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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). 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)

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

Many 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".

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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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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