Ping’an jiating in Rural Southern Xinjiang

In official discourse in China, keywords highlight the main ideas in a text, point to specific regulations or policies then being implemented in a region, and often serve as mobilising slogans. They also carry implicit meanings and functions, and these affect people’s daily lives in different ways. This paper explores the meanings and impacts of the keyword ping’an jiating (平安家庭) – peaceful, safe household – when written on a plaque or label affixed to village homes in rural southern Xinjiang. It discusses ways in which those meanings differ for the residents of those homes and for the grassroots officials who assign the labels. It discusses how the ping’an jiating concept is related to stability maintenance, and how the award of a ping’an jiating label to a household can function as a form of political currency for that household, signalling that an awardee is trusted by local officials or, if political conditions change, the opposite.