Liberalism is far from dead in China
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Walk into the All Sages Bookstore in north-western Beijing, and you enter a different world. Not here the collections of speeches by China’s leader, Xi Jinping, that greet visitors to state-owned bookshops—rows of covers with the same face, the same beneficent smile.
The founder of All Sages, Liu Suli, served 20 months in prison for his role in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. His shelves are filled with the works of free thinkers: economists and political scientists, historians and legal scholars. The potential market could be bigger than it was during the build-up to Tiananmen.
Mr Liu says China’s liberals are becoming ever more numerous. That view jars with the impression conveyed by another, far more conspicuous, trend: the rise of Chinese nationalism. In public forums online, it is usually hard to find liberal views.
The internet is filled with the voices of West-hating cheerleaders for the regime who pounce on the few who dare to challenge them. The nationalists enjoy a wide-open field thanks to Mr Xi’s relentless efforts to silence liberals. In contrast with the 1980s, the intellectual landscape of China can seem drearily homogenous, sucked of vitality by a party re-energised and strengthened by Mr Xi.
Yet liberalism is surprisingly resilient. In subtle ways, as Mr Liu believes, it may even be drawing more adherents. This is not to say that active dissent is spreading.
Far from it. Mr Xi’s clampdown has made it all but impossible for anyone who persistently and openly criticises China’s political system to remain free. With the help of high-tech surveillance and a massive domestic-security apparatus, the party appears in firm control.
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