Don't Fight the Power: Expressions of Nationalism and Patriotism in Chinese Hip-Hop Lyrics
Lily Nguyen
University of Kansas
Keywords: China, political science, censorship, government, language, music, social identity theory
Abstract
From the birth of hip-hop music in the Bronx, hip-hop lyrics have historically invoked messages of anti-establishment protest, but in 2016, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to sanitize and co-opt hip-hop music as a form of government propaganda. This research explores how contemporary Chinese hip-hop artists incorporate nationalist and patriotic ideology into the lyrics of hip-hop songs. Previous scholars have debated whether it is possible to empirically distinguish between nationalism (belief in the superiority of one’s country) and patriotism (love of one’s country). Though research on the prevalence of nationalism in Chinese hip-hop exists, there is little distinction between nationalism and patriotism. The project utilized thematic coding on pro-China lyrics for nationalist and patriotic elements on a purposeful selection of Chinese hip-hop songs’ lyrics. I then examined these codes for correlations between occurrences of a thematic code. This research reveals a tendency for nationalist Chinese hip-hop songs to emphasize divisions between Chinese citizens and foreign peoples, whereas patriotic songs focus on the nation’s own well-being and accomplishments. Given the dangerous consequences nationalism can lead to, such as war, distinguishing between nationalism and the less threatening patriotism holds significance when evaluating the Chinese government’s push for nationalism in Chinese hip-hop songs.
