Le narrazioni strategiche nella Repubblica popolare cinese (Rpc). Un’ipotesi interpretativa

Aiming to analyse the circulation of “stories” within the domestic context of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), this study draws on Cristina Archetti’s model of communication, which holds that narratives are not simply messages that get delivered to a target audience, but social products that are constructed and reconstructed in a dynamic communication environment. It is here argued that, since the period of “reform and opening up”, Chinese narratives have ceased to follow the outdated linear model of communication and have begun to multiply, reflecting on each other as in Archetti’s “hall of mirrors”. However, her framework can only be partially applied to the current Chinese discursive system: even though in the post-Maoist era the Party’s totalitarian control over narrative production has given way to new, dynamic models of “diffuse” tales, the windows in the new Chinese “hall of mirrors” are placed in such a way that they ultimately reflect the official discourse. Moreover, the new “liquid” practices are mostly used by the Party as a discursive “surplus” to enhance its own narratives. This process takes place in two different ways: on the one hand, the new liquid tales reuse themes and slogans of the Party’s discourse, strengthening their communicative effectiveness. On the other hand, the new “diffuse” stories reach official media channels, that repurpose them to benefit the Party’s narrative.