Stability maintenance
Stability maintenance (Chinese: 维稳; pinyin: Wéiwěn) is a term used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to refer to all-round surveillance and control by the CCP to support its ruling order and prevent protest and dissent that may challenge its legitimacy or rule in the People's Republic of China.
Stability maintenance (Chinese: 维稳; pinyin: Wéiwěn) is a term used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to refer to all-round surveillance and control by the CCP to support its ruling order and prevent protest and dissent that may challenge its legitimacy or rule in the People's Republic of China.
History
[edit]
The term weiwen was first used in People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, in 2002 in the explanation accompanying a photograph of the People's Armed Police.[1] It was driven by the CCP's reaction to the Revolutions of 1989 and the increase in "mass incidents" in the 1990s.[2][3] Following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, Deng Xiaoping famously stated, "stability overrides everything."[4] During the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese state began to emphasize stability maintenance, and the term reached new heights of popularity in Chinese media.[1][5] Stability maintenance is used by the CCP as a performance indicator for officials.[6]
Under the general secretaryship of Xi Jinping, stability maintenance became a key rationale for the state's mass surveillance system.[7] In the 2020s, large language models, such as those produced by DeepSeek, have increased in usage for the CCP's stated goal of stability maintenance and "public opinion guidance."[8]
Definition
[edit]According to the definition of the People's Daily, the fundamental purpose of stability maintenance is to safeguard the fundamental interests of the masses. When law enforcement officers maintain public order, they must first ensure that they have good order; when they defend social justice, they must first demonstrate that they can handle matters fairly; when they crack down on illegal activities, they must first strictly abide by the law. Only by maintaining stability in this way can the rights and interests of the masses be safeguarded to the greatest extent possible.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Bandurski, David (2012-09-14). "Preserving Stability". China Media Project. Retrieved 2025-04-20.
- ^ Dimitrov, Martin K. (2025-01-31). The Adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 22. doi:10.1017/9781009184335. ISBN 978-1-009-18433-5.
- ^ Feng, Chongyi (June 1, 2013). "The Dilemma of Stability Preservation in China". Journal of Current Chinese Affairs. 42 (2): 3–19. doi:10.1177/186810261304200201. ISSN 1868-1026.
- ^ 钱钢为纽约时报中文网撰稿 (2012-09-24). ""维稳"何时成为常用语？" [When did "maintaining stability" become a common term?]. The New York Times (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2021-11-05. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
- ^ Khatchadourian, Raffi (5 April 2021). "Surviving the Crackdown in Xinjiang". The New Yorker. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ "河北"维稳"纳入政绩考核 影响地方稳定一票否决" [In Hebei, "maintaining stability" has been included in performance evaluations, with any impact on local stability resulting in a veto]. People's Daily (in Chinese). 2009-05-27. Archived from the original on 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2012-01-19.
- ^ Trevaskes, Susan; Lin, Delia (May 29, 2024). "Integrating Stability Maintenance into Comprehensive Governance: The Burgeoning "Safe China" Behemoth". Modern China. 50 (6): 671–701. doi:10.1177/00977004241254709. hdl:10072/432143. ISSN 0097-7004.
- ^ Colville, Alex (April 25, 2025). "DeepSeek: A Tool Tuned for Social Governance". China Brief. Jamestown Foundation. Archived from the original on May 2, 2025. Retrieved April 26, 2025.
- ^ "維穩目的是維護群眾利益 - 大公報" [The purpose of maintaining stability is to safeguard the interests of the people]. Ta Kung Pao (in Chinese). 2012-07-21. Retrieved 2025-04-21.