Journal of Contemporary China

Researching China's sensitive topics, such as digital surveillance and censorship , exposes scholars to mounting challenges including difficult field and internet access to quality information, scrutiny and security of research participants and researchers, and positionality amidst geopoliti-cal tensions. This article presents self-reflexive accounts from six scholars of diverse backgrounds, fields, and career stages who work through varied methods, positionalities, and epistemic approaches. We share our research journeys' challenges and coping strategies to aid scholars, beyond China or digital surveillance and censorship. We propose that reflexivity is essential for scholarly work on contentious or opaque topics; that the China studies research community should organize knowledge sharing and cross-training; and that academia should create emotional support structures for researchers who encounter surveillance and restrictions.

This study conducts a focused examination of hate speech in China's digital sphere, investigating four primary types of targeted narratives. Leveraging theoretical constructs from intergroup threat theory and employing critical discourse analysis guided by topic modeling, it posits that such hateful narratives articulate perceived threats against distinct political, economic, or cultural outgroups, with the specific characteristics and origins of these threats varying according to the targeted entities. Specifically, the analysis elucidates that animosity towards the Japanese is mainly characterized as a realistic threat, accentuated by geopolitics-induced confrontation and hostility. Hate speech aimed at the LGBT community symbolizes a symbolic threat, stemming from profound discrepancies in societal norms and values. Discriminatory rhetoric against rural residents is depicted as embodying a negative stereotype threat, largely indicative of class-based segregation and moral exclusivity. Moreover, derogatory expressions towards foreigners in China are identified as a group esteem threat, mirroring a nationality-centric otherness and a discontent with their perceived preferential treatment. Implications for understanding the civic potential of digital politics in China are discussed.

What affects regime legitimacy during crisis? We studied the decline and resurgence of political trust in China, where the virus was first discovered, during the early stages of COVID-19 from February till March 2020, when the virus began its global spread. We compared three theories: the rally 'round the flag theory, the performance theory , and the social identity theory. The rally-'round-the-flag theory attributes the shifts in trust to surges of patriotism during crises. The performance theory emphasizes the Chinese government's effective responses both in isolation or relative to the performance of other governments. The social identity theory highlights the virus's transformation into a global pandemic, which activated ingroup favoritism among Chinese citizens. Using original data from two waves of online surveys with panel observations and a survey experiment, our findings reveal that the salience of social identity outweighs both patriotism and government performance in shaping political trust. As COVID-19 evolved from a domestic epidemic to a global pandemic, a pronounced "us-versus-them" evaluative framework emerged among the Chinese populace. This ingroup bias bolstered strong support for the Chinese government, even in the face of its initial poor performance. Our study underscores social identity as an underexplored mechanism for enhancing regime legitimacy in China.

This study investigates attitudes toward income inequality in China, challenging the prevailing perception that Chinese citizens are tolerant of inequality. Using data from a large-scale cross-national survey encompassing 30 countries, the study examines the unique position of China, where citizens express one of the highest average concerns about income inequality. These concerns have not evolved alongside the marketization of the Chinese economy since the 1980s. Our analysis reveals that Chinese attitudes toward inequality are more similar to those in post-socialist countries than in liberal capitalist societies. However, Chinese citizens also prioritize a fair society with minimal differences and favor an active governmental role in redistribution, aligning their preferences with those found in welfare-oriented market societies. The study further explores sociodemo-graphic predictors, finding that concern about inequality is particularly pronounced among males, highly educated, and older individuals, which may reflect system justification beliefs. Education is linked to stronger egalitarian preferences and support for government intervention, while age consistently exercises a positive effect on these attitudes, highlighting parallels with post-socialist rather than liberal capitalist or welfare states.