Platformed Ethnicity: Cultural Capital, Identity Performance, and the Recontextualization of Miao Culture on Chinese Social Media

Abstract

The circulation of ethnic-themed photography on social media relocates cultural symbols into new contexts of visibility, identity construction, tourism, and consumption. This study examines how Miao cultural symbols are recontextualized through ethnic photography on Xiaohongshu, a major Chinese lifestyle-oriented social media platform. Drawing on cultural capital, cultural recontextualization, and digital self-presentation, the study employs a small-scale qualitative case-study design. A purposive sample of 45 publicly accessible posts was selected to capture variation across personal photography, commercial promotion, photography services, high-engagement content, and posts containing cultural explanations or discussions of authenticity. The visual and textual content was examined through two cycles of qualitative coding focused on cultural symbols, contextual settings, self-presentation, cultural explanation, and commercialization. The analysis identifies three interconnected patterns. First, Miao clothing, silver ornaments, embroidery, headwear, and cultural landscapes are selectively presented as aesthetic resources that enhance visual distinction and photographic appeal. Second, these symbols are incorporated into users’ digital self-presentation through narratives of beauty, uniqueness, travel, and personal milestones. Third, photography studios, costume-rental services, and tourism businesses transform ethnic-style imagery into purchasable experiences and commercially valuable content. Rather than treating these practices simply as cultural preservation or cultural loss, the study conceptualizes them as forms of platform-mediated recontextualization. It introduces “platformed ethnicity” to describe how digital platforms facilitate the selective circulation and revaluation of ethnic cultural symbols as overlapping aesthetic, identity-related, and consumable resources. The findings contribute to research on digital ethnic representation while highlighting the need for further investigation incorporating Miao community perspectives and cross-platform comparisons.