From Wedding Ritual to Screen Viewing: Context and Interpretation in Short Videos of Tujia Bridal Lamentation

Abstract

Short videos can make bridal lamentation emotionally accessible while leaving its sung words and ritual relationships difficult to follow. This article examines that problem through Tujia heritage documentation, the recorded biography of singer Peng Zuxiu, and English-language scholarship on performance, bridal laments, heritage, and digital media. A comparative reading of Pan Cailian's Nanhui lament repertoire shows how a visible refusal of food becomes a blessing through the sung addresses that follow; published Douyin examples show how video can distinguish a finished performance from the process of teaching it. These materials inform an account of contextual legibility: the availability of relationships, verbal expression, and attributed explanation within a presentation. The analysis considers what is lost when a reply is cut, a phrase is shortened, or editorial interpretation substitutes for translation. It argues that digital heritage should be assessed through the understanding its presentation makes possible, alongside the attention it attracts. The article develops a source-based conceptual argument and outlines a practical approach to analysing public video without physical fieldwork.