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To show politeness: Multimodal text in the Chinese blogosphere // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2024. Issue 4 (42). P. 54-83

The article explores Chinese blogs with historical and cultural content on the Douyin platform. The relevance of the study is related to the role of online communications in the life of a modern person, on the one hand, and the lack of works devoted to the methods of representing politeness in the Chinese blogosphere, on the other. Our analysis focuses on the multimodal text of video blogs, which demonstrate traditional artistic, labor, and everyday practices related to China’s cultural heritage and reflect national and cultural identity. The aim of this article is to show how traditional Chinese understanding of politeness is realized in online communications through the multimodal text of video blogs. The methodological basis of the study is formed by the methods of semiotic and content analysis. The authors consider politeness in Chinese culture in synchronic (intersubjective communication) and diachronic (attitude to the historical past) aspects. A polite attitude towards cultural heritage is manifested through: (1) adherence to the principle of modesty (self-humiliation) in the blogger’s self-presentation; (2) presentation of traditional cultural practice as a sign-symbolic object suitable (relevant in the conditions of digital culture) for demonstrative observance of ethical norms and rituals. The principle of modesty in the blogger’s self-presentation is manifested in three metaphorical images, which we have designated as “instrument”, “learner”, “part of the whole”. To express each of these images, a system of linguistic, iconic, and indexical signs is used. These signs are created through various cinematographic elements such as plot, camera angles, details, staging, editing, audio, color, etc. As for labor actions, in the form of video blogs, they take on a symbolic rather than practical nature. They serve a similar purpose to a ritual, allowing individuals to connect with historical memory and national heritage. The novelty of the study is the identification of three types of content that reconstruct tradition as an object of veneration (this is their similarity), but differ in the artistic level of the audiovisual language. The high artistic level of the first type of content contributes to the mythologization of cultural heritage. This allows us to consider this content as a means of maintaining and strengthening national identity. The video text from blogs of the second type is not so diverse in the means of artistic expression; in this regard, the markers of politeness are less pronounced in it. The videos from blogs of the third type lack special artistic tools and techniques, which indicates the authors’ focus on the practice itself and determines their pseudo-documentary style. Thus, the video content of blogs can be considered as a polycode text, transmitting examples of politeness in a special way: “inside” the process of reconstructing cultural practice and in relation to it as a representation of national tradition and identity. “Intrapolycode” demonstration of politeness is manifested in the fact that video bloggers strive to act politely, i.e., to be modest and observe rituals, which is confirmed by a complex of verbal (author’s text) and non-verbal (setting, objects in the frame, movements and their rhythm, image of the high sky, etc.) elements included in the video text. “Extrapolycode” politeness is revealed in the process of reconstruction itself as a manifestation of a delicate and respectful attitude towards the history and culture of China.

Keywords: video blogs, traditional cultural practices, principles of politeness, ritual, reconstruction, online communication, modesty, intangible cultural heritage