An Ecological Discourse Analysis to the Chinese Slogans during the Major Economic Stages since the Foundation of PRC

Slogan has a sound mass base in China for thousands of years，functioning as guidelines for civic practice. Even today, Chinese slogans are often employed by the government to promote policies and socio-cultural values. This paper, adopting an ecolinguistic approach, explores the development of Chinese slogans during the four economic stages since the foundation of PRC (People’s Republic of China) to find out how slogans influence the relationship between men, and man and the ecosystem. It is discovered that Chinese slogans in the recent decades have experienced great changes in terms of discourse type, the beneficial degree of discourse and the ecosophy they carry. They changed gradually from destructive discourse to harmonious discourse and they reflect the transition of Chinese ecological philosophy—from ‘anthropocentrism’, ‘growthism’, and ‘classism’ to ‘harmonism’. It is hoped that this study can shed light on the eco-discourse analysis to policy language and will bring insight into its future creation.

An Ecological Discourse Analysis to the Chinese Slogans during the Major Economic Stages since the Foundation of PRC

Slogan has a sound mass base in China for thousands of years，functioning as guidelines for civic practice. Even today, Chinese slogans are often employed by the government to promote policies and socio-cultural values. This paper, adopting an ecolinguistic approach, explores the development of Chinese slogans during the four economic stages since the foundation of PRC (People’s Republic of China) to find out how slogans influence the relationship between men, and man and the ecosystem. It is discovered that Chinese slogans in the recent decades have experienced great changes in terms of discourse type, the beneficial degree of discourse and the ecosophy they carry. They changed gradually from destructive discourse to harmonious discourse and they reflect the transition of Chinese ecological philosophy—from ‘anthropocentrism’, ‘growthism’, and ‘classism’ to ‘harmonism’. It is hoped that this study can shed light on the eco-discourse analysis to policy language and will bring insight into its future creation.

An Ecological Discourse Analysis to the Chinese Slogans during the Major Economic Stages since the Foundation of PRC

Slogan has a sound mass base in China for thousands of years，functioning as guidelines for civic practice. Even today, Chinese slogans are often employed by the government to promote policies and socio-cultural values. This paper, adopting an ecolinguistic approach, explores the development of Chinese slogans during the four economic stages since the foundation of PRC (People’s Republic of China) to find out how slogans influence the relationship between men, and man and the ecosystem. It is discovered that Chinese slogans in the recent decades have experienced great changes in terms of discourse type, the beneficial degree of discourse and the ecosophy they carry. They changed gradually from destructive discourse to harmonious discourse and they reflect the transition of Chinese ecological philosophy—from ‘anthropocentrism’, ‘growthism’, and ‘classism’ to ‘harmonism’. It is hoped that this study can shed light on the eco-discourse analysis to policy language and will bring insight into its future creation.

加拿大学前儿童公民教育： 时代背景、 内容向度与价值导向 （Young children's citizenship education in Canada: Background, content and values）

Citizenship education for young children has been growingly emphasized by western countries. With the influence of global policy discourses, curriculum reform in early childhood education and studies of young children’s citizenship, citizenship education has become a key aspect in Canadian early childhood curriculum. Based on recent studies, this research forms a theoretical framework for citizenship education, which covers four dimensions of citizenship (political education, social education, subjectivity education and civic practice education). The early learning frameworks in Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia are analyzed through thematic analysis. In general, citizenship education for young children in these three provinces reveal the following features: emphasizing young children’s rights and responsibilities, and advocating young children’s subject positions as citizens; the traditional citizenship is being changed and young children’s participation is highlighted as the root of democracy; young children’s citizenship lies in multiple discursive fields with indigenous perspective emerging.

加拿大学前儿童公民教育： 时代背景、 内容向度与价值导向 （Young children's citizenship education in Canada: Background, content and values）

Citizenship education for young children has been growingly emphasized by western countries. With the influence of global policy discourses, curriculum reform in early childhood education and studies of young children’s citizenship, citizenship education has become a key aspect in Canadian early childhood curriculum. Based on recent studies, this research forms a theoretical framework for citizenship education, which covers four dimensions of citizenship (political education, social education, subjectivity education and civic practice education). The early learning frameworks in Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia are analyzed through thematic analysis. In general, citizenship education for young children in these three provinces reveal the following features: emphasizing young children’s rights and responsibilities, and advocating young children’s subject positions as citizens; the traditional citizenship is being changed and young children’s participation is highlighted as the root of democracy; young children’s citizenship lies in multiple discursive fields with indigenous perspective emerging.

Story Movements

Social-issue documentaries are art for civic imagination and social critique. Today, audiences experience documentaries that interrogate topics like sexual assault in the military (The Invisible War), the opioid crisis (Heroin(e)), racial injustice (13th), government surveillance (Citizenfour), animal captivity (Blackfish), and more. Along a continuum of social change, these intimate nonfiction films have changed national conversations, set media agendas, mobilized communities and policymakers, and provided new portals into social problems and lived experiences—accessed by expanding audiences in a transforming dual marketplace that includes mainstream entertainment outlets and grassroots venues. Against the activism backdrop of the participatory networked culture, the contemporary function of social-issue documentaries in civic practice is embodied also in parallel community engagement—the active role of civil society, communities, and individuals—that has dynamically evolved over recent decades. Story Movements: How Documentaries Empower People and Inspire Social Change explores the functions and public influence of social-issue documentary storytelling in the networked era. At the book’s core is an argument about documentary’s vital role in storytelling culture and civic practice with an impulse toward justice and equity. Intimate documentaries illuminate complex realities and stories that disrupt dominant cultural narratives and contribute new ways for publics to contemplate and engage with social challenges. Written by a documentary producer, scholar, and director of the Center for Media & Social Impact, the book features original interviews with award-winning filmmakers and field leaders to reveal the motivations and influence of some of most lauded, eye-opening stories of the evolving documentary age.

Informing the government or fostering public debate?

This article focuses on a popular form of civic practice in China: casual political talk that occurs in online spaces that are not ostensibly political. We investigate how Chinese citizens engage in politics through a comparative analysis of everyday talk on health issues across three popular online discussion forums: a government-orientated forum (Qiangguo Luntan), a commercial-lifestyle forum (Tieba), and a commercial-topical forum focused on parental advice (Yaolan). Our findings show that conventional deliberation directly involving conflictual and resistant attitude against state authorities is not prominently embraced by Chinese citizens in everyday online settings. However, communal and less confrontational forms of discourse are important for the proto-political talk to turn political, thus serving as prerequisite conditions for the emergence of an online public sphere. We argue that to explain how the public sphere emerges in everyday (non-political) spaces in China, it is essential to take communal discursive forms into account.

Natural and Industrial Disaster Events, Public Health, and Ethics

Disasters are a function of the intersection between hazards and human vulnerability. Often these events affect the most disadvantaged and marginalized members of society. This chapter examines the moral complexities of natural and industrial disasters in terms of responsibility and blame, and the ethical and practical importance of extensive community-driven emergency preparedness efforts. There is an ethical imperative to develop and implement strategies for reducing disaster risk by reducing vulnerabilities and mitigating hazards. Preparation for natural and industrial disasters should be viewed as a civic practice, guided by civic and social obligations to participate in preparedness activities as members of a community and to foster societal concern for the safety and well-being of others, especially the most vulnerable. Civic responsibility and social justice are particularly important ethical dimensions of emergency preparedness in the context of these types of disasters.

Cultivating Civic Generosity in Elementary Youth Across Glocal Cultures, Ecologies, and Generations

This research explores cultivation of civic generosity in elementary youth as a cultural, ecological, generational practice developing global-local connections and enhanced by arts-based pedagogies, including reading, creating, and sharing children's books. In this study, 2nd grade students across two public school contexts (rural middle-income and rural low-income) reflect on learning generosity from a grandparent/parent to create a children's book presented in a public library. This study draws upon perspectives of participating elementary school teachers, administrators, and librarians to understand how the curricula and their partnerships enhanced student understanding, appreciation, and expression of generosity as a glocal civic practice.