Online Chinese Nationalism in Post-Olympic China

Abstract

This thesis conducts detailed content and data analysis to explore the influences of online Chinese nationalism on Chinese society and politics in the post-Olympic China. It can be divided into three parts. First, it highlights that the year 2008 is a crucial landmark of the studies of online nationalism in China. Second, it argues the profound influences of online nationalism on Chinese society in two layers: how it shapes the online nationalistic public, and how it affects Chinese politics. Public-wise, two major features are pointed out, which are voluntariness and collective aggressiveness. Politics-wise, Online Chinese nationalism presents its influence in two ways. On one hand, online Chinese nationalism has cast conspicuous impacts on Chinese foreign relations and policymaking: they are complementary to each other in some cases, while online nationalism can be a dilemma faced the Communist Party. On the other hand, the thesis argues that the dissidents who express their criticism under the protection of nationalism have a certain degree of potential of formalizing a digital civil society in China, but its inherited limits could prevent it from functioning properly.