Hashtag mourning and moralized affect: Emergence, circulation, and publicity in China's #FarewellAndMemory

This study theorizes the formation of affective publics by analyzing the hashtag mourning event #FarewellAndMemory surrounding Zhu Ling in China. Drawing on sentiment, thematic, and discourse analysis, it maps a three-stage process of affective publics: emergence, where morally triggered affect arises in response to perceived injustice; circulation, where empathetic emotions transform across networked bodies; and publicity, where affect is negotiated and expressed through culturally encoded moral vocabularies. Unlike liberal paradigms grounded in rights-based discourse, affective publics in China are shaped by embedded moral values, transforming affect into visibility through culturally resonant concepts that reflect zhen-shan-mei (truth-goodness-beauty), gongzheng (justice) and zhengyi (righteousness). This trajectory reflects a negotiated affective dynamic within China's sociopolitical framework, where affect becomes both culturally grounded and politically adaptive. This culturally grounded affective dynamic reveals how moral order underlies the emergence of what this article conceptualizes as moralized affective publics in a non-Western sociopolitical framework.