A Discourse Analysis of Quotidian Expressions of Nationalism during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chinese Cyberspace
- PDF / 606,526 Bytes
- 17 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 29 Downloads / 151 Views
A Discourse Analysis of Quotidian Expressions of Nationalism during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chinese Cyberspace Xiaoyu Zhao 1 Accepted: 31 August 2020/ # Journal of Chinese Political Science/Association of Chinese Political Studies 2020
Abstract By conducting discourse analysis on quotidian expressions of nationalism of Chinese netizens and analyzing their “Liking” behavior, this article tries to inductively explore during the COVID-19 pandemic what and how Chinese netizens say about nationalism. This article finds that during the pandemic, Chinese netizens show a confident and rational but confrontational and xenophobic posture in their quotidian discourses. They value reasoning and deliberation in their expressions of nationalist discourses. In the quotidian discourses, they maintain a confident tone when comparing China’s performance with other countries during the pandemic, but show vigilance and even hostile sentiments toward external provocations. Keywords Chinese nationalism . Discourse analysis . The COVID-19 pandemic .
Quotidian discourse . Cyber nationalism . “Liking” behavior
Introduction The rise of Chinese nationalism has been a subject of growing academic and policy interest since the 1990s. After successfully controlling the domestic spread of the COVID-19 pandemic within months, China’s rising nationalism has once again become a hot topic of discussion on a global scale. During the pandemic, some media outlets have insisted that as its success in containing and controlling the pandemic, one dramatic emerging feverish of patriotism, nationalism, and xenophobia at home and China becomes more aggressive than seen in decades [43]. In the meantime, a discussion of the pandemic in Chinese cyberspace has also been heated, especially given the different performances between other countries and China in fighting against the pandemic. According to Sinkkonen, nationalism stresses the superiority of a nation * Xiaoyu Zhao [email protected]
1
Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Z. Xiaoyu
when comparing the nation’s qualities with those of other nations [37]. Such a nationwide discussion that highlights the comparison between others and China provides an opportunity to explore the nature of Chinese nationalism and nationalists and how Chinese netizens view China’s and other countries’ performances during the pandemic. The debate about the nature of Chinese nationalism has not come to a close. Some scholars have engaged in the debate from the theoretical perspective, such as labeling Chinese nationalism; while others have approached it from the empirical perspective, such as studying high-profile nationalist movements or conducting large-scale surveys. However, I argue that the existing research can only capture a segment of Chinese nationalism due to the predeterminative research purposes and a lack of systemic empirical research in the field. In this regard, I provide an inductive approach to study the nature of Chinese nationalism during the COVID-1
Data Loading...
