Stability maintenance
{{Short description|Chinese Communist Party political slogan}}
Stability maintenance ({{lang-zh||p=Wéiwěn|s=维稳}}) is a term used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to refer to all-round control by the authorities to maintain the established ruling order and prevent protest and dissent that may challenge its legitimacy or rule in the People's Republic of China.
History
{{Wikisource|zh|中共中央关于维护社会稳定加强政法工作的通知}}
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.{{Cite web |last=Bandurski |first=David |date=2012-09-14 |title=Preserving Stability |url=https://chinamediaproject.org/2012/09/14/preserving-stability/ |access-date=2025-04-20 |website=China Media Project |language=en-US}} It was driven by the CCP's reaction to the Revolutions of 1989 and the increase in "mass incidents" in the 1990s.{{Cite book |last=Dimitrov |first=Martin K. |title=The Adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party |date=2025-01-31 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-18433-5 |edition=1 |pages=22 |doi=10.1017/9781009184335}}{{Cite journal |last=Feng |first=Chongyi |date=June 1, 2013 |title=The Dilemma of Stability Preservation in China |journal=Journal of Current Chinese Affairs |language=en |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=3–19 |doi=10.1177/186810261304200201 |issn=1868-1026 |doi-access=free}} Following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, Deng Xiaoping famously stated, "stability overrides everything."{{Cite web |last=钱钢为纽约时报中文网撰稿 |date=2012-09-24 |title="维稳"何时成为常用语？ |trans-title=When did "maintaining stability" become a common term? |url=https://cn.nytimes.com/china/20120919/cc19qiangang2/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=The New York Times |language=zh-cmn-hans |archive-date=2021-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105002028/https://cn.nytimes.com/china/20120919/cc19qiangang2/ |url-status=live }} 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.{{cite magazine |last1=Khatchadourian |first1=Raffi |date=5 April 2021 |title=Surviving the Crackdown in Xinjiang |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/04/12/surviving-the-crackdown-in-xinjiang |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210410193233/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/04/12/surviving-the-crackdown-in-xinjiang |archive-date=10 April 2021 |access-date=16 April 2021 |magazine=The New Yorker}}
Under the general secretaryship of Xi Jinping, stability maintenance became a key rationale for the state's mass surveillance system.{{Cite journal |last1=Trevaskes |first1=Susan |last2=Lin |first2=Delia |date=May 29, 2024 |title=Integrating Stability Maintenance into Comprehensive Governance: The Burgeoning "Safe China" Behemoth |journal=Modern China |language=en |volume=50 |issue=6 |pages=671–701 |doi=10.1177/00977004241254709 |issn=0097-7004 |doi-access=free|hdl=10072/432143 |hdl-access=free }} 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."{{Cite news |last=Colville |first=Alex |date=April 25, 2025 |title=DeepSeek: A Tool Tuned for Social Governance |url=https://jamestown.org/program/deepseek-a-tool-tuned-for-social-governance/ |access-date=April 26, 2025 |work=China Brief |publisher=Jamestown Foundation |archive-date=May 2, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250502131608/https://jamestown.org/program/deepseek-a-tool-tuned-for-social-governance/ |url-status=live }}
Definition
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.{{Cite web |title=維穩目的是維護群眾利益 - 大公報 |url=https://www.tkww.hk/epaper/view/newsDetail/1371778606698729472.html |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=大公文匯 www.tkww.hk}} Maintaining stability is an important indicator of the performance of party and government officials in mainland China.{{cite news |author=王方杰 |date=2009-05-27 |title=河北"维稳"纳入政绩考核 影响地方稳定一票否决 |url=http://news.163.com/09/0527/04/5A9U2V0I0001124K.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090602135136/http://news.163.com/09/0527/04/5A9U2V0I0001124K.html |archive-date=2009-06-02 |access-date=2012-01-19 |work=People's Daily |language=zh}}