| ID | 175473 |
| Title Proper | From social drama to political performance |
| Other Title Information | China’s multi-front combat with the Covid-19 epidemic |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Liu, Jiacheng |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | 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. |
| `In' analytical Note | Critical Asian Studies Vol. 52, No.4; Dec 2020: p.473-493 |
| Journal Source | Critical Asian Studies 2020-12 52, 4 |
| Key Words | Chinese Nationalism ; Political Performance ; COVID-19 ; Social Drama ; Spectacle of Sympathy |