China’s online nationalists turn paranoia into clickbait
They see hostile foreign forces at every turn
AN ANXIOUS WORLD has long worried that rising nationalism might one day lead ordinary Chinese—especially the young—to outbursts of uncontrollable rage. If recent months are any guide, outsiders missed a more insidious threat: that anti-foreign paranoia would become a nasty but profitable game.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “For-profit paranoia”
From the January 8th 2022 edition
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