Diaosias infrapolitics: scatological tropes, identity-making and cultural intimacy on China’s Internet

Abstract

This article examines a recent bizarre phenomenon on China's Internet -the enormous popularity of a scatological Chinese neologism called diaosi, which literally translates as 'dick string'. Seeing the diaosi phenomenon as a case of 'infrapolitics', a space of nuanced discursive practices mediating overt online politics and benign online entertainment, we analyse the ways in which an infrapolitical practice such as the diaosi phenomenon fuses political critique, cultural processes of identity construction and meaning-making as well as cyber ritual communion. Specifically, we interpret the infrapolitics of diaosi as simultaneously an instantiation of a prevalent scatological online culture that defies hypernormalization, a collective identity-making that seeks to create critical social solidarity and a practice and politics of cultural intimacy.

Communicating citizenship in China’s digital society

“…in Western democracy and, at the same time, to ridicule their lack of rights in China's political environment. Moreover, these commentators' identification with being merely "residents" (or "tenants"), similar to Chinese Internet users' self-categorization as "shitizen/fart people" (Link & Xiao, 2013a) and "diaosi/loser" (Szablewicz, 2014;Yang, et al, 2015), reveals how they interpret what it means to be and how it feels like a citizen in China.…”

“…Recent Chinese Internet studies show that the use of the Internet in China has not only facilitated a new discourse space for self-expression, civic engagement, and political participation (Lagerkvist, 2010;Yang, 2009), but also generated new buzzwords and expressions for the Chinese to make sense of their citizen identity (Link & Xiao, 2013a, 2013bSzablewicz, 2014;Yang, et al, 2015) and their relationship with the ruling state (Hartford, 2005;Herold, 2011a Calling themselves "shitizens" instead of "citizens," these users express their shared sense of powerlessness and disenfranchisement as members of the Chinese state (Yang, et al, 2015).…”

4. The Care of the Selfie: Ludic Chronotopes of Baifumei in Online China

“…11 The term diaosi is widely used to describe the large groups of people feeling excluded or marginalized in China's booming socio-economic environment. For more discussion on diaosi, see Yang et al, (2014) and Du, (2016).…”

Culture, boundary, and identity: a comparison of practices between two online punk communities in China

“…From the above two sections, we can see examples of how political engagement can potentially be embedded in everyday cultural practice (Yang, Tang & Wang, 2015). Online practices in punk communities reveal political struggle between freedom of expression and censorship in the Chinese social context; offline we hear of displays of forum members' conformity to subcultural norms and their differentiation from "square society" (Williams, 2011, p.8).…”

“…Appropriating this concept, differing practices are noticed to exist between the two contrasting online communities due to the group members' respective identifications with punk. So far, discussions of Internet cultural phenomena or online communities in China fall mainly onto the specific social implications that they bring to Chinese society and culture (for instance, Cai, 2007;Gong & Yang, 2010;Yang, Tang & Wang, 2015;Zhang & Mao, 2013). Though this is important, we know little about how online members form their identities, establish norms, and ultimately, sustain the culture through different practices in the Chinese social context.…”