Meaningful Multi-Stakeholder Participation via Social Media in Coastal Fishing Village Spatial Planning and Governance

Abstract

Due to the rapid development of China’s economy, the current situation of fishing villages in the southeastern coastal areas is spatial disorder caused by changes in population composition and industrial transformation. This study analyses the differences between the clan structure and the multi-stakeholder engagement model in traditional fishing villages. The main aim is to illustrate contemporary issues that fishing villages’ spaces need to deal with in governance and decision making. With the development of information technology, social media has become an important platform through which stakeholders can communicate and make decisions. The aims of this paper were as follows: (1) Identify the stakeholders involved in the governance of fishing villages; (2) explore how stakeholders participate in the planning and governance of fishing villages through social media; (3) examine the mechanisms of social media and its impact on the spatial planning of fishing villages. Through qualitative research methods such as field surveys and in-depth interviews, the following results were obtained: (1) Social media subverts the traditional fishing village governance model, and the scope of the governance subject is expanded; (2) spatial changes in fishing villages are affected by the joint influence of people, the environment, and the economy, and a social network acts as an intermediary to compensate for the deficiencies that existed in previous fishing village governance processes.

1. Introduction

Effective governance through spatial planning has a long history of development in Western society, and there are many forms of spatial planning and governance, such as the famous De Architectura treatise, which became a principle of urban planning two thousand years ago and laid the foundation for typical patterns of development in many European cities [1]. In modern times, city planning is typically state-led or market-led, with many functional zones forming the pattern of the city [2]. In the 21st century, more emphasis is being placed on community participation in design, which will help ameliorate the social and economic issues arising from the mismanagement of physical space [3]. Consequently, over the past two decades, community participation has played an increasingly important role in urban renewal [3].

In recent years, top-down community participation led by national programs has also been implemented in developing countries, but national leadership typically focuses more on political responsibility than on community interests, resulting in low levels of satisfaction among residents and a failure to generate positive benefits [4]. Traditional urban planning can no longer meet the needs of the new era, and public participation workshops for urban renewal must be changed into cooperative workshops according to the different conditions of the community to achieve the goals effectively [5]. The single theory of community participation, therefore, cannot be applied to spatial governance in different national conditions. For example, in China, urban regeneration has been ongoing since 1978, but recent studies have shown that most Chinese cities have not considered social sustainability in the urban regeneration process, resulting in more urban sprawl, social exclusion, and environmental pollution [6]. Case studies in China have shown that state-led community participation, in the absence of democratization, tends to be a formality as more structural problems remain unresolved and thus fail to produce the desired sense of residential cohesion and local belonging [4].

However, are participatory approaches not suitable for China? Or is there a participatory approach that has not yet been discovered in China? Most of China’s rural areas are frozen in time and space and have maintained traditional patterns, architectural forms, and lifestyles for hundreds of years; however, rural areas near the urban periphery are experiencing intense urbanization, mainly due to changes forced by urban expansion [7,8,9,10]. Furthermore, almost none of the fishing villages along the coast of China have been spared the impact of industrial restructuring and urbanization [11,12,13]. Mainly because coastal cities serve as China’s primary gateways [12,14] to globalization, industrial concentration, population migration [15], and socio-economic transformation [16,17] have collectively led to either the demolition of some fishing villages or the preservation of only fragmented historical districts and buildings [18]. Without fisheries and fishermen, these villages lose their essence as fishing communities. Some fortunate ones have been transformed into coastal resorts [19,20,21,22,23]; others have become abandoned villages [13]. In the tide of national development, fishing villages have not only lost their population but also their unique characteristics [12,17,24]. However, fishing villages are of utmost importance in the history of human development [25].

Fishing villages are usually located in coastal waters or estuaries, where fishermen have long retained skills passed down from generation to generation and rarely disseminate their social networks outwards [25,26]. As these fishing villages are mostly clustered and have strong defenses, their governance model is clan-based [17,27,28], and within the village, public gathering spaces centered on wells, ponds, and ancestral halls constitute the spatial core of traditional fishing villages [13]. However, the decline of subsistence fisheries necessitated a transformation of both fishermen and villages, with a state-dominated institutional framework replacing the clan-based spatial governance model [17,18]. However, in practice, due to the over-reliance on administrative power and the lack of social incentives, it is difficult to stimulate fishermen’s collective action to safeguard the resources and eliminate the prisoner’s dilemma of competition, and the effect of governance is not as effective as it should be [29,30]. Research on “how to improve the national regulatory model through the coordination of the relationship between the state and society, governance and development” has therefore been gradually conducted. In 2012, Ostrom et al. proposed and developed a community-owned governance model (i.e., good governance of the commons through multi-party participation and democratic consultation), but this model reveals obvious limitations when faced with such a large-scale dilemma as that of the marine fisheries industry [31]. In fact, since its inception, Western governance theories such as community-owned governance have clearly conveyed the position that the state should withdraw and return power to society, but many failures in governance practices in developing countries are due precisely to the dismantling of state logic in governance practices [32].

In recent years, with the rapid socio-economic transformation of China’s urban society, a variety of heterogeneous subjects, including the government, village committees, enterprises, rural talents, and villagers, are actively participating in rural spatial practices. Multi-party participation has accelerated the spatial transformation, reconstruction, and commercialization of rural areas in China from productivism to post-productivism and multifunctional modern countryside [33]. In addition, with the development of technology, the forms of participation have changed. In addition to traditional in-person participation, relevant stakeholders can use the Internet to collaborate in a more direct, real-time, and networked manner [34,35]. In previous studies, new mechanisms, forms, and modes of transformation have been discussed in detail to seek the sustainable development of fishing villages [17,18,24,36], but e-participation through social media, and thus, changing the spatial planning model of fishing villages, has not been adequately studied.

E-participation in social media has led to a more diverse public sphere constructed by stakeholders [35,37] and these digital platforms also enhance citizen empowerment and social inclusion [38,39]. The purpose of this study was to clarify through a case study who the multiple stakeholders are, what mediums they use to participate in the spatial planning and management of a fishing village, and what manifestations occur in the space. Importantly, the cases show that the value lies not in the outcome of centralized planning but in restoring organic co-development between local residents, the living environment, and the economic system.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study Area

Xunpu village (XPV) in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, is a typical fishing village in the southern coastal cities of China, located at 118°44′ E longitude and 24°51′ N latitude, covering an area of 3.8 square kilometers (Figure 1). As of 2023, Xunpu village (XPV) had 1678 households and a population of about 6355 [40]. Before 2010, the fishing village was left isolated because of the urban renewal around it, and the overall landscape was depressed, leaving only elder residents and broken houses in the fishing village. XPV is a place with a profound cultural element, including religious and cultural buildings (Mazu Temple), ancient and famous trees, water wells, traditional buildings (Oster house), and fishing port landscapes.

XPV was the end point of the entire Quanzhou east coast tourist route [41], which is also situated near the famous UNESCO World Heritage Site: Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China [42]. It is therefore positioned as a service space for coastal tourism, and the government should ideally transform XPV into a “modern” historical and cultural district that meets the needs of modern tourism: neat, uniform, and modern. In 2013, except for the surrounding area of Mazu Temple being retained as a district, the context of the entire fishing village was almost entirely destroyed via the modern district square planning method, in accordance with the 2013 urban renewal plan [43]. Between 2013 and 2022, in a partnership between the government and developers, many green spaces were designated as sites for the planned construction of commercial and residential areas, e.g., Fenghai Road, which circles the coast, and Binhai Road, which runs from southeast to northwest surrounding XPV.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic initially delayed the demolition of XPV, and after the lockdown was lifted, the popularity of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) tourism attracted public attention. The planned demolition was then stopped, and the historic district was preserved.

2.2. Study Methods

The term Xunpu women refers to the women of Xunpu village, known for their traditional hair decoration style, clothes, and festivals, which have been given national ICH status in China [44]. As early as around 2020, the practices of Xunpu fishing women were regarded as local folk customs, and they would only appear during local festivals. Though loved by the public, these local customs enjoyed limited appreciation from an outsider’s perspective. However, this phenomenon has since spread throughout China in a short period of time and has become a prevalent study issue [36,45,46].

This study adopted a qualitative research approach integrating descriptive and explanatory frameworks. First, the process of XPV spatial change, industrial transformation, and social media participation in governance is documented and described through observation and interviews; second, the causes behind the phenomenon are analyzed in depth, i.e., (1) how multi-stakeholders participate in the collaborative governance of the fishing village space via social media; (2) how the fishing village space (XPV), ICH (fisherwomen’s culture), and multi-stakeholders are involved in the governance of the fishing village space; (3) the fishing village space (XPV), ICH (fisherwomen’s culture), and multi-stakeholder (governance) interaction mechanism (Figure 2); and (4) the significance of social media participation for fishing village governance.

This study utilized a case study approach to longitudinally track a single case (XPV), combining observations, in-depth interviews, and physical information to obtain data. The study process was as follows: On 9 September 2023, and 4 March 2024, a field investigation was conducted in XPV. The target of the investigation was the number and spatial distribution of intangible cultural heritage experience shops (ICHESs), mainly Zanhuawei shops (including clothing, headwear, photography, and makeup) The geographical location, natural environment, location characteristics, and Zanhuawei status quo of XPV were observed and recorded.

In the process of sampling investigation, the systematic sampling method was adopted in this study. Starting from the first ICHES in the first village entrance of XPV, one ICHES was taken as a sample every four shops. Finally, relevant information on 50 ICHESs was collected, such as the opening time, type, and service. The data are shown in

Table 1. Description of sampling stores in this study.

Categorization	Operator		Shop Source		Opening Time
	Native	Outsider	Tenancy	Own House	Before 2023	2023–2024	After 2024
Number of shops	31	19	29	21	4	39	7
Subtotal	50		50		50

. The total number of shops is approximately 246. In addition, the experiences and opinions of local residents, ICH inheritors, village party secretaries, tourists, makeup artists, and photographers were obtained through in-depth interviews (11 samples in Table S1). The data from the in-depth interview was keyed in verbatim for a subsequent text analysis (Table S1). Social media platforms are the focus of this study, and this study lists relevant social platforms and analyzes their roles and functions in XPV’s ICH tourism (Table S2). Case studies can provide rich and detailed descriptions of actual phenomena, especially single case studies, which are more likely to shed light on the “what”, “why”, and “how” [47]. There are specific patterns in the information obtained from sample surveys about the composition of ICHESs, the range of services, and the length of time in business, and in-depth interviews can reveal the underlying mechanisms and potential changes behind such complex phenomena.

3. Results

3.1. Transformation of Fishing Village Economy

Since the Tang and Song dynasties (around 618 AD), women in the fishing villages of XPV have continued to perform various folk activities. During major festivals, XPV women would wear traditional costumes and decorate their hair with flowers into a circle (called Zanhuawei) to celebrate together. This custom has continued for thousands of years [48]. However, the Cultural Revolution put XPV’s culture at risk of extinction, while the reform and opening up of the last century put the fishing village space at risk of demolition.

It was not until 2004 that the Quanzhou Municipal Government realized that the Xunpu fishing women’s folk customs are important and began to protect them, such as by establishing the “Grandma Waist Drum Team” (consisting of old women from Quanzhou Bay Village wearing traditional costumes and Zanhuawei, participating in various activities); incorporating Xunpu women’s customs into teaching materials; and performing traditional activities (teaching children traditional skills such as Zanhuawei and carving shells). As a result, the Xunpu women’s customs were included in China’s national ICH list in 2005 [49]. Subsequently, Fengze District incorporated Xunpu women’s customs into the school curriculum, and local school students learned ICH skills such as Zanhuawei.

In 2013, the first ICHES opened in XPV, focusing on providing an experience of ICH services and traditional fishing women’s costumes, and more ICHESs were subsequently opened in the village. In the following ten years, although the government continued to lead the promotion of XPV, the leisure industry featuring Xunpu women was only promoted within the entire Quanzhou city. It was not until 2023 that a Chinese film and television star (Zhao Liying) appeared on the cover of a magazine wearing Zanhuawei, and the photos swept across all major media platforms [40]. Influenced by the movie star effect, many Internet celebrities came to XPV to experience Zanhua (a verb meaning to decorate one’s hair with flowers like Xunpu fishing women’s), requesting “the same style as Zhao Liying” and uploading their selfies to social media platforms. For a time, topics such as “Be a Xunpu girl for a day” and “Zanhua in this life, be beautiful in the next life” became hot search topics on social media platforms. In addition, media platforms further promoted the development of Xunpu’s tourism and Zanhua industries. ICHESs are now spreading in XPV at a rate of three a day, and almost all shops, whether shops or residential buildings, have become Zanhua places.

According to a Xiecheng (a Chinese online travel service company) big data analysis, the overall travel orders in Quanzhou during the 2024 New Year holiday increased by 276% year on year. According to third-party estimates, Quanzhou City received 2.0458 million tourists during the New Year’s Day holiday in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 155.8% and an increase of 17.9% over the same period in 2019; the tourism revenue reached USD 193 million, an increase of 174.0% and 17.0% year on year [50]. In 2023, the number of domestic tourists in Fengze District reached 10.43 million, an increase of 57.9% year on year. Domestic tourism revenue reached USD 1.53 billion, up 69.3% year on year. Among the various trending topics, “Xunpu women. Zanhuawei” became popular on REDnote and other social media platforms, attracting more than 5 billion likes and receiving praise from UNESCO [51].

As of 6 April 2024, the survey findings in this study indicate that the number of shops offering Zanhuawei services (ICHESs) in XPV is approximately 246. With government support, XPV has constructed tourist service centers, shared bicycles, electric vehicles, and other supporting facilities. XPV has thus gradually transitioned from fishing to tourism. The traditional fishing industry has been on the decline, and the Zanhuawei-led cultural tourism industry has replaced the fishing industry as a new economic pillar of XPV. According to the statistical data obtained from field research, the daily turnover of XPV relying on ICHESs alone reaches USD 88,584 in the off-peak season and USD 272,568 in the peak season (

Table 2. ICHES revenue estimation.

Post	Average Price	Quantity of Shops	Off-Peak Season Daily Average Number of People	Peak Season Daily Average Number of People	Off-Peak Season Daily Turnover/USD	Peak Season Daily Turnover/USD
Zanhua	5.54	246	65	200	88,584.6	272,568
Makeup	20.77	246	65	200	332,112.3	1,021,884
Photography	27.70	246	65	200	442,923	1,362,840
Sum					863,619.9	2,657,292

Notes: Calculation basis: As of the statistical date, there were about 246 ICHESs in XPV. According to the average price of the market, the number of tourists is between 30 and 100 people per shop per day in the off-season, and between 100 and 200 in the peak season. The number of people is averaged for calculation.

).

However, over time, the field survey found that by 12 October 2024, the Zanhua industry development in XPV had gradually formed an M-shaped trend, and ICHESs with good momentum had not only opened branches in XPV but also in “West Street” (the main tourist attraction in Quanzhou), thus showing a trend of expansion. Those who did not operate well have closed down their shops or are transferring their shops (Figure 3). All in all, the Xunpu women’s ICH represented by Zanhuawei has greatly promoted the development of tourism in Quanzhou. As an important supplement to the fishing industry in XPV, tourism brings more opportunities to local residents.

3.2. Role of Social Media in Stakeholder Engagement

In existing research on social media, only a few studies come close to defining or clarifying the concept of social media. However, it is evident that they all consider social media to comprise various user-driven platforms. These platforms facilitate the dissemination of information, the creation of conversations, and communication with a broader audience. Essentially, social media is a digital space created by people and serving people, and it provides a network environment that is conducive to interactions at different levels (e.g., personal, professional, commercial, marketing, political, and social) [52,53].

New media platforms serve as both participants and intermediaries in the process of fishing village governance [54]. On the one hand, social platforms have their inherent operating mechanisms. On the other hand, they provide new avenues for other entities to participate [55]. The pyramid structure (Figure 4) within social platforms comprises platform rule makers at the top tier, who are responsible for controlling algorithms and traffic flow; content creators and multi-channel network (MCN) organizations at the middle tier, who are tasked with adapting to and making use of the rules; and ordinary users at the bottom tier, who function as both consumers and data providers for the algorithms. Multiple stakeholders also occupy different positions upon entering the social platform. For instance, government agencies, social organizations, Internet celebrities, and some large-scale investors often belong to the middle tier. They possess the ability to create content and can better adapt to and even exploit the platform rules to achieve their own goals. In contrast, villagers, tourists, netizens, etc., are at the bottom tier. They are not only influenced by the top-level rules and middle-level content, but their behaviors also feed back to the social platforms, serving as providers of algorithmic data.

The intrinsic operational mechanism of social platforms (Figure 5) comprises four core components [55]:

• User-generated content (UGC) serves as the foundational fuel, enabling users to create and consume multimedia content (text, images, videos, audio) that sustains platform activity. Motivations for UGC production include social engagement (identity formation through audience interaction) and economic incentives (monetization via traffic sharing and advertising).
• Traffic allocation mechanisms act as centralized power nodes, prioritizing efficiency (promoting viral content), diversity (mitigating content monopoly), and commercial interests (advertisement integration).
• Algorithmic recommendation systems construct user profiles based on demographic data (age, gender, location) to deliver personalized content.
• User behavioral feedback (e.g., dwell time, likes, comments, shares, search queries) constitutes training data for algorithmic optimization.

The thriving development of ICH tourism and the transformation of XPV can be attributed to the collaborative participation of multiple stakeholders. Through a “cultural heritage preservation + digital empowerment + regional collaboration” model, local cultural assets such as oyster-shell houses and Xunpu women’s ICH are integrated to construct an “online engagement–offline experience” closed-loop ecosystem. Leveraging new media platforms (also known as TikTok and REDnote), XPV employs short videos and live broadcasts to achieve cross-platform viral dissemination of cultural IPs, fostering a differentiated cultural tourism brand. In 2023, the Quanzhou Municipal People’s Government released its “Cultural Tourism +” Action Plan, which outlines an Online Travel Agency (OTA) new media operation mechanism encompassing four core modules: content production, traffic management, user engagement, and data-driven decision making. This systematic strategy enables omnichannel brand promotion. The resultant “policy guidance + market operation + technology-driven” framework provides a replicable model for ICH preservation and cultural tourism upgrading.

In the context of cultural–tourism integration, social media has emerged as a critical avenue for participatory engagement, with content-driven mechanisms serving as the cornerstone of user interaction. The most notable characteristic is its content-centric model, where content quality directly influences engagement metrics (likes, retweets, comments). Platforms employ a user-screening mechanism to foster niche communities through shared-interest aggregation (e.g., mutual following and content curation). In the context of cultural and tourism integration, social media has become an important way for individuals to make their voices heard. In addition, its most notable feature is the content-led model, where content is the key to attracting individual likes, retweets, and comments. Its operation mechanism is to attract and screen users through content (users with the same hobby pay attention to each other, like each other’s content, etc.), and the screened users form a high-quality community. In addition, in accordance with the push rules, the traffic-oriented community constantly stimulates users to publish better quality content, with better quality content then constantly stimulating new users to join the community and ultimately forming a virtuous circle such that the scale of users in the community and the amount of high-quality content are increasingly expanding.

Taking XPV as a case study, key stakeholders (celebrities, influencers, and large-scale travel agencies) act as flow catalysts, generating viral discussions around ICH tourism. This decentralized content production model shifts authority from institutional creators to collective member contributions, enabling crowdsourced cultural dissemination. Leveraging big data algorithms, platforms enhance dissemination efficiency by delivering tailored content to target audiences based on behavioral patterns (e.g., dwell time, click-through rates). The combination of high user engagement, algorithmic personalization, and community-driven content creation constitutes a replicable framework for cultural heritage activation in the digital era.

The substantial online engagement with ICH tourism has been effectively translated into offline tourism activities through cross-sectoral collaborative efforts. For instance, the Quanzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism’s official social media accounts have launched a series of promotional videos highlighting local cultural heritage and tourist attractions. These initiatives include user-generated content campaigns encouraging netizens to document “hidden gems,” and co-creation projects with influencers to develop viral photo spots and stimulate public discourse, thereby generating momentum for tourism activities. This strategy transforms the “ICH tourism fever” into a city-wide developmental opportunity. The offline implementation of online publicity materializes through three typologies of XPV’s ICH experience shops: (1) Government-invited galleries: established photography institutions with proven marketing models and financial resources, attracting private investment through public–private partnerships; (2) community-run enterprises: locally operated businesses managed by villagers; (3) externally invested ventures: projects funded by non-local entities.

Notably, government-invited galleries serve as catalysts for attracting additional investors, with all stakeholders leveraging social media as a primary promotional channel to sustain XPV’s ICH tourism ecosystem. Complementing these efforts, the Quanzhou government has introduced a dedicated “white bus” transit network connecting key attractions. As a taxi driver noted, “During holidays, traffic police are deployed to manage crowds, and all major Quanzhou attractions remain free of charge,” reflecting a visitor-centric approach to enhancing experiential quality.

3.3. Spatial Changes in Multi-Party Governance

Located at the mouth of the Jin River, XPV is a typical marine fishing village. Surrounding the village, there is the Mazu Temple, built in 1661 during the Qing Dynasty. There are shopping malls, high schools, and elementary schools in the fishing village. The commercial and residential areas established under the urban plan are located in the northwest of the fishing village.

With the participation of multiple stakeholders, the fishing village space has undergone significant changes (Figure 6). Firstly, the function of the village space has transformed from a single-purpose production and living space into a multifunctional composite space. Satellite maps from 2006 show that the surrounding area of XPV was still not fully developed. Fenghai Road had not been completed, and on the southeast side of the village, there was a large shallow beach with numerous puddles, which might have been used by local residents for aquaculture. Seven years later, in 2013, the previously unused open space on the southeast side of the village had completely dried up, and Fenghai Road was also dry, with a commercial residential area established on the northwest side of the village. By 2013, Fenghai Road had been fully repaired.

In 2022, another road starting from the southeast corner of XPV and extending to the northeast emerged, and the vacant land to the east of this road was developed into a commercial and residential area. The real transformation, however, took place after 2023. As ICH tours went viral on the Internet, many tourists flocked to XPV, leading to a soaring demand for experience shops. In 2024, the second year after XPV gained popularity, hundreds of experience shops and travel photography shops opened on both sides of XPV’s main road. Moreover, the village established a visitor service center near the Mazu Temple, turning it into a public space shared by both local residents and tourists.

The direct and indirect participation of multiple stakeholders has brought about changes in the spatial layout of the fishing village. The government has played a pivotal role in providing planning guidance and financial support, ranging from the overall planning of the fishing village to the construction of infrastructure. From the “Quanzhou City Xunpu Folk Culture Village Protection and Rectification Plan” issued by the Quanzhou Natural Resources Bureau on 17 December 2013, and the “Fujian Provincial Traditional Village: Protection and Development Plan for Xunpu Community, Donghai Street, Fengze District, Quanzhou City (2024–2040)” released on 2 September 2024, it is not difficult to observe the evolutions in government decision making under the joint participation of multiple stakeholders.

Firstly, the planning scope has been expanded. It was initially delineated as 12 hectares in 2013 and has now been increased to 51.56 hectares. Except for the core protection zone, whose scope remains relatively unchanged, in 2024, the coastal scenery on the southwest side of Fenghai Road will be fully exploited to construct four parks and squares. The aim is to create new trendy photo spots that align with the current popular esthetic preferences, similar to those often seen on Internet celebrity check-in spots.

Tourists’ needs and feedback have exerted a significant influence on the design and functionality of the fishing village space, propelling its transformation into a tourist-oriented area. Tourists shape the spatial planning of the fishing village through their tourism activities. For instance, the popular photography activities have led to a functional transformation of the traditional spaces within the fishing village.

In 2013, the core protection zone of XPV was divided into five areas: The Folk Cultural Activities Display Zone, the Religious Culture Pilgrimage Zone, the Special Architectural and Cultural Display Zone, the Art and Culture Plaza Zone, and the Fishermen’s Production and Experience Zone. However, the overall planning at that time was not detailed enough and has undergone substantial changes since then (Figure 7).

In contrast, the 2024 planning scheme clearly demonstrates the influence of resident participation, market regulation, and tourist feedback. For example, the Mazu Temple, ancestral halls, oyster shell houses, seascapes, and fishing boats, which were originally used by fishermen for religious rituals, worship, and daily living, have, due to their strong regional characteristics and cultural significance, become popular tourist attractions or been transformed into tourist shops and have been incorporated into the new planning. During an interview, the staff of a travel photography shop replied that “This is a clan temple, the ancestral home of a family, but now it serves as the studio of Earl’s Travel Photography Shop, where tourists come to get their makeup done and take photos”(Table S1, F-3).

Moreover, some tourists expressed their dissatisfaction on the Internet, with comments like “Zanhuawei” and remarks such as “There are too many people. It’s a dilapidated village, and the experience is really poor” (Table S2, line 4). These feedback remarks were promptly reflected in the transformation of the fishing village space. In October 2024, a Visitor Experience Center was established, and new commercial establishments such as milk tea shops, cultural and creative product shops, and coffee shops were added. Additionally, new commercial spaces, including flower and fruit parks, bazaars, and cultural and creative neighborhoods, have been created to enhance the overall travel experience for visitors. In response to tourists’ online complaints about the lack of parking spaces, the new plan has also included two additional parking lots.

Overall, the synergistic influence of multiple stakeholders has resulted in demand-driven transformations in the function, form, and utilization of the fishing village space. Driven by the tourism boom, local residents have gradually converted the traditional production and living space into a consumption-oriented one. They do so by opening ICH experience halls to engage in market competition, creating photo-shooting scenarios with distinctive XPV features to meet tourists’ demands, or selling local specialties along the streets and in front of the residences.

The photos of girls adorned with hairpins and flower bows have gone viral on short video platforms, portraying XPV as a picturesque and idyllic fishing village. Such a beautiful imagination serves as the crux for the success of the Internet celebrity economy, which entices people to flock to the tourist destination.

The involvement of capital has accelerated the commercial transformation of the fishing village space. The impact of the Internet celebrity economy has attracted many tourists to XPV to experience wearing Zanhuawei. Consequently, local residents’ houses have been repurposed as ICHESs. Moreover, the Mazu Temple, the oyster-shell houses, and even the Xunpu women have become popular Internet celebrity check-in spots, and the living space has also been commercialized.

On the other hand, the cultural heritage mission of ICH is conducted by government-organized groups and schools, which contribute to the sustainable development of the fishing village space by participating in cultural activities and environmental protection activities.

4. Discussion

4.1. E-Participation Spatial Governance Model for Fishing Villages

As part of digital social governance, the digitization of rural areas is growing rapidly and has become an effective way to address rural development issues [56], but research on digital governance has focused more on the technical aspects [57], such as the creation of digitally smart villages explored in most papers in China [58]; the smart village proposal initiated by the European Union [59]; and the digital inclusion strategy implemented in the UK [60]. Although there is no lack of cases of economic transformation facilitated by online communities in China (Zibo Barbecue [61], Tianshui Spicy Hot Pot [62], Luoyang Hanfu [63], etc.), the case of fishing villages governed by multi-stakeholders through social networks is rarely discussed.

The essence of public participation lies in citizens exercising their rights to ensure their opinions are systematically incorporated into government decision making [64]. As an extension of e-government and e-democracy, e-participation is widely recognized as an online mode of public participation—a civic engagement mechanism enabling individuals and organizations to influence policy making through digital platforms. This process relies on information technology to facilitate involvement in managing public affairs, aligning with the modernization of governance [53,65]. However, the difference between e-participation and traditional civic participation is not only the difference between online and offline modes; e-participation has the characteristics of high interactivity, real-timelessness, inter-temporality, and anonymity brought by information technology. Especially with the development of information technology and the evolution of public participation methods, the governance model of fishing villages is changing.

The earliest governance of fishing villages was mainly based on clan participation and decision making. However, due to national governance and urbanization, the governance of fishing village space has been decentralized. The planning of the fishing village space has also been detached from the living and production experience of traditional fishing villages, causing the fishing village to lose its original features. The subsequent main body of governance consists of clan elders, grass-roots governments (village committees, township governments), and villagers. The governance mechanism relies on traditional customs and township rules and regulations, and spatial development depends on the development of living and production activities. The popularity of social media has gradually compensated for the previous shortcomings. Social media allows residents of fishing villages to obtain policy information, learn about resource allocation dynamics, and stay instantly informed about public affairs, reducing the distortion and lag in information transmission caused by the hierarchical system. In addition, the user-generated content (UGC) model enables marginalized groups in traditional governance, such as fishermen, women, and youth, to voice their opinions through social media, creating online public opinion pressure, which provides unlimited possibilities for public participation. Local residents in XPV can learn about fisheries policy and tourism development through WeChat public numbers, WeChat groups, and short videos.

In the era of new media, the governance pattern of fishing villages has undergone a remarkable evolution. It has transitioned from the initial stage where government departments took the lead in management, to a phase of de-governmentalization and community autonomy, and ultimately towards the establishment of a comprehensive governance community. This new model effectively mobilizes the resources of the state, the market, and civil society, fostering a more collaborative and inclusive governance environment [30]. Meanwhile, the competition for discourse power has gradually shifted from the offline public domain to online social platforms. The original structure of the discourse power system has been disrupted. The dominance of elites, the government, and traditional media in terms of discourse power has been dispersed, while public intellectuals, various public interest groups, netizens, and bloggers have emerged as forces with an increasingly growing influence in shaping public discourse [66]. This shift has made e-participation a powerful force in the governance of fishing villages. Instead of relying on traditional promotion methods for ICH and tourism development, XPV has adapted to the trends of the times. The government and civil society organizations first invite celebrities and Internet influencers to experience the ICH items and then upload the related photographs and videos on social media platforms to expand their influence. Then, they invite renowned domestic photography studios to settle in XPV. By applying their proven business models, the influence of XPV is further expanded. Finally, in the face of the influx of tourists, the government responds to the challenges brought about by the rapid development of the tourism industry by establishing tourist service centers and improving infrastructure.

With the involvement of Internet celebrities and bloggers, ICH tourism has become even more popular. On the one hand, Internet celebrities leverage the popularity of celebrities to increase their own online traffic. On the other hand, they use their influence to promote ICH tourism. Local residents have also embraced the tourism industry. Some of them have chosen to open their own ICHESs or cooperate with others. Photo studios, freelance photographers, and makeup artists have also joined the trend, and they attract tourists by posting relevant videos and photos. At the same time, tourists’ online feedback and discussions have expanded the online influence of the ICH. The scope of discussion about the Zanhuawei is positively correlated with the diversity and number of users. The rapid dissemination features of the Internet have accelerated the spatial diffusion of the ICH. Although the ICHESs in XPV have reached a saturation point, their influence is spreading to Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, and even across the whole country.

4.2. The Social Network Jointly Constituted by Strong and Weak Ties

The change in strong and weak relationships has led to changes in the spatial governance model of fishing villages. The traditional governance model of fishing villages is dominated by strong relationships, but the addition of social media has brought the advantages of weak relationships to the fore, compensating for the shortcomings of strong relationships in the governance of fishing villages, and its influence has been expanding, and it has even become the key to the transformation of the economy of fishing villages.

In his 1973 article ‘The Strength of Weak Ties’, the American sociologist Mark Granovetter first proposed two models of relationships: strong ties and weak ties. Strong ties are characterized by a high degree of information overlap, a high degree of trust, and a small range, while weak ties are characterized by a low degree of information overlap and a wide range of communication [67]. The social relationship in traditional fishing villages is a typical “strong-tie” network. However, with the development of digital social media, the social network of the fishing village has gradually become a pattern composed of both strong ties and weak ties. Social media not only provide an online channel for strong ties (e.g., WeChat) but also magnify the advantages of weak ties (e.g., Weibo, TikTok, REDnote, etc.).

“The credit in rural society does not lie in the emphasis on contracts, but in the reliability that emerges when one is so familiar with the norms of a behavior that it becomes instinctive” [68]. Marine fishing villages, due to their geographical isolation, have formed relatively closed acquaintance-based societies dominated by strong ties rooted in blood, kinship, and fictive kinship. Clan elders and other community leaders exercise “intergenerational authority” to manage resources. Through long-term, high-frequency social interactions, villagers have developed strong interpersonal trust. Modern relationships, such as cadre–community ties and occupational networks, also contribute to these strong relational systems. As village leaders have a sense of the local culture of the fishing villages where they have lived for a long time, they will consciously undertake and fulfill their responsibilities of representing the fishing villages in communicating with government agencies and managing public affairs on behalf of the villagers [69]. The role of strong ties in promoting ICH activities is manifested in fishermen’s preference for transacting and transferring resources (e.g., property, land, and technical expertise) within their strong-tie networks. For instance, in XPV, local residents have preferential access to prime and affordable housing when establishing ICHESs compared to outsiders, thus leveraging familial, neighborly, and acquaintance-based social ties.

The continuous evolution of society has spurred rural differentiation, with traditional villages transitioning from subsistence economies to market-oriented systems [70]. The interplay between state intervention—manifested through policies like fishery subsidies, environmental conservation bans, and village committees’ integration of bureaucratic regulations into acquaintance-based societies—and market forces (e.g., e-commerce) has fostered the emergence of modern “weak ties”. This process has reshaped social networks into a hybrid model of coexisting strong and weak ties, fundamentally altering the spatial distribution of rural populations.

This hybrid social network extends beyond offline interactions. Online community relationships, characterized as semi-familiar ties between acquaintances and strangers, exhibit both connectivity and alienation—representing quintessential weak ties [71]. These loose, fluid connections form spontaneously and scale easily. Catalyzed by the Internet, they generate aggregation and fission effects [71]. For example, by 16 January 2025, a search for “Zanhua Quanzhou” on REDnote yielded over 650,000 posts, and the most popular post garnered 160,000 likes, 17,000 comments, and 59,000 saves.

On the other hand, big data algorithms tailor content to users based on their preferences, enabling individuals with similar interests to cluster and form strong ties. These ties influence both individual and collective social behaviors through the emotional bonds they foster [72,73]. Empirical studies indicate that strong-tie networks exhibit higher emotional intimacy, shared interests, and congruent values [74], which facilitate information exchange and tailored advice seeking. For instance, individuals browsing Facebook demonstrate preferential attention to strong-tie contacts, leading to enhanced self-esteem outcomes [75]. Similarly, celebrity–fan dynamics illustrate how strong ties motivate followers to amplify exposure through repetitive social media actions (e.g., retweets, comments, likes). These behaviors, in turn, trigger aggregation and fission effects within weak-tie online communities. Huang Liyong [76], the cultural ambassador for Xunpu women’s folk traditions in Fengze District, has dedicated over a decade to promoting Xunpu culture. She said the following:

“Although many celebrities have engaged with ICH activities over the years, this sudden surge in popularity this year caught everyone by surprise. After seeing Zhao Liying’s photos, people from Beijing, Shanghai, and even overseas—such as Canada and the U.S.—have flown here to experience Zanhuawei. Some have even contacted us to purchase Zanhua materials for international shipping”.

This highlights how strong ties influence individual behavior, while weak ties, augmented by online media, generate robust information aggregation and fission effects. It is this dynamic synergy that empowers stakeholders to achieve governance of fishing villages through social media platforms.

4.3. The Relevance of Social Media and Its Operating Mechanisms to Spatial Governance in Fishing Villages

Historically, fishing village governance relied on three main actors: government agencies, cooperatives, and clan elders. Government entities employed top-down spatial planning, encompassing central policy oversight, local implementation, and resource allocation. Cooperatives operated via market-driven self-regulation, while clan leaders managed resources through kinship-based authority and traditional norms. Fishing villages exhibited integrated spatial systems blending residential areas, productive zones (fisheries, ports), and ecological habitats (marine environments) (

Table 3. Traditional fishing village governance patterns and their spatial characteristics.

Governing Body	Intermediary	Governance Mechanisms	Spatial Feature
Clan elders	Offline focus	Bloodline authority, township rules, customs and practices	Living space	Village, Mazu Temple, clan hall, etc.
Cooperative		Economic self-reliance, market regulation, laws and regulations	Production space	Tidal zone, fishing harbors, fishing grounds, etc.
Government		Macro-control by central government, policy formulation by local government, administrative implementation by grass-roots government	Ecological space	Marine resources, intangible cultural resources, etc.

). Traditional governance faced limitations: isolation stifled economic diversity, administrative–custom conflicts caused inefficiencies, and experience-based resource management lacked scientific rigor.

However, the popularization and application of social media have led to significant changes in the governance model of fishing villages. Community relationships in online environments are widely accepted in the context of real-world interpersonal alienation [71]. People who share the same needs or purposes can rapidly assemble via social networks and form a group with weak ties. Moreover, depending on diverse needs, individuals can simultaneously join multiple communities or switch between different ones, giving rise to a phenomenon known as “mobile aggregation”. This mobility has greatly facilitated the dissemination of information among different groups and propelled the explosive development of weak relationships within communities. For example, live-streaming e-commerce and community group purchasing are direct products of the development of weak relationships [77]. ICHESs fully leverage weak ties through platforms like REDnote, TikTok, and Weibo to conduct fission-style information dissemination. The photos of Zanhuawei taken by tourists and shared on WeChat Moments can serve as effective promotion. Therefore, social media platforms have become crucial media for information dissemination, public opinion supervision, and resource matching.

Foreign investors develop tourism activities by injecting capital. For instance, they acquire or lease local residential houses and transform them into homestays or ICHESs, which has led to the commercialization of living spaces. Tourists and netizens have transitioned from being mere onlookers to active space shapers. They influence the image of fishing villages through online reviews, check-ins, and sharing of experiences, thereby indirectly participating in governance decisions and promoting the symbolization of the spatial aspects of fishing villages. Their online complaints and negative reviews prompt the government to improve the environment and upgrade infrastructure. Government agencies and social organizations can utilize social media to promote local culture, popularize scientific knowledge, and advocate for environmental and cultural heritage protection. Villagers can also leverage live streaming and online promotion to attract tourists to their shops to experience traditional ICH, thus securing a place for themselves amidst the influx of external capital.

When all stakeholders jointly engage in the spatial governance of fishing villages via social media, these villages continue to evolve, developing cultural spaces, capitalized spaces, consumption spaces, and even virtual community spaces (Figure 8). Social media has broken the isolation of the traditional governance model, giving rise to a new scenario where multiple entities interact and compete. Online public opinion and feedback have a reciprocal impact on the governance plans and spatial planning of fishing villages. Moreover, the spatial functions have expanded from “production–living–ecology” to “consumption–capital–culture”.

4.4. The Meaning of Social Media Participation

XPV’s transformation stems from the synergy between its unique ICH and contemporary trends. Fishing village spatial governance is a multi-stakeholder process involving traditional models centered on government, fishing communities, and clan authorities. The integration of social media has revitalized governance dynamics by introducing new participatory mechanisms.

In the governance system of fishing villages, the government consists of various types of administrative units at all levels. Their relationships are mainly manifested as leadership and subordination, guidance and being guided, supervision and being supervised, and collaboration and cooperation. These relationships exist not only between superiors and subordinates but also among peers [78]. The most significant aspect of social media’s participation is that it breaks down the distortion, inefficiency, and inequality of information that occur during the information uploading and downloading processes in the traditional governance system. The state-led community participation model, without sufficient democratization and the inability to resolve structural contradictions, fails to achieve the expected community-building goals. Consequently, residents’ cohesion and sense of belonging are limited.

During the process of community building and village regeneration, it is crucial to recognize that folklore is territorial, with each place having its unique folklore. The involvement of social media has provided a new platform for this local folklore in the era of rapid development. No matter how niche the folklore may be, it has the potential to thrive on the Internet, and building folklore into a local brand can therefore more effectively stimulate the local economy. The social Internet can amplify individual voices and demonstrate the strong vitality of collective power.

As direct beneficiaries and stakeholders in fishing village governance, villagers shape spatial dynamics through their daily production and livelihood activities. Social media platforms have empowered marginalized groups by providing channels for self-expression, transforming their cultural identities into assets that mitigate passive roles in traditional development narratives. The experiential and novel tourism demands amplified by social media align with villagers’ unique cultural practices, which resist full commodification by capital. Despite economic transitions, residents maintain customary lifestyles, integrating traditional festivals and rituals into tourism offerings. This preserves authenticity while attracting visitors, creating a symbiotic relationship between heritage conservation and spatial transformation. Fishing village economies have transcended the reliance on fisheries, with tourism emerging as the catalyst for spatial reconfiguration. Tourism-driven development has shifted spatial functions from production to consumption, yet the industry adapts to modernity by intertwining ICH preservation with visitor experiences. This approach avoids abrupt ruptures with historical practices, ensuring continuity between tradition and modernity. Rather than polarizing locals and tourists, this model represents organic, community-led innovation that balances cultural integrity with economic viability. It exemplifies how grassroots agency, mediated through digital platforms, can redefine governance paradigms while safeguarding spatial and cultural authenticity.

However, it is worth noting that the process of digital engagement encounters various challenges such as the authenticity of platform data and the authenticity of information disseminated by users: 1. The authenticity of platform data: digital media platforms are profit-oriented, and their internal operation mechanism itself is a manifestation of power; for example, China’s microblogging platform has established a heat list, which can be paid to move content to the list, thus increasing exposure [79]. 2. The authenticity of the information disseminated by the users: for example, some Netflix stars fabricate dramas and pose for photographs to attract traffic [80]. When someone consciously pushes or blocks comments or content (opinion control, platform traffic limitation, deletion of comments, platform intervention, etc.), the authenticity and effectiveness of digital engagement are therefore greatly reduced.

5. Conclusions

This study delves into the ways in which multiple stakeholders engage in the spatial planning and governance of fishing villages via social media and arrives at the following results: 1. Government agencies, social organizations, villagers, external investors, tourists and netizens jointly engage as multi-stakeholders. 2. Social media is the main platform for participation. 3. The representation of space has changed from concentrated zoning to decentralized dispersion. Under the joint governance of multiple stakeholders, there are further findings: 1. Social media addresses the deficiencies inherent in the traditional spatial governance model of fishing villages. E-participation disrupts the original structure of the discourse power system, offering effective means and methods for diverse stakeholders to partake in governance. 2. Social media shatters the monopoly of traditional fishing village governance, which was previously dominated by strong relationships. The advantages of weak relationships are significantly amplified, emerging as a crucial complement to the governance relationships within fishing villages. 3. Users can attain objectives such as increased visibility, follower growth, and business transformation through a series of mechanisms, including social media content dissemination, traffic competition, public opinion guidance, interaction, and data analysis. The integration of this operational mechanism with the spatial governance of fishing villages has become an essential supplement to the overall spatial governance framework of these villages.

However, the model of fishing village spatial governance with the involvement of multiple stakeholders under the influence of social media also has its drawbacks:

• Dissolution and re-creation of ICH. Social media expedites the infiltration of foreign cultures. Traditional customs are simplified into performative forms, traditional costumes evolve with new aesthetic trends, and the traditional cultural space is transformed into a tourist symbol and a space for virtual consumption. For instance, the popular Zanhuawei from XPV circulating on the Internet often deviates from the most traditional styles. Even though local residents may not endorse this new aesthetic, they still recommend these new Zanhuawei styles to customers to meet their demands.
• Community fragmentation and intergenerational conflicts. This is mainly manifested in the digital divide, which marginalizes the elderly from the decision-making process. While external forces such as fishermen, tourists, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) now have more direct access to participate in governance, it also brings challenges such as information distortion and unequal participation opportunities. The weakening of traditional clan authority has exacerbated the imbalances within the community’s power structure. Not all residents in XPV have embraced the tourism industry. There are still those who persist in their traditional livelihoods, such as prying oysters. They fail to comprehend the enthusiastic behavior of tourists and are unable to benefit from the booming tourism industry. Moreover, the occupation of fishing village spaces by foreign tourists and investors has undermined the spatial rights of some of the indigenous inhabitants.

The model of fishing village spatial governance through community media and the collaborative participation of all stakeholders has emerged as a paradigm that rectifies the shortcomings of previous fishing village regeneration cases. It showcases the outcomes of non-collective planning and restores the spatial development of fishing villages to the combined influence of human activities, the living environment, and economic development. This represents a form of collective wisdom of the people that is highly adaptive to the current situation and has emerged spontaneously. Finally, as a case study can be too one-sided and lack generalizability, we plan to use another larger study area or multiple communities as the subject of our future research to discuss the generalizability of the model in depth.