Entrepreneur or capitalist? Discursive constructions of a deceased business leader in Chinese digital mourning discourse

Abstract

This study examines the public mourning discourse surrounding the death of Zong Qinghou, founder of Wahaha Group, on Chinese social media. By incorporating text mining into critical discourse studies, this research provides a corpus-assisted discourse study of competing ways of constructing Zong’s identity as an entrepreneur or a capitalist. The analysis offers insights into how Chinese society negotiates its relationship with private enterprise and wealth creation while maintaining cultural continuity. It contributes to understanding how public mourning discourse serves as a lens for examining social transformation in rapidly changing societies, particularly in the context of China’s unique political and economic environment.