Communication currency: Chinese ceremony media as emotion extension and a symbol of identification

Abstract

This paper focuses on the traditional ‘li(Rites)’ and ‘yi(etiquette)’ in China, and takes the Yao people’s most important ceremony—’Tiao Panwang’ and its participants in Heng village as the research object. Through participatory observation and in-depth interviews, based on the origin of the rake and comb ceremony, this paper explores the value change and social influence of the ceremony as a medium in social communication. It is concluded that Chinese primitive rituals are the product of simple public communication, the embodiment of people’s primitive social communication consciousness, and the extension of emotion.In the process of historical development and change, the ceremony has gradually evolved into a symbol of power and become a cultural symbol monopolized by the power, and the public’s equal participation and interaction rights have been strictly restricted. However, from the perspective of the changes in modern and contemporary rituals, the power structure in rituals has been gradually dissolved, and it has embraced the original meaning of social communication again, and played the role of social currency in the broader social communication process, promoting more extensive equal interaction and free communication.

Keywords

• Chinese ceremony
• media study
• emotion extension
• communication currency
• social interaction
• Dr Guangchao Feng, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong