Discursive Strategies Uncovered: Understanding Chinese New Year Speeches

This study examines the discursive strategies employed in Chinese New Year speeches delivered by the Chinese President from 2014 to 2024, investigating how these annual addresses function as significant platforms for national communication and revealing underlying power relations and ideological constructions. The research analyzes how nomination and predication strategies are deployed to construct and convey national messages within culturally significant contexts, while simultaneously exploring how these linguistic choices serve to legitimize and naturalize specific power structures and ideological positions. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis and employing Wodak’s Discourse-Historical approach, the analysis specifically examines two major discursive strategies: nomination strategies (encompassing personal reference, spatial reference, and metaphors) and predication strategies (focusing on explicit predicates and comparisons). This methodological framework enables a detailed investigation into how linguistic devices are strategically employed to construct national narratives and reproduce power relations through seemingly neutral cultural discourse. The findings reveal sophisticated patterns in discursive strategies: nomination strategies frequently employ spatial references to reinforce power hierarchies and metaphors that naturalize specific ideological positions, while personal references strategically shift between individual and collective voices to establish authority. The predication strategies demonstrate the systematic use of explicit predicates to legitimize national decisions and strategic comparisons that frame current developments within carefully constructed historical narratives. These results illuminate how Chinese New Year speeches effectively combine traditional cultural elements with contemporary national objectives, revealing the subtle ways in which power and ideology are embedded within ceremonial communication.