Who are “the people”? Tensions between the Chinese nation, mass and socially vulnerable groups in Chinese populism

This paper disentangles the meanings attached to “the people” in Chinese populism research. By pairing textual analysis with a meta-analysis of 61 contemporary cases of populism discussed in research papers, three meanings attached to the people are identified. The Chinese nation functions as an ideological glue to mobilize the Chinese to protest against those considered to betray their Chinese identity, or seen as violating the sovereignty and dignity of China. The mass resist authority through parody, deconstructing serious themes and delegitimating with comedic effects. Socially vulnerable groups are those located at the bottom of China’s social hierarchy, who are afforded a voice by digital platforms, and who tend to revolt against the established institutions and defend their civil rights online.
Understanding how “the people” are defined is crucial for understanding Chinese populism. Populism research has largely explored the internal tensions around “the people” within Western contexts, focusing on boundaries (exclusiveness and inclusiveness) and sovereignty (individuals and a collective body). These studies argue “the people” is often used in an amalgam of three meanings: the people as sovereign, as the common people, and as the nation. Alternatively, they are defined as the united people, our people, and/or ordinary people. However, tensions around the understanding of “the people” and their role in populism within non-democratic systems remains unexplored. This paper addresses this gap by examining populism research and prominent case studies of Chinese populism.
In contributing to current knowledge about populism in China, this paper offers two perspectives. First, by disentangling the meanings attached to the people, the categories that emerge reflect the changing ways in which “the people/elites” or “self/other” relationships are imagined in Chinese populist discourse. This also provides critical insights into the government’s role in keeping the balance between these relationships. Second, it sheds light on the ongoing debate on the tensions of “the people”. While the sovereign people are titular holders of power in China, in practice, they are subordinated socially vulnerable groups. In the Chinese context, “the people” (人民, renmin) generally refers to “the people mass” (人民群众, renmin qunzhong), a concept with distinctive Chinese characteristics. As an abstract entirety, on the one hand, “the people mass” affirms the sovereignty by regarding the people as the ruler of the country, while also being a concrete crowd, they remain in a subordinate position. As such, “the people mass” can be considered a compound concept with meanings from both the subordinated people (“民”, min) and the sovereign people (“人民”, renmin).

Keywords: Chinese populism, Chinese nation, socially vulnerable groups, the people