‘Capturing the shining moments’: performing liminoid Seichi Junrei on social media

Abstract

Seichi Junrei (聖地巡礼) is an emerging form of tourism in which visitors pilgrimage to locations depicted in cultural works. It has been popularized by visitors through creative representations on social media. This article conducts a netnography of Seichi Junrei experiences on Douban, a Chinese social media platform related to popular culture, to examine the application of liminoid in tourism in a media-saturated era. Findings show that Seichi Junrei is liminoid in that pilgrims sanctify ordinary locations and perform distinct practices from the mundane. The characteristics of anti-structure become ambiguous as Seichi Junrei is reproduced in a structured condition constructed by pilgrimage manners. However, the combinations of pilgrims’ subjectivity, communal admiration for cultural works, and platform vernaculars and affordances of Douban support expressions of Seichi Junrei as an engagement of aura that transcends the norms. The article contributes to studies of the intersection of tourist experiences, liminality, and social media by exploring how social media perpetuates and reconceptualizes liminoid in Seichi Junrei.

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