t o view all reviews of the video (Figure 2.7). If there are no restrictions on the implementation of the desire to express their opinion, then the user can leave a message in the comments area, so that the blogger and other users can respo nd and interact with them.
If a user's comment is answered or liked, the platform will immediately send a notification. This interaction has a certain degree of immediacy. In add ition, a comment has a likes feature: the more likes a post gets, the higher its p osition in the comments field will be.
The aforementioned design of the comment interaction feature allows Tik Tok users to meet their social needs in this area, and they are more motivat ed to participate in comments.
The more users show themselves in this way, the more information about public opinion can be collected and maintain high activity in Tik Tok [3, p. 22].
It should be noted that the cultural characteristics of video content shou ld be easily perceived, without the need for a large background introduction. F rom the point of view of cultural communication, there are many «visualized» cultural concepts in Chinese culture that are difficult to convey in words.
For example, some poems are easy to explain literally, but it is difficult for foreigners without Eastern cultural education to understand their artistic i mages and evoke the corresponding aesthetic experiences, that is, perceptual a wareness. The key to realizing cultural communication lies in attraction,
and the premise of attraction lies in understanding. Among TikTok users, there is a Chinese woman who is loved by many foreign viewers. Her name is Li Ziqi. Although Li Ziqi's video content does not show the ideological connotation of Chinese culture, she spreads Chinese customs and customs abroad through sp ecial pictures and sounds, providing foreigners with content to understand Chi nese culture.
Many people have had such a reading experience, although they have n ever been to this country and do not know the culture of this country, but they still care about emotions when reading literary works of this country, because the main emotions of a person are the same, the cultural background affects t he way emotions are expressed, and not the emotions themselves.
From this point of view, the process of cultural transmission is not a pro cess of learning about differences, but a process of seeking mutual agreement. Therefore, the content of cross-cultural communication should express comm on feelings between cultures, narrow the distance between cultures on a psych ological level.
When spreading Chinese culture on the Tik Tok platform, itis not necessary to have high-level video content, but you need to choose the right way for ord inary people to show Chinese culture in the Internet age, and this kind of cultu ral display from the point of view of citizens is just what is most lacking in sp reading foreign culture.
Before Li Ziqi, there were countless scholars who summarized and stud ied Chinese rural culture and pastoral culture, but few understood rural culture, pastoral culture, and ethnic minority culture from an Internet perspective and disseminated it through the Internet. Li Ziqi posted her video on the Internet, which is equivalent to actively opening the door for communication with forei gn netizens. Foreign netizens not only learned about Li Ziqi from her videos, but also got a taste of Chinese culture at the same time.
On the TikTok platform, we see traditional Chinese culture and Chines e elements everywhere. Chinese traditional costumes, mythological characters, ancient music and other elements are very much loved by foreign users. Japa nese hosts wrote Chinese a n d J apanese texts in calligraphy, Vietnamese girls s ang Chinese songs in vintage costumes, and South Korean Chinatown and Inc heon Chinatown performed sign dances.
With rich content, a solid technical base, and highly interactive social at tributes, TikTok exports traditional Chinese culture in a simple and acceptable way. Users of all levels can embrace Chinese culture, they can intuitively feel the charm of Chinese culture and reduce stereotypes.
Short videos shot by foreign users in China on the TikTok platform hav e created a complex and diverse image of China. The uniqueness of individual characteristics makes each video blogger notice
— ФИЛОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ НАУКИ —
different aspects and levels, forming differentiated ratings and relationships. Most of the places where forei gn users shoot short videos are in urban areas such as Beijing, Xiamen, Guang zhou, and Chengdu. Several video bloggers focus on China's barren rural areas, demonstrating some of the challenges in China's social development process.
According to some bloggers, the strong advance of urbanization and in dustrialization has led to large numbers of people congregating in cities, and the gap between urban and rural areas still exists. Most cities have good educat ion, health care, health care and other resources, and their material and cultural life is richer, while some villages face various development challenges.
Information transmitted by the mass media should be based on the prev ailing ideological values of the country. The media is not only a tool for sprea ding information and entertainment, but also a tool for ideological leadership and political control.
As far as content production is concerned, organizations need to find th e cultural connotations underlying cityscapes, folklore, and food, so that an ur ban cultural development program creates a sense of historical depth and tells urban stories in a lively but non-vulgar way.
At the same time, it is also necessary to spread urban culture systematic ally and continuously, combining traditional festivals, local cuisine and landsc apes with interest from celebrities, in order to launch a series of cultural them es with internal connections and promote urban culture.
From the point of view of the form of content submission, organization scan use short videos, full-length films and live broadcasts on the Tik Tok pla tform to convey urban culture, as well as use a variety of forms to create addit ional benefits, thereby enhancing the communication effect.
You can add animation to the story to tell about picturesque places or re veal their unsolved secrets. You can also invite celebrities to play short plays to show historical stories about picturesque places.
Plot content often leaves a deep impression on people. When shooting short videos about local delicacies and folklore, we can combine experience and storytelling to combine refined folklore with deep culture, showcasing the city's tourist appeal and evoking the emotional attachment of users.
In terms of interaction methods, organizations can encourage Tik Tok users to spread urban culture spontaneously and create a situation in which users actively participate. To encourage users to explore the city's history and cult ure independently, organizations can initiate interactive online and offline eve nts on the topic of urban culture by participating in games and challenges. For example, an online and offline puzzle game initiated by the Palace Museum a ims to allow more people to experience the historical charm of the Forbidden City in a new way.
At the same time, organizations can work with the Tik Tok platform to create unique urban cultural artefacts, such as Sichuan Opera's face - changin g special effects. While entertaining the audience, it also conveys the tradition al folk culture of Sichuan and makes the audience feel this allure of the face-c hanging Sichuan Opera. This type of entertainment distribution method not only helps to promote the city's history and culture, but also meets the needs of u sers.
In promoting urban tourism through Tik Tok videos, the main reason fo r the uniformity of content is the lack of differentiated high-quality products. In order to effectively increase the diversity of content, Tik Tok organizations and platforms need to take a leading role in the in-depth development and use of the city's tourism resources and identify differentiated elements of urban co mmunication. The specific practical path can be divided into two levels:
First, you need to add new content to distribute images of urban tourism. To improve the diversity of urban communication content, you need to get rid of the constant cycle of images of old picturesque places.
You also need to optimize smart algorithms, limit short videos to the same content, and reduce the influx of homogenized content. Organizations also need to go beyond the classics, explore new sites and offer new meanings to develop a new image of urban tourism.
Secondly, it is necessary to encourage the spread of a refined image of urban tourism. Communicators can improve the content of communications by working in areas such as food, housing, history and culture, and create differentiated content to meet the long-term needs of users.
Organizations should make independent efforts to implement innovatio ns in the field of urban tourism image distribution, considering the segmentati on of consumer preferences. At the same time, in order to accurately capture the interests of users, itis necessary to maintain and develop vivid authentic images in accordance with local characteristics in the areas of food, landscape and life of citizens who can express themselves in targeted and personalized creativity.
Thanks to the joint efforts of organizations, Tik Tok platforms, Internet celebrities and ordinary users, the distribution of tourist images and short vide os of Tik Tok will present more differentiated content, which will allow the city to remain unique in a rapidly changing Internet environment.
Research on city image communication is of great practical importance in the context of the growing role of urban tourism. This work was carried out on the basis of modern concepts about the role of new media in creating an at tractive urban image using methods of comparative analysis of literature and s pecific cases, and representative short videos about
— ФИЛОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ НАУКИ —
cities such as Xi'an, Chon gqing and Wuhan on the Tik Tok platform were selected as typical examples.
Visual texts were also used as part of the exchange of urban images to s tudy the current situation, and a systematic study of the advantages of short Tik Tok videos in urban communication was carried out in an effort to strengthe n their importance in promoting the image of urban tourism. Based on this, w e conducted a study of the impact of Tik Tok on urban image communication in two dimensions of depth and breadth of communication.
Analyzing the impact of Tik Tok on building and spreading an urban image, it can be argued that it confirmed the role of mobile Tik Tok videos and provided local authorities with new ideas in creating and promoting an urban image. As an important soft power for development and competition between cities in the era of new media, especially with the advent of short mobile vide os, the city's image has demonstrated the characteristics of visualization, diver sification and entertainment in the context of the promotion of new media tec hnologies.
Their appearance provides a convenient social platform and correspond ing software, expanding the possibilities of promoting the image of the city, a nd also allows the public to participate in the process of spreading the image o f the city, forming a new public view of it. It should be recognized that spread ing the image of the city is not only a need for the de-
Конфликт интересов
Не указан Рецензия
Все статьи проходят рецензирование в формате double-blind peer review (рецензенту неизвестны имя и должность автора, автору неизвестны имя и должность рецензента). Рецензия может быть предоставлена заинтересованным лицам по запросу.
velopment of the city itse lf, but also that city managers can better study the characteristics of urban life from the point of view of the public and reach a consensus on communication in the city.
Even though Tik Tok provided new opportunities for spreading the ima ge of the city, there were also some problems associated with a certain negativ e impact on the process of "decentralized" content viewing based on the reco mmendations of algorithms. In addition, cities can't rely on just one media pla tform.
If the communicative effect of Tik Tok is weakened, it is impossible to predict changes in the development of media and adjust their own developme nt accordingly, so the city authorities should monitor the situation and conduct research as necessary. Local governments should create conditions that enco urage users to consciously apply Tik Tok to work with urban images.
When using this medium, they should pay attention to monitoring and reviewing content, take advantage of technical advantages, and encourage sharing mechanisms. Tik Tok will continue to improve the communication platform, strengthen content control, pay attention to reducing the likelihood of content uniformity, and actively build a win-win ecosystem for developing short mobile videos and spreading the urban image.
Conflict of Interest None declared
Review
All articles are reviewed in the double-blind peer review format (the reviewer does not know the name and position of the author, the author does not know the name and position of the reviewer). The review can be provided to interested persons upon request.
Литература:
1. Jin Weidong. Analysis of the image of urban tourism / Jin Weidong // Journal of Urban Planning. 1995. Р. 3.
2. Dai Xiaoyu. Analysis of the reference value of TikTok short video tourism marketing / Dai Xiaoyu // Communication Power Research. 2018. Р. 77-78.
3. Fan Yixin. Analysis of the short video development trend in the new m edia environment. Take for example the TikTok app / Fan Yixin // News Research Guide. 2018. Р. 22.
4. Chen Li. Analysis of the development of social platforms for short videos related to music: on the example of the TikTok app / Chen Li // Audiovisual Materials. 2018. Р. 38-39.
5. Penguin Think Tank. Kuaishou & TikTok User Research Report / Touti ao. 2018. Р. 9-10.
6. Penguin Think Tank. Kuaishou & TikTok User Research Report / Toutiao. 2018. Р. 9-10.
References:
1. Jin Weidong. Analysis of the image of urban tourism / Jin Weidong // Journal of Urban Planning. 1995. Р. 3.
2. Dai Xiaoyu. Analysis of the reference value of TikTok short video tourism marketing / Dai Xiaoyu // Communication Power Research. 2018. Р. 77-78.
3. Fan Yixin. Analysis of the short video development trend in the new m edia environment. Take for example the TikTok app / Fan Yixin // News Research Guide. 2018. Р. 22.
4. Chen Li. Analysis of the development of social platforms for short videos related to music: on the example of the TikTok app / Chen Li // Audiovisual Materials. 2018. Р. 38-39.
5. Penguin Think Tank. Kuaishou & TikTok User Research Report / Touti ao. 2018. Р. 9-10.
6. Penguin Think Tank. Kuaishou & TikTok User Research Report / Toutiao. 2018. Р. 9-10.
— ФИЛОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ НАУКИ —
Информация об авторах
Цао Иньфэй
аспирант,
Российский университет дружбы народов
им. Патриса Лумумбы
Milena@mail.ru
Лю Яньдун
аспирант,
Российский университет дружбы народов им. Патриса Лумумбы Milena.555@mail.ru
Cao Yinfei
Graduate Student,
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia Milena@mail.ru
Liu Yan Tong
Graduate Student,
Peoples' Friendship University of Russia Milena.555@mail.ru
