The cultural pragmatics of “danger” in Chinese political discourse

Abstract

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.