Lei Feng:Where Are You From

Lei Feng is a well-known name in China. It has been more than50years since his first appearance in public. Whether as a heroic political symbol or a paragon of moral, he has exerted a profound effect on all aspects of the society since1960s, influencing several generations. Therefore, the spirit of Lei Feng has generated unusual social significance.The construction of typical character is an important and effective method in ideological propaganda, playing a particular role in ideological legalization. As a political symbol, the figure "Lei Feng" is a consequence of a propaganda campaign, dominated by political consciousness, and the mass media under state control is an essential factor in the formation of myth. This paper focuses on the changes of images of Lei Feng that is constructed by the People’s Daily over time. The People’s Daily is the first newspaper in our country, and it’s the main channel for the public to get information. The narrative mode that is highly respected by the People’s Daily is often imitated by others, leading to mighty social effect.Through the study of reports on Lei Feng in the People’s Daily, we can find that media coverage reveal distinct identities in different periods. The images of Lei Feng experience several stages. In the early days, Lei Feng was reported as "A good soldier of Chairman Mao", and then, he was characterized as a model citizen who loved the Party, devoted himself to Chairman Mao in the Cultural Revolution. After the reform and opening-up policy in1978,"example of spiritual civilization" turned into the reporting theme. In the new century, the image of Lei became "the master of construction of socialist market economy". On the surface, influences of political factors in the transmission fade away,"ordinary" and "popularity" were his essential quality. In fact, the functions of Lei Feng as a political symbol never disappear, but became more subtle. The survival of Lei’s image as a model over decades shows that the Party has made some changes to adjust to the changing circumstances. With the development of media technology and consumerism, the communication of "Lei Feng" encounters severe challenges in the field of mass culture. On the one hand, the position and function of Lei Feng are constantly strengthened in the mainstream ideological discourse; on the other hand, jokes and cynicism with Lei Feng emerges endlessly. The landscape of parallel transmission has been in existence. As a cultural phenomenon, Lei Feng has been deeply rooted in people’s mind. Conducting a detailed research on the transmission process can obtain an intuitive understanding of how typical characters formed in the mainstream consciousness; also, we are able to realize the effects of political authority on social culture macroscopically. Thereby, we might have a clearer grasp on the collision between mainstream discourse and popular culture, and gain some enlightenment for further study on relations among politics, media and society.