Nationalism and social media in China: a case study of Chinese nationalist movement against Muslim minorities on Sina Weibo

This thesis provides a case study of the Han nationalism on Sina Weibo which attacks Muslim minorities and current official ethnic policies. This thesis mainly uses Melucci’s (1996) framework of collective identity process to analyse this movement, discussing how the national identity and definition of nation evolve within it. By using case study approach and textual analysis method to study the data collected from Sina Weibo, this thesis is belonging to qualitative research. This thesis reveals that under the influence of both platform and government, the Han nationalist movement has forcibly adopted the official nationalist discourses to construct their narratives and ideas to avoid intervention and prosecution from government. This thesis also reveals that the CCP government has silently tolerated this movement that de facto challenges its power on ethnic issue.