NOT ALL NATIONALISTS ARE ZEALOTS: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF CHINESE NATIONALISM AMONG ZHIHU USERS

Abstract

The rise of Chinese nationalism and its foreign policy implications have been the subject of growing academic and policy interest since the 1990s. However, previous studies that rely on high-profile nationalist movements as evidence may only capture a segment of public sentiment which creates an impression that much of Chinese nationalism is virulent and over-zealous. This study aims to broaden the current knowledge of Chinese nationalism by systematically examining the quotidian expression of nationalism in the form of discourses that happen “naturally” among interlocutors (based on 5915 Zhihu posts, 198 speeches by Xi Jinping, and 1739 opinion pieces from The People’s Daily). Results reveal that Zhihu users are critical nationalists instead of zealots because they are judicious rather than aggressive in voicing their nationalist views. Being critical also means that they are less susceptible to top-down manipulation of nationalist views. Lastly, this study also makes an exploratory attempt to argue that this type of critical nationalism among urban elites carries little implications for China’s foreign policymaking. In sum, the existence of levelheaded nationalists on China’s online space suggests the heterogeneity of Chinese cyber nationalism and the limits of strident nationalist mobilization.