Post-pandemic city branding: multimodal identity construction of Wuhan through a promotional video

4.2.1 Cooperation and solidarity

For hard-hit Wuhan, unity was the first step to finding a way out. Cooperation refers to the collaborative acts performed by all-level personnel and departments, and solidarity pertains to the moral support beyond actions. The 93 % proportion of implicit expressions (n = 28) in Table 2 is mitigated by a relatively equal distribution of visual design, approximately half each in character depiction (n = 67) and site design (n = 57) (see Table 3). Cooperation is evident in dress codes, such as red volunteer undershirts, blue and white protective clothing, camouflage-patterned military uniforms, and varied codes of dress for medical personnel. Solidarity is typically demonstrated in group efforts (e.g., rescuing patients, maintaining traffic order, and delivering supplies) and intimate physical contact (e.g., holding hands, huddling, and hugging). For example, as Figure 2 shows, people in different forms of dress (analytical process) are picking, sorting, and carrying fresh vegetables (actional process) to ensure sufficient food provision for residents in home quarantine in Jiangxinyuan Community. The mutual help between “community workers” and “residents” forges an overall unity among citizens, which the film demonstrates and reinforces by use of the word “都” ‘all’ in Text 1.

Text 1: By ensuring daily supplies at stable prices, and delivery to the doorstep by community workers, Hubei provided all residents in home quarantine with fresh foods to meet their essential living needs.

‘保供稳价, 小区配送, 服务上门, 让所有居家隔离的人都能够吃到新鲜的食物, 全力保障基本生活不受影响。’ (3:52–3:57)

Figure 2:

Food delivery by volunteers (3:52).

In addition, this attribute can be revealed from a social viewpoint through 33 sections of film footage depicting specialized site design in terms of healthcare (surgery operation), transport (delivery convoys), the public (home quarantine), etc. The city’s holistic vision is frequently delineated with long sections of footage showing everyday places (n = 23). As presented in Figure 3, in a residential community at night (everyday places), a spirit of co-encouragement to fellow Wuhan citizens is expressed through words, such as “Stay strong, Wuhan!” (see Text 2), voicing an integral sense of support. Capturing images of extensive group work develops Wuhan’s image as a city of solidarity with a sense of humanity.

Text 2: Stay strong, Wuhan!

‘武汉加油!’ (4:06–4:08)

Figure 3:

A residential community at night. (4:08).

4.2.2 Sacrifice and selflessness

The attribute of sacrifice emphasizes the efforts from medical personnel and local citizens. This attribute is largely realized through 78 sections of film that meet the criteria of character depiction (p = 82.1 %) (see Table 3), in conformity with 6 eliciting condition utterances (p = 75 %) (see Table 2). For example, in Figure 4, all the medical personnel are wearing uniform protective clothing, goggles, and disposable gloves (analytical process) to “focus on treatment” (actional process) (see Text 3). Shown with their backs to the audience, these people are hailed as “heroes in harm’s way” or “selfless heroes” (逆行者ni xing yhe ‘one who goes against the flow,’ indicating someone who walks toward danger, rather than away from it, to save others), because they put their duty before their own lives and suffer hardship to battle the pandemic (Zhang and Barr 2021: 397). This also inscribes the urban imaginary of Wuhan with the same quality.

Text 3: Taking science-based and targeted measures with a focus on treatment and containment, Hubei implemented full-scale screening, access control in residential communities and management of public areas.

‘科学防治, 精准施策, 湖北紧紧围绕救治和阻隔, 全面实施筛查甄别, 小区封闭管理, 公共区域管控。’ (3:14–3:28)

Figure 4:

Medical workers rushing in protective clothing (3:20).

Apart from this, local citizens in Wuhan are depicted obeying the “lock-down policy” to prevent the virus from further spreading, bearing the risk of falling victim in the hardest-hit area. Figure 5, depicting a male resident who is frowning, raising his clenched fists (analytical process), and making no eye-contact with the viewer, conveys a sense of detachment in the form of an “offering” image, using Halliday’s (1985) terminology. Providing a symbol of detachment, this resident delivers a refusal to involve others in the circumstance which Text 4 refers to as “the demon,” revealing the spirit of sacrifice and selflessness of ordinary people out of loyal fellowship. Thus, Wuhan is constructed as a city of this spirit, with all its citizens conducting deeds of sacrifice and selflessness as mentioned above.

Text 4: 我们把这个魔鬼关在我们自己家里, 因为门外头也是我们的兄弟。

‘We lock the demon in our homes so that it won’t get to our brothers and sisters outside.’ (1:07–1:09)

Figure 5:

A Wuhan citizen taking interviews indoors (1:08).

4.2.3 Openness and receptivity

During the epidemic, Wuhan played a role in connecting China with the outside world. The attribute of openness and receptivity refers to Wuhan welcoming the material and manpower support from the international community amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

International assistance meant that medical materials and human resources were replenished in a timely manner. For example, the global community shows great care by “lend[ing] a helping hand” (attitudinal lexes) in Text 5, revealing Wuhan’s openness to the world. Also, as Figure 6 shows, the “people of Islamic Republic of Pakistan” call the Chinese people their “Chinese friends,” with the motivating words of “中国加油” ‘Stay strong, China’ expressly written in Chinese to demonstrate concern abroad. Additionally, a group of volunteers comprised of people of different skin colors (see Figure 7) raise their clenched fists and cross their arms in solidarity (analytical process) against a background composed of different national flags (specialized site), manifesting their commitment to win together with Wuhan in this fight.

Text 5: The international community lends a helping hand. 77 countries and 12 international organizations sent much-needed supplies. International friends and foreign students volunteered to join the battle against the virus.

‘国际社会纷纷伸出援手, 77个国家和12个国际组织雪中送炭, 在华外国友人, 留学生, 主动请战。’ (2:00–2:18)

Figure 6:

Material supplies from Pakistan (2:08).

Figure 7:

Manpower supplies by foreign students (2:15).

As observed in a collection of case studies in City branding: theory and cases (Dinnie 2011), a city slogan proves helpful in constituting an identity whose meaning is disseminated among people with a similar social background (e.g., history, class, and culture), and it influences social areas such as tourism, education, and city identity. Within the promotional video under examination here, people of all nations embrace the same situation under COVID-19, resulting in slogans of encouragement displayed in varying contexts such as on building facades, fundraising banners, decorative strips, etc. Slogans in different languages from all over the world (e.g., Tokyo, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Tehran, New York, Melbourne, etc.) repeat words saying “武汉加油” (Come on, Wuhan) in the streets (everyday place), as Figure 8 shows, appearing in Chinese characters against a red backdrop to deliver “support,” “good wishes,” “love,” and “warmth,” and also in English for wider dissemination.

Text 6: Messages of support and good wishes came from all over the world, bringing love and warmth.

‘世界各地送上支持与祝福, 传递爱心与温暖。’ (3:04–3:10)

Figure 8:

Outdoor slogans (3:08).

4.2.4 Responsibility and capacity

As a stakeholder of city branding, local government plays an essential role in Wuhan’s image construction in policy planning, implementation, and marketing (Braun 2011). During the pandemic, the Wuhan government played a pivotal role in allocating social labor and carrying out reaction plans.

Responsibility, largely reflected in implicit expressions, focused on the government’s high regard for people’s safety. Early on in the epidemic, Wuhan was in a state of uncertainty, with people’s lives at risk. The Wuhan government promised to “put the people and life above everything else” in Text 7 (resultant action), illustrating the top-down mentality of the Chinese government, i.e., placing the people’s well-being as the top priority (Chen 2009). In Figure 9, President Xi Jinping, as a representative of central government, is shown to the audience with other officials and soldiers behind him, against the backdrop of a press conference (specialized site). The conviction is delivered in Text 8 that the government is actively engaged in “an all-out people’s war” and is always there to protect the people, thereby reinforcing an image of the government’s sense of responsibility and progressively shaping the identity of the city.

Text 7: A novel coronavirus caught us all unprepared at the end of 2019. The Chinese government puts the people and life^[2] above everything else. No cost is too high to protect people’s lives.

‘2019年岁末, 新冠肺炎疫情突如其来。人民至上, 生命至上。为了保护人民生命安全, 我们什么都可以豁得出来。 (00:33–00:50)

Text 8: Under the personal command and direction of President Xi Jinping, the whole country was mobilized in an all-out people’s war against the virus.

‘习近平主席亲自指挥, 亲自部署, 一场举国动员的人民战争, 总体战, 狙击战, 全面打响。’ (1:24–1:39)

Figure 9:

A mobilization speech delivered by President Xi Jinping (1:25).

Equally shown in implicit expressions, capacity refers to the high working efficiency of local government for policy implementation and personnel mobilization. Directly confronted with the COVID-19 outbreak, China’s central government actualizes timely response strategies, most notably the “lock-down policy,” entailing mandatory isolation to prevent further inflection. Enacting this policy was, in fact, an experimental move but proved to be an effective one for controlling the spread within two months, and Wuhan is thereby viewed as a “model example” in epidemic control (Zhao and Chen 2020: 12). Explicit expressions only appear once when relating to government’s capacity (see Table 2) yet offering the reader an integral assessment as “no mean feat (壮举)” (attitudinal lexes) in Text 9, a comment of recognition from Philippe Klein, a French doctor who personally joined the front line of the battle.

Text 9: China has been able to put the epidemic under control by outdoing itself to ensure a better future for its people. This is no mean feat given China’s large population and vast territory.

‘中国超越自我, 成功遏制疫情, 让中国人民拥有更好的未来。这样的壮举在一个人口众多, 幅员辽阔的国家实属不易。’ (2:19–2:37)

4.3.1 Recovering as a healthy city

Maintaining health is a prerequisite for a city to make any advancement. Following Duhl’s (1986) criteria, the health status of a city can be assessed by its capacity to provide basic needs, its modification capability, civil expectation, and the availability of education, all of which were able to be holistically achieved by restorative practices in Wuhan.

Firstly, the top priority which scientific control pursues is restoration of normalized life. For COVID-19 control, 25 sections of film containing pandemic-related activities were counted in total (see Table 3). Under epidemic prevention rules like temperature measurement, code scanning, and nucleic acid testing (actional process) in public places such as residential communities, airports, and railway stations (everyday places), the epidemic was effectively brought under control, providing the city with a population basis for future development in all aspects. As shown in Figure 10, a close-up section of footage of Wuhan’s cherry blossoms (natural scenery) symbolizes “vitality returns to the city,” as stated in Text 10.

Text 10: As spring comes, vitality returns to the city.

‘大地春回, 生机无限.’ (4:54–4:59)

Figure 10:

Wuhan’s cherry trees in full bloom (4:57).

Secondly, with depictions of everyday places constituting 62.9 % (n = 51) in the site design of a “healthy city” (see Table 3), the health status of Wuhan counts most in its capacity to meet civil expectation for accommodation, clothing, food, transportation, education, and entertainment, which is primarily presented through day-to-day activities (actional process) in everyday places (site design). As illustrated in Figure 11, a wide-angle view of people bustling across an open public space (actional process) is depicted against the background of a business district called “Big Hankou” (everyday place), conveying the transformation from static epidemic stagnation to normal dynamic life.

Figure 11:

Bustling streets crowded with pedestrians (6:08).

Moreover, for a tight connection between economic rise and employment growth within a city (Hu 2004), promotion of employment is the key to economic recovery. Unemployment due to the lock-down is being reduced with the resumption of work and production. The Wuhan government helped the unemployed “return to [their] jobs” by implementing favorable policies (see Text 11). When people’s daily life is largely restored to a normal state, this reestablishes the city’s healthy image. In Figure 12, a man at the foreground is wearing a chef’s uniform and hat (analytical process) and is surrounded by staff, tables, and customers (everyday place), demonstrating that more restaurant staff had been “added” after the pandemic (see Text 12).

Text 11: 让大家更健康地, 平安地回到自己的工作岗位上。

‘We will make sure that you can return to your jobs safe and sound.’ (5:45–5:49)

Text 12: 今天我们上班的厨师又增加了两个。

‘We added two more chefs to today’s shift.’ (6:13–6:14)

Figure 12:

A reopened restaurant crowded with reemployed staff and customers (6:14).

4.3.2 Positioning as a global city

Putting a city in a well-defined position is an intermediate step of city branding (Kavaratzis 2004). Titling as a “global city” is a common choice in city branding amid the inevitable trend toward globalization (Lim 2020). Thus, after resumption of work life, Wuhan was branded with attributes such as “international transportation hub” and “world-class business agglomeration center” in an effort to enhance its global image.

4.3.2.1 An international transportation hub

Firstly, a favorable transport system constitutes a key prerequisite for regional economic growth in order to feasibility realize city development (Cidell 2006). Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Wuhan has served as an international transport hub with a mixed transport system by sea, land, and air, all of which have been fully developed to enhance global transport capacity (see text 13). Taking water transportation as an example, the Han River – the major tributary of the Yangtze River passing through Wuhan – has assumed a major role for its multilateral linkage with other nations. In Figure 13, a cargo ship of the Chinese shipping company “COSCO Shipping Lines (中远海运)” bearing the identity-signifier “CHINA SHIPPING (中国海运)” advances through the water, which resonates with “逆势” ‘despite global turndown’ in Text 14 and marking Wuhan’s rise from the unfavorable circumstance under the epidemic.

Text 13: With 9 high-speed railway lines, 70% of Chinese cities can be reached from Wuhan under four hours. The city is also linked to 28 countries by the Yangtze River waterways and connected to the world by 64 international and regional air routes.

‘九条高铁4小时可达70%的中国城市, 长江水路直通28个国家, 64条国际和地区航线连接全球。’ (7:18–7:22)

Text 14: Hubei’s GDP in 2020 recovered to 95% of the previous year. Foreign trade increased despite global turndown.

‘2020年湖北完成上半年GDP的95.6%, 外贸进出口逆势增长。’ (6:17–6:27)

Figure 13:

Foreign trade using water transportation (6:26).

4.3.2.2 A world-class business agglomeration center

Meanwhile, another attribute of being “global” demands post-pandemic Wuhan to achieve a fair degree of integration, reflecting city agglomeration at a country level or business agglomeration at a city level (De Jong et al. 2018: 536). Subsequently, together with its upgraded transport system, Wuhan emerges as a business agglomeration center with sci-tech innovations and a business-friendly environment. For one thing, city branding acts as a strategy to motivate talent attraction and investment assets (Dinnie 2011), fostering the construction of a “creative city.” A “creative center” is shaped by the founding of research and development bases, attracting “creative classes” (high-educated talent) and exerting a strong radiating effect on neighboring cities (Florida 2003). As depicted in Figure 14, the new-model Hubei Laboratory and Optics Valley Science and Technology Corridor traverses such cities as Ezhou, Huangshi, and Huanggang, with the core functions concentrated in Wuhan. This corridor constitutes an economic zone specializing in innovation and appealing to talent from “higher learning institutions” (see Text 15).

Text 15: Today’s Hubei is boosting innovation through institutional reform. The new-model Hubei Laboratory and Optics Valley Science and Technology Corridor with the East Lake Science City as its central layer are making all-round progress. The province is home to 129 higher learning institutions, 29 national key laboratories, over 3,600 research institutions and 10,000 plus high-tech companies.

‘今天的湖北, 制度变革激发创新活力。全新模式的湖北实验室, 以东湖科学城为核心区的关谷科创大走廊建设立体推进。129所高等院校,29个国家重点实验室, 3600多家科研机构, 1万多家高新技术企业共同发力。’ (8:10–8:24)

Figure 14:

A map of scientific and technological agglomeration centered in Wuhan (8:10).

Additionally, given a favorable technical basis, an optimal business environment is a key factor in attracting foreign investors (Snieska and Zykiene 2015). To strengthen Wuhan’s pro-business image, government initiatives play a crucial role in endowing Wuhan with the attributes of a “world-class business environment” (see Text 16). In regard to promoting Wuhan outwardly as an investment destination, business activities, notably trade fairs (specialized site), are frequently mentioned in 55 sections of film (see Table 3). In Figure 15, a conference named “Hubei 2021 Cherry Blossom Viewing: Business Cooperation and Fortune 500 Dialogue with Hubei” was held in Wuhan, functioning as a two-way channel for high-quality companies abroad to witness Wuhan’s economic viability. In a supportive business context, positive outcomes including new investments and settlements have taken place in Wuhan, rebuilding its city image as a world-class business agglomeration center.

Text 16: Hubei is fostering a world-class business environment. Putting firms’ needs first, the government sees itself as a service provider, always ready to help but not interfere.

‘今天的湖北, 营商环境对标国际一流。以企业评价为第一评价, 政府当好服务企业的“店小二”, 有求必应, 无事不扰。’ (8:28–8:41)

Figure 15:

A business conference held in Wuhan (8:33).