Protesting the Party-State through Self-Racialisation: The Great Translation Movement and the Evolution of the National Character Discourse

This essay re-examines the Great Translation Movement (GTM) as an activist-journalistic initiative that challenges the authority of the Chinese Party-State by exposing its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Highlighting a problematic aspect of the GTM, it calls into question its oversimplified portrayal of the Chinese people, as it perpetuates national character discourse by attributing societal issues to perceived inherent traits of the populace rather than holding the regime to account. The GTM’s engagement with Chinese political discourse appears to be driven by its coordinators’ alignment with Euro-American right-wing populism, fostering self-racialisation and internalised racism that ultimately distort dissent within China’s political landscape.