The Wandering Earth: A Reflection of the Chinese New Right
In recent years, right-wing discourse has become more and more common on the Chinese internet, particularly among young people. There seems to be a general perception among left-leaning activists (but particularly students, who tend to be involved in more discursive debates) that the right-wing politicization of young people is now far outstripping that of the left. Though this is for the most part an online phenomenon, the more mainstream acceptance of right-wing cultural interventions is something to be wary of. There are also certain events that hint at how the New Right might take material shape in the future: for instance, young nationalist youth volunteering to go “fight the traitors” in Hong Kong. Though the struggle in Hong Kong has a complex and unique character, we suspect that similar sentiments could be mobilized in other, hypothetical, instances of severe civil unrest in the future. However, in order to deflate the oft-invoked specter of a hyper-authoritarian China, we have to emphasize here that online comment boards do not compose a real right-wing mass movement. At present, the Chinese state has little need for the mass mobilization of a militaristic far-right. But the slow gestation and popularization of right-wing thought is nonetheless worth deep examination.
The following article was originally posted on Tootopia (土豆公社) in February of 2019. 1 We’ve chosen to translate it for a few reasons: First, it acts as a good representation of the types of cultural commentary circulating among young Chinese leftists. We can thereby see how such an audience regards the ideological mechanisms that lie behind cultural production, and how social commentary is voiced in response to such mechanisms. Second, it offers a good critique of two major trends in the contemporary Chinese political scene, at least as they manifest online. Though some of those who hold similar positions might consider themselves “on the left” in some fashion, we define such positions as within the Chinese New Right. In line with this, the author dissects these two right-wing trends of thought, illustrating yet again how variants of nationalism, often alloyed with a fetishization of industrial development, act as a sort of a priori presumption within the Chinese political scene. The article itself stands out precisely because of its emphasis on internationalism—although the author still seems to counterpose a “true patriotism” against the more reactionary forms of nationalism detailed here.
