01921nas a2200157   4500000000100000008004100001653002700042653001500069653002400084653002000108653001700128100001300145245012300158856015400281520132800435                                       d10aDouyin (TikTok) videos10aICH policy10aperformance studies10aproducer agency10aSocial media1 aYinzi Yi00aNegotiating performance between policy and platform — heritage practice of a Chinese craftsperson on Douyin (TikTok)  uhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85165475423&doi=10.1080%2f13527258.2023.2237495&partnerID=40&md5=30fab90a82c877f4fd79b2099b7e0a663 aThe pervasiveness of digital media has profoundly transformed how we preserve and promote intangible cultural heritage (ICH). With the growing popularity of Douyin, a video-focused social networking platform, ICH inheritors in China have begun to post videos that showcase their artisanship. On the one hand, the affordances of Douyin encourage its users to keep up with the latest trend, subjugating them to mimetic participation; on the other hand, heritage policies in China foster the top-down formation of nationalist identity. Therefore, how heritage practitioners negotiate between the top-down authority of policies and the horizontal mimesis of the platform is a matter of concern. This paper applies performance analysis to explore the Douyin videos of a Chinese craftsperson, Li Niangen, a municipal ICH inheritor whose Douyin videos are highly popular. ICH policies in China and the affordances of the platform may support the formation of distinct identities. However, by assuming multiple and even contrasting roles in his videos, Li is fully engaged in none of them. This paper proposes that the presentation of multiple roles copes with the conflicting logic in Chinese society. In addition, the misalignment of these roles may simultaneously utilise and unsettle the administrative and digital authorities.