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Information and communication technologies occupy a central position in the Covid-19 pandemic. Public response has been deemed extremely important, with social media platforms playing a key role in both institutional and bottom-up information sharing processes. The emerging field of platform studies has shown that platforms increasingly influence how society works; however, such studies often adopt a highly Western-centric approach. By focusing on Twitter and Weibo use in the early stages of the pandemic, the paper presents an exploratory study that comparatively explores the role of the two platforms for both Western and Chinese publics. Our findings indicate that during the Covid-19 outbreak, Weibo worked as a propaganda tool to unite the Chinese people and promote public policies under the control of the government and the guidance of the mainstream media. Twitter functioned more like a public discourse platform open to personal expression, often showing the influence of defined partisan political discourses. We argue that the participatory dynamics characterizing Weibo and Twitter conversations at the outbreak of the pandemic at least partially mirrored the different 'platforms societies' currently developing in China and the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the fraught political relationship between Hong Kong and China for the last 10 years, China has been attempting to integrate the semi-autonomous region economically and ideologically. This article uses rhetorical analysis to examine how China strategically adapts its nationalist rhetoric in the Hong Kong education curriculum, in an attempt to integrate Hong Kong citizens politically and ideologically in a transnational context. It argues that China's rhetorical and political project in Hong Kong had failed because the Chinese government had underestimated cultural power behind Hong Kong's cultural history and its self-constructed identity as a transnational site. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

By using the theoretical frameworks of rhetorical traditions of both cultures, and realism and post-realism on foreign policy rhetoric, this article examines the dynamics of U.S.-China relations from 1940 to 1990s in historical, political, ideological, and economic contexts as facilitated by media and the discourse of national leaders. It explores the rhetorical construction of U.S.-China relations evolving from “military allies” to “ideological enemies,” and from “moral adversaries” to “strategic partners” in responding to international environment and domestic needs. The author contends that rhetoric on U.S.-China relations is largely shaped by the cultural orientations and national interest of each country. This is particular evident in the interplay of moralistic and pragmatic rhetorical orientation in seeking mutual economic benefits and global cooperation. The article offers implications on international communication from the points of how powerful nations can achieve intercultural understanding and peaceful co-existence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]