Playfulness, parody, and carnival: Catchphrases and mood on the Chinese Internet from 2003 to 2015

The study examines the patterns and conditions of catchphrases on the Chinese Internet from 2003 to 2015 and their social, political, and cultural implications. Through investigating online catchphrases from a critical-historical perspective, the study develops a refined typology that reveals the patterns underlying online catchphrases, such as (1) the tendency of labeling, (2) the tendency of framing, (3) the tendency of violence, and (4) the tendency of emptying-out. These trends are roughly threaded by a transition of discursive genres—playfulness, parody, and carnival. The findings suggest that the functions of online popular communication shift from social criticism to identity formation. It reflects social transformations in a period that witnessed ideologies gradually losing grip and the growing nihilism in value systems in China