Representation of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing in the Memosphere of the PRC: Conflictological Analysis

Abstract

The paper claims that the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, held in country, known for it`s socio-cultural peculiarities, reveals wide opportunities for this sport mega-event representation. The context is often unavailable for the audience beyond China, which is caused by Chinese media discourse ethno-cultural features. Such media discourse component as memes expresses online sociocultural identity, the way of thinking, behavior and values of the audience. The study examined 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing Chinese memes using the methodology tested before. The aim of the research was to study the Chinese Olympic memes-sphere. The sample deals with 450 memes, selected in Chinese Internet sector. The monitoring was held by Chinese masters of the journalism faculty. The memes were sampled from the students` social media news feeds and special platforms, dealing with Olympic memes. The main criteria were meme's relevance (accordance to the Beijing Olympic themes) and the type (only creolized memes used to be included). The 1000-memes sample was originally formed (B №=1000), then 450 memes were selected for the second research stage (B1 №=450). The research found that Chinese meme sphere has vivid features, which influenced Olympic discourse.