Presidential rhetoric in Xi Jinping's mandate renewal inaugural speeches

Abstract

This paper focuses on presidential rhetoric in contemporary Chinese political discourse, with particular emphasis on the content and patterns of the inaugural speeches at the second and third five-year term renewals. The relevant texts are the speeches delivered by Xi Jinping 习近平 at the first sessions of the 13th and 14th National People's Congresses in 2018 and 2023, respectively. The analysis focuses on the occurrence and distribution of modal, verbal, adverbial, nominal and adjectival lexical units, formulaic expressions, and repeated phrases in the different rhetorical sections of the two discourses. After an introduction to the historical context, and after the presentation of the methodology for both a quantitative and qualitative analysis, I will identify the recurring elements used to convey the President's thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics and the rhetorical patterns rooted in traditional Chinese culture; I will also try to highlight the elements that have already appeared in the political language of previous leaders.