Make China great again online alt-history fiction and popular authoritarianism Rongbin Han

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Han, Rongbin, 1980- Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Alternative histories (Fiction), Chinese--History and criticism.

Alternative histories (Fiction), Chinese.

Chinese literature--21st century--History and criticism.

Chinese literature.

Literature and the Internet--China.

Literature and the Internet.

Nationalism in literature.

Nationalism and literature--China.

Nationalism and literature.

Politics and literature--China.

Politics and literature.

Authoritarianism--China.

Authoritarianism.

Authoritarianism--Public opinion.

Authoritarianism in literature.

Literature and history.

China.

Genre:

Literary criticism

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Columbia University Press (Lightning Source), 2026.

New York Columbia University Press [2026]

Summary:

""In the past few decades, millions of Chinese have explored different historical paths for their nation through a specific genre of internet literature--alt-history fictions-in which they fantasize going back in history and transforming China militarily, politically, economically, and socially. For instance, a popular title, Red Dawn , writes about a Chinese born in the 1980s traveling back to 1905 and launching a communist revolution even before the Communist Party was founded. Another fiction, Pointing South, takes its readers on a journey to save the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.) from the Mongolian invasion and to transform China into a capitalist society with a parliamentary system. These are not idiosyncratic cases. There are thousands of similar works through which ordinary Chinese netizens imagine how they would shape history to "make China great again" (MCGA) were they ever offered the opportunity. This shared MCGA theme of national revival weirdly echoes both the official "Chinese dream" and "make America great again" (MAGA) in the United States. How can we make sense of this popular cultural consumerist phenomenon and its political implications? Combining in-depth and guerrilla style online ethnography with systematic content analysis, this book investigates the production and consumption of these fictions, revealing how internet literature has become a commodified political field that not only exposes citizens to digital cultural consumerist experiences, but hosts the ideational negotiation and contestation between citizens and the state in China. Political scientist Rongbin Han argues that while the process confirms and simultaneously challenges the state and its ideological constructs, it may ultimately lead to the rise of digital cultural hegemony under which authoritarian rule gains popular consent in China. Focusing not on traditional elites such as intellectuals, as many current studies have done, but on digitally empowered ordinary citizens who present their views, reflections, and visions of China through everyday practices, Making China Great Again reveals how authoritarian legitimacy augmentation and erosion happen quietly in our socio-economic and cultural lives daily.""-- Provided by publisher

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Print version record

Other Format:

Print version Han, Rongbin, 1980- Make China great again

ISBN:

9780231566438

0231566433

9780231563291

0231563299

OCLC:

1579967288

Publisher Number:

CIPO000338661

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license