Yubin Qin
A Visual Exploration Collages of the Online Self- representation of Elite Contemporary Chinese Society

Abstract:

Under the influence of the social media platform Weibo, contemporary Chinese urban elite groups are living artifice lives (Dai and Yang, 2021). According to Sina's Financial Report, by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, Weibo had reached 249 million daily active users (Sina's Financial Report, 2022). Chinese urban elite groups, as a vast user group active on Weibo, share their lives on the internet. The purpose of this study is to use Weibo as a platform to explore the online identities of Chinese urban elite users. Building on existing works on the impact of social media on people's lives, it poses the question of how people among the 20-35-year-old urban elite groups in China who use Weibo daily share images on the Internet to create their online personal identities?

Based on the literature review on social media's impact on human life, this study analysed many photos shared by Chinese urban elite users on Weibo taken throughout their daily life. Collage was chosen as an investigation method to conduct visual research on the online identity of this group. Picture analysis shows that the Chinese urban elite groups share photos through collages and create personal online images by imitating the fictional life of luxury, beauty, wealth and consumption through stage self-portraits and environmental images. Chinese urban elite groups express themselves in the virtual space. The photos and ways displayed in social media represent the aesthetic ability of Chinese urban elite groups, and the elements in the pictures are the symbols of their personal symbols.

Keywords:

Chinese urban elite groups, social media, collage, performance and artifice, online constructed identity