Scholarship on Chinese nationalism after the early 2010s by and large focused on popular nationalism and its influence on Chinese foreign policymaking. More recent studies reoriented the research focus towards official nationalism, examining the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) efforts to inculcate nationalism and its public reception. However, little attention has been paid to discursive shifts in nationalist discourse in shaping the relationship between the Party and the Chinese nation. This paper uses qualitative text analysis (QTA), grounded in Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, to address two research questions: What is the content of official nationalist discourse from 2012 to 2023? And how and why has it evolved? It argues that the CCP strategically constructs a particular common sense linking the party leadership to Chinese national rejuvenation, framing itself as the sole agent of this national fulfilment. More importantly, the Party places heightened emphasis on the CCP’s – and Xi Jinping’s – centrality through historical interpretation and Sinicization of Marxism, reinforcing the legitimacy of the CCP governance.

Authors:
Xinyuan Ren, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Xinyuan Ren is Postdoctoral Fellow of Centre for Contemporary China and the World at The University of Hong Kong. He holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick.

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