Passing on the red genes: Communism nostalgia in online fictions and ideological governance in China

• DOI: 10.1111/rego.12622
• Publication Date: 2024-08-19T01:09:01Z
• Authors: Rongbin Han
• Keywords: 05 social sciences; 0507 social and economic geography

AbstractHow does communism as an ideology fare in the post‐reform digital age China? What are the implications for China's ideological governance? Through online ethnographic work and text analysis, this paper identifies and analyzes how communism as an ideation and a practice is (re)memorized, (re)presented, and (re)interpreted in popular online fictions. In doing so, it reveals how such “communism nostalgia” passes on the “red genes,” shaping citizens' understanding of history, the communist ideology, and their expectations toward the current regime. The popular trend creates a predicament of ideological governance for the Chinese regime by allowing it to garner historical legitimacy while also questioning the very nature of the regime today—to what extent has it deviated from its ideological root? By focusing on everyday politics of digital experiences, the article approaches authoritarian ideological governance from a nonconventional perspective, highlighting the agency of ordinary citizens in the process.