As one of the most popular online media in China, personal livestreaming attracts massive attention and effects on human social communication in multiple novel ways. This article explores the semiotic mechanism of the barrage, a special form of commenting, on China’s livestreaming platforms. Drawing on cultural semiotic theories, it discusses the impact of the barrage by the fandom of China’s livestreaming. Two interrelated semiotic paradoxes are created by two interrelated forms of markedness from the use of the barrage by Chinese livestreaming fans, that is, the markedness of time and the markedness of space. Through careful assessment of the use of the barrage in China’s livestreaming fandom, this article sheds new light on China’s livestreaming and its potential impact on the future of digital China.
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