The Entertaining Sacred Land: The Turn to Popular Culture in Xizang's Official Tourism Promotion on Douyin
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71222/p99hd529Keywords:
Xizang, "Lhasa culture and tourism", entertainment, popular culture, Douyin, short videosAbstract
In the digital media era, short videos have become a major tool for the Chinese government to promote cultural and tourism development. Against this backdrop, this study investigates the official Douyin account "Lhasa Culture and Tourism", managed by the Lhasa Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism in the Xizang Autonomous Region. Using a multimodal discourse analysis approach, it examines how the account integrates elements of popular culture to reinterpret and disseminate cultural and tourism resources. A qualitative analysis of 255 short videos demonstrates that the account constructs narratives tailored to young audiences' aesthetics and the dynamics of the platform by incorporating elements such as popular celebrities, trending music, and viral online phenomena. Through cross-regional content co-creation and fan-economy-oriented marketing strategies, it effectively transforms cultural and tourism content into engaging and entertaining expressions, shaping an official communication image that is both friendly and relatable. This entertainment-oriented narrative exemplifies how official media adopt communication strategies that are traffic-driven, emotionally engaging, and symbolically rich. The findings offer practical insights for enhancing the promotional efforts of official accounts representing Xizang and other ethnic minority tourism destinations on short-video platforms.
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