‘Positive Energy’ ( Zheng Nengliang ) as an Emotional Regime
Reframing Aging and Femininity in the Chinese Reality Show The Blooming Journey
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24229833 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Wei Dong (0000-0002-7632-2386, Chongqing University), Xuan He (0000-0001-8150-0135, Chongqing University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-17 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-27 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Australian Feminist Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1321-7568 • E-ISSN: 1465-3303 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/08164649.2026.2675951 |
| OpenAlex | W7162491908 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 24 |
While ‘positive energy’ (zheng nengliang) pervades Chinese media and political discourse, its empirical analysis remains limited. Drawing on multimodal critical discourse analysis, this article examines its operation in the reality show The Blooming Journey, focusing on the show’s representation of older women. Theorising ‘positive energy’ as an ‘emotional regime’, we explore how this state-aligned regime prescribes normative emotions and constructs an idealised vision of female aging. We argue that, similar to Western neoliberal postfeminism, the show celebrates older women’s autonomy and resilience, yet by carefully establishing an alternative social community and by sublimating their social value with cultural confidence and national pride, it recasts this empowerment with a collectivist and nationalist framework. However, we contend that this recasting is neither seamless nor without cost: older women’s emotional suffering, vulnerability, and ambivalence often surface onscreen as affective residues. These contested performances, we suggest, illuminate not only how this regime co-opts individualistic affects to reinforce social harmony and national identity, but also the inevitable tensions and even failures produced by this affective mechanism, reminding us that the media construction of older women still involves the systematic erasure of their complex lived experiences.
Affect · Chinese media discourse · Collectivism · emotional regimes · female aging · Femininity · media representation of aging · National identity · Nationalism · Older women · positive energy · postfeminism · Reality television · Gender and Feminist Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Media, Gender, and Advertising
The Navigation of Feeling
Discourse and Practice
Introduction to Multimodal Analysis
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The media image of Chinese older people
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Fake Happiness
| Highly cited | No |
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