Uyghur customs: the genesis, popularity, productivity and demise of a modern Uyghur topos

Steenberg, Rune

doi:10.1080/14631369.2020.1819201

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…COVID-19 is one crucial case (Jacob, 2020), but so is Xinjiang, on which we will focus below. While some studies have addressed the clandestine use of social media to produce and disseminate personalized propaganda (Kao et al, 2021; Ryan, Impiombato, and Pai, 2022; Steenberg and Seher, 2022), this is the first study to focus on the YouTube channels of China’s official state media.…”

Section: The Globalization Of China’s State Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

“In Other News”: China’s International Media Strategy on Xinjiang—CGTN and New China TV on YouTube

Alpermann

Malzer

2023

Modern China

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the Western world China stands accused of severe human rights violations regarding its treatment of the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in its northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. This is the first article to systematically analyze the response of China’s international state media to these allegations. By studying the YouTube channels of two leading Chinese state media, China Global Television Network (CGTN) and New China TV (operated by Xinhua News Agency), it presents an in-depth understanding of how China’s foreign-facing propaganda works in a crucial case. The quantitative content analysis highlights how China reacted to increasing international (mostly United States) pressure regarding its Xinjiang policies by producing higher volumes of videos and putting out new counternarratives. The qualitative analysis that follows provides in-depth treatment of the most important discourses that Chinese media engage in to salvage the nation’s international image, namely those on development, culture, nature, and terrorism. It finds several ways of countering criticism, ranging from presenting a positive image of China, in line with traditional propaganda guidelines and President Xi Jinping’s assignment to state media to “tell the China story well,” to more innovative approaches. Thus the development narrative becomes more personalized, the discourse on culture supports the “heritagization process” to incorporate minority cultures into a harmonized “Chinese civilization,” representations of nature firmly tie Xinjiang into the discourse of “beautiful China,” the “terror narrative” strategically employs shocking footage in an attempt to gain international “discourse power,” etc. The article provides an up-to-date picture of China’s state media strategy on a highly contentious international issue.

show abstract

Section: The Globalization Of China’s State Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%