The Chinese government’s foreign policy orientation toward the Global South has gained significant prominence in its diplomatic agenda in recent years, despite the term “Global South” only recently becoming part of its foreign policy vocabulary. This paper examines how Chinese state actors and citizens conceptualize the Global South and to what extent these perceptions align with each other. The paper first scrutinizes the transformation of Beijing’s attitude toward the “Global South” from being reactive to being proactive by carefully analyzing statements from Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs press conferences and major leaders' speeches. Using text analysis, it analyzes how Beijing employs the discourse of the “Global South” to serve its grand strategy of competition with the United States and the West more broadly. The paper further explores how the Chinese public perceives the “Global South” through an original nationwide survey. The findings suggest a strong convergence between official narratives and popular attitudes: most respondents view the “Global South” positively and believe that China should assume leadership of this community. The paper thereby contributes to the growing literature on Chinese foreign policy discourse and identity politics by uncovering how the “Global South” has been constructed as both a policy instrument and a discursive project in China’s pursuit of global leadership.