doi: 10.18178/IJLLL.2026.12.1.624
Communication of City Image through Urban Symbols on Social Media: Take Nanjing as an Example
Huiying Zhang *
,
- Hohai University, Jiangsu, China
- Manuscript received September 20, 2025
- accepted December 7, 2025
- published February 26, 2026
Abstract
This article explores how individuals acquire information about Nanjing’s urban symbols through Chinese social media platforms in their daily lives. Two questionnaires were administered to assess respondents’ knowledge of Nanjing’s symbols and the channels through which they receive related information. Symbols identified from the first questionnaire were analyzed using Exploratory Factor Analysis and subsequently grouped into four categories. These four categories of symbols, along with seven major Chinese social media platforms, were then examined through multivariate regression analysis. The results revealed that compared with food symbols Weixin (WeChat) was more effective in communicating landmark symbols and Xiaohongshu was comparatively less effective in disseminating cultural symbols.
Keywords
- city image
- urban symbol
- social media
How to Cite
Huiying Zhang and Jiachen Zhou, "Communication of City Image through Urban Symbols on Social Media: Take Nanjing as an Example," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 15-22, 2026. https://doi.org/10.18178/IJLLL.2026.12.1.624
Copyright & License
Copyright © 2026 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).