Everyday Transcripts in China: Transformations under Xi

• In Event: The Urban Threat: Municipal Politics and Authoritarianism

Abstract

Every ruler attempts to propagate a political discourse distinct from that of predecessors. Chinese politics is no exception. The Xi administration has created a new discursive climate in which Xi’s personality cult and ideologies permeate official discourse. To what extent do ordinary people in their everyday communications to unelected officials adopt such a discourse, and do official responses also echo it? This paper examines the transformations in everyday discourses by examining a nationally representative sample of letters to the mayor across the two recent administrations. Treating these letters as a “public transcript” (Scott 1990)—everyday communication between ordinary citizens and government officials, this study examines if and how these transcripts have changed from Hu to Xi. First, through a mix of qualitative analysis and machine learning, it analyzes whether or not the topics and number of published letters have changed under the current administration. Next, it identifies if and how the rhetoric that citizens use to communicate to unelected officials have changed under Xi’s new normal. Finally, it examines the response rate as well as the discursive content of official responses to citizen letters. Taken together, these findings contribute to assessing the degree to which Xi’s propaganda campaign has penetrated to the most ordinary citizens, under an administration that has been deemed to shake up Chinese politics.

Authors

• Diana Fu, University of Toronto

• Christian Goebel, University of Vienna