China’s Combative Nationalists See a World Turning Their Way

China’s Communist Party is pushing the narrative that the pandemic has proved the superiority of its authoritarian model. The muscular message is finding fans at home.

China’s authoritarian system, its proponents say, is not just different from the West’s democracies, it is also proving itself superior.
China’s authoritarian system, its proponents say, is not just different from the West’s democracies, it is also proving itself superior.Credit…Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Chris Buckley

By Chris Buckley

Dec. 14, 2020Updated 6:53 p.m. ET

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In one Beijing artist’s recent depiction of the world in 2098, China is a high-tech superpower and the United States is humbled. Americans have embraced communism and Manhattan, draped with the hammer-and-sickle flags of the “People’s Union of America,” has become a quaint tourist precinct.

This triumphant vision has resonated among Chinese.

The sci-fi digital illustrations by the artist, Fan Wennan, caught fire on Chinese social media in recent months, reflecting a resurgent nationalism. China’s authoritarian system, proponents say, is not just different from the West’s democracies, it is also proving itself superior. It is a long-running theme, but China’s success against the pandemic has given it a sharp boost.

“America isn’t that heavenly kingdom depicted since decades ago,” said Mr. Fan, who is in his early twenties. “There’s nothing special about it. If you have to say there’s anything special about it now, it’s how messed up it can be at times.”

China’s Communist Party, under its leader, Xi Jinping, has promoted the idea that the country is on a trajectory to power past Western rivals.

China stamped out the coronavirus, the messaging goes, with a resolve beyond the reach of flailing Western democracies. Beijing has rolled out homegrown vaccines to more than a million people, despite the safety concerns of scientists. China’s economy has revived, defying fears of a deep slump from the pandemic.

“In this fight against the pandemic, there will be victorious powers and defeated ones,” Wang Xiangsui, a retired Chinese senior colonel who teaches at a university in Beijing, averred this month. “We’re a victor power, while the United States is still mired and, I think, may well become a defeated power.”

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The firm leadership of Mr. Xi and the party has earned China its recent success, say newspapers, television programs and social media.
ImageFan Wennan’s “China 2098: First Time Abroad” (中国 2098：第一次出国)
Fan Wennan’s “China 2098: First Time Abroad” (中国 2098：第一次出国) Credit…Fan Wennan

“Time to wake up from blind faith in the Western system,” said a commentary in the state-run China Education News last week. “Vicious partisan fighting has worsened in certain Western countries, social fissures have deepened, and a severe social crisis is brewing.”

The theme of China as triumphantly vindicated against critics also has real public appeal these days, including among the youth, as reflected in a stream of online commentary and the work of artists like Mr. Fan, who has described his style as “People’s Punk.” In Mr. Fan’s depiction of communist Manhattan, displayed on the ArtStation website, a caption describes a tour guide as saying that Asia and Europe are where the future is.

“To take in the changes of history and feel the afterglow of the imperialist era,” the guide says, “head to North America.”

China’s current swaggering mood could add to the challenges facing Joseph R. Biden Jr. when he takes office as president. President Trump’s defeat in the election has done little to ease Chinese suspicion of the United States, said Li Jianqiu, a businessman and online commentator, in a telephone interview.

“I think China has gained the psychological edge,” said Mr. Li, in his 40s, who described the pandemic as a turning point in his attitudes. “The performance of the West was completely out of my expectations and shifted my thinking even more — the facts prove that the American system really has no superiority.”
The Interpreter
Me: Since Covid originated in China and was inflicted by them on the world, it is hardly surprising that they got rid of it so quickly – the Chinese in China, remind me of a colony of ants, with the technology we have, to combat anything they don’t like – by “they” I refer to the power base who control the masses and what the masses are allowed to think and do.