Control of the Media in China

China is struggling to control the media, but there is opposition even within the ruling Communist party:

China attempts to tame the media, by Mure Dickie, Financial Times: Even the sleepiest reader of China’s Bingdian Weekly will have noticed the change of tone in yesterday’s edition. A month after the ruling Communist party suspended publication and ousted its editors, there was no sign of the investigative reporting or orthodoxy-challenging essays that have long drawn readers to the China Youth Daily’s weekly supplement. Instead, a 10,000-character front-page article – catchily entitled “Anti-Imperialism and Anti-Feudalism are the Themes of Modern Chinese History” – lambasted an essay published by Bingdian in January that officials say prompted their crackdown against the weekly...

19th century history, academic and author Yuan Weishi had tried to deny the Marxism-inspired “basic conclusions” reached by Chinese historians ... [T]he article said. “This has seriously misguided young people,”... During the past year the Chinese government has sacked or jailed outspoken journalists, stepped up efforts to censor news and comment on the rapidly growing internet and reversed its gradual opening of the media industry to foreign companies.

In such an atmosphere, Bingdian ... was an obvious target. In recent editions the weekly had addressed such sensitive issues as Taiwanese attitudes toward democracy, Beijing’s bungled city planning and discrimination against Aids sufferers ... Bingdian’s chief editor, Li Datong, had also drawn official ire ... when he wrote a sharply worded memo criticising a plan by China Youth Daily’s management to link journalists' salaries to senior officials’ opinions of their work. ...

Officials also sought to limit public awareness of the crackdown by contacting media organisations in advance and ordering them not to report on it. But the news quickly leaked out on the internet, prompting anger, not just among Bingdian subscribers and reform activists but also within the party itself. The most telling sign of opposition came in an open letter from 13 retired party elders and scholars including Li Rui, one-time secretary to late chairman Mao Zedong, along with former chiefs of the party’s propaganda department and People’s Daily newspaper.

“History demonstrates that only a totalitarian system needs news censorship, out of the delusion that it can keep the public locked in ignorance,” the group wrote. Observers say pressure from the retired cadres and other influential figures who protested more quietly led the government to resume publication of Bingdian much more quickly than originally planned. ...

Mr Lu says it is too soon to tell whether Bingdian’s relatively bold approach to news and comment will survive. While most of the articles in yesterday’s edition appeared to be worthy of Bingdian, he says, the piece criticising Prof Yuan’s work was an imposition that did not meet its standards for scholarly debate.

Prof Yuan himself, however, says he would much rather see such criticism of his work than have Bingdian stay closed. “This is a kind of progress that we should welcome,” the author says. Indeed, the historian is already optimistically preparing a rebuttal to yesterday’s article in the hope that Bingdian’s new editors will run it in a future edition.

“If they can publish it, that would really promote the use of free debate to resolve academic, ideological and cultural differences in China,” Prof Yuan says.

Does technology or other factors make open debate simply a matter of time, or can the ruling party effectively censor and control the flow of information? It's my belief, and certainly my hope, that this is a process that cannot be stopped. But I'm curious to know what others think about the prospect of more open political debate.

Comments

[Belfour]

Information is always controlled, the "myth" of free information is just that, a myth. It is just who does the spinning.

[anne]

An interesting post, as usual, but only touches glancingly at free speech and lack of in China. I am thinking about how to efficiently approach the subject, but my sense is to argue that there is considerably more free speech in general in China than we tend to credit. I have to think back to the work of Jonathan Spence.

[anne]

Remember when an American aircraft examining installations along the Chinese coast was confronted by a pair of small Chinese jets and clipped a wing. The Chinese pilot was killed and the American plane forced to land in China. Almost at once, "all" of America knew and all of China, and the Secretary of Defense appeared on television to tell the Chinese to insure the safety of the crew and return crew and plane at once. At once? As though China could be ordered about, or as though Jiang Jamin could simply order the release. Jaing Jamin, was quite a powerful leader with many formal roles, but there are many leaders in China, many voices on security and other matters to be attended to. Can you imagine Chairman Jiang at once ordering or even being able to order the release of plane and crew, even apologizing? Of course, the Chinese issued a formal international complaint, many formal domestic complaints for a Chinese pilot had been killed and after all the Americans were spying not the Chinese. America's Secretary of Defense was ignored completely.

Time passed, and we began to learn what we should have known. This is China, and she will be treated with respect, and Jiang is a leader who must work with other leaders and even the Chinese public who were none too pleased with us. Donald Rumsfeld disappeared, and Colin Powell appeared and began to soften and soften and soften as time passed. George Bush was presented a muted apology to read, and the Chinese released the crew and plane. Remember how the plane was released however? The plane which we had "ordered" the Chinese to leave alone, was cut in pieces and shipped safely home. Chinese public opinion was satisfied.

[anne]

I would suggest we do not underestimate the numerous voices that are attended to in different ways in China.

[a]

Anne, nice comment --- lots of common sense.
I am a Chinese, and I follow almost every post Mark put on here. I think there is a lot of spin from the west when report about China. For example, the last post of financial times spinning on the rise of a previously prominent economist as the control of one party rule. In fact, it is China's vision to have a "New Deal". It is time for people to think about it. What is that to do with one-party control? Here, don't US have two-party control? Just a Little bit better than one-party.

My parents have recently confidently told me, the days where one is punished for thinking differently is gone. People feel much more freedom than before. Yes, it is a long way to go, but there is a very lively and colourful debate in Chinese intellectual circles. Just learn some Chinese, visit some real Chinese blogs and, come visit China.

[Fred Hapgood]

The long term challenge for China -- and not that long a term at that -- is finding a way to free itself from the thrall of manufacturing, which is just 18% of the average productive cycle (and shrinking). 50% of that cycle is marketing; 25% is design. That's where the future (and the money) is. Can China break into those phases of the cycle? Are we going to see Nike ad campaigns produced in China on our sets? When are we going to see Chinese companies bringing interesting new ideas, new designs, to market (whether they succeed or not), the way the Japanese do all the time?

I dunno, maybe there is no issue here and ten years from now all these pieces will be falling into place, but there isn't much sign of that so far.

I'm going to be really interested in what happens with Lenovo.

[anne]

http://www.calvorn.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=6098&u=99|4|...

Double-crested Cormorant
New York City--Central Park, Turtle Pond.

Interesting thoughts to discuss, as usual, A and Fred :)

[Mark Thoma]

Thank you a, and everyone else. I worry about that - that I can only see China through the eyes of others, for now at least, and I often find myself wondering if the picture is complete. I'm slowly putting the pieces together, I hope, but there's still so much to learn.

I hope you will let us know when you feel a writer has presented a misleading picture or is spinning a particular point of view. I know I would appreciate your perspective a lot.

[anne]

Agreed; I read all of A's comments with considerable care, and these posts set off fine discussions.

[anne]

http://www.calvorn.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=6097&exhibition=7&u=99|3|...

Hooded Merganser
New York City--Central Park, Turtle Pond.

[dryfly]

Hooded Merganser
New York City--Central Park, Turtle Pond.

Anne - Mergansers are really cool. I occasionally see them on my favorite trout stream. They are a lot better at getting trout then I am that's for sure. It is absolutely amazing watching them work the still pools.

[a]

Mark and Anne, thanks for the encouragement!
I am glad that my post can provide some information to you. Here is a blog site, run in China, but people from outside can also post: http://www.ccforum.org.cn/

Some of the posts are quite independent and free-spirited. I sent the link to my parents, they were delighted and impressed. Actually, I sent the link to them to check if it is censured. But my parents told me they really enjoy reading it, and they were impressed by the boldness in the message.

Democracy and Science were two words introduced to China in early 20th century. We did not have our own words for them, so they were called "Mr. De" and "Mr. Sci", during the 5-4 movement. Chinese people are embracing lots of progressive western values. Things natural to you, may be totally new to Chinese --- logic was not a word existed in Chinese, but we learned it very well too. I have a lot of confidence in China.

As for media control, I recall a half-hour morning radio program where the host picks all the articles in major newspaper in China to read. Like "in-the-paper" in NY1, but more substantial, because the host reads the entire article from head to end. My mom loves listening to it. Guess what: it is all about social problems, government corrutions, the tragedy of peasants... the program has been run for almost 10 years. The city where the radio station is located is "HangZhou", a famous city for Chinese, but most foreigners don't know about it. The host name is "Zhou Guang". The time is 6:30am. One can hear it in the bus if you are in the right bus at the right time.

[anne]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/26/opinion/26spence.html?ex=1264482000&en=f40532ee744bf28f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

January 26, 2005

Martyr Complex
By JONATHAN SPENCE

New Haven — WHY has the Chinese government been so intent on showing that the former Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang was a man of no significance, a man whose life should not be celebrated and whose death should pass unsung? The answer that comes most readily to the historian's mind is that Mr. Zhao played a role that has often made Chinese governments deeply uneasy: that of a bold and visionary reformer who insistently calls for change and openness in a tightly controlled political environment. Saluted for a time as one of the leaders of the country, Mr. Zhao sought to use his power and visibility to grant a hearing to the voices of those excluded from the inner circles where decisions were normally made. And when he persisted in this course in the face of opposition from senior leaders in his party, he had to be discarded.

Many others have played similar roles in China's long history, from as early as the seventh century B.C. Ancient texts suggest a tendency for historians to personalize the idea of reform, to let one or a few individuals give a human face to inchoate and broad-based pleas for change and innovation. Often, those seeking reforms were punished by their own colleagues, so that the concept of reform led to the construction in China of an elaborate and emotionally powerful martyrology.

China's recent history is studded with such cases that also serve as markers for major political shifts. Near the end of the Qing dynasty, China's last in the long imperial cycle that had endured for over two millenniums, there was a dramatic example. The year was 1898, and the country was smarting from its recent defeat by Japan, and the loss of Taiwan as one of the spoils of war. China's political structure seemed frozen in time, unable to adjust to a new world's market and military forces.

Persuaded of the need for change, the emperor himself tried to open up the system by inviting a group of independent-minded scholars to the court, where they swiftly introduced plans to develop the economy and tax system, transform education, foster industry, increase the productivity of agriculture, develop the press, and begin discussion of constitutional government and the possibilities of popular participation in decision-making. Before the year was out, the conservative opponents rallied, the emperor was placed under a form of palace arrest, and six of the most outspoken reformers were arrested and summarily executed. Those who had fled in time made it to Japan and a life of exile. The reform movement of 1898 became associated with the names of these six martyrs, though indeed they had spoken for a much larger constituency.

In the years after the dynasty's fall in 1912, other individuals made parallel gestures or mounted similar challenges to central establishments....

[anne]

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/09/arts/09BOOK.html?ex=1134622800&en=9eb63c04c6332caa&ei=5070

March 9, 2001

'Treason by the Book': Imperialism and Intrigue in 18th-Century China
By RICHARD BERNSTEIN

The news release on the Yale historian Jonathan D. Spence's "Treason by the Book" states that it is about a rebellion mounted by scholarly dissidents against the rule of a powerful early-18th-century Chinese emperor. Indeed, Mr. Spence's book begins with a scene of intrigue, when a previously unknown man hands a senior official an envelope containing details of a plot to overthrow the Manchu, or Qing, dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 to 1911.

But the real subject of "Treason by the Book" would seem to be imperial absolutism itself, especially as exercised by the third Qing emperor, Yongzheng, who sat on the throne from 1723 to 1735. Mr. Spence, adding to his list of brilliant evocations of Chinese history, which include "The Death of Woman Wang" and "The Question of Hu," lays out a strange tale of discontent and imperial action. He shows the nature of that discontent among Qing dynasty scholars, resentful of the foreignness of Qing rule and its ruthless centralization of power. But Mr. Spence's focus is on the machinery of repression in China and on the motivating spirit of Confucian tyranny.

The intrigue that opens Mr. Spence's story is revealed on a day in October 1728, when a certain Zhang Xi put a letter into the hands of Yue Zhongqi, the powerful governor general of Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces, much favored by Yong zheng. The letter, written by a confederate of Zhang's, a wandering scholar named Zeng Jing, called on Yue to join a revolt against the "barbarian" Manchus, a people from north of the border who had replaced the native Chinese Ming dynasty some 80 years earlier. But Yue wanted nothing to do with revolt. He had Zhang arrested and then successfully pretended to join his plot to persuade him to give away the names of his confederates.

What ensued, as Mr. Spence writes in his introduction, demonstrates the unlikely turns that history can take. Taking the threat of rebellion very seriously, Yongzheng pressed his officials to collect all the information they could about the conspirators given up by Zhang, chief among them Zeng, who seemed to be the main plotter. The emperor wanted to understand what had influenced Zeng, where he acquired his ideas and, when his ideas were based on rumors about Yongzheng himself, where the rumors had come from. The investigation, which took several months, involved dozens of arrests, careful examinations of private libraries and the investigative skills of the highest-ranking officials in three of China's provincial capitals.

Eventually Yongzheng chose to place primary blame for the anti- Qing discontent on a formerly revered Confucian scholar named Lu Liuliang, already dead. Having so decided, Yongzheng then made an extraordinary gesture. He engaged in a long correspondence with the imprisoned Zeng to convince him that his unfavorable view of Manchu rule was unjustified. A version of the correspondence between the emperor and the would-be traitor, including Zeng's initial accusations and the emperor's rejoinders, was published under the title "Awakening From Delusion" and made mandatory reading throughout the country.

Rejecting the unanimous opinions of Qing officialdom — namely, that Zeng had committed unpardonable crimes and should be executed by the slicing away of his flesh and limbs — Yongzheng set him free. As for the scholar Lu, the emperor decreed that he should be posthumously punished....

[Emmanuel]

I hate to pour cold water by being Mr. By The Numbers, but do note that Reporters Without Borders ranks China 159th in terms of press freedom. It's moved up from second to the last in 2002, though, so there's some positive movement there.

[anne]

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/15/reviews/981115.15greenbt.html

November 15, 1998

Orienteering
By STEPHEN GREENBLATT

THE CHAN'S GREAT CONTINENT
China in Western Minds.
By Jonathan D. Spence.

A young, impressionable Scottish woman, shortly after arriving in China in 1859, sends home an account of a boat trip she has taken on the Wusong River:

''On each side hung weeping willows, dropping their bending branches into the limpid stream. Back from the river were numerous fields waving with golden corn, and many a neat farmhouse peeped out amid a very luxuriance of trees. We were now nearing a beautifully arched bridge, green with flowering creepers. . . . On the top of a pretty green hill stood a time-worn pagoda, its numberless corners and juttings, edged with bronze and brass, catching a glow from the morning rays, and glittering in the fair sunlight.''

She is no doubt describing exactly what she saw, but she is also, of course, describing the wallpaper and porcelains and delicately figured boxes that had been the rage in Europe since the 18th century and have remained a staple of interior decoration ever since. When I was a child, I gazed at the same scenes on the walls of my parents' house in suburban Boston, and when I went to China in the 1980's, I reached for my camera to photograph certain landscapes because they looked, well, so much like China -- which is to say, so much like that wallpaper. No doubt I was careful to exclude from my snapshots whatever did not fit.

Jonathan D. Spence's wonderful new book, ''The Chan's Great Continent: China in Western Minds,'' is about the history of these ''sightings,'' as he calls them, the numerous glimpses of a country that has fascinated and on occasion obsessed Western observers since the publication of Marco Polo's ''Travels'' in the late 13th century. My own childhood store of China sightings included more than chinoiserie: I was intrigued by Charles Finney's surreal novel ''The Circus of Dr. Lao'' and, at a younger age, terrified by the devilish cunning of Sax Rohmer's villain, Dr. Fu-Manchu. These purveyors of exotic stereotypes find their place in Spence's wide-ranging essays, which are based on a series of lectures first given at Yale University in the spring of 1996. They are joined by an enormous cast of missionaries, soldiers, traders, scholars, satirists, philosophers, linguists, poets, playwrights, painters, diplomats, scientists, adventurers, spies, visionaries, politicians and picture-taking tourists. As he moves through seven centuries of encounters, Spence makes time for figures as various as Jane Austen and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Bret Harte and Henry Kissinger.

Is there an overarching order to these multifarious perspectives? ...

[calmo]

To return briefly to Belfour's opening post about all information being controlled (spun), that free information is a myth:
This recent episode not only confirms this view but sheds some light on that impulsive Presidential Tour: buthttp://mediamatters.org/items/200603030003

[a]

I just want to comment on the New York Times article on Zhao Ziyang.

I think the paper gives too much credit to Zhao. Zhao, in 1989 was part of the bureaucracy that the students were protesting. In fact, a much more influential leader was Hu (the same last name as the current president, but a very different man). His first name is YaoBang. I wonder if the Times has any article about him. In fact, his death is the very event that triggered the 1989 protests. And Hu was replaced by Zhao in late 80's. Last year was Hu's anniversary (birth, I think), and in China there were a series of surprising events to accommodate it.

Zhao did show up at the student movement and eventually did gain sympathy from the people when he was forced down; but many are not sure if his move was purely political. Unlike Hu YaoBang, whose record was a leader trying for a more tolerant government and gives many intellectuals a fair chance of their work, Zhao does not have that wide support from the people. In fact, his own corruption was much of the talk during 1989 protest. Apart from sympathy, I don't think he will be remembered by anyone in the sense the NYT suggests.

[calmo]

So interesting to read your remarks a| and wonder where you are (not just geographically) as I do/did with poster DOR who also provided insights (Ok, views from Hong Kong as it turns out, but views nontheless and real information that is not coming entirely through newspapers.)
kudos for your obvious competence in what is likely not your most competent language (I also feel humbled with poster cm for the same reason.)
Last (and only) thing: in a corrupt environment does Zhao (or Hu) have the political base to be stridently reformative or does he, (like McCain perhaps), have to make some unpopular political decisions that he hopes he can reverse later with a stronger political base?

[a]

calmo, I am from MainLand China, and I have studied in USA stayed to work. I visit China at least every other years, and some times more often for personal reasons. I was a first year college student in 1989, and witnessed the movememnt first-hand. I know some of the student leaders, sadly, I have to say I don't agree with them on lots of issues today.

Hu Yaobang had no reputation of being corrupted at all. According the Wikipedia, he ruled as the Secretary Genernal for most of the 80's. It is interesting that WIKIPEDIA is crediting the "freedom of press" in China to Zhao, while most of Chinese intellectuals remembered Hu for protecting their work. Two things people loved him for: 1) to "correct" the wrongs done in 1957 (anti-right movement by Mao), many people believe that without Hu's leadership on this issue, any reform afterwards won't be possible. 2) to discuss what is truth at national level, breaking the monopoly of truth by the party, which truly set up possibility for "freedom of debate".

It is true that 80's was the time when China started an in-flow of western ideas after a long time of closure. (Zhao was the Premier at the same time. He was more famous for his work in Sichuna where he was the leader and experiemnted some economic reform.) I was a teenager back in the 80's, but I still remember the time being so vibrant --- Shakespear and Soviet-Union plays were live in Beijing Theatres, all making people think and talk about politics and controls. Debates on where the economic whould go, short pain or long pain (to transit to Market Economy), were heard from adults around me. Freud and Sartre were famous in the art circle...

Hu was fired for the student movement in 87. But Jiang ZeMing (the leader after Zhao) was the Mayor of ShangHai when the 87 student movement happened and got national fame for being NICE and REASONABLE to the students. So I think Deng was not sure what to do with the student movement.

If anyone has to play politics to keep his control, it seems to be Deng.

What troubles me is, unlike Hu, who stepped down to become a member of the party committee, Zhao was in effect "arrested". Back then, right after the Tiananmen killing, the party was announcing that Zhao was part of a conspiracy to turn China into western style capitalism. (BTW, Wen, who is the current Premier, was with Zhao in Tiananmen, when Zhao last appeared in front of the students for political support.)

But I do remember, to this day, of the radio broadcast on the night of June 4th 1989. I was on campus thousands of miles away from Beijing, the offical radio news were all shut down. So the whole campus turned to VOA, BBC and some Taiwan radio for news. "200,000" people were killed and the blood ran into river in the streets of Beijing. Almost all radioes we tuned in were reporting such horrific numbers. The Taiwanese one was calling some general to start a civil war...

A trully confusing and terrifying night, but that night also gave me a very bad impression of the western free media. Why on earth, they felt so rightous to do that to a country that has done no harm to them?

I am writing all this, to give calmo a sense of where I am from. I still think freedom of press is good, I still think the US/West has lots of progress in your social system that China can learn from. But not every thing American/West is good. Definitely not.

[anne]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/14/international/asia/14cnd-china.html?ex=1289624400&en=550b867e64cdf5c3&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

November 14, 2005

China to Give Memorial Rite to Hu Yaobang, Purged Reformer
By JOSEPH KAHN

BEIJING - Despite strong internal opposition, China's Communist Party will officially restore later this week the reputation of a liberal-leaning party leader whose death in 1989 helped spark pro-democracy protests, according to people informed about the plans.

The party has not publicly honored the late leader, Hu Yaobang, since his death in April 1989 gave rise to student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. Those protests, targeting corruption, inflation and political repression, persisted until the Chinese army violently suppressed them on June 4 of that year.

President Hu Jintao, early this year, decided to mark the 90th anniversary of Hu Yaobang's birth. Party observers said the president sought to soften his hard-line image and strengthen the Communist Youth League, his political base within the Communist Party.

The youth league was also considered the support network of the late Mr. Hu, who lost his position as Communist Party general secretary after a power struggle in 1987. The two Hus are not related.

While restoring the stature of the late Mr. Hu is unlikely to lead to a broad political opening soon - the party leadership has, after all, steadily tightened its grip over civil society and the media - it does provide a glimpse of the complex politicking that takes place among the ruling elite.

It also shows the enduring sensitivity surrounding the people and events connected with the 1989 protests. Political observers say the June 4 killings will haunt the party until it acknowledges having bloodily suppressed the mainly peaceful pro-democracy protests and can pay respect to the hundreds of people killed, injured or purged in the crackdown.

President Hu persisted with marking the anniversary of his predecessor even though four of the nine members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the top ruling body, expressed concern that the move could threaten stability, people told about the debate said.

The four - one of whom was Wen Jiabao, the prime minister - were said to have different reasons for opposing the commemoration. But all argued that the move potentially risked giving people the idea that the circumstances surrounding the 1989 demonstrations, which the party has condemned as a massive antigovernment plot, could be perceived as open for discussion, these people said.

Opposition to the commemoration was first reported earlier this month by Open, a Hong Kong-based political magazine, and was confirmed by people close to the late leader's family.

President Hu is said to have overruled the objections and ordered the commemoration to proceed, arguing that while students may have invoked the late Mr. Hu's name when their protest began, the former leader had no responsibility for the demonstrations.

But possibly reflecting the sensitivity, President Hu has dropped plans to attend the memorial ceremony in person and has rescheduled the event to take place Friday, Nov. 18, instead of Nov. 20, the actual 90th anniversary of Mr. Hu's birth.

President Hu will be in South Korea on Nov. 18 to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting with other regional leaders, providing an excuse for not attending, people told about the plans said.

The ceremony will amount to a posthumous rehabilitation for Mr. Hu, who is remembered as favoring a faster pace of political change than other officials considered prudent.

After his removal in 1987, he was criticized for having "bourgeois" tendencies. The fact that his death two years later precipitated the Tiananmen Square protests left his legacy in limbo. The party did not publish the usual account of his life and achievements. The first part of his official biography will be published this month, 16 years after his death, people close to the family said.

The commemoration service will be held at the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square, attended by 300 people, including current and retired leaders and intellectuals, most of them invited by Mr. Hu's surviving relatives....

[anne]

http://www.calvorn.com/gallery/photo.php?photo=4810&u=11647|14|...

Ruby-crowned Kinglet Feeding on Goldenrod
New York City--Central Park, Wildflower Meadow.

A, reading your conversational comments, along with the others in response, is a pleasure :)

[Kristofer]

This helped me so much on my research paper. Think all of you for your wonderful comments. I would like to add you guys to my paper. But my teacher is to mean, So I will not be able to thank you guys. Please pray for me as I am turning in this paper, she is like the Devil and will try to fail me on the paper. HELP!!!