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This article explores the complex, multi-layered mechanisms of internet censorship in China, emphasizing its role as both a tool of control over public engagement and a mechanism for elites to disconnect themselves from spaces of public scrutiny, and avoid potential threats such as doxxing by bottom-up populist online movements. Through in-depth interviews with social media users, this study investigates how individuals perceive, assess, and navigate the boundaries of internet censorship, focusing on their awareness of censorship practices, the assessment of sensitive content, and the tactics they employ to circumvent restrictions. We further examine how a sophisticated censorship mechanism - comprising self-censorship, platform censorship, and physical enforcement - works to disconnect netizens from grassroots collective actions. The findings reveal that internet censorship in China not only regulates online populist activism but also serves as a protective shield for elites, allowing them to curate a controlled digital space that suppresses critical discourse. By highlighting the ways in which both ordinary users and elites navigate the challenges of digital engagement in this heavily regulated environment, this study provides theoretical insights into the practice of disconnectivity as an elite privilege. It enhances our understanding of the interplay between connectivity, censorship, and disconnectivity in shaping the digital landscape and its implications for social change and political engagement in China and beyond.

This article analyzes the study of populism in China, highlighting its dynamics and features. Compared with abundant studies of populism in democratic countries, populism in China remains underexplored by non-Chinese scholars, and the contributions of Chinese scholarship are largely unknown outside China. To address this gap, this article reviews the state of the art of Chinese scholarship on populism, bringing it into conversation with the wider body of literature. From its analysis, two distinct types of populism are identified within Chinese research: classical communist populism and bottom-up populism. The former is advanced via official channels, through state promotion of the identity, wisdom, and revolutionary potential of the people. The latter is located in the antagonism between the "pure people" and "corrupt elites," primarily through an online, bottom-up dynamic. We argue that bottom-up populism can also be conceptualized as "online populism," as a manifestation of populism found in grassroots discourses targeting certain societal elites in online space.

This article analyzes the study of populism in China, highlighting its dynamics and features. Compared with abundant studies of populism in democratic countries, populism in China remains underexplored by non-Chinese scholars, and the contributions of Chinese scholarship are largely unknown outside China. To address this gap, this article reviews the state of the art of Chinese scholarship on populism, bringing it into conversation with the wider body of literature. From its analysis, two distinct types of populism are identified within Chinese research: classical communist populism and bottom-up populism. The former is advanced via official channels, through state promotion of the identity, wisdom, and revolutionary potential of the people. The latter is located in the antagonism between the "pure people" and "corrupt elites," primarily through an online, bottom-up dynamic. We argue that bottom-up populism can also be conceptualized as "online populism," as a manifestation of populism found in grassroots discourses targeting certain societal elites in online space.