ІНТЕРНЕТ-МЕМИ ЯК РЕТЛЯНСЛЯТОРИ КУЛЬТУРИ У КИТАЙСЬКОМОВНОМУ МЕДІАПРОСТОРІ

Abstract

The secrecy of the Chinese Internet makes it a unique ecosystem that operates separately from world trends. Along with the development of original social networks in China, Internet memes have entered the media arena, which not only broadcast the mood of network users but also preserve significant cultural and social phenomena. Currently, the field of Internet memes as cultural retransmitters in the Chinese-language media space is unexplored by Ukrainian scientists, which determines the relevance of this article. The main goal of the paper is to study the cultural phenomena that migrated to the Internet in the form of memes, their origin and structure. The object of the study is the 30 Internet memes that, according to the National Center for Monitoring and Study of National Language Resources of the People's Republic of China, were most popular in Chinese social networks in 2017-2019. On the example of three popular memes: 皮皮虾, 我们走 (shrimp, let's go), 确认过眼神 (I can see by the look in the eyes), 996工作制 (working system 996) we traced the history of memes, and summarize them by this structure: meme type + source + function. Also, the following features of Internet memes were highlighted and suggested: virality, emotionality, relevance, humour and media. Internet memes have become a real megaphone for ordinary citizens who are not afraid to discuss diverse topics, even despite all the secrecy and censorship of the Chinese network. Nowadays, memes aren’t just some funny pictures you see every day while scrolling your social media, there are a story and a history behind every meme. During the past three years, Chinese users were using memes to raise critical topics such as #米兔 (#Rice bunny) that was a Chinese way to support #MeToo campaign started in 2017. Girls and women stood up for each other to protest against sexual harassment and sexual assault. By coming up with the idea of using a homophone #米兔 (#Rice bunny), that sound just like #MeToo but was harder to track by Chinese government, Chinese girls and women weren't left behind. Posting memes about 996 was also a way to protest against overtime working that was so extensively supported by the two biggest Internet magnates in China. Taking into count the speed of development and changing of the Internet meme trends, we are not allowed to underestimate the importance of their role in every society. Perhaps, for Chinese Internet users memes are one of the limited ways to the freedom of speech, since it is harder to find the original source and a creator.