Patriotism without state blessing

Chinese cyber nationalists in a predicament

Bibliographic Data

ID20053618
AuthorsRongbin Han (0000-0001-7828-2245, corresponding author)
Year2019
Publication date2019-06-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueHandbook of Protest and Resistance in China (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4337/9781786433787.00036
OpenAlexW2951387336
ISBN9781786433787
LanguageEN
Citations received15

Cyber nationalism in China is on the rise, with complex implications for authoritarian rule. On one hand, nationalistic netizens in general demonstrate pro-regime inclinations and side with the state in online debates. On the other hand, popular nationalism often directly contests the state’s claims to nationalist legitimacy and runs the risk of collective mobilization. What happens when a nationalistic fever meets the authoritarian state? This chapter explores the party-state’s efforts to rein in cyber nationalism and netizens’ reactions by examining the “Diba Expedition”—an online event in which Chinese nationalist netizens flooded the Facebook page of president-elect Tsai Ing-wen in early 2016 to defend the “One China” principle. This patriotic event was full of irony, given that Facebook is banned in China and the party-state made diligent efforts to censor relevant mobilizing threads. Such conflict between spontaneous patriotism and state repression calls into question both the legitimacy of the regime and the nature of Chinese nationalism. However, content analysis of posts in the Diba Expedition finds that many nationalists seem to have found a way to reconcile authoritarian rule with their love of the nation

Authoritarianism · China · Democracy · Legitimacy · Media studies · Nationalism · Patriotism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Computer Science · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law

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