Constructed Community: Rise and Engines of Chinese Nationalism Under Xi Jinping

The Chinese state-sponsored campaign for nationalism has intensified since the last decade. This article is an empirical study focusing on Chinese mass nationalism in the same period. Drawing data from the World Values Surveys, it finds that mass nationalism significantly increased from 2012/13 to 2018, ranked second with a growth rate of 13.7% among 27 selected countries and regions. The origin of this remarkable rise of mass nationalism is rooted in elite construction. The findings suggest that constructivism is the most potent theory to explain nationalism during Xi’s presidency. The intensification of mass nationalism in China will continue as long as the construction of state nationalism is maintained. One backlash against this trend may come from social media.