The "Cancel Culture" in Chinese Modern Public Discourse: a Conceptual Aspect

• Published in: Litera no. 6; pp. 322 - 332
• Main Authors: Kozhemyakina, Valeriya Alekseevna, Kravtsova, Anna Vladimirovna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.06.2025
• ISSN: 2409-8698; 2409-8698
• DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2025.6.71289

This research, conducted in the field of sociolinguistics and discoursology, aims to determine the content base of the phenomenon of "cancel culture" and its conceptual perception in Chinese linguoculture. The relevance of the research is due to the increased interest in the phenomenon of "cancel culture" in modern public discourse, expressed by an impressive number of publications and active disputes about the status of this phenomenon. The subject of the study is the conceptual characteristics of the phenomenon of "cancel culture" and related concepts. The object of the research is the modern public discourse, temporally limited by the moment of formation of the phenomenon of "cancel culture" in society. The article examines in detail the main definitional features of the concepts "cancel culture" and "blocking", as well as the prerequisites for their formation due to the widespread phenomenon of "cancel culture" in the Western community.  The main research methods used in this article include definition and etymological analysis. The novelty of the research lies in the analysis of the native Western phenomenon of "cancel culture" from the point of view of Chinese linguistic culture, as well as its implementation in modern Chinese public discourse. The main conclusions of this study include the following: "cancel culture" in the Western perception of the phenomenon has a certain manipulative potential, which allows to form a subjective reality in public discourse; a set of semantic features inherent in the concepts of "取消文化" ("cancel culture") and "封杀"("blocking") in Chinese public discourse, is reduced to action, target action, sphere, causes, category of phenomenon, addressee and addressed, as well as their external assessment; the sign of action is identical in relation to the interpretations under consideration and is expressed synonymously next to the meaning "prohibition" or "restriction"; "封杀" ("blocking") is a one-word representative of the concept of "取消文化" ("cancel culture").