Metapragmatic comments deconstructing the concept of self-mockery in Chinese on social media

This paper aims to unpack perceptions of self-mockery in present-day Chinese using an online self-mockery viral event. The metapragmatic analysis of comments indicates that its interpretation is closely intertwined with other cultural factors and open to construal in a folk manner. Despite folk concepts being largely consistent with etic understandings of self-mockery, they are at the same time emotional and socially salient. The interpretation of self-mockery within a social practice is determined by how it is enacted by what person and in comparison with others, i.e., the situationally (un)approved and culturally salient meaning.