Mobilising Collective Action Through Recontextualized Metadiscourse in China's Public Health Crises: From SARS to Post‐COVID‐19

Collective action is essential for effective disease control during health crises. This study examines how such action has been discursively mobilised in China across five major public health crises over the past two decades. A thematic analysis of 200 crisis communication open letters shows that compliance with health measures is framed not only as self‐protection but also as a manifestation of patriotism, personal growth, legal obligation, and familial responsibility. These ideological elements form a mobilisation metadiscourse with strong diachronic continuity, adapting to sociopolitical shifts through three dominant modes—command, persuasion, and collaboration—and reinterpreting earlier crisis discourses within a national narrative of “suffering–unity–victory”. National virtues are foregrounded, while policy contestation and individual differences are largely excluded. By highlighting recontextualization as a key mechanism, the study demonstrates both the persuasive efficacy and ideological implications of mobilisation discourse, emphasising reflexivity toward hegemonies embedded in collaborative and emotionally charged rhetoric.