Leiden University Student Repository

Colombo, Elena (2014)

Party Legitimacy and Mega-events in China: Analysis of Shanghai Expo 2010

Master thesis | Asian Studies (120 EC) (MA)

This paper tackles the question of state-initiated identity construction at home, which is integral to the CCCP’s regime legitimacy. The main focus of the article is a case study on the World Expo held in Shanghai in 2010. This project investigates how iconic images from the Shanghai Expo 2010 (slogan, opening ceremony, logo, and venues’ architecture) form a visual narrative in which Chinese history and identity are configured to meet the political goals of the Central Communist Party. This paper contends that, during the staging of Shanghai World Expo 2010, the Chinese ruling elite propagated official image in a continuous effort to reproduce the beliefs of the population in the Communist Party’s leadership qualities. This paper suggests that the attempts of the Chinese government to strengthen its legitimacy can be connected to the process of national identity creation.

Shanghai Expo 2010

identity construction

mega-events

Society of Spectacle

legitimization

Author

Colombo, Elena

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Asian Studies

Supervisors

Cho, Young Chul

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en