Socialist patriotism
The Communist Party of China and the government of China advocate socialist patriotism. The Communist Party of China describes the policy of socialist patriotism as the following: "Socialist patriotism has three levels. At the first level, individuals should subordinate their personal interests to the interests of the state. At the second level, individuals should subordinate their personal destiny to the destiny of our socialist system. At the third level, individuals should subordinate their personal future to the future of our communist cause." The PRC portrays the Communist government as the embodiment of the will of the Chinese people.
History of the People's Republic of China (1976–1989)
In late 1978, many emboldened people began staging rallies and protests in Beijing. They erected a large number of wall posters (the so-called "Democracy Wall") criticizing the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong, the Gang of Four, and Hua Guofeng. All these were tolerated because of being more-or-less in line with official positions, but some began calling for democracy and open elections. This was more than the authorities were willing to tolerate and they quickly stressed that the party would continue to hold power and guide the nation towards socialism. While greater freedom of thought would be allowed, loyalty to the party and socialist thought would still be required. Nonetheless, writers began criticizing corruption, privileges enjoyed by party officials, and unemployment, all things that supposedly could not exist under socialism. It was now officially admitted that 20 million Chinese were unemployed and 100 million did not have enough food to eat.