During the early decades of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the state played a key role in propagating nationalist ideology. As the economic reform process initiated by Deng Xiaoping went on however, previously suppressed social forces began to take advantage of newly acquired economic freedoms to make the case for political change. The rise of civil society and political protest has created an unstable situation where the state has lost its influence over national identity. The government now faces the challenge of uniting the country in an increasingly hostile internal environment.

If the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not succeed in bolstering its legitimacy, China could stagnate, decline or even implode. A renewed emphasis on state ideology is crucial if the regime wishes to prevent China from splitting into sectional interests. Nationalism is the glue that can hold China together.

As China is not a democracy, the CCP must unite the country and establish legitimacy without assistance from the ballot box. Historically, the main sources of legitimacy have been: economic performance, the "cult of personality", Marxism, Maoism and nationalism. At the present time, the CCP has decided to combine the provision of material benefits through freer markets with an attempted revival of nationalism. This two-pronged strategy has been particularly noticeable after Tiananmen Square.

Within the "revival of nationalism" strategy, there are two component parts. The first part is a throwback to the well established method of indoctrination through state instruments. The Patriotic Education Campaign of 1994, for example, aimed to "encourage unity and modernisation among the citizens regardless of their political beliefs and ethnicity" (Zhao 2004). Such campaigns are used to buttress the argument that democracy is unstable, and that economic development is more important than liberal bourgeoisie political freedoms. The emergence of the "New Left" (led by General Secretary Hu Jintao) and "neo-authoritarian" writers have resulted in a renewed campaign to persuade the 70 million CCP members that loyalty to socialism and stability is paramount.

What is interesting however, is the second part of the nationalism strategy. This is new, in that it has not been previously tried to such an extent. The CCP has latched upon anti-authoritarian popular nationalism for the purposes of accommodating and emulating the rhetoric of non-state actors. In so doing, the

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