What is it about?
By combining critical and post-structuralist discourse analysis, we argue firstly that prevalent Western-centric approaches to the study of populism only partially capture the notion of the people in contem- porary China, the study of which requires a mixture of elements from these approaches. Secondly, that the image of a Chinese people embracing the Chinese Dream and the promise for a New China, is narrated in a context where the Chinese Communist Party infuses all levels of society with mes- sages of development, prosperity, peace and freedom. And thirdly, that while previous leaders would normally address the people in a formal and detached way, the distance between leadership and the people has been reduced in the Xi Jinping era.
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Why is it important?
In an effort to unravel the most representative samples of official discourse in con- temporary Chinese politics, we concentrate on speeches delivered by the highest- ranking Chinese statesman, the current President of the Peoples’ Republic of China, Xi Jinping. The selected speeches were delivered by him in three occa- sions: the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (1 October 2019); the plenary session of CCP’s General Assem- bly held on 27 September 2019; the First Session of the 13th National People’s Con- gress on 20 March 2018. We have used as selection criterion the notion of the “people” (renmin人民), looking at the frequency of the word/signifier “people” in the initial sample, and we have concluded to these three speeches from an initial sample of more than 15. In addition, we have identified other key notions which are mentioned in proximity and correspondence to the “people” in the texts. We have discovered that the collocations “Chinese nation” (中华民族) and “Chinese people” (中国人民) as well as the words/signifiers “unity” (团结), “masses” (群 众), and “harmony” (和谐) often accompany the notion of the “people”.
Perspectives
The study of populism has been on the rise in the recent years. Scholars explore both its origins and socio-political implications as populism manifests in different countries and regional contexts. From populist movements in Latin America, to right-wing and left-wing populist parties in Europe, to populist leaders all around the world, the “people” is not anymore a marginal concept of politics. On the con- trary, it has gained enough prominence to instigate different paths to the study of populism. Having as criterion questions of ontology, one can discern three main approaches to the study of populism.1 The ideational approach envisages populism as a thin-centred ideology (Mudde 2004, and followers). The post- structuralist discursive approach sees it as a political logic (Laclau 2005, and fol- lowers; Arditi 2010), whereas the dramaturgical approach considers populism as a political style (Moffitt 2016, and followers). In all these understandings of pop- ulism, the common feature is the social construction of a people contra an other, the latter possibly being the Establishment, the economic and political elites, the tradition. Populism is not a new phenomenon for China. Researchers are in general agreement that Mao Tse-Tung was very successful at constructing the notion of a Chinese people that would fight against remnants of nobility and the feudal social class, Japanese invaders in Manchuria, the oppression of Tsiang Kai-Sek’s KMT and even Western aggression (Townsend 1977; Zang 2010; Tai 2015; Tang 2016; Zhang 2020; Ying 2020). From the revolutionary period starting in 1949, the Chinese people has emerged as a key political subject in the Chinese society and has increasingly a connotation of “unity”, being a “united entity in diversity” (duoyuan yiti 多元一体).
alessandra cappelletti
xi'an jiaotong - liverpool university
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This page is a summary of: The leader and the people, Journal of Language and Politics, May 2023, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/jlp.22032.fan.
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