ABSTRACT
Return migration is critical to regional endogeneity, especially in rural areas. In recent years, short videos, such as those on TikTok, have become very popular in rural China, which has attracted many people to return to their hometowns and become cyber-celebrities, profiting from the production of short videos to showcase local agricultural culture. The question focused on in this paper is to what extent the popularity of short videos has influenced return migration and what role it has played in promoting regional endogeneity. We conducted a qualitative survey of cyber-celebrities in Qingyang City, one of the poorest regions in northwest China, using NVivo12 software to validate a mechanistic model linking the popularity of short videos and return migration, and further explored the positive implications of reviving local agricultural culture through new technologies for regional endogeneity. The results show that (1) the popularity of short videos has a positive impact on return migration, (2) technical and financial support from local communities has a positive effect on the popularity of short videos, and (3) emotional strategies and local knowledge are key factors for the popularity of short videos. This study could help local communities build more competitive strategies while helping cyber-celebrities produce more communicative works to showcase local agricultural culture. The popularity of short videos is believed to have a positive impact on the preservation of regional agricultural heritage.