Social Media Users Response to the Chinese Spring Festival Gala--A Case Study of 2024 Dragon Years Spring Festival Gala in Weibo

Abstract: As getting into Web 2.0, social media as a way of constant interaction is popularizing, with users discussing events that are related to their lives on social media. Spring Festival Gala (SFG), as an annual event on the last day of the lunar Chinese year, is of significant meaning. This paper uses content analysis, choosing the case of 2024 Dragon Years Spring Festival Gala, analyzing netizens responses and evaluations on Weibo, to discuss how netizens respond to this years Spring Festival Gala. This study is helpful in exploring the audiences acceptance of the SFG through social media, as well as the causes of different responses, to make suggestions and provide considerations for improving the SFG in the future. Stuart Halls theory is used as the framework to classify the responses from netizens, which are dominant reading, negotiated reading, and resistive reading. As a result, this paper argues that the dominant reading demonstrates the identification of cultural confidence, Silk Road diplomacy. Negotiated reading demonstrates a kind of stress for the present and uncertainty for the future.