B4: Heritage and Social Media in China
Tracks
4
| Sunday, November 29, 2026 |
| 2:25 PM - 3:40 PM |
| RHMZ01 |
Overview
Stream: Digital, Immersive and Data Heritage
Paper / Session Submitter
Professor Rodney Harrison
Professor Of Heritage Studies
University College London
Heritage and Social Media in China
Summary Abstract
Social media have become an increasingly prominent relational heritage space in contemporary heritage practices, particularly in China, where large-scale user participation, sustained investment in internet platforms, and strong policy support have positioned social media as a key vehicle for the development of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
Papers in this session examine the relational production of heritage through social media, approaching platforms not as neutral channels of representation but as socio-technical spaces that actively shape how heritage is governed, valued, and experienced. By conceptualising heritage as an emergent process and taking China as a particularly illustrative case, the session seeks to generate insights that may inform research in other regional contexts under the broader theme of heritage and sustainable futures.
Papers in this session examine the relational production of heritage through social media, approaching platforms not as neutral channels of representation but as socio-technical spaces that actively shape how heritage is governed, valued, and experienced. By conceptualising heritage as an emergent process and taking China as a particularly illustrative case, the session seeks to generate insights that may inform research in other regional contexts under the broader theme of heritage and sustainable futures.
Biographies
Yikun is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Her research explores the digital commodification of intangible cultural heritage in contemporary China, with broader interests in heritage politics and cultural policy. Her research is informed by prior professional work managing ICH commodification at TikTok China.
Rodney is is Professor of Heritage Studies at UCL. He has undertaken research in Australia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, North America, South America, the Middle East, UK and continental Europe. He is currently working on a monograph titled 'Understanding the Heritage Boom in China'.
Yezhi Gao is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Her research focuses on affective engagements with heritage in China and their articulation through social media practices, engaging with broader themes of power and governance of heritage, and digital platform affordances.
Guohong Li is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies, Australian National University. Her research examines rural heritage in China through everyday life and cultural anthropology, focusing on how heritage-making reshapes representation and power relations, and how villagers negotiate and rework these arrangements in daily practice.
Qiwei Guo is a PhD candidate at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. Her PhD thesis explores heritage politics in China and how this applies to the construction of national narratives and discourses. Her research interests are heritage psychodynamics, heritage politics, emotional studies and memory studies.
Juewei Fan explores cultural memory, heritage, and identity in contemporary China, focusing on private museums as sites of Asian museological practices. Using ethnographic approaches, she examines how charismatic figures mobilize moral authority in unofficial narratives, highlighting individual agency in shaping grassroots legitimacy and constructing alternative heritage frameworks beyond collective discourse.
