Transcultural Fandom Participatory Behaviour And Identity Construction

In recent years,more and more Chinese video games have been going abroad,and the Chinese video game Genshin Impact has gained high popularity and discussion worldwide,gathering transcultural fans of Genshin Impact from all over the world on many overseas social media platforms.However,there is still a lack of empirical research on the overseas audiences of Chinese cultural products,especially on the overseas audiences of Chinese video games.This thesis takes the transcultural fandom of Genshin Impact as the research object.Using participatory culture theory and related theories of identity as the theoretical basis,this thesis examines and analyses the participatory behaviour and identity construction of the transcultural fandom of Genshin Impact with the research methods of online ethnography,in-depth interviews and textual analysis.The study found that the transcultural fandom of Genshin Impact generated a wide range of participatory behaviours inside and outside the game.First of all,on the basis of previous studies,the participatory behaviours of the transcultural fandom of Genshin Impact are divided into four dimensions: affiliation,expression,collaboration and circulation.These participatory behaviours are characterised by daily,cross-media,performative,emotional and ritualistic,and the transcultural fandom has formed a participatory culture with "cross-cultural" characteristics.Secondly,based on multiple participatory behaviours,the transcultural fandom of Genshin Impact accomplishes the construction of self-identity in identity performance and evaluation of others,emotional projection,production and labour and a sense of achievement.Thirdly,the transcultural fandom of Genshin Impact forms distinct group boundaries,constructing group identities in rituals and collective memories,and even constructing a deep "family-oriented" group identity.Finally,the transcultural fandom deepens their understanding of different cultures and improves their inclusiveness and openness to other cultures through their immersion in the multicultural world of Genshin Impact and their long-term cross-cultural interactions on social media platforms,and they construct intercultural identities that transcend their own cultural identities.