Abstract
This article examines “core socialist values” as a part of the China Dream discourse, in the context of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s search for alternative sources of legitimacy. Using the “visualising our values” poster collection and the “China Dream Child” campaign as case studies, this article argues that such narratives form a crucial part of the CCP’s continuing legitimisation strategy, where the party emphasises its role in providing moral authority and guidance for the general public. In order to lay such claims, the narratives focus on romanticising and homogenising both the imperial and the socialist past, while projecting a strong sense of optimism for the future, based on similar hopes of continuity and homogeneity.
Highlights
China’s propaganda system is one of the most successful and pervasive in the world
Mao Zedong’s various political movements and slogans were to establish and retain the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s status as the revolutionary party, and it was the inability of the party to transition from a revolutionary party to a party in power that led to the legitimacy crisis of 1989 (Brady, 2012)
The scholarly consensus is that the main sources of regime legitimacy in contemporary China are a mixture of performance legitimacy – based on economic growth and sociopolitical stability – and nationalism (Pan, 2008; Zhu, 2011)
Summary
China’s propaganda system is one of the most successful and pervasive in the world. A key rationale behind the developing trajectory of Chinese propaganda after 1949 has been to establish and maintain the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s legitimacy. Afterwards, the CCP renewed its emphasis on “thought work” (思想工作, sixiang gongzuo) using Western methodologies and new technologies Contrary to those who argue that market reform and capitalist forces have undermined the CCP’s propaganda efforts (Lynch, 1999; Zhao, 1998), the party’s ability to broadcast its political message en masse has remained strong. The article will present a case study of the “China Dream Child” (中国梦娃, zhongguo mengwa) campaign, analysing the key values presented in turn By using these two case studies, this article shows that everyday CSVs campaigns selectively promote so-c alled traditional values that do not appear in the official twelve maxims but contribute to the overall legitimisation strategy. The actual campaign on the ground offers a unique insight into how the CCP both romanticises and homogenises the imperial and socialist past, in order to construct a moral narrative around the CSVs discourse, allowing the party to emphasise its role in providing moral authority and guidance for the general public
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