Rhetorical Analysis: Mao Zedong's 'Chinese People Stood Up' Speech

This report provides a detailed rhetorical analysis of Mao Zedong's speech, 'The Chinese People Have Stood Up,' delivered in 1949. It examines the historical context of the speech, the rise of the Communist Party in China, and the political climate of the time, including the struggle against the Kuomintang and the influence of the Soviet Union. The analysis investigates the speech's intended audience, the use of rhetoric to garner support, and its effectiveness in galvanizing the Chinese people. The report also explores the speech's lasting significance as a declaration of the Communist Party's power and its role in shaping the Chinese Dream and the country's future trajectory. It emphasizes the importance of the slogan 'The Chinese People Have Stood Up' in the hearts of the Chinese people and its impact on both historical and political realms.

Running head: SPEECH ANALYSIS
Speech Analysis
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SPEECH ANALYSIS
The deliberative speech is very crucial in the context of the political actions and these
speeches definitely have very close connections with the historical developments. The
deliberative speech chosen for this paper is very much relevant for the depiction of the history
and it has several important political connotations. This speech is the ‘The Chinese People have
Stood Up’ delivered at China on 21st September in the year 1949 when the Chinese Communist
Party grabbed the throne of the country by defeating the reactionary Kuomintang force (Zedong,
1949).
This slogan ‘The Chinese People have Stood Up’ is one of the most legitimate slogans
that were ever made to declare the reign of a certain political party (Liu, 2019). On another part
of the world, the Communist Party was at the hold of the Soviet Union after Lenin and Stalin. In
China, the reactionary forces of the Kuomintang party got the assistance from the imperialists
United States. This is why the Communist party of China had to gain the attention of the
common people of the country. In this quest, the Kuomintang Party was very powerful but the
Communist Party had been successful in asserting their influence over the common people
(Zedong, 1949). The people of China came up and they stood beside the Communist Party
completely. This slogan has a massive relevance in the historical realms since it announced that
Communist Party of China was going to take charge of the country. Politically, it was also very
crucial since the Communist Party wanted to reclaim the land from the hands of the corrupted
students (Blanchard, 2015).
The corrupted national powers were very oppressive and they had to make sure that they
defeated the Kuomintang party and establish their power over the Chinese lands. This slogan is
politically very relevant since it was used as the manifesto of the Chinese Dream just like the
American Dream that they used during their struggle for independence (Zedong, 1949). The

2SPEECH ANALYSIS
Chinese Dream became inevitable since the communists struggled very hard and bring back the
positivity and prosperity of the country to a perfect point (Link, 2019). Eventually, this was the
beginning of the power that China showed after the years they formed the government in 1949.
This is believed to be the propaganda machine that Mao Zedong created to motivate the red
soldiers of China. Many other slogans had been created in the later times but this slogan of ‘The
Chinese People have Stood Up’ has remained in the hearts of the common Chinese people
forever (Zedong, 1949).
The People’s Republic of China had been established in 1949 and Mao Zedong had
pronounced these words with his accent of the traditional Hunan. Thus, he told the world and all
Communist powers to be united at the Tiananmen Square later on in the same year also (Brown,
2017). He hurled the arrows at Chiang Kai-shek of the Kuomintang Party and highlighted all the
faults committed by his party. This speech by Mao Zedong was quite encouraging for all the
party comrades of the Communists. Therefore, they wanted to say that the Communist party
would engage in the better practices that would help in the progress of their country (Zedong,
1949). This speech had left an impression on the common people of the country in such a manner
that they could not get over this amazement for a long time indeed. All the common people of
China had come together to fight against the curse of imperialism and feudalism (Blanchard,
2015).
The People’s War of Liberation had been supported in the speech of Mao Zedong. He
congratulated everybody who took place in the war. The restoration of the Political Consultative
Conference had been done in this scenario when the imperialists had been thrown out of the
country completely (Pieke, 2017). Historically, its relevance is well established since China
became another country where communism began to reign supreme also. In this scenario, the

3SPEECH ANALYSIS
trust and support of the common Chinese people had been earned by the Communist party
(Blanchard, 2015). Both the political and historical dominance was established by the
Communist party after all these incidents.
On the concluding note, it can be said that this speech by Mao Zedong had a supreme
appeal to the common people of China. They were henceforth very much oppressed by the
tortures of the Kuomintang government. The Communist regime and their views had brought in
a ray of hope among the common people of the country. Their situations were sure to be
improved. The political aggression and dominance of the Communist party of China began
through this speech officially.

4SPEECH ANALYSIS
References
Blanchard, J. M. F. (2015). The people’s republic of China leadership transition and its external
relations: Still searching for definitive answers. Journal of Chinese Political
Science, 20(1), 1-16.
Brown, K. (2017). The communist party of China and ideology. In Critical Readings on the
Communist Party of China (4 Vols. Set) (pp. 797-815). Brill.
Link, P. (2019). Unofficial China: Popular Culture and Thought in the People's Republic.
Routledge.
Liu, A. P. (2019). Mass politics in the People's Republic: state and society in contemporary
China. Routledge.
Pieke, F. N. (2017). The Communist Party and social management in China. In Critical Readings
on Communist Party of China (pp. 998-1018). BRILL.
Zedong, M. (1949). The Chinese People have stood up!. September, 21, 15-18.