Abstract
This thesis explores how ideology is constructed in China today. The influential public intellectual and professor at Fudan University, Zhang Weiwei has written a book and starred in a TV series that both discuss ideas and aim to construct a new discourse of confidence in the Chinese system. Subsequently, Zhang has used the show to apply these ideas to the interpretation of different countries’ handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the context of the increase in tensions between China and the United States, and the ideological competition implied by comparisons to a new Cold War, this thesis treats Zhang’s book and show as a case study of how ideas of political legitimacy and confidence are constructed and communicated in China today. The thesis has two main parts: firstly, it will provide an overview of the main ideological trends amongst intellectuals participating in defending the current system of one-party rule under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in China; secondly, it will analyse Zhang Weiwei’s discourse as an example of how these ideas are communicated to the public and used to interpret current affairs in a way that aims to enhance confidence in the Chinese system of government. Some ideological trends were noted to be prevalent in the studied literature and Zhang’s discourse. These include an appeal to Chineseness as a justification for legitimacy; claims of essential differences between Chinese and Western culture; an insistence on substantive measures of democracy being true democracy, and advocacy for the superiority of measurements of good governance; and calls to repoliticise the state as a mechanism to increase state capacity to work in the interest of the people without being hindered by the law. In conclusion, we can see Zhang portraying the Chinese concept of unlimited responsibility of the sovereign as a progressive solution to the problems of the West. This is presented as common sense, and China’s handling of the pandemic is viewed as proof that China displays superior values. Finally, although Zhang’s discourse fits well with Party ideology and plays a legitimating role, he provides useful insights into an alternative discourse in a way very different from official propaganda.