Narrative Inquiry 25:1 (2015), 131–147. doi 10.1075/ni.25.1.08cha issn 1387–6740 / e-issn 1569–9935 © John Benjamins Publishing Company Using storytelling in culturally situated ways to persuade Yanrong (Yvonne) Chang University of Texas — Rio Grande Valley his study examines how storytelling is manipulated in culturally meaningful ways for persuasive purposes by describing patterns of storytelling in Chinese criminal courts and analyzing ways in which the court manipulated the form and content of storytelling in order to accomplish multiple persuasive goals — to convince defendants of their guilt, to create an image of justice, and to educate the public about legal and moral conduct. Keywords: storytelling, persuasion, criminal courts, justice, China Storytelling is considered a form of persuasion shared by all mankind (Fisher, 1984). Ever since we are born, we hear stories and acquire the ability to judge their veracity based on our own lived experiences. hough narrative is a universal form of persuasion, it may be manipulated in culturally situated ways to accomplish particular persuasive goals. Using storytelling in the Chinese criminal courts, this study will illustrate ways storytelling was rhetorically used by courts to convince defendants of their guilt, to project an image of justice, and to educate the public about legal and moral conduct. he persuasive dimensions of storytelling in courtrooms have received much scholarly attention. Some looked at the entire courtroom discourse from a narra- tive perspective, arguing that reality was constructed through storytelling in courts (Bennett, 1978; Jackson, 1991). In courts, the narrative structure was found to parallel jurors’ natural information processing systems and, henceforth, facilitated jury deliberation and decision making (Bennett, 1978; Jackson, 1991; Spiecker & Worthington, 2003). As Walter Fisher argued, the validity of a story is based on Requests for further information should be directed to: Yanrong (Yvonne) Chang, University of Texas — Rio Grande Valley, 1201 W. University Dr., Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA. Phone number: (956) 665–3583. Email: yanrong.chang@utrgv.edu