Results tagged “propaganda”

• A recent prostitution bust in Henan has gotten netizens into a fury... against the police, who were videotaped interrogating a naked woman in an incredibly rough fashion. [CNNGo]
• We can't get enough of stories about the Chongqing corruption trials, so we're glad we get to hear two of our favorite China journalists, Paul French and Malcolm Moore, discuss "China's Chicago." [Ethical Corp]
• So how are Chinese propaganda departments dealing with new media rules that don't allow them to really "stop" people from being interviewed? By wining and dining reporters and other "soft" forms of intimidation. [Telegraph]

The NPR had an interesting story on 50 slogans put out by the Communist Party to "get people in the mood for the big celebration."

Wow, what a National Day, right? We here at Shanghaiist were so enthused by the revolutionary vigor it inspired in us that we decided to say "screw it" to Friday and took an impromptu day off. But over the weekend, it seemed like everyone had an opinion on the October 1 festivities... and since we were hanging around mostly Chinese people, the opinions were overwhelmingly positive.

• Why China might turn on North Korea [CSMonitor] "China has long seen its national interests served by the status quo on the Korean Peninsula. According to a cold-war perspective about strategic balance and a post-cold-war emphasis on internal development, Beijing prioritized maintaining a buffer state and preventing North Korea's problems from spilling over China's border. While Beijing retains these priorities, the chances of it getting tough with Pyongyang are low. However, the China of today is not the China that came to Pyongyang's aid during the Korean War - its national identity has evolved over decades of rapid development and international integration. The ideas of communist solidarity and laying low to focus on modernization are becoming obsolete."
• Beijing Always Wins [NYTimes] "THE riots in the Xinjiang region, the home of China’s Muslim Uighur minority, will affirm to many analysts outside the country that social unrest is a direct threat to the continued rule of the Communist Party. If officials don’t take a long, hard look at how to avoid such uprisings, this argument will run, the government could eventually fall. If only Chinese officials saw things that way."
• Shenzhen Mayor Under Investigation [eChinacities] "Xu Zongheng(许宗衡), 54, was removed from his post as mayor of Shenzhen and is under investigation into allegations of corruption and graft that have stretched to include a former Olympic gymnast and several actresses. Xu became mayor of Shenzhen in 2005, advocating changes in the city’s bureaucracy. Many view Xu as partially responsible for the subsequent collapse of Shenzhen’s real estate market. The allegations revolve around bribes received for awarding government posts and bids."

• Girl dumps boy, boy posts naked pictures [Shanghai Daily] "About 30 pictures of a naked woman together with her personal information including her name, age and family address had been posted on a popular online forum by a person claiming to be her ex-boyfriend. The person, identified as "Garros," said that he had been recently dumped by the woman surnamed Yin after his business failed."
• Dongguan lifts ban on nightclub pole dancing [szdaily] "DONGGUAN lifted a ban on pole dancing performances at city nightclubs in a revised rule formulated to regulate local recreational businesses last week. The ban, which has been a controversial issue since it was listed in a draft rule, was groundless because of lack of legal support, the city’s cultural bureau told the Guangzhou Daily."
• Ted Turner: China a Good Example of Population Control, Despite Forced Abortions [Lifenews] "Billionaire broadcast magnate Ted Turner is causing guffaws from observers with his latest comment on family planning in China. He lauded the Asian nation for its population control program and said it was a good example even though it is rife with forced abortions and sterilizations. During an interview with the Diane Rehm Show gave China as a model for how to handle growing populations. “We do have the example of China, and they've done it without, uh, draconian, as far as I can see, draconian steps," he said. Observers of the quote are surprised that Rehm let it go unchallenged and without any mention of the human rights abuses that accompany the Chinese family planning program."

Canada is best known for Mounted Police (Mounties), but it seems that China is giving Canada a bit of competition for toothy-grinning, helpful mounties.

Think the Chinese government only became interested in stopping spitting after SARS? Think again! They've been promoting an anti-spitting stance since before the Cultural Revolution. Unfortunately, if our frequent walks around the city are any indication, 50 years of no spitting propaganda has had very little effect on the behavior. HOCK-PUY!

• Black and White Cat translates a collection of headlines from the earliest editions of Xinhua Daily, Jiangsu Province's oldest party newspaper. In its bid to oust the Kuomintang, the CCP positioned itself as a champion of democracy and demanded for change, human rights and general elections.
• Tao Wang of UBS explains to Thomas Crampton why he thinks the new wave of unemployment is unlikely to cause unrest in China.
• EastSouthWestNorth has a set of pictures of what is supposed to be Guangdong's most run-down school.

China's "blueprint for a worldwide revolution" according to the US Navy in 1964. [h/t to Mutant Palm]

With political arrows still being shot back and forth between Beijing and Dharamsala, China has been panning out its efforts to win the propaganda battle over Tibet, sending teams of Tibetologists to Finland and Italy to 'educate' academics and students on the history and modern development of Tibet. Realising that influencing scholars and historians is not enough, China has also taken the battle into the online arena to reach people like you and I.

The Chinese government has been warning of a new enemy in Xinjiang, Reuters' Ben Blanchard reported Sunday. Hizb ut-Tahrir, also known as the Islamic Liberation Party, is accused by the government of being a "violent terrorist organization" fostering unrest among the 8 million Uighurs living in Xinjiang. "Strike hard against the Islamic Liberation Party" read signs throughout the city of Kashgar, written in Chinese and Uighur's Arabic-based script. Hizb ut-Tahrir and other observers accuse the Chinese government of magnifying the threat as an excuse to further crack down in Xinjiang a month before the Beijing Olympics. The government claims to have handled several Uighur terrorist groups this year, including a plot to sabotage a Chinese passenger jet in March. In April the government raised accusations against Hizb ut-Tahrir of posting reactionary leaflets and calling for people to demonstrate in Urumqi, Hotan, Kashgar, and Kizilsu Kyrghiz Autonomous Prefecture.

Western journalists have long lauded China's blogs as edgy, provocative and balanced alternatives to China's official newspapers. Now, we have science on our side: In a new study at Middlebury College, assistant professor Ashley Esarey analyzed the 2006 news content of over 500 Chinese blogs. Esarey found that some 61% of Chinese blogs carry criticism, with only 19% of Chinese official news media doing the same. While Imagethief does point out that explicit criticism of local or national government individuals is low among Chinese bloggers, the WSJ highlights other areas of Esarey's research:

some 36% of blogs demonstrated “pluralism”–- the presence of two or more opposing perspectives–- as opposed to just 5% of newspapers. Meanwhile, only 4% of blogs carried national propaganda, as opposed to 21% of newspapers.

Tough times ahead, it seems, for the English-language magazines up north in Beijing. Too months ahead of the Olympics, the powers that be have declared time out on Time Out Beijing, writes Jane Macartney of The Times:

The June issue of Time Out Beijing has been banned from distribution by China's censors, The Times has learnt. But the decision seems to have been taken not because of any racy or politically incorrect content. Time Out Beijing has fallen victim to the accelerating imposition of restrictions on any aspect of life in the capital deemed to pose a potential threat to a smooth Olympics.

Continue reading "Media Gossip: Time out on Time Out; That's Beijing repossessed?"

So that live fish key chain souvenir didn't turn out to be very official, but this latest Olympic cheer, "Go Olympics! Go China!" (奥运加油！中国加油！) definitely is, as it comes with the stamp of approval of the Party Office of Spiritual Civilization Development and Guidance (GODPP), the Ministry of Education, BOCOG, and CCTV. There are four highly complex moves to the cheer, but don't worry because Danwei has this step-by-step pictorial guide to help you along. Expect to see lots of this on telly in the 64 days left between now and the Olympics. No excuses now — you have more than ample time to master the moves.

This latest courtesy campaign video starring top hosts from media conglomerate SMG reminds us of the courtesy campaigns that we grew up with in Singapore. Don't get us wrong, we do like the idea of a kinder, gentler Shanghai, but there is something about the unrealistic and surreal touch of the whole video that actually made it feel a bit, erm, creepy. A series of shorter clips might have done the trick, whereas a 6 minute vid of people all across the city being kind to each other is, quite simply, an overkill. What do you guys think? (h/t to Shanghai Eye)

... and spotted doing menial tasks like sweeping the roads, picking up the trash, cooking and putting up pictures of Chairman Mao. No, really, it's just the Red Laowai in his latest incarnation. Tired of singing Chinese commie propaganda songs, he became Jay Chou for a while before donning on his uniform again to become Comrade Lei Feng, the soldier in whose footsteps the youth of China have been indoctrinated to follow. In this latest...