Leiden University Student Repository

Michel, Tymo (2024)

To Contain the Virus and Win This Battle: The Influence of the Discursive Legitimation Strategies of Xi Jinping Thought on Chinese State News Discourse during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Discourse Analysis

Bachelor thesis | Chinastudies (BA)

This thesis analyzes the discursive legitimation strategies (DLS) derived from Xi Jinping Thought (XJT) and how these were affected by discursive events during the Covid-19 epidemic in China. The purpose of this thesis is twofold: (1) to explore how, from an ideological perspective, XJT influences the language used in Chinese newspapers, and (2) to explore how discursive events influence the ‘language game’ of XJT in terms of possible fluctuations in the use of DLS. Through a combined quantitative and qualitative approach that adopts a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective, this thesis examines the changes in legitimation strategies in articles by Chinese state newspapers Global Times (GT) and People’s Daily (PD) in the face of a discursive event case study: the time period of 2022 Ürümqi fire and White Paper Protests. A corpus of articles published before and after the timeframe are then diachronically compared to the legitimation strategies in the main official publication of...Show moreThis thesis analyzes the discursive legitimation strategies (DLS) derived from Xi Jinping Thought (XJT) and how these were affected by discursive events during the Covid-19 epidemic in China. The purpose of this thesis is twofold: (1) to explore how, from an ideological perspective, XJT influences the language used in Chinese newspapers, and (2) to explore how discursive events influence the ‘language game’ of XJT in terms of possible fluctuations in the use of DLS. Through a combined quantitative and qualitative approach that adopts a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective, this thesis examines the changes in legitimation strategies in articles by Chinese state newspapers Global Times (GT) and People’s Daily (PD) in the face of a discursive event case study: the time period of 2022 Ürümqi fire and White Paper Protests. A corpus of articles published before and after the timeframe are then diachronically compared to the legitimation strategies in the main official publication of XJT on Covid-19, The Governance of China IV (TGoC IV). The comparative diachronic discourse analysis of the GT and PD articles vis-à-vis the selected chapters from TGoC can indicate a decrease in the use of XJT specific DLS, possibly indicating the conflict-inducing position of XJT as a source of legitimacy in Covid-19 policy news reporting after the discursive event of the White Paper Protests. However, the results are inconclusive, and more research is required. This analysis begins by an exploration of the themes of XJT and Covid-19 through the lenses of ideology, legitimation, and discourse. It also examines the relation between these lenses within the context of the themesShow less

Xi Jinping Thought

Covid-19

Discourse Analysis

Critical Discourse Analysis

Discusive Legitimation Strategies

Chinese Media Discourse

Author

Michel, Tymo

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Schneider, F. A.

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en