In Search of the “Chinese Virus”: Mythonarrativas of Western Synophobia During the COVID‑19 Pandemic | South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences
In Search of the “Chinese Virus”: Mythonarrativas of Western Synophobia During the COVID‑19 Pandemic
Vol. 23 (2022) No. 1, Political Institutions and Processes
Vol. 23 (2022) No. 1
Political Institutions and Processes

In Search of the “Chinese Virus”: Mythonarrativas of Western Synophobia During the COVID‑19 Pandemic

Potseluev S.P.
Southern Federal University
ORCID ID 0000-0002-8562-6541
Meng Yu.
Southern Federal University
ORCID ID 0000-0002-3747-8927
PDF (Russian)
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-23-1-63-80
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-23-1-63-80

How to Cite Array

Potseluev S.P., Meng Yu. (2022) In Search of the “Chinese Virus”: Mythonarrativas of Western Synophobia During the COVID‑19 Pandemic. South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences, 23 (1), pp. 63-80. DOI: 10.31429/26190567-23-1-63-80 (In Russian)
Submission Date 2022-02-10
Accepted Date 2022-03-15
Published Date 2022-07-30

Copyright (c) 2022 Сергей Петрович Поцелуев, Юйфэн Мэн

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The object of this article is to identify the metaphorical status of the controversial disputable expression the “Chinese virus”, which became widespread in Western anti-­China propaganda during the initial period of the COVID‑19 pandemic. The authors prove the sinophobic and metaphorical status the concept, referring to broad multimedia and socio-­cultural and historical background of its context. Using the methodology of critical discourse analysis and, in particular, the “discourse-­historical approach” (R. Vodak), the authors identify the metaphors that have become part of the Western Sinophobia tradition that constitute the semantic field around the concept of the “Chinese virus”. Considering the cognitive theory of metaphor as an important resource for critical discourse analysis, the authors accentuate the different versions of narrative paraphrasing of the metaphorical concept of the “Chinese virus”. The article highlights the most popular versions of the “Chinese virus” narrative and notes their similarities to the versions of the “just war fairy tale” identified by J. Lakoff in American propaganda discourse during the 1990s Persian Gulf War. While emphasizing the mythical status of the “Chinese virus” narrative, the authors point to the propaganda urgency to support this narrative through fake news. The article analyzes a number of cases of such messages, focusing on the political and commercial motives of their authors, as well as the response of the Chinese media to them, which results in the corresponding war of narratives. The study concludes that the key element of the sociopolitical context of the metaphorical concept of the “Chinese virus” is the communicative commonwealth of several social actors based on common interests: professional politicians, the media, the engaged scientists, and representatives of intelligence services and businesses.

Keywords

COVID‑19, "Chinese virus", metaphor, narrative, myth, war of narratives, media, fake news, intelligence services

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