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From social drama to political performance: China's multi-front combat with the Covid-19 epidemic.

Authors :
Liu, Jiacheng
Source :
Critical Asian Studies. Dec2020, Vol. 52 Issue 4, p473-493. 21p.
Publication Year :
2020

Abstract

This paper analyzes the social crisis of the Covid-19 epidemic and the government responses in China from a performance perspective. It argues that the epidemic outbreak in late December 2019 initiated a highly contested social drama, in which loyalty was tested, political order questioned, and ideological crisis made visible. The numerous netizens and residents drew on a wide-ranging repertoire of discourses, symbols, and narratives to heighten public spectacles of suffering and sympathy, which placed extensive blame on the lies, negligence, and censorship of the government. Nonetheless, within the short span of three months, the conflictive, cacophonous social drama was overshadowed and subsumed by a hegemonic political performance of national victory, unity, and patriotism, framed and channeled by state propaganda, censorship, ritual, and practical policies. Social protests in cyberspace continued in even more dramatic forms. But these it only constituted sporadic performances of resistance, rather than a monumental social drama that challenged the fundamental political order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
14672715
Volume :
52
Issue :
4
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Critical Asian Studies
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
147224675
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2020.1803094