When You Don’t Hear the People Sing: Retributive Nationalism in China’s Pro-Democracy Movement

Chinese dissidents have long positioned themselves as champions of liberal democracy, resisting the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) authoritarian nationalism. However, alt-right ideologies—such as civilizational hierarchy, the glorification of violence, and misogyny—first emerged within insular online subcultures and have since spread across dissident communities. Faulting the Chinese people for obstructing their political aspirations and liberalism for its ineffectiveness, many formerly liberal dissidents have turned to the far-right nationalism of China’s geopolitical rivals or to imagined nations as an act of retribution, dissolving their sense of obligation to anti-CCP resistance—a phenomenon I term retributive nationalism. By normalizing their radical ideas through satire and hyperbole, these subcultures have undermined liberal narratives and discouraged activism. To understand this counterintuitive phenomenon—what happens when a pro-democracy movement loses faith in liberal democratic values—I conducted a content analysis of social media sources (e.g., Reddit and Pincong posts, Telegram messages, and recurring memes) and a hermeneutic analysis of long-form texts (i.e., personal stories, manifestos, and fiction) produced from 2019 to the present, paying attention to emotions, hidden assumptions, and social context. The derived themes include national essentialism, civilizational hierarchy, a persecution complex, and anti-progressive sentiments. Additionally, I produced a historiography of Chinese liberalism by tracing the inception and development of these themes throughout the lifespan of liberalism in mainland China, featuring seminal works from the New Culture Movement (1920s) to today. By combining social media content analysis with intellectual history, I discovered that these illiberal tendencies were integral to Chinese liberalism, reflecting Chinese intellectuals’ ambivalent relationship with the West in the colonial and postcolonial contexts. The current legitimacy crisis of Chinese liberalism stems from its failure to reconcile the tension between universal liberal principles and Chinese national identity. This research challenges the static, Cold War-era assumption that dissident movements are inherently liberal and democratic, demonstrating instead how they are shaped by the dynamic interplay between intellectual history, global crises, and individual psychology. It also highlights the broader implications of liberalism’s declining legitimacy in the face of compounding economic and political crises—not only within established liberal democracies but also among those who oppose autocratic regimes in liberalism’s name. Furthermore, my findings offer valuable insights into two key areas: (1) the adaptation of liberalism in different contexts, particularly in underground and non-institutionalized settings. The rise of illiberalism is not a singular process but a multifaceted one, shaped by how a given community perceives and interacts with liberalism. This framework can help analysts identify early signs of illiberal trends even when actors superficially adhere to liberal rhetoric; and (2) the role of political emotions—such as disillusionment, betrayal, and retribution—which are often overlooked in favor of rational self-interest when analyzing political choices. Retributive nationalists’ self-destructive tendencies (e.g., hoping for a rival country to defeat their own) illustrate the limitations of rationalist approaches to movements that are not concerned with electoral success or mass appeal.