China’s Generation N: the young nationalists who have Beijing’s back
- Nationalism has been on the rise, encouraged by the Communist Party and put to effective use by President Xi Jinping
- Younger generations’ perceptions and expectations of their country differ from those of the past, offering the government support but also challenges
Zhang, who has 230,000 followers on Zhihu, China’s equivalent of Quora, follows international news organisations such as the BBC, and regularly points out coverage she considers biased against China.
She breaks down what global events mean for Chinese interests, and the losses and gains in each round of arm-wrestling between Beijing and foreign governments.
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She said award-winning Afghan director Sahraa Karimi, who filmed herself running down the street in Kabul warning people against the Taliban, was “a US proxy” and conducting “performance art”, although she said the Taliban’s takeover could give rise to global extremism.
“I chose to be a nationalist, and I think it’s the right path for the country and for myself personally,” said Zhang, 28, a chemist at a research institute in Changsha, central China.