Platformed vulnerability and resilience: Identity negotiation of left-behind children on Xiaohongshu in China

While traditional media representations of left-behind children (LBC) have been widely studied, limited attention has been paid to how their identities are constructed in digital spaces. This study employs multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) to examine how LBC identities are discursively and visually constructed on Xiaohongshu, a prominent Chinese social media platform, and to explore the broader sociocultural meanings embedded in these representations. The analysis identifies three interrelated dimensions of identity construction: individual, familial – educational, and social, through which LBC are represented through intersecting narratives of emotional vulnerability and psychological resilience, material deprivation and educational aspiration, and social marginalization and collective responsibility. The findings demonstrate that platformed LBC identities are dynamic and multilayered, emerging through the interaction of cultural norms, structural conditions, platform mechanisms, and communicative practices. By demonstrating how social media co-construct public understandings of marginalized childhoods, this study contributes to ongoing debates on digital mediation, identity construction, and the evolving social landscape of contemporary Chinese society.