Winning the “People’s War” Against Covid: Propaganda and Political Leadership

• In Event: Managing Power and Crises in Xi Jinping's China (Pre-Recorded)

Abstract

The sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus in and around the city of Wuhan represented the greatest public health crisis ever faced by the Xi Jinping government. A failure to enact public health measures to contain the virus within China risked incalculable human tragedy, devastating economic losses, and irreparable damage to perceptions of Xi’s leadership. In an attempt to stop the virus’ deadly spread, the Chinese central government relied on a time-tested playbook of propaganda and information control to convince domestic audiences to adopt quarantines of unprecedented length and scope in an all-out “people’s war,” a Maoist term that once characterized resistance to the 1930s Japanese invasion. Xi Jinping’s government hailed front line doctors and nurses as heroes and martyrs, while enforcing strict restrictions on travel, work, and political expression. Drawing on official media reports and hundreds of leaked directives that guided Chinese central media reporting early in the pandemic, this paper tracks the construction of narratives of crisis, enlightened leadership, and renewal, portraying Chinese efforts to combat the virus as a “victory” worthy of national pride and foreign emulation. Strategic uses of propaganda and censorship, alongside relatively effective public health measures, burnished Xi Jinping's role as the personification of the country's successful fight against Covid-19, while narrowing space for criticism of bumbling early efforts to contain the virus and Xi's increasingly totalitarian brand of leadership.

Authors

• Ashley Esarey, University of Alberta

• Xiao Qiang, University of California-Berkeley