Reconstructing divorce on Xiaohongshu
A corpus-assisted critical narrative analysis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19222151 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jiapei Gu (0000-0003-0626-5387, Lingnan University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-22 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Semiotics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1035-0330 • E-ISSN: 1470-1219 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10350330.2026.2667942 |
| OpenAlex | W7160332920 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 37 |
China’s rising divorce rate has become a significant public issue, yet how everyday internet users collectively make sense of this phenomenon remains under-investigated. Drawing on a dataset of five posts and 3868 comments from Xiaohongshu, this study employed computational topic modeling and critical narrative analysis to investigate how individuals share “small stories” to discursively construct and negotiate the meaning of marital dissolution. The findings reveal a discursive tension: a dominant discourse upholds family structural completeness, positioning divorcees as “irresponsible” and their children as “impaired.” Conversely, a female-oriented counter discourse reframes divorce as a liberating escape from toxic marriages, empowering women and redefining children of divorce as “resilient.” By emphasizing love over structural definitions of family, these narratives challenge traditional patriarchal views and shift the public conversation toward a more positive, agentic trajectory
Critical discourse analysis · Discourse analysis · Field (mathematics) · Narrative · Narrative inquiry · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Translation Studies and Practices
Small Stories, Interaction and Identities
Discourse and Identity
Feminism in Transition
Social media critical discourse studies (SM-CDS)
Exploring the Space of Topic Coherence Measures
Systematizing destigmatization in the context of media and communication
The postfeminist entrepreneurial self and the platformisation of labour
China's Divorce and Remarriage Rates
Political Effects of the Internet and Social Media
Asymmetric discursive struggle
Paradox in marriage values and behavior in contemporary China
The effect of parental divorce on the sexual life and marital well-being of offspring in China
Divorce trends in China across time and space
Building iterativity into positioning analysis
Reactive Law or Conservative Law? The Reform of Divorce Procedure in China
Representations of “Divorced” in Turkish media on psychological health
Reimagining maternity
Critical narrative analysis
Attitudes to Marriage and Sexual Behaviors
Impacts of Parents' Divorce on Chinese Children
Chinese women revising meanings of marriage and divorce
Homing’ Guangzhou
Romantic relationship beliefs of Chinese emerging adults following parental divorce
Small stories as a new perspective in narrative and identity analysis
Introduction-Topic models
A Mosaic Temporality
On MSN with buff boys
Divorce Trends and Differentials in China
Growing Up Online Through Divorce
Experiences of Autonomy in Marriage and Divorce Within the Chinese Traditional System
Are Children from Divorced Single-Parent Families Disadvantaged? New Evidence from the China Family Panel Studies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |