"Making China Great Again" One Web-Novel At A Time
China's rise isn't just being shaped by policy and economics—it's being imagined, rewritten, and rehearsed in millions of online web novels. In a striking convergence of state ambition and popular culture, Chinese internet users are flooding the digital space with 'Make China Great Again' fiction: sprawling, collaborative time-travel epics that rewrite history to restore China’s lost glory. These stories, often involving mass time travel to the Ming Dynasty to prevent national humiliation, aren’t just escapism—they’re a grassroots laboratory for national identity, where citizens collectively draft blueprints for a revived China through capitalism, industrialization, and even limited democracy. Professor Rongbin Han reveals that the Chinese government isn’t suppressing these narratives; it’s quietly co-opting them, allowing public imagination to shape the 'Chinese Dream' while avoiding the pitfalls of top-down propaganda. The result? A soft power strategy where legitimacy is first earned at home—through economic delivery and cultural resonance—before any global export. This isn’t just about nostalgia; it’s about building ideological consensus from the ground up, proving that the most effective authoritarianism may not be coercion, but consent through participation. The episode exposes a profound paradox: while China’s Communist Party struggles to export its ideology abroad, it’s thriving domestically by letting people write their own future—then claiming it as its own.
Chinese web novels are a grassroots laboratory for national identity, where citizens collectively rewrite history to fix past humiliations and imagine a revived China.
The Chinese government allows and even benefits from 'Make China Great Again' fiction, using it to co-opt public imagination and build ideological consensus without coercion.
These novels often promote capitalism, industrialization, and limited democratic reforms—echoing China’s economic model—proving that the state doesn’t need to impose ideology when people help create it.
The state’s soft power strategy hinges on first convincing its own citizens of legitimacy through economic delivery and governance efficiency before attempting global influence.
The 'Chinese Dream' is not a top-down slogan but a negotiated, crowd-sourced vision shaped by millions of readers and writers—making it more authentic and resilient than state propaganda.
…and 3 more takeaways available in PodZeus
China's Global Ambition and the Past
The episode opens with the meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in Beijing, where Xi invoked the Thucydides Trap and framed China's rise as a shared global opportunity, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of how China imagines its future.
The Rise of Chinese Web Novels
“The average length of those 200 books is 2.88 million characters. It's close to the Harry Potter series translated into Chinese, the whole series, about 3 million characters.”
Why Fix the Past?
Han explores the psychological and historical impulse behind these novels: a collective desire to redeem China’s 'humiliation' during the Ming and Qing dynasties, especially in the face of modern national pride.
The Ming Dynasty as Historical Crucible
“The Ming Dynasty had the capacity, and if you have a nudge in history, it will change the course of China's development completely. And no more humiliation.”
Collective Creation and Cultural Hegemony
“The fiction is published on one of the most popular literature podals. So somebody has to take charge, but a lot of other people are participating in the process, contributing to their stories.”
“The party doesn't have the capacity to effectively control everything. It's not even in their best interest to do so. By allowing people to participate in the process of negotiating what China's dream is, even though at times would be contesting the official ideology, it would benefit the regime in different ways.”
“But a lot of people believe that the Ming Dynasty had the capacity, and if you have a nudge in history, it will change the course of China's development completely. And no more humiliation.”
“The fiction is published on one of the most popular literature podals. So somebody has to take charge, but a lot of other people are participating in the process, contributing to their stories.”
Host
Guest
Rongbin Han
person
Ming Dynasty
other
Xi Jinping
person
The Morning Star of Ling Gao
book
Donald Trump
person
Antonio Gramsci
person
University of Georgia
organization
Harvard University
organization
S8 Ep955: (2) Continuing their debate, Gaius and Germanicus debunk the "Thucydides Trap," labeling it a modern "literary invention" rather than a historical law. They argue the Peloponnesian War was not an inevitable clash but was triggered by Pericles baiting Spar
13m • 6/1/2026
This Is Why Trump’s Dark Fantasies are Crumbling
50m • 6/2/2026
Trump Is Blindsided as He Gets Put in His Place by 3 Leaders!!!
19m • 6/2/2026
Ian Bremmer on the Risks America Poses to the World
1h 31m • 6/2/2026
Hour 1: The Great Studio Flood
37m • 5/30/2026
Start discovering podcast insights today
Start with a 7-day trial and explore a growing catalog of popular podcasts. No credit card required.
No credit card required • 7-day trial • Cancel anytime