The vague concept of a “China model“ has not originated inside China, but is a product of Western discourse. Being part of a larger narrative of a declining West vis-à-vis rising non-Western powers, China is being epitomized as the most resourceful role model for authoritarian regimes world-wide. The paper will trace the career of this heterogeneous concept of the “China model” in Western literature and its ensuing reception in China, where it met with resistance early on but became increasingly popular in the wake of the global financial crisis. Besides English-language sources, the paper will base its analysis on official, scholarly and journalistic texts in Chinese language. It will argue that the traveling of the “China model” discourse to China has been paralleled by a realignment of legitimacy claims by increasing the scope for the party regime to leverage international recognition in the domestic context. While most participants in the debate do not consider a replication of the “China model” by other regimes to be feasible in real terms, the normative claim of a unique path of national development and of a “right to particularity” which are behind this concept may serve as a powerful narrative with factual implications for the legitimation of authoritarian rule in the longer run.
