Passing on the Torch : Discourse Strategies in the Inaugural Speeches of Jiang, Hu and Xi

Abstract: Following the death of Mao Zedong the new Chinese leadership attempted to avoid some of theproblems associated with the concentration of personal political power, and Deng Xiaoping,though still playing a paramount political role, sought to rule through a leadership collective.Starting with Jiang Zemin, it has become a new norm in Chinese politics that the General Secretaryof the Central Committee of the CCP also serves as President of the PRC.This reemergence of (official) leadership concentration around a single person leads to thequestion of how transitions of leadership are presented within Chinese politics, and to what extentthey are indicative of new directions of policy and ideology. An inaugural speech is designed toset the tone for new beginnings when a new officeholder assumes responsibilities. This thesis usesinaugural speeches and speeches given in connection with inaugurations to the two officesmentioned above as research material to address this question. Drawing inspiration from aMaster’s Thesis by Tawfic and Fattah (2015), perspectives from critical discourse analysis areemployed to examine the relationships between language, power and discourse in the speeches.Focus is placed on the use of two discourse strategies: group orientation and group representation.This thesis assesses to what extent Jiang, Hu and Xi differ in their employment of these discoursestrategies, and if differences or similarities can be explained by correlation with changes in policydirection or the sociopolitical background of the speeches.