Slogans, pragmatism, and crisis response at the grassroots level: an analysis of anti-coronavirus disease 2019 (anti-covid-19) slogans in China

Abstract

While slogans have been an indispensable propaganda and mobilisation tool in Chinese political life for a long time now, the unprecedented pressure brought by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic made them take on a totally new appearance. What, then, do these slogans look like? How do they work? By conducting a rhetorical analysis of 228 anti-COVID-19 slogans used by grassroots governments in China, this study further finds multiple persuasion strategies embedded in them. On the one hand, at the grassroots level eye-catching language and expressions are used to attract public attention, linking individuals' behaviour to the interests of their families, as well as those of society and the country as a whole. On the other hand, those who violate government policies are negatively portrayed through a series of authoritative discourses. Behind these persuasion strategies lies a political pragmatism with regard to crisis response, attempting therewith to demonstrate and expand the legitimacy of the party-state. However, some slogans also contradict the Communist Party of China's advocacy of modernising the country's governance system and capacity, even though they may have been useful in slowing down or containing the spread of COVID-19.