Reclaiming the Periphery in the Age of Social Media: Power and Narrative of Rural China in My People, My Homeland (2020) and Coffee or Tea? (2020)

China's industrial development and accompanying urbanization since the 1970s established an urban-rural power dichotomy. However, in recent years, this urban-rural as center-periphery binary has been constantly re-examined and re-imagined. The emergence of rural short videos since 2016 has arguably led the voices of periphery to be heard. However, along with these seemingly heteroglossic and de-centralizing narratives of rural China, it is also observed that the state seeks to reclaim the ownership of rural storytelling. This paper looks into My People, My Homeland (2020) and Coffee or Tea? (2020) and examines how these two (quasi-) main melody films depict rural revitalization in the social media age. By unpacking the two films' narrative strategies in portraying Chinese countryside as well as the intertextual relations they form with other macro cinematic texts and micro grassroot storytelling of the periphery, this article demonstrates how the state re-establishes the discursive power in representing and interpreting the countryside.

Automated summary

China's industrial development and urbanization since the 1970s have established an urban-rural power dichotomy, but in recent years, this binary system has been re-examined and re-imagined. The rise of rural short videos has given voice to the marginalized communities, but it has also been observed that the state seeks to regain control of rural storytelling. This article examines two films and explores how they depict rural revitalization in the social media age, shedding light on the state's re-establishment of discursive power in representing and interpreting the countryside.