The Cultivation, Performance and Governance of Emotions in Digital Era in Contemporary China

Internet, particularly mobile Internet, and related applications, platforms and devices have been largely popularised in contemporary China. As the digital landscape becomes increasingly embedded in daily life, various online spaces now serve as critical arenas for the expression, amplification, and negotiation of emotions. In other words, digital platforms notably mediate and reshape emotional experiences in relation to offline social realities. Unlike physical spaces where emotional expression is often tempered by face-to-face interaction and social norms, online environments can foster heightened emotional responses due to anonymity, the rapid dissemination of information, and algorithm-driven content circulation. Thus, digital platforms may intensify, distort, and even polarise emotional responses based on the interconnections between online and offline spheres. Additionally, the amplification of emotions through public discussion on digital platforms can exacerbate social divisions, fostering emotional rifts between different social groups and creating social distinctions. This, in turn, poses challenges to social harmony and complicates the state’s approach to emotional governance.

By interrogating how digital emotions are cultivated and performed, and drawing on key debates in emotional sociology, this paper asks how these digital emotions can both challenge and inform traditional concepts of emotional experience. Moreover, it explores the implications of these dynamics for emotional governance in contemporary China, addressing how the state and society respond to the unique emotional landscapes forged in the digital age.