BCP Education & Psychology CEPC 2022 Volume 8 (2023) 95 Assessing the Impact of Rural Short Videos on the Transmission of Vernacular Culture in the Age of We-Media Shuheng Zhou1, *, † and Jiayi Teng2, † 1Institute of foreign languages, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, China 2Film Academy, Jilin Animation Institute, Jilin, China *Corresponding author: 1911011102@hbut.edu.cn †These authors contributed equally. Abstract. The short video industry has overgrown due to the digital transformation of media communication. The dissemination of short videos has led to the "two-way communication" of rural regional culture in the state and abroad. Many scholars have conducted in-depth studies on short video dissemination and discourse expression. On the basis of these studies, this paper takes Xi Jinping's important statement on the development of media integration and the construction of regional culture as the core point. This paper mainly adopts the literature analysis method. The study shows that rural short videos, as the leading force in the era of We-Media, connect local culture and local specialties through the Internet and contribute to the revitalization of the countryside in the fields of culture and economy. At the same time, media reality interacts with social reality through short rural videos, which perpetuates the rural memory of the public. The research suggests that short video creators should improve their own quality and optimize short video content. Creators should also pay attention to the use of expressions in line with the norms of public discourse in short videos, so as to achieve a positive interaction between media reality and social reality. Keywords: Rural short video; vernacular culture; rural revitalization; media memory; digitization. 1. Introduction Our culture in the age of We-Media is in the process of transforming from text-centered to image- centered [1]. There are many factors influencing the communication discourse expression of short videos. Among these, Chinese rural short videos are affected by the central government's "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting Rural Revitalization" [2]. As a way of disseminating Internet content, rural short videos will have a more far-reaching impact on regional cultural communication, and rural revitalization in the future. According to a review of Chinese and foreign literature, we found that Chinese studies on the influence of rural short videos on the communication of vernacular culture are more detailed, focusing mainly on the communication of short videos and the quality of their communication discourse from the perspective of rural revitalization, the media memory of rural short videos in the digital context and the mechanism of guiding the dissemination of public opinion. Both Chinese and foreign studies focus on the introduction and application of Internet technology. However, there are still many gaps in foreign studies on the communication of rural short videos with regional culture. In view of this background, this paper builds on the basis of these studies with the important statement of Xi Jinping on the development of media integration and the construction of regional culture as the core point [3]. It takes the dissemination of rural short videos on vernacular culture as the primary research object, focusing on the cultural export in China and abroad under the influence of objective factors. For example, epidemic control in the post-epidemic era, the development of short videos from the perspective of rural revitalization, and the interaction between short video media reality and social reality. On the methodological and theoretical level, this paper focuses on content analysis and textual analysis as the main research methods to review and summarize the previous literature. Using the theoretical concepts of communication and sociology to analyze the influence of rural short videos on the spread of local culture will help future researchers to have a clear understanding of previous research and communication-related concepts based on the content of this article when studying related topics. On a practical level, the development of rural http://www.baidu.com/link?url=aWbCkD9wHTWkQyri563JBRYMem_xZSeHWzHFEabhu6sMl8nbWA3GMu_dFdVLaJzbVLif61yAZztX4UV-8hCWBT2Lzqe_3jIGPDEhpt8egW1jXQ-Z0dEqb4ThhyrfYIMEObHgMtm744YaCwNTYy6YTa BCP Education & Psychology CEPC 2022 Volume 8 (2023) 96 short videos is influenced by the policy guidance of the Central Government's "Opinions on Comprehensively Promoting Rural Revitalization" [2]. As an important communication medium in the age of We-Media, short videos have far-reaching implications for the future of regional culture, rural revitalization, and the interaction the study of rural short videos on vernacular culture can help explore the factors that affect the development of rural short videos and the dissemination of vernacular culture to guide the positive development of rural short video creators and short video production. It is an important instruction to combine short video development with rural revitalization work and clarify the importance of Internet technology for developing short videos and disseminating local culture. This will regulate the expression of the public discourse in short video content and achieve a positive interaction between the media reality and the social reality, thus helping to promote the further development of rural revitalization and realize the coordinated development of ecological, economic, and cultural diversity. 2. The Cultural Output of Rural Short Videos in a Post-epidemic Era In the post-epidemic era, influenced by transportation restrictions, home quarantine, and other uncontrollable factors, short videos, in addition to their basic "viewing function", are gradually integrated into people's daily life. By promoting the integration and development of various industries and serving social and economic construction, short videos with high-quality materials have become a key route of production and a requirement for local culture [4, 5]. For example, rural short video creators such as Xiang Cun Chengzi, Li Ziqi, and others show their daily work and life in China and abroad through short videos, presenting their rural culture with Chinese color in the camera language and promoting the two-way communication of rural culture at home and abroad. Due to the epidemic, there are limitations on activities both in and outside of China. And there is a linguistic barrier between different people. Rural short videos show the natural countryside through the short video platform, encouraging the public to explore the countryside and local culture. To alleviate the public’s emotional, behavioral, and cognitive stress in the context of the epidemic, the process of the dissemination of rural short videos achieves a two-way communication of local culture at home and abroad. As an example, the creator of the countryside short video, XianBuZhuDeAjun, has been working on a series of short videos. Ajun posted his early works on short video platforms using the humanities and stories of various regions as the theme of the documentary. Still, the videos were not well known because they needed novel content. In 2020, due to the epidemic and for personal reasons, he returned home to live with his parents and had the idea of making a video on village life. Since releasing his first video in July 2021, His fan base has grown tremendously in a single year. The content of his works focuses on themes such as featured food and village life, bringing rural life to the audience through vivid camera language. The preference of today's viewers for rural short videos has a lot to do with the background of today's environment, where people have strong empathy for rural life and idyllic landscapes in the era of the epidemic. The simple and real life of the countryside is blocked by epidemic prevention and control, making people long for it even more. At the same time, in the post-epidemic era, in order to alleviate the public's anxiety about going out, the short video platform presents the countryside and vernacular culture for foreign viewers to understand further the construction of China's countryside and the differences in the development of the countryside and vernacular culture in China and abroad. And allow them to see the differences between China and foreign countries in rural culture. 3. The Development of Short Video from the Perspective of Rural Revitalization Short rural videos are affected by the Central Government's Opinions on comprehensively promoting the key work of rural revitalization [2]. The entire party places a high priority on the encouragement of rural revitalization, and the trend is toward the promotion of technology, cultural BCP Education & Psychology CEPC 2022 Volume 8 (2023) 97 heritage, product sales, and the alleviation of poverty [6]. Through the joint development of multiple platforms, short videos can not only show the local customs and cultures of different regions but also show local specialties to the public through online platforms. Through live broadcasting, hanging links, and e-commerce cooperation, people expand marketing channels and sell local products [7]. By utilizing e-commerce to achieve the notion of the "smart countryside", these multi-platform interactive channels are more cost-effective than prior advertising and promote the growth of local characteristic industries and cultures, thereby revitalizing the countryside [8, 9]. Under the policy of rural revitalization, for example, media platforms and capital have strongly supported the development of rural short videos. Under the guidance of the policy, the communication discourse of short videos has been regulated, helping short videos explore the potential commercial value of traditional local culture and local development, thus greatly expanding the quantity of rural short video productions and the number of quality short video content creators. The main content of the countryside short videos is food, life, and agricultural technology. The number of likes on Tiktok's rural videos reached 12.9 billion between June 2020 and June 2021 [10]. It is thus clear that rural short videos have a very large audience base. The rise of the short video economy is a very rare opportunity for rural farmers who are thirsty for change and breakthroughs in the midst of the epidemic, so a large number of rural people have moved their products onto e-commerce platforms. Take video creator Taozijie, for example. She has not only harvested a lot of followers through her short video content of rural family life but has also marketed her hometown's peppers, daikon, dried radish, and other agricultural products through live streaming and e-commerce platforms. At the same time, she solved the employment problem of many farmers and achieved a stable income for them. According to the Statistical Report on Internet Development in China, the Internet penetration rate in rural areas of China reached 58.8%. Influenced by the development of the Internet, rural e-commerce is also gradually developing, providing favorable conditions for rural internet penetration, bridging the digital divide, and accelerating rural revitalization. Finally, with the media integration, the development of rural short videos focuses on three perspectives, cultural re-embedding, economic re- embedding, and technological re-embedding. These will explore innovative ways and new development models for the dissemination of rural short videos [11]. These will enable rural short videos to embark on a sustainable development path to promote the integrity, sustainability, and innovation of rural industries, rural culture, and rural construction. 4. The Interaction between Media Reality and Social Reality from the Perspective of Cultural Inheritance Media reality is not the same as social reality, but it is derived from it [12]. The American political commentator Lippmann also introduced the concept of the "pseudo-environment", which reflects the fact that the reality constructed by the media is not an exact representation of objective reality but rather a deviation from it. The countryside presented in short videos is not entirely real, and the media reality of short videos takes on a unique quality due to the role of algorithms and traffic [13]. The media reality presented by short videos should be close to the real and objective social reality rather than being reduced to entertainment and an appendage of the flow economy. Short videos should reinforce rural memory with the natural countryside and promote and inherit the rural culture [14]. Media reality has become an important basis for modern people to understand the objective world, adapt to the objective environment, and adapt their behavior. As a result, the dissemination of rural short videos through short video platforms constitutes an important socio-cultural scenario for rural models, rural construction, and vernacular culture. In the digital context, traditional media and new communication platforms, particularly short videos, are gradually forming a new pattern. Especially in the context of the We-Media era, the virtual context constructed by short videos has led to mixed feelings about the authenticity of the rural model constructed by short videos. First of all, the algorithm game behind the development of short videos has a far more significant impact on the discourse expression of the short video. We are facing the reality that algorithms are BCP Education & Psychology CEPC 2022 Volume 8 (2023) 98 replacing culture by abandoning the public nature of culture and using algorithms to integrate human thought, behavior, organization, and expression into the logic of big data and mass computing [15]. This shows that the algorithm behind the standardization of short videos is of great significance. Secondly, short videos also face the influence of the traffic economy the development of short videos and the "traffic" amount of the video will affect people's viewing and even guide the transformation of people's outlook on life, values, and world perceptions. From the current development, short videos cannot be completely separated from traffic because traffic has gradually become an important bargaining chip for short video platforms, advertisers, and creators. This influence has directly or indirectly affected the content and the value of the work produced by the creators of short videos. Clickbait, hype, and likes have all become important factors in attracting viewers, which is a "new market" that has developed in the digital context. On the one hand, the development of rural short videos needs the support of traffic. On the other hand, they also face the risk of being over-trafficked. Excessive traffic will lead to rural short videos falling victim to the traffic economy and entertainment. Balancing the relationship between rural short videos and traffic can lead to the positive development of rural short videos. Finally, the real countryside is the basis for the public's memory and emotional resonance of the countryside. In Vernacular China, Fei Xiaotong states that culture is the same social experience sustained by a system of symbols and individual memories. Therefore, the positive interaction between media reality and social reality allows the presentation of vernacular culture and vernacular patterns without distortion. Maintaining popular countryside memory to create a good and authentic communication context for Chinese and foreign viewers, thus guiding contemporary youth to the inheritance of vernacular culture and the continuation of vernacular culture in humanism. 5. Suggestions The study takes the dissemination of rural short videos for local culture as the main research object. This paper discusses how rural short videos will develop in the future and offers the following recommendations for disseminating rural short videos for rural culture. Firstly, platforms should clarify the advantages and disadvantages of short video platforms in the digital context for the integration of technology and make reasonable use of Internet technology to realize the value function of short videos. Short video creators should innovate the development path of short videos and spread local culture through multiple channels realizing the two-way export of Chinese and foreign culture. At the same time, the e-commerce platforms should be integrated with rural development to promote rural revitalization. And secondly, the media and social reality should create a healthy interaction, thereby regulating the expression of public discourse, improving the professionalism of short video creators, and optimizing the quality of short videos. It also can attract young people to rural construction and the dissemination of rural culture. 6. Conclusion The study found that rural short videos have steadily taken over as the mainstay of short video platforms in the era of expanding We-Media. They connect local culture and local specialties through the involvement of internet technology, helping localities to revitalize the countryside in the fields of culture and economy. In the context of the Corona Virus Disease epidemic era, short videos guide policies and intervene in mainstream media by integrating Internet technology, which has fulfilled the public's psychology of seeing the natural countryside as it is. It also achieved a two-way export of vernacular culture, awakening the public's vernacular memory. As an important communication medium in the digital context, short videos realize the interaction between media reality and social reality in the process of their dissemination, and the authenticity of the media becomes the focus of short video development. Short rural videos contain rural memories, rural patterns, and rural construction and influence people's perceptions and behaviors as an important social and cultural BCP Education & Psychology CEPC 2022 Volume 8 (2023) 99 factor. At the same time, the spread of local culture on the short video platform has aroused the resonance of the public and thus has an important social impact. Media literacy is the key to the future development of short videos. The improvement of media literacy can facilitate the emergence of an authentic and objective communication context. This paper analyzes the development of rural short videos in the new media ecological background, which helps researchers to gain a deeper understanding of rural short videos and vernacular culture. However, due to the fact that few foreign researchers have studied rural short videos and regional culture, there is still insufficient analysis of foreign studies about it. It is expected that scholars will conduct further research on the dissemination of regional culture in foreign rural short videos in the future. References [1] Neil Postman. Amusing ourselves to death. Yilin Press, 2003. [2] Xi Jinping. Opinions of the State Council of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Key Efforts to Comprehensively Promote Rural Revitalization in 2022. Qinghai Agro-Technology Extension, 2022, 1: 3-8. [3] Website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission. 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