Research on the Communication of Dunhuang Grottoes Cultural Heritage Empowered by Digital Technology: A Case Study of the "Traveling around Dunhuang" mini-program

Abstract

The Dunhuang grottoes culture is a treasure of China's great traditional culture. However, up to now, the protection and dissemination of Dunhuang grottoes are facing a series of predicaments. The "Traveling around Dunhuang" mini-program jointly produced by Tencent and the Dunhuang Academy is one of the explorations to solve these predicaments. This study, based on the "use and Satisfaction theory", focuses on the practical paths and mechanisms of digital technology in enabling the dissemination of Dunhuang Grottoes' cultural heritage. Through the case deconstruction of the "Traveling around Dunhuang" mini-program, it reveals how technologies such as blockchain rights confirmation, AR interaction and 4K restoration meet users' cognitive, social and self-actualization needs; Analyze UGC content on platforms such as Weibo and Xiaohongshu in combination with the online ethnographic method, and extract users' creative translation strategies for Dunhuang cultural symbols. The study found that the technology-enabled "demand-behavior" loop reconstructed the model of cultural inheritance, while user-involved symbol reproduction promoted the contemporary revitalization of cultural heritage. The study provides a theoretical framework of "technology adaptation - user co-creation - meaning reconstruction" for the digital dissemination of cultural heritage, and also offers practical references for the innovative development of traditional culture in the context of global civilizational mutual learning.