Dear all,
My name is Frederik, and I'm a research fellow and PhD researcher at the University of Bonn, Germany.
We are seeking participants to submit a panel to the AAS-in-Asia on participatory forms of propaganda in China, spanning the analogue and digital worlds. I have attached our tentative proposal, which is still in progress.
Exemplary topics (incomplete list):
- historical reenactment, escape rooms or immersive theatres
- Red memory/ culture
- Hanfu movement
- dynasty cosplay
- social media trends
- ...
If you are interested in joining, please let me know: frederik.schmitz@uni-bonn.de
Best
Frederik
Between Hashtags and Handshakes: Participatory Propaganda in Everyday Life in China
This panel explores participatory propaganda in contemporary China as an innovative mode of state communication that blurs the boundaries between persuasion, participation, and entertainment. Unlike traditional top-down propaganda, participatory propaganda invites citizens to co-create, share, and perform political messages-often without perceiving them as propaganda. Through the creative integration of digital platforms, data-driven personalisation, and offline eventisation, the Chinese party-state has developed new methods to embed ideology into everyday cultural and digital practices.
China provides a particularly revealing case due to its rapid digitalisation and comprehensive datafication of social life. Online campaigns on platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, and WeChat are intertwined with offline rituals, festivals, and community events, creating a seamless connection between the analogue and digital spheres. This hybrid communication environment allows propaganda to appear spontaneous and grassroots, while remaining strategically orchestrated and algorithmically optimised by the state.
The panel brings together scholars from communication studies, regional studies, and social science to examine how participatory propaganda reshapes state-society relations and notions of agency under authoritarian governance. By analysing concrete cases-from viral patriotic memes, immersive theatres to AI-generated influencers-we interrogate how digital affordances, surveillance infrastructures, and participatory aesthetics contribute to new forms of consent-making. In doing so, the panel situates China's propaganda innovations within broader debates about data-driven governance, digital authoritarianism, and the global future of political communication.
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Frederik Schmitz
frederiknschmitz@web.de------------------------------