ABSTRACT
Through discourse analysis and historical comparison of "Pernicious Vestiges" (Yí Dú/遗毒) narrative in the news text of People’s Daily, this book is devoted to revealing its primary metaphors and political functions in China.
"Pernicious Vestiges" (Yí Dú/遗毒) is one of the most frequently used words in contemporary Chinese historical narration, as well as a constantly changing rhetorical direction in new China's media discourse, whose function is to remold memory. Over the past 76 years, the "Pernicious Vestiges" narrative continuously constructed by People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the CPC Central Committee, reflects the views of China’s political elite and represents the ruling party's evaluation and re-evaluation of historical events. The findings of this book challenge the myth that memory is naturally superior to forgetting, reflect on the ethics of memory in "Pernicious Vestiges" narratives and the erasure of their own justice, and suggest that the critical space compressed by "Pernicious Vestiges" narratives should be returned to restore the order of memory and historical reflection.
This book will be an excellent read for students and scholars of Chinese studies, media studies, and those who are interested in political communication and collective memory in general.
1. Introduction: "Pernicious-Vestiges" Narrative as Legitimation Profiles 2.Sheltering and Domestication: Strategies, Historicity and Memory Politics in "Pernicious-Vestiges" Discourse 3. Body and Politics: Moral Responsibility and Authority Construction of "Pernicious-Vestiges" Metaphor 4. Developing from Nothing: The Evolution of "Feudal Pernicious-Vestiges" Discourse 5. From Prosperity to Decline: Historical Derailment and Mnemonic Silence 6. Paradigm Interruption and Re-narration: Historical Reversal as a Source of Pernicious-Vestiges 7. Conclusion: The Construction of China’s Political Memory by "Pernicious-Vestiges" Media Discourse
