COVID-19 nationalism and the visual construction of sovereignty during China’s coronavirus crisis

Abstract

This article explores how competing actors established, spread, and challenged visual representations of the Chinese nation during the COVID-19 pandemic. It asks: how do official gatekeepers of meaning in China imbue their visual construction of a crisis-hit nation with pathos?; and what happens when their critics utilize the resulting repertoire of visual cues for their own ends? To answer these questions, the article first examines the visual libraries of nationalism and national crisis from which Chinese propaganda drew during the COVID-19 outbreak. It then analyses the struggles that ensued over such representations, specifically the use of national flags and the sentiments they elicit. The analysis traces representations of the flag of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from an initial satirical portrayal in a Danish broadsheet to the angry Chinese backlashes that followed on social media, and it shows how the tensions over such portrayals became part of a meme war over the sovereignty of Hong Kong. The analysis shows how representations of the nation can become a matter of existential anxieties during a time of crisis, especially in highly networked communication environments where authoritative official actors and their supporters are no longer in control of the symbols they established as part of their ‘emotional governance’.

China's “Wolf Warrior Diplomacy”: The Interaction of Formal Diplomacy and Cyber-Nationalism

“…Unwieldy grassroots nationalism, characterised by belligerence and animosity, had long been distinct from the more circumspect official form of state-led nationalism. Although Hyun and Kim (2015) report evidence that the disparity between these two nationalisms did not translate into widespread anti-system sentiment, official actors no longer possess a monopoly over how the symbols that underpinned their system of "emotional governance" are interpreted, disseminated, and leveraged (Schneider, 2021). Online Chinese publics have frequently run ahead of the government in exposing and protesting "insults to China," sometimes culminating in punitive online expeditions that swarm or deface perceived transgressors' online spaces (Liu, 2019).…”

Affective governance as multimodal discursive practice in Singapore’ COVID-19 vaccination video

“…The study therefore adds further empirical support for the prevalent use of affect as an instrument of persuasion for political communication (Schneider, 2021) and crisis communication (Litzinger and Ni, 2021) in particular. Like Singapore, China has injected nationalist sentiments in its official narratives via the video-sharing platform Douyin during the COVID-19 outbreak (Litzinger and Ni, 2021).…”

“Using unity and victory to bid farewell”: China's management of the public opinion incident of Dr Li Wenliang through crisis nationalism

“…Moreover, previous studies have focused primarily on the regime's adaptive information management, ignoring the importance of emotional governance in a public health crisis (Schneider, 2021). Our study shows that public crisis management requires a concerted effort to simultaneously manage information flow and public emotions, as the latter could function as an important mobilizing force to get authorities to act and respond.…”

“…In this way, the state strategically transformed Li's incident into an emotional outlet that allowed the public to vent their pent-up emotions since the outbreak, exemplifying what Schneider (2021) called “emotional governance.” The regime transformed his tragedy into a nationalistic, heroic narrative and transferred the responsibility to local authorities. Meanwhile, the state also updated its authoritarian participatory censorship apparatus to ban public appeals for free speech or other anti-regime expressions through the coordination of various social media platforms, but allowed these nationalist comments about “hostile forces” to run rampant.…”

“…On 11 March, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, marking the beginning of global chaos. The juxtaposition of “the risk is already under control” in China and “the risk is out of control” in the West, as well as the global accusation of China for unleashing the virus on the world, evoked “crisis nationalism” and xenophobia toward the West in China (Schneider, 2021). To burnish its positive image abroad, the state announced to publish a book titled China's Fight Against COVID-19 Epidemic in English, French, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic to publicize China's efforts to prevent and control the COVID-19 outbreak and its commitment to join the international community to ensure global health security.…”