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The Standard Chinese word xuanchuan "dissemination; propaganda; publicity" originally meant "announcement; explanation" during the 3rd-century Three Kingdoms period, and was chosen to translate Russian propagánda пропаганда in the 20th-century People's Republic of China, adopting the Marxist-Leninist concept of a "transmission belt" for "agitprop" indoctrination and mass mobilization (Shambaugh 2007: 26). Xuanchuan is the keyword for propaganda in the People's Republic of China and propaganda in the Republic of China.

Terminology

The Chinese term xuanchuan compounds xuan 宣 "declare; proclaim; announce" and chuan 傳 or 传 "pass (on); hand down; impart; teach; spread; infect; be contagious" (DeFrancis 2003: 1087, 124).

Numerous common Chinese words are based upon xuanchuan, such as: xuānchuánpǐn 宣傳品 "propaganda/publicity material", xuānchuánduì 宣傳隊 "propaganda team", xuānchuánhuà 宣傳畫 "propaganda poster", xuānchuándān 宣傳單 "propaganda slips/sheets", xuānchuángǔdòng 宣傳鼓動 "agitprop", and xuānchuán diànyǐng 宣傳電影 "propaganda film".

The official names of two leading Party-state organizations also use xuanchuan, the Central Leading Group for Propaganda and Ideological Work 中央宣传思想领导小组 or Central Propaganda Department, and the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China 中共中央宣传部.

In lexicographic terminology, a bilingual dictionary provides "translation equivalents" (rather than "definitions") between the source and target languages. Sometimes words have complete equivalents, such as translating French chien as English dog; but other times have partial or alternative equivalents, such as translating French veau as either the animal calf or the meat veal (Svensén 1993: 143-157). English propaganda and publicity are alternative equivalents for Chinese xuanchuan. The classical Chinese word qing 青 "green; blue; black", representing the distinction of blue and green in various languages, is a better known example of English alternative translation equivalency. Compare the color range across collocations like qīngcài 青菜 "green vegetables; greens", qīngjīn 青筋 "blue veins", qīngtiān 青天 "azure sky", qīngbù 青布 "black cloth", or qīngkèmǎ 青騍馬 "gray mare".

Translation equivalents of xuanchuan in major Chinese-English dictionaries include:

• "to declare; propaganda" (Mathews 1943: 431)
• "propaganda; to carry on propaganda (for)" (Chao and Yang 1947: 61)
• "propagate; propagandize; publicize; propaganda (work, bureau, etc.)" (Lin 1972: 687)
• "conduct propaganda; propagate; disseminate; give publicity to" (Wu 1979: 782)
• "propagate; disseminate; propagandize; give publicity to; publicize" (Ding 1985: 1162)
• "to publicize; to promote; propaganda; promotion" (Liang and Chang 1992: 322)
• "publicize; propagate; advocated; advertise; preach; blaze sth. abroad ; whoop" (Wu 1993: 2886)
• "propagate; disseminate; give publicity to" (DeFrancis 2003: 1087)

Thus, the most frequent English lexicographical translations of xuanchuan are propaganda, propagate, publicize, disseminate, give publicity, and propagandize.

Many languages besides English have different words to distinguish "propaganda" and "publicity", for instance, German Propaganda and Werbung, or Russian propagánda пропага́нда and rekláma рекла́ма. Few languages besides Chinese have one polysemous word; excluding Sinoxenic loanwords from Chinese such as Japanese senden 宣伝 "propaganda; advertisement; publicity", one example is Irish bolscaireacht "publicity; propaganda; claptrap.

Historical usages

The Hanyu Da Cidian is a historical dictionary that gives chronologically arranged usage examples, comparable with the Oxford English Dictionary. The xuanchuan entry distinguishes three meanings: 宣布传达 "convey an announcement", 向人讲解说明, 进行教育 "explain to people, conduct education", 传播, 宣扬 "spread publicity/propaganda".

First, the meaning of "convey an announcement" was originally recorded in the historian Chen Shou's (3rd century) Records of the Three Kingdoms in contexts of transmitting (esp. military) orders. For example, the biography of Shu Han dynasty General Ma Zhong (Shu Han) (d. 249) records that after defeating rebels in Nanyue, he was appointed General Who Pacifies the South and called back to the capital in Chengdu. "In 242, when was returning to court, upon reaching Hanzhong, he went to see Grand Marshall Jiang Wan, who conveyed an imperial decree that he was also appointed General in Chief of Zhennan Circuit ." Later usage examples are cited from historian Li Baiyao (564–647), poet Cao Tang 曹唐 (fl. 860-874), and scholar Wang Mingqing 王明清 (1163-1224).

Second, the xuanchuan meaning of "explain to people; conduct education" first appeared in Ge Hong's (c. 320) Baopuzi criticism of effete scholars who Emperor Zhang of Han (r. 75-88) extravagantly rewarded.

These various gentlemen were heaped with honors, but not because they could breach walls or fight in the fields, break through an enemy's lines and extend frontiers, fall ill and resign office, pray for a plan of confederation and give the credit to others, or possess a zeal transcending all bounds. Merely because they expounded an interpretation of one solitary classic, such were the honors lavished upon them. And they were only lecturing upon words bequeathed by the dead. Despite their own high positions, emperors and kings deigned to serve these teachers. (tr. Ware 1966: 231)

Subsequent usages are quotes from monk-translator Pukong 不空 or Amoghavajra (705–774), poet Wang Yucheng (954–1001), novelist Ba Jin (1904-2005), and Mao Zedong (1893-1976). Mao's (1957) "The speech for the Chinese Communist party National Propaganda Work Meeting" (tr. Leung 1992: 379) says, "Our comrades who are engaged in propaganda work have the task of disseminating Marxism. This is a gradual propaganda and should be done well, so that people are willing to accept it."

Third, the modern xuanchuan meaning of "spread publicity/propaganda" occurred in Lao She's (1937) Camel Xiangzi or Rickshaw Boy (tr. Goldblatt 2010: 48), "As promised, Old Man Liu told no one of Xiangzi’s experiences , but the camel story quickly spread from Haidian into the city." The Hanyu Da Cidian gives two other usage examples from novels by Zhao Shuli (1906-1970).

References

• Chao, Yuen Ren and Yang, Lien-sheng, eds. (1947), Concise Dictionary of Spoken Chinese, Harvard University Press.
• Chen Jianfu, Yuwen Li, Jan Michiel Otto, eds. (2002), Implementation of Law in the People's Republic of China, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
• Chen Shirong, "China TV faces propaganda charge," BBC News, 12 January 2009.
• DeFrancis, John, ed. (2003), ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary, University of Hawaii Press.
• Ding Guangxun 丁光訓, ed. (1985), A New Chinese-English Dictionary, Joint Publishing.
• Edney, Kingsley (2014), The Globalization of Chinese Propaganda: International Power and Domestic Political Cohesion, Palgrave Macmillan.
• Feuerwerker, Yi-tsi Mei (1982), Ding Ling's Fiction: Ideology and Narrative in Modern Chinese Literature, Harvard University Press.
• Goldblatt, Howard, tr. (2010), Rickshaw Boy: A Novel, Lao She, HarperCollins.
• Hassid, Johnathan (2008), "Controlling the Chinese Media: An Uncertain Business", Asian Survey 48.3: 414-430.
• Kipnis, Andrew B. (1995), "Within and against Peasantness: Backwardness and Filiality in Rural China", Comparative Studies in Society and History 37.1: 110-135
• Leung, John K., tr. (1992), The Writings of Mao Zedong, 1949-1976: January 1956-December 1957, M.E. Sharpe.
• Liang Shih-chiu 梁實秋 and Chang Fang-chieh 張芳杰, eds. (1971), Far East Chinese-English Dictionary, Far East Book Co.
• Lin Yutang, ed. (1972), Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
• Ling Yuan, ed. (2002), The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary (Chinese-English Edition), Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
• MacKinnon, Stephen R. (1997), "Toward a History of the Chinese Press in the Republican Period", Modern China 23.1: 3-32.
• Mathews, Robert H., ed. (1943), Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary, Rev. American ed., Harvard University Press.
• Room, Adrian (1991), NTC's Dictionary of Changes in Meanings, National Textbook Company.
• Sahlins, Marshall (2014), Confucius Institutes: Academic Malware, The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 45.1.
• Schoenhals, Michael (2008), "Abandoned or Merely Lost in Translation?", Inner Asia 10.1, Special Issue: Cadres and Discourse in Late Socialist Societies, 113-130.
• Shambaugh, David (2007), "China's Propaganda System: Institutions, Processes and Efficacy]", The China Journal 57: 25-58.
• Svensén, Bo (1993), Practical Lexicography: Principles and Methods of Dictionary-Making, tr. by John Sykes and Kerstin Schofield, Oxford University Press.
• Wu Guanghua 吴光华, ed. (1993), Chinese-English Dictionary, 2 vols. Shanghai Jiaotong University Press.
• Wu Jingrong 吴景荣, ed. (1979), The Chinese-English Dictionary, Commercial Press.

External links

• Who is really spinning the propaganda?, China Daily, 13 May 2009.

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