Unlike any other Chinese leader since the reform era, Xi Jinping has worked on forging a uniquely Chinese national narrative. Beijing communicates its vision through modern formats and channels and it has enlisted the support of domestic multipliers in Chinese social media.
In an analysis of debates on Chinese public social media platforms and an accompanying online survey among urban Chinese netizens, we observed a remarkable plurality of opinions. Despite the dominating role of party-state propaganda, the researchers were able to identify competing ideological clusters in these online debates, a number of which present a challenge to the official orthodoxy.
