Maintaining ideological security and legitimacy in digital China: Governance of cyber historical nihilism

This article studies the governance of ‘cyber historical nihilism’ in China. By performing document analysis of the regulatory policies and actions against cyber historical nihilism, we found that cyber historical nihilism is mainly governed as harmful ‘online content’ and a threatening ‘ideological...

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Main Authors: Xu, Jian, Gong, Qian, Yin, Wen
Other Authors: Yu, Haiqing
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.sagepub.com/home/mia
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88839
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author Xu, Jian
Gong, Qian
Yin, Wen
author2 Yu, Haiqing
author_facet Yu, Haiqing
Xu, Jian
Gong, Qian
Yin, Wen
author_sort Xu, Jian
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This article studies the governance of ‘cyber historical nihilism’ in China. By performing document analysis of the regulatory policies and actions against cyber historical nihilism, we found that cyber historical nihilism is mainly governed as harmful ‘online content’ and a threatening ‘ideological trend’, and its governance has incorporated agencies and measures of China’s ‘internet governance’ and ‘ideological and political education’. We argue that cyber historical nihilism has been securitised by the Chinese Communist Party as an urgent threat to the nation’s ideological and political securities. The governance of cyber historical nihilism aims to maintain the Chinese Communist Party’s authority in history writing and its legitimacy and longevity as the ruling party. The Chinese Communist Party’s emphasis and intensity in governing cyber historical nihilism has not only demonstrated the ideological turn to Maoism in internet governance, propaganda and politics under Xi Jinping’s leadership, but also the Chinese Communist Party’s ability and resilience to adapt to new challenges in the ideological field in the digital age.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-888392022-07-20T04:08:19Z Maintaining ideological security and legitimacy in digital China: Governance of cyber historical nihilism Xu, Jian Gong, Qian Yin, Wen Yu, Haiqing Xu, Jian 2001 - Communication and Media Studies This article studies the governance of ‘cyber historical nihilism’ in China. By performing document analysis of the regulatory policies and actions against cyber historical nihilism, we found that cyber historical nihilism is mainly governed as harmful ‘online content’ and a threatening ‘ideological trend’, and its governance has incorporated agencies and measures of China’s ‘internet governance’ and ‘ideological and political education’. We argue that cyber historical nihilism has been securitised by the Chinese Communist Party as an urgent threat to the nation’s ideological and political securities. The governance of cyber historical nihilism aims to maintain the Chinese Communist Party’s authority in history writing and its legitimacy and longevity as the ruling party. The Chinese Communist Party’s emphasis and intensity in governing cyber historical nihilism has not only demonstrated the ideological turn to Maoism in internet governance, propaganda and politics under Xi Jinping’s leadership, but also the Chinese Communist Party’s ability and resilience to adapt to new challenges in the ideological field in the digital age. 2022 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88839 10.1177/1329878X221111826 English https://journals.sagepub.com/home/mia SAGE fulltext
spellingShingle 2001 - Communication and Media Studies
Xu, Jian
Gong, Qian
Yin, Wen
Maintaining ideological security and legitimacy in digital China: Governance of cyber historical nihilism
title Maintaining ideological security and legitimacy in digital China: Governance of cyber historical nihilism
title_full Maintaining ideological security and legitimacy in digital China: Governance of cyber historical nihilism
title_fullStr Maintaining ideological security and legitimacy in digital China: Governance of cyber historical nihilism
title_full_unstemmed Maintaining ideological security and legitimacy in digital China: Governance of cyber historical nihilism
title_short Maintaining ideological security and legitimacy in digital China: Governance of cyber historical nihilism
title_sort maintaining ideological security and legitimacy in digital china: governance of cyber historical nihilism
topic 2001 - Communication and Media Studies
url https://journals.sagepub.com/home/mia
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88839