The State’s “Presence” And Interpretation:Discourse Analysis Of People’s Daily National Day Editorials(1949-2019) From The Perspective Of “Reason Of State”

As Skocpol said,the state is "an independent actor",the modern nation-state,as the bearer of sovereignty,has its own characteristics which are different from those of citizens and society,and has special interests outside of citizens and society.Since its founding,the People’s Republic of China has taken on the basic form of a modern nation-state.In the past70 years of nation-building,China has experienced tremendous twists and turns and at the same time made remarkable achievements.In China,from national liberation to national rejuvenation,from proletarian internationalism to the community of human destiny,the endogenous power of the state has gradually emerged.Based on the National Day editorial text of People’s Daily from 1949 to 2019,this paper uses the method of text analysis to study the contents of national construction presented in the editorial.Furthermore,this paper uses the theory of "reason of state " to explain the appearance of state role and behavior choice in the process of state construction.This paper divides the editorials of National Day from 1949 to 2019 into four stages,Mao Zedong,Deng Xiaoping,Post-Deng Xiaoping and the new era.Through the four stages of the frequency of words,word meaning and the context of the three levels of quantitative and qualitative study.The analysis of word frequency shows the hot issues and behavior characteristics of national construction,the analysis of word meaning shows the ecology and understanding of national construction,and the context of the times shows the guiding ideology and target ways of national construction.And the four stages of the situation of national construction of horizontal comparison,and then summed up the political logic of China’s national construction and experience.This paper holds that in the 70 years of China’s national construction,the country has never jumped out of the political life,that is,the presence of the country,and the ultimate goal of either revolution or reform is the prosperity of the country,that is,the country is the ultimate reason for all kinds of behavior choices.It is accompanied by the ruling party’s rational understanding of the state,the optimization of state functions and the improvement of state capacity.