Xi Jinping's keynote in the Belt and Road Forum: a pentadic cartography

ABSTRACT

In this essay, we utilize pentadic cartography to analyze Xi's keynote speech in the Belt and Road Forum in May 2017. Following the steps offered by Anderson and Prelli, we first identified the five pentadic terms in Xi's speech and then located two potential mappings with different featured ratios: agency-act in the first mapping and scene-agent in the second. Examining the two potential mappings of Xi's keynote, this paper argues that by constructing the BRI as a ‘great undertaking’ benefiting all mankind, Xi attempted to enhance the influence of China's discourse, the soft power, and demonstrated his competence to lead the world to prosperity. Finally, we provided an alternative pentadic ratio (agent-scene) to counter the dominant one (scene-agent) discovered in the second mapping aiming to reopen the closed universe of discourse.

KEYWORDS:

• Pentadic cartography
• the Belt and Road Initiative
• Xi Jinping
• Kenneth Burke
• international relations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Xi (2017). For reading consistency, Xi's keynote in the Belt and Road Forum will only be cited here.

2 As Shi (2014) notes in relation to an emerging Chinese Discourse Studies research area,

the most important norm or principle of contemporary Chinese discourse is ‘equilibrium’, i.e. to achieve or maintain harmonious relationship with others through attending to others’ interests, incorporating differences, avoiding conflicts, balancing powers, etc.; the rule of communication is making (sense of) meaning beyond language (‘harmony-and supra-language theory’). (p. 365)

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The National Social Science Fund of China [Grant Number 19CYY014].

Notes on contributors

Zhou Li

Dr. Zhou Li is an associate professor in the School of Foreign Languages, Southwest Jiaotong University (Chengdu, China). Her research examines the multiple networks in identity construction with the goal of a liberatory politics. She has publications in Gender, Place & Culture, Chinese Journal of Communication, Journal of Business Ethics, Critical Discourse Studies, among others.

Raymie E. McKerrow

Dr. Raymie E. McKerrow is an emeritus professor of the School of Communication Studies, Ohio University (Athens, Ohio). He is the Author and co-author of over 70 articles in journals like Quarterly Journal of Speech, Communication Monographs, Communication Quarterly, etc. His researches are specialized in nineteenth-twenty-first Century Rhetorical Theory, Argument Theory, and Postmodernism.