Resist or Comply: How Audiences Respond to Emotional Propaganda in Chinese Short-Form Videos

Through a variety of formats, short-form videos evoke emotions in their target audiences to serve specific political objectives. The Communist Party of China (CPC) exemplifies this through its softer propaganda approach that seeks to reach audiences emotionally. At the same time, there is little research on audience interpretations and emotional responses to this emotional propaganda or on their broader attitude toward the propaganda system. This study addresses the existing research gap by conducting semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 32 Chinese citizens and employing folk theories to uncover their emotional responses and associated outcomes. The findings reveal that, other than the conformity exemplified by feeling touched emotionally, two additional emotional stances of neutral indifference and aversion have emerged that represent moderate and strong facets of emotional resistance. Based on these folk theories, this study delineates audience–authority relationships into co-construction, compromised adaptation, and opposition. Finally, this paper integrates individual, political, cultural, and technological factors to explain the reasons behind each type of emotional response. By offering theoretical and practical insights, this research illuminates the tensions and challenges associated with emotional manipulation and the management of audience emotions within an authoritarian context.