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Indexing China’s Regime Politicization: A Content Analysis of the People’s Daily, 1949–2023

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 December 2025

Yixue Zhang Open the ORCID record for Yixue Zhang [Opens in a new window] ,
Lingfeng He Open the ORCID record for Lingfeng He [Opens in a new window]  and
Yanjie Bian
Yixue Zhang
Affiliation:
The Institute for Empirical Social Science Research, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, SN, China
Lingfeng He*
Affiliation:
The Institute for Empirical Social Science Research, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, SN, China
Yanjie Bian
Affiliation:
The Institute for Empirical Social Science Research, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, SN, China
*
Corresponding author: Lingfeng He; Email: helingfeng@stu.xjtu.edu.cn
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Abstract

Politicization is one of the most fundamental characteristics of Chinese society, manifested in the direct and comprehensive control of society by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Methods include soft control through ideology and coercive control through campaigns. Based on the varying degrees of the CCP’s social control, the trajectory of China’s regime politicization can be divided into four periods: (1) the politicized regime of 1949–1965, (2) the hyper-politicized regime of 1966–1978, (3) the de-politicized regime of 1979–2012, and (4) the re-politicized regime of 2013–2023. We established an annual politicization index for the years 1949 to 2023 through a content analysis of two million articles in the People’s Daily, validating the trajectory of politicization changes in China. We use a model analysis of CCP membership attainment to demonstrate the applicability of the index in assessing how regime dynamics affect Party membership across the four periods.

摘要

摘要

政治化是中国社会最基本的特征之一, 体现为中国共产党对社会的全面直接治理, 包括意识形态软性治理与政治运动强制治理两个方面。建国以来, 党对社会治理的政治化程度发生了历史变化, 大体分为四个时期: (1) 1949–1965 年的政治化时期、(2) 1966–1978 年的超政治化时期、(3) 1979–2012 年的去政治化时期、(4) 2013–2023 年的再政治化时期。通过对《人民日报》200 万篇文章的内容分析, 我们建立了1949–2023 跨年可比政治化指数, 从而描绘了中国政治化程度变化的轨迹。中共党员入党情况的模型分析展示了该指数在评估政体动态变化的适用性。

Keywords

campaignsChinaideologypoliticization indexregime politicization运动治国中国意识形态政治化指数政体政治化

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Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , First View , pp. 1 - 21
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© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London.

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