In the art communication environment of social media, how to better utilize the advantages of social media, convey information to the audience, and achieve better communication effects is an urgent problem that needs to be solved. This article took social media short videos in a social media environment as an example, taking "China" as an example, and applied the theory of "symbolism" to sort out the narrative methods of "China" cultural symbols and "China" stories used in social media short films. After investigation, social media short videos are based on traditional Chinese cuisine and craftsmanship. Through visual symbols such as dietary symbols, traditional craft symbols, natural symbols, character symbols, and written symbols, as well as auditory symbols such as music, homophones, and dialects, the rich traditional cultural temperament of China was presented, and the diverse cultural images of food, writing, and music in China were also presented. The image of a hardworking, simple, and harmonious nation was also presented. The proportion of traditional crafts in the selected videos was 30.6%; the proportion of delicious food was 61.8%; the proportion of others was 7.6%. This article helps to actively explore various interactive channels to enhance the effectiveness of artistic exchange and interaction.