‘National Warriors’ and ‘Solo Celebrity’: Gender and Sport Nationalism in Media Representations of Chinese Women’s Volleyball and Li Na

Media play a central role in translating athletic success into national meaning, yet gendered dynamics of sport nationalism remain underexamined. Although women have achieved high visibility in Chinese elite sport, differences in their national representation are insufficiently explored. Drawing on discourse analysis of news headlines and selected national media reports published within one week of major victories, this article examines portrayals of the Chinese women’s volleyball team and tennis player Li Na. Coverage of women’s volleyball is closely intertwined with nationalist discourse, mobilising narratives of collective struggle, historical memory and national revival that frame the team as gender-neutral ‘national warriors’. In contrast, portrayals of Li Na foreground individual success, celebrity and commercialisation, producing a more ambivalent and gendered articulation of nationalism marked by androgyny and relational dependence. The article demonstrates how gendered sport nationalism is differentiated within Chinese media through distinct representational logics applied to team and individual female athletes.