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ABSTRACT
This paper analyzes the social crisis of the Covid-19 epidemic and the government responses in China from a performance perspective. It argues that the epidemic outbreak in late December 2019 initiated a highly contested social drama, in which loyalty was tested, political order questioned, and ideological crisis made visible. The numerous netizens and residents drew on a wide-ranging repertoire of discourses, symbols, and narratives to heighten public spectacles of suffering and sympathy, which placed extensive blame on the lies, negligence, and censorship of the government. Nonetheless, within the short span of three months, the conflictive, cacophonous social drama was overshadowed and subsumed by a hegemonic political performance of national victory, unity, and patriotism, framed and channeled by state propaganda, censorship, ritual, and practical policies. Social protests in cyberspace continued in even more dramatic forms. But these it only constituted sporadic performances of resistance, rather than a monumental social drama that challenged the fundamental political order.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Dr. Donald Sutton and Dr. Robert Shepherd, the editor of Critical Asian Studies, for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes on contributor
Jiacheng Liu is an assistant professor of history at the University of Northern Colorado. She holds a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University. She can be contacted at: [email protected]
Notes
1 Shih and Sun Citation2020a.
2 United Daily News Citation2020.
3 Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention Citation2020, 9.
4 Hanrahan Citation2020.
5 Kupferschmidt and Cohen Citation2020.
6 WHO Citation2020, 16.
7 Xu Citation2020. Xu Zhangrun was a professor of jurisprudence and constitutional law at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Since 2016, he has been an open critic of the Xi Jinping administration and as a result has endured government persecution, leading to the loss of his position at the university.
8 Turner Citation1974, 37–41. For a review and critique of Turner’s four-stage model, see Deflem Citation1991.
9 Turner Citation1988, 33.
10 Turner Citation1990.
11 Turner Citation1990, 17.
12 Lei Citation2011, 294–295.
13 Bilibili Citation2020.
14 Lin Citation2020.
15 Xiao Citation2020; Weibo Citation2020a.
16 Ye Citation2020.
17 Douban Citation2020.
18 Haiyunqiao Citation2020. The online appeal attracted the attention of officials; within two days Grandpa Liu and his sick family members were all taken into hospital for treatment.
19 Bell Citation2010.
21 Xiaohong Citation2020.
22 Mywolf Citation2020.
23 Struve Citation2004.
24 YouTube Citation2020.
25 Wangyi Citation2020.
26 O’Neill Citation2020.
27 Weibo Citation2020b; Sohu Citation2020.
28 A webtoon is a digital comic published as a vertical strip for reading on smartphones.
29 Luxi yinxiang Citation2020.
30 Kuwan shiyanshi Citation2020.
31 Ibid.
32 This poem by Du Mu (803–852 CE) is a metaphor for the depraved lifestyle and tyranny of the two emperors of the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BCE), Qin Shi Huangdi and his son, Qin Er Shi. By referring to the Qin rulers, Du expressed his disapproval of the Tang rulers for their dissolute lifestyles and failure to learn from the history of the Qin. The webtoon includes the following lines: “The Qin rulers did not have a chance to pity and recollect themselves. Yet if we only sigh but do not reflect, then our children will shed tears for us.”
33 Pincong Citation2020.
34 Sina Citation2020.
35 Duowei Citation2020.
36 Fang Fang’s most well-known novels include The View (1987), Wuchang: A City under Siege (2011), and A Heart Penetrated with Thousands of Arrows (2013). During the Wuhan outbreak, her daily entry about the epidemic usually attracted more than one hundred thousand views within one or two hours after it was posted. Her March 9 posting attracted close to twenty-eight million readers on the platform of Weixin, not to mention its repost on other social media platforms. See Yigui Citation2020; Chen Citation2020.
37 Fang Fang, February 28, 2020.
38 Fang Fang, February 5, 2020.
39 Fang Fang, March 9, 2020.
40 Fang Fang, March 9, 2020.
41 Shih Citation2020b.
42 Lai Citation2020.
43 Wenxue City Citation2020a.
44 Pernau Citation2017.
45 Taylor Citation2007, 143.
46 Yang Citation2017.
47 Xi Citation2020.
48 Jin Citation2020.
49 People’s Daily Citation2020.
50 Ding Citation2014, 134–135; 183–188.
51 Zhu Citation2020.
52 Zhong Citation2020; Wang Citation2020.
53 China Court Citation2020.
54 For an analysis of the role of resident committees in China’s coronavirus lockdown, see Woodman, Citation2020.
55 Huanhuanshuo Citation2020.
56 Yan Citation2020; Chen Citation2020.
57 Huanhuanshuo Citation2020.
58 W, Joe Citation2020.
59 Wenxue City Citation2020b.
60 Broderick Citation2020.
61 Dai Citation2020.
62 For a discussion of the “positive energy” discourse in China, see Chen and Wang Citation2020. Also known as speaking bitterness (suku), narratives of suffering played a significant role in the Chinese Communist Party’s political mobilizations during land reforms in the 1940s and 1950s, as well as during struggle sessions against alleged counter-revolutionaries during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). As a narrative model, it encourages people to invoke their individual experiences of suffering to form collective identities of class and revolution. In the post-Mao era, it continues to influence the way people understand and interpret their lives, exemplified in the literary genre of “scar literature” (shanghen wenxue, or “literature of the wounded”) in the 1980s. See Wu Citation2014; Huang Citation2014.
63 Huanhuanshuo Citation2020.
64 Yan Citation2020.
65 Zuo Citation2020.
66 Lu Citation2020; Shan Citation2020.
67 Allen Citation2020.
68 China Youth Daily Citation2020.
69 Zhihu Citation2020.
70 Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Citation2020.
71 Davidson Citation2020.
72 National Health Commission Citation2020.
73 An Citation2020.
74 Zheng and Wang Citation2020.
75 Zheng and Wang Citation2020.
76 Qi Citation2020.
77 Qi Citation2020.
78 Sontag Citation1966, 213.
79 Global Times Citation2002.
80 Repnikova Citation2020.
81 Zhang Citation2020.
82 Xu Citation2016.
83 Zhang Citation2012; Shi and Yang Citation2016.
84 Xu Citation2014, 92.
85 Turner Citation1985, 74. For a discussion about using the notion of social drama to analyze political revolution, see Thomassen Citation2012.
86 Schechner Citation2002, 28.