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The Genealogy of Biaoqing Bao in the Chinese Internet Culture

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IF ONE THING CAN BE RESOLVED WITH BIAOQING BAO, THEN DON'T USE WORDS!”: THE GENEALOGY OF BIAOQING BAO IN THE CHINESE INTERNET CULTURE by Yixin Liang Bachelor of Arts, Tianjin Foreign Studies University, 2015 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts University of Pittsburgh 2017 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This thesis was presented by Yixin Liang It was defended on April 13, 2017 and approved by Dr. Laura Brown, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology Dr. Kun Qian, Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures Dr. Ronald Zboray, Professor, Department of Communication Thesis Director: Dr. Kun Qian, Assistant Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures ii Copyright © by Yixin Liang 2017 iii “IF ONE THING CAN BE RESOLVED WITH BIAOQING BAO, THEN DON'T USE WORDS!”: THE GENEALOGY OF BIAOQING BAO IN CHINESE INTERNET CULTURE Yixin Liang, M.A. University of Pittsburgh, 2017 As one of the trendiest Internet memes in China, Biaoqing Bao has experienced fast development, from the early emoticons used on QQ and Internet images inspired by the rage comics in the late 2000s to a brand new branch of online communication tool around 2015. Biaoqing Bao has its distinctive feature to combine images and texts together to convey users’ emotions and feelings. Various technologies like Biaoqing Bao generators also enable users to draw different sorts of materials, such as social hot issues, to make them into Biaoqing Bao. Biaoqing Bao thus offers a vantage point to look at today’s Chinese pop culture. In this thesis, I will investigate the origin of Biaoqing Bao which can be traced back to 2009 when a new type of images emerged online to vent netizens’ sentiment against the Internet censorship launched by the Chinese government. As the predecessor of Biaoqing Bao, these images served the subversive purpose against the authoritarian manipulation over the cyber space. Although the subversive spirit embodied in Biaoqing Bao seems to subside when Biaoqing Bao has been more and more used on major instant messaging platforms, the creativity in Biaoqing Bao still leaves relatively free space for netizens to fully represent their digital selves and celebrate such liberty of expression. I will also investigate the 2016 Facebook campaign launched by the Chinese mainlanders, to demonstrate that such a subversive symbol plays an important role in constructing a united national identity to participate in the international political dispute. Biaoqing Bao provides a channel to vent the netizens’ anger in a playful way, in contrast to the iv moderate attitude of the government. In this sense, I argue that Biaoqing Bao, as one of the semiotic codes created and circulated on the Internet, is not only a visual entertainment in communication as a signifier of Chinese pop culture, but also a practice that represents a subversive symbol that strives against any forms of authoritative regulation and manipulation in the Chinese Internet culture. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S..........................................................................................................X 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 2.0 THE DEBUT OF BIAOQING BAO ........................................................................ 11 2.1 A VISUAL WEAPON AGAINST GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP........... 12 2.2 THE CARNIVALESQUE ONLINE ................................................................ 15 2.2.1 Carnivalesque Speech in Biaoqing Bao ....................................................... 19 2.2.2 Grotesque in Biaoqing Bao ........................................................................... 21 3.0 AN EVOLUTION TOWARDS COMMUNICATION ........................................... 26 3.1 EARLY MEMES AND STICKERS ON THE CHINESE INTERNET ....... 28 3.2 WECHAT BIAOQING BAO (STICKER) GALLERY ................................. 30 3.3 “DOU TU” CULTURE AND MESSAGE BEHIND BIAOQING BAO ....... 33 3.4 THE UGLY STYLE OF BIAOQING BAO .................................................... 35 4.0 THE PRESENTATION OF SELF THROUGH BIAOQING BAO ...................... 38 4.1 PRESENTATION OF REGIONAL IDENTITY ............................................ 42 4.1.1 Personification and Materialization of Local Cultural Elements ............. 43 4.1.2 Complement between Image and Words in Biaoqing Bao ........................ 46 4.2 THE FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN...................................................................... 49 4.2.1 Biaoqing Bao Used in the Facebook Campaign .......................................... 50 vi 4.2.2 A National Identity in Public Space ............................................................. 52 5.0 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 54 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 56 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The Comments with Biaoqing Bao to Fight Against “Independence of Taiwan” .......... 2 Figure 2. The Early Emoticon Gallery on QQ ................................................................................ 5 Figure 3. The first rage.................................................................................................................. 12 Figure 4. The Chinese Rage Comics, with Wang NiMa as the main figure in the rage comic .... 16 Figure 5. The Rage Comic Embedded with “Ni Ma (Fuck You)!” .............................................. 20 Figure 6. A Grotesque Depiction of “NiMa” in theLlogo of the Chinese Rage Comics 暴走漫画 ....................................................................................................................................................... 22 Figure 7. Another Example of Grotesque Depiction of Human Face in Rage Comics ................ 22 Figure 8. The Screenshot of Fu Er Kang 福尔康’s most Classic Scene ....................................... 24 Figure 9. The Photoshopped Screenshot Uploaded and Used as Biao Qing Bao ......................... 24 Figure 10. “Biaoqing Bao Three Tycoons” Elected by Chinese Netizens ................................... 25 Figure 11. “Zhangcao Yantuanzi Biaoqing Bao 长草颜团子表情包” on the WeChat Sticker Gallery........................................................................................................................................... 27 Figure 12. Early QQ Stickers ........................................................................................................ 29 Figure 13. “Toast for Our Friendship” Biaoqing Bao................................................................... 34 Figure 14. Examples of Ugly-Style Biaoqing Bao ....................................................................... 36 viii Figure 15. Beijing Dialect-Themed Biaoqing Bao, with two main characters: Miss Rabbit and Woola Bear ................................................................................................................................... 44 Figure 16. Changsha Dialect-Themed Biaoqing Bao with the Chubby “Mange” ........................ 48 Figure 17. The Taozi’s Family Biaoqing Bao .............................................................................. 49 Figure 18. Confucius Biaoqing Bao.............................................................................................. 50 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to all my committee members, Professor Kun Qian, Laura Brown, Ronald Zboray and Mary Zboray. Thank you all for your patience and support. It is your advice and inspiration that encouraged me to completer my thesis. A special Thank you to Dr. Qian, who continuously helped and supported me throughout my two-year study at University of Pittsburgh. I am also grateful to my fellow master students in East Asian Studies Department: Sandi Ward and Aijie Shi, who always gave me insightful academic suggestion and moral support. I would also like to thank Dr. Emily Rook-Koepsel, Dr. William Crawford, Dr. Zhang Haihui.and all the faculty and staff members in East Asian Studies Department. I enjoy being part of this department. A special thanks goes to all my friends in Pittsburgh and Xiaoyu Deng—thank you to accompany me through many obstacles. Last but by no means least, my parents—thank you for supporting my every decisions and standing with me, physically or spiritually. Thank you all! x 1.0 INTRODUCTION In January 2016, the new term "Biaoqing Bao 表情包" swept over the Sinosphere mediums and attracted attention from netizens both in Taiwan and mainland China. Biaoqing Bao is a new Chinese Internet meme, which dates back to the era of QQ emoticons around 2006 and developed into a brand new form of Internet meme in the 2010s. It consists of an image and a caption to deliver the user’s ideas. The popularity of this term Biaoqing Bao across the Taiwan Strait started when the presidential election in Taiwan ended with the winning of the Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) and Tsai Ing-wen as President on January 18th. The shift in leadership predicted a sharp turn in political attitudes towards mainland China, which would negatively influence the warming of cross-strait ties. Just before the election, Zyuyu Chou, a Taiwanese pop star stirred up the mainlanders' dissatisfaction and anger by waving up Taiwan's flag in her picture.
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