Patriotic songs and populism in Chinese politics

Since the ascent of President Xi in 2012, the Chinese government has sought to entrench its authority through an embrace of populist politics, in addition to an economic performance-based and ideologically-validated legitimacy. This chapter investigates Chinese ‘patriotic songs’ as an essential component of state propaganda. By analyzing changes in staging, associated images, and the lyrical contents in the past 40 years, this chapter argues that Chinese populism has embraced nationalist appeals and images while, for the most part, avoiding a personalization of leadership. The study identifies the trends of depersonalization and de-politicization in Chinese patriotic songs, which have in some respects been reversed under Xi Jinping. Moreover, in contrast to the anti-establishment populist sentiments in many other countries, Chinese populist politics values the elites’ dual role as ‘leaders’ and ‘servants’ of the people. These trends have signalled the evolving Chinese leadership style, propaganda approach, and most importantly, the concept of Chinese populism.