Textbook on Keren Wang

Public Relations: Industry, Practices, and Democratic Implications

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 16:35:06 +0000

Posted by Keren Wang, FA 2025

1) Public Relations and Propaganda

Let’s start today’s discussion with one of the most famous political ads in American history: Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 “Daisy” ad. It’s only about a minute long, but it changed the entire landscape of political persuasion. Go ahead and give it a watch: LBJ campaign’s “Daisy” ad (1964).

Persuasion and Propaganda new digital text case study draft - Bureaucratic Rhetoric and Institutions of Involuntary Labor in Early Imperial China

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 10:18:06 +0000

American economist Alan Blinder famously characterized the rhetorical style of bureaucrats – an umbrella term denoting unelected officials holding administrative, technical, and managerial positions – as “secretive, cryptic, [sic] using numerous and complicated words to convey little of any meaning.” Think of a career government worker who talks in jargon-filled canned statements with little substance. While it may be counterintuitive to associate bureaucracy with the art of persuasion, history tells us quite a different story. Not only did bureaucracy itself emerge as a rhetorical response to the exigencies of record-keeping and resolving disputes, but it also provides a powerful platform for propaganda, sometimes making unpalatable measures appear proper and necessary. In this case study, we will examine official narratives on involuntary servitude (slavery) in Early Imperial China, and focus on how the imperial bureaucracy justified its institutions of forced labor despite having officially abolished slavery. We approach this through a historical lens, the role of bureaucracy in persuasion and propaganda, and reflect on how authorities of power would employ subtle rhetorical strategies to make dehumanizing, exploitative structures appear legitimate and necessary.

Persuasion and Propaganda in Ancient China (textbook chapter draft), part 3

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 17:37:21 +0000

Confucian Rhetoric:

Among the Hundred Schools of Thought, Confucianism, also known as Ru xue (lit. “humanism”) or Ruism, arguably played the most significant role in shaping the Chinese rhetorical tradition. This is in part due to the fact that Confucianism was established as the official state ideology throughout most of Imperial Chinese history.

Originated from the writings and teaching of Confucius and his disciples, most notably Mencius (Mengzi) Xun Kuang (Xunzi), its philosophy can be characterized as humanistic and rationalistic, and a tendency to emphasize the importance of ritual and upholding traditions. After multiple centuries of continuous development and official endorsement, Confucianism expanded into an umbrella that covers a range of philosophical, moral, literary, religious, and legal traditions. To this day, Confucian ethics remains a defining element of Chinese culture.

Persuasion and Propaganda Ancient China (chapter draft), part 2: the Hundred Schools of Thought

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 14:30:03 +0000

The Warring States and the Hundred Schools of Thought

The core of classical Chinese philosophical tradition emerged during a tumultuous period of ancient Chinese history, during which the civilization transitioned from a decentralized feudal system into a unified empire. We begin this section with a brief and high-altitude overview of the historical background for those who are not familiar with ancient Chinese history. The time frame would be the Chunqiu-Zhanguo era (lit., “Periods of Spring and Autumn and the Warring States”) which lasted from c.770 to 221 BCE The Spring and Autumn period of Classical Chinese history, from approximately 771 to 476 BCE. The nominal seat of dynastic power, Zhou Tianzi (lit “Son of Heaven”) had rapidly declined, and in Confucious’ own words, that the “ancient feudal rite and hymns have crumbled （禮樂崩壞）.” It was a time when former Zhou feudal domains became de-facto independent sovereign states. Larger states swallow smaller ones. Rapid land reforms and power restructurings took place across major Chinese states in order to claim economic and military supremacy over their peers. Various great powers rose and fell throughout this period, constantly at war against one other for achieving hegemony over Tianxia. The Warring States period is also when the coin-based cash economy rapidly took off throughout China-proper. Of course this did not happen overnight, but based on ample material evidence, the cash economy did intensify within a relatively short period, as major states began to implement similar types of sweeping bureaucratic governance reforms and centrally managed crop buy-out policies to remain competitive. By the time of the late Warring States era, your “average” peasant say in the state of Wei or Zhao or any major power, not only was paid by the central government, in cash, to purchase his grains for strategic reserve, he is also likely to be drafted every so often, for a fixed term, to perform infrastructure labor or serve in the military, and paid a stipend at least in part in the form of cash coins. Consequently, old feudal aristocratic powers were displaced by an emerging class of scholar-officials, many of whom came from humble, non-noble backgrounds including Confucious and his disciples. Members of this new literati class often traveled throughout China and offered their knowledge and service to the most promising state sponsor. Because of the intense interstate competition and the increasing demand for scholar-officials, philosophies flourished throughout the Chunqiu-Zhanguo era. Early Han historian Sima Qian used the term zhūzǐ bǎijiā (諸子百家), or “Hundred Schools of Thought” to describe this unprecedented expansion and diversification of Chinese intellectual outputs. Many philosophical texts from this historical moment – such as the Analects, Tao Te Ching, and Sun Tzu’s Art of War have become widely known outside of China. See the timeline in figure 2 below for a partial list of key figures from the Hundred Schools of Thought (top row). The timeline also includes contemporaneous Indo-European thinkers at the bottom row for clearer time reference:

Persuasion and Propaganda Ancient China (chapter draft), part 1: Pyromancy and the Invention of the Chinese Writing System

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 17:14:32 +0000

Persuasion and Propaganda Ancient China

（chapter draft, part 1）

by Keren Wang, kwang35@gsu.edu

There are increasing calls to give rhetorics that are historically overlooked within Western academia their overdue consideration.[1] Despite growing interest in comparative and alternative rhetorics, insufficient attention has been paid to one category of crucial contribution to the intellectual history of persuasion and propaganda: the study of nonwestern ancient rhetorical traditions.[2] This chapter provides a sneak preview of the intellectual history of persuasion and propaganda in Ancient China, where a rich and distinct rhetorical tradition flourished for more than three millennia. We begin this chapter by addressing the question of why it is necessary to examine comparative perspectives, followed by looking briefly into the historical origin of Chinese characters – the oldest writing system still in use. Our discussion then proceeds to a high-altitude overview of the hundred schools of thought that emerged during a pivotal moment of Chinese intellectual history and profoundly shaped the arc of Sinic civilizational development.