Teaching Politics to China’s Youth: A Textual and Visual Analysis of Xi Jinping Thought Textbooks

This chapter examines a series of textbooks published in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 2021, designed to teach Xi Jinping’s political thought to Chinese students in compulsory education. Grounded in assumptions about the role of textbooks in education and society, and the ideological implications of textbook use, this study draws on Critical Discourse Studies, Systemic Functional Linguistics, corpus linguistics, and visual grammar to analyse the discursive features of the textbooks under scrutiny across both textual and visual modes. The analysis focuses on the interpersonal dimension of the texts, by examining two key aspects. First, it considers the role of pronouns as discursive devices that contribute to fostering a sense of unity and shared purpose, involving the student-readers in the narrative. Second, it explores how complex political concepts, ideological values, and historical narratives are distilled and presented into accessible forms, in particular through visual elements, to engage young learners.