Ultra-leftist voices are making themselves heard in China, but at what cost?

Bloggers and commentators are riding a wave of nationalism by attacking intellectuals and corporate targets in China as well as emblems of the West

Observer predicts the radicals are convenient while Xi Jinping seeks a successful 20th party congress but their usefulness will expire once he consolidates power

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Populist bloggers are airing leftist views at a time when the Chinese government is cracking down on perceived excesses and intensifying its “common prosperity” policies. But observers and critics wonder about the effects on China’s political and economic wellbeing. Photo: May Tse

Mimi Lau

Published: 12:00pm, 24 Dec 2021Updated: 2:37pm, 24 Dec 2021

First, China’s ultra-left opinion leaders battled outspoken media, liberal intellectuals and NGOs, then foreign governments, corporations and moderate liberals. But lately they have found new ideological opponents to take on.

Leftist bloggers are targeting private tech firms, entrepreneurs and capital markets, as well as misbehaving celebrities, in combative essays pushing a socialist agenda in the name of patriotism. Ultra-leftist sentiment riding on the rising tide of nationalism is gaining popularity on the Chinese internet.

However, analysts warn that leftist tendencies that build on irrational and misguided policy interpretation could threaten China’s progress of reform and opening up if left unchecked.

“After opposition voices were wiped out, they began to target moderate liberals. When even moderate liberals are hard to come by these days, they created new enemies, such as Chinese private companies,” said Fang Kecheng, assistant professor of journalism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“The recent attacks targeting Lenovo is the unsurprising consequence of an online hate machine in China. They are run by businesspeople who profit from manufacturing and disseminating viral content by cooking up conspiracy theory and emotional content, such as nationalism,” Fang said.

The leftist comments were widely shared on social media platforms and tacitly encouraged by propaganda officials. Commentators such as Sima Nan and Li Guangman found their fan bases grew by the millions, setting off viral discussions and a chilling anticipation that ultra-left socialist values were making a comeback in China and threatening the survival of private entrepreneurs.

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In one of the latest attacks, Sima accused Lenovo, China’s largest PC maker, of allegedly selling state assets for less than they are worth and paying top executives unreasonably high salaries, among other things.