Looking for Cadeer: critiquing a prolonged search for a model used for mass persuasion in China

Abstract

This article presents findings of a narrative analysis of the lateral use of models by Chinese public opinion generators to shape the behaviours of the people. It begins with lexical, sociological and narratological explanations of the meaning of a Chinese model, before presenting a general introduction of Chinese models as a phenomenon, including the hype usually involved in their making and propagating. It then proceeds to a narrative analysis of the singular good-sounding story usually told by Chinese models. The focus of the article, though, is a narrative case study based on a prolonged search for a model named Cadeer, an ethnic Uyghur from Xinjiang Autonomous Region and on his deferred final discovery. From this, the author presents several arguments. First, Cadeer does not tell a typical good-sounding story. Second, not retelling the good-sounding story deferred his final discovery. Third, his deferred but eventual rise to modeldom is an indication of the continued obsession with the use of models for mass persuasion in China, a sign of changing times and of the changing media environment in the country, as well as a reflection of its ever-intensifying interethnic tension.