Kuaishou short video social network from the perspective of urban-rural cultural linkage: a field study on the mobile internet practices of young Monguor villagers in China’s Qinghai Province

Abstract

This paper uses the shooting and posting of Kuaishou short videos by young villagers in Wushi Village, Wushi Town, Huzhu Autonomous County, Qinghai Province, China as a case study, attempting to explore the cultural significance of the Kuaishou Short Video Social Network frequently used in our daily lives. The short videos of those young villagers not only show the overlapping of online and offline spaces in urban and rural areas, but also present another possibility of the coexistence between urban and rural cultures in the new era of Internet. Kuaishou has become a metaphor and a stage for the ambiguity and coexistence of urban and rural boundaries by virtue of the relative ease and availability of short video editing. The use of Kuaishou by young Monguor villagers is of great significance in addressing the traditional urban-rural dual economic structure.