This study explores how Egyptian audiences interpret Sino-Egyptian cultural content in livestreams featuring imperial tomb symbolism from both Egypt and China. Using Hall’s encoding/decoding model, this article examines how viewers negotiate meaning, compare traditions and construct cultural understanding in a digital, cross-cultural setting. Data were collected in 2025 through written interviews, participant observation and digital trace analysis among Egyptian learners of Chinese. Results show that audiences actively identified both shared themes – especially beliefs about the afterlife – and cultural distinctions, such as Egypt’s emphasis on individual immortality vs. China’s focus on lineage and social continuity. Viewers used comparative strategies to map similarities, build equivalences and deepen interpretation. Interactive livestream features such as chat, Q&A and visual presentations encouraged collaborative meaning-making and interpretive community formation. Overall, the study demonstrates how digital media can enable reflective, participatory engagement with cultural heritage and highlights the active role of audiences in shaping cross-cultural understanding.
Wu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.