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The Cultural Pragmatics of Danger: Cross-linguistic perspectives
Edited by Carsten Levisen and Zhengdao Ye
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 346] 2024
► pp. 194–216

Chapter 10
The cultural pragmatics of “danger” in Chinese political discourse

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This chapter examines a way of speaking about “looming danger” that is pervasive in Chinese Communist Party discourse but which has not been given much attention in studies of Chinese elite politics. It centres on cultural beliefs underlying the discourse of jū ān sī wēi (‘think about danger during peaceful time’) and unpacks its associated meaning and the cultural contents surrounding this discourse. The paper argues and demonstrates that political discourse is a form of cultural pragmatics, in that the former builds on fundamental beliefs and values of the culture in which the discourse is situated, and that these beliefs and values may be influenced and reinforced by historical events and national memory. It also demonstrates that Natural Semantics Metalanguage can be a useful tool for analysing and representing the cultural elements in political discourse.

Keywords: cultural pragmatics, state political discourse, natural semantic metalanguage (NSM), discourse of danger, cultural scripts, Chinese elite politics, discourse studies, analysis of political discourse
Article outline
  • 1.Context: “Looming danger” as a recurring theme in Chinese political discourse
  • 2.Cultural scripts: An analytical tool for cultural pragmatics
  • 3.The pragmatics of jū ān sī wēi (‘be mindful of danger during peacetime’) in CCP discourse
  • 4.Cultural scripts for ‘be ever mindful of danger during peacetime’
  • 5.Cultural beliefs and political discourse
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
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