When party propaganda falls flat
To control ethnic Mongolians, Xi Jinping revives a Mao-era tool
China’s Communist Party has an Astroturf problem. For a decade the party has worked to revive grassroots networks that withered during the me-first, get-rich-quick years of the 1990s and 2000s. Under Xi Jinping, China’s leader since 2012, vast resources have been deployed to make the party a growing presence in everyday life. Alongside lessons in Xi Jinping Thought, Maoist campaigns and slogans have been resurrected, tapping into popular nostalgia for a time when China was poor but more equal.
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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “When propaganda falls flat”
From the July 20th 2024 edition
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