Virtual Ethnography of Chinese Jazz Culture Across Major Platforms: Memes, Posts, and Participation

In the past five years, there has been an increasing number of research papers on the virtual ethnography of jazz music and its fans; however, there are almost no studies on the virtual jazz life of Chinese netizens. This article addresses this gap by analyzing platform vernaculars, including memes, posts, commentaries, and forum threads—on RedNote and exploring their influence on recent jazz culture and urban life in China. The findings suggest that online platforms reshape jazz participation by lowering barriers to entry, expanding audiences beyond elite urban spaces, and enabling new forms of affective, symbolic, imaginary engagement. This research contributes to studies of jazz communities, digital music cultures, and the globalization of jazz by demonstrating how jazz is locally reinterpreted and emotionally circulated through everyday digital practices in contemporary China.