The Role Of Nationalism In China’s Policy

The aim of this work is to clarify the actual weight and importance of nationalism sentiments and movements in influencing contemporary China’s domestic and foreign policy in order to answer to three main questions:has nationalism always been the same kind of pro-status quo phenomenon? How and by what he changes its nature in the last decades? How does it currently interact with Government foreign policy?On this purpose it was firstly necessary to focus on the historical development of nationalism, from the xenophobic manifestation of its beginnings and anti Manchus and such as the anti-Western Boxers rebellion to the attempts of building a multiethnic-based national identity by Guomindang to its more accomplished form through the foundation of the People’s Republic. Nowdays nationalism plays an active role within Chinese civil society and it influences the nation’s attitude in many political issues.Secondly, events will be analysed by the strength of the interaction between State and civil society through the spread of nationalist websites and the peculiar shapes of "Cyber Nationalism", the efficiency of the internet in diffusing news and organizing actions will be considered mainly as the main tool for a bottom up and top down political interaction, between the State and the people.Finally, due to the above mentioned interaction, the government approach toward nationalist sentiments, by giving a specific attention to Diaoyu Island case, will be interpreted as tool to protect leaderships’legitimacy and promote China’s interests on the global stage.