China renews its morality
drive By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING - With the symbolically important
Beijing Olympics and other sensitive dates looming
large on China's political calendar, the
propaganda czars have begun a new moral campaign
that focuses on creating a positive public image.
The conservative initiative, which is
believed to be backed by the top Chinese
leadership, counters racy, violent TV shows and
bans all sensitive historical texts in its goal of
maintaining an image of stability.
The
restrictions imposed on broadcasters and
publishing houses
come
ahead of an important year for the country's
leadership. At the annual session of the National
People's Congress, or China's Parliament, in
March, the government is expected to enact new
legislation, which offers less support for the
wealthier coastal provinces and promotes more
sustainable development.
In autumn, the
ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will meet for
its five-yearly congress - bringing changes to the
all-powerful Politburo, stacking the political
deck with supporters of CCP chief Hu Jintao and
providing an early glimpse of the next-generation
leadership and Hu's possible successor slated to
take power in 2012.
This is also the final
year of preparations for the 2008 Beijing Summer
Olympic Games which the image-obsessed country's
leadership see as all-important in affirming
China's status as an emerging world power.
As the regime takes anxiously on these
challenges, CCP censors have had their hands busy
making sure nothing spoils the government's
scripted vision of national harmony. The new moral
campaign combines bans of the offensive with quiet
fostering of traditional Chinese values and
communist virtues.
"They [propaganda
officials] have become more deft in these things,"
observes elderly party cadre Li Ruogang. "They
still go about banning what they decide oversteps
the line but when they try to advocate things,
nowadays it is usually classical virtues, like
honesty and clean living, that traditionally
resonate with Chinese people and not just ideology
like in the past."
While patriotic
morality campaigns have a long history in
communist China, never before have their purifying
efforts encountered an audience less susceptible
to propaganda. Three decades of unbridled economic
reforms that promoted the materialistic gist of
"getting rich is glorious" have weakened, if not
done away, with orthodox communist ideology.
"These ideological campaigns come and go,
no one really pays any attention," shrugs Wang
Hongjun, a young employee of a South Korean
trading company. Despite being named after the
country's Red Army (Hongjun) by his parents - both
CCP members - Wang says he is more concerned with
the effects of the government's new housing
policies than with its patriotic communist
messages.
The current morality offensive
started last September when authorities - worried
about the youth's increasingly individualistic and
mercantile spirit, banned foreign cartoons from
early evening slots between 5pm and 8pm. During
these "golden hours", Chinese children can only
watch domestically produced cartoons. Last
week brought a new set of restrictions on TV
programs. Calling for only "ethically inspiring"
television shows during prime time, the Chinese
broadcaster regulator said that beginning February
all mainland television series would require
vetting by the publicity department of the CCP.
"The country's satellite TV stations
should only screen ethically inspiring TV series
during prime time," Shanghai Daily quoted Wang
Weiping, an official from the State Administration
of Radio, Film and Television.
Officially,
Chinese media are all state-owned because the CCP
regards the media as its primary tool for
propaganda. But while Beijing has kept a tight
grip over the news content, it has in recent years
allowed more leeway to broadcasters in hopes of
promoting the industry's growth.
In an
attempt to woo audiences many broadcasters have
allowed reality TV shows, crime series, featuring
heavy dose of violence, as well as shows with
explicit sex scenes to feature prominently on
Chinese television.
While the broadcasting
monitor rarely elaborates on what kind of TV shows
may constitute reason for bans, more clues could
be glimpsed from the watchdog's recent decisions
to refuse entry to particular Western and Asian
blockbusters. China passes only 20 foreign films
each year for cinematic viewing.
Last year
the US box office hit Pirates of the Caribbean:
the Dead Man's Chest fell afoul of censors
reportedly because of its scenes of human
cannibalism. The South Korean drama The King
and the Clown, that country's highest-grossing
film ever, was also banned for its gay themes and
mockery of political authority.
Written
works form another area where censors have proven
over-zealous. This month saw a ban on half a dozen
books discussing sensitive historical events and
the government's highly restrictive media
policies.
According to reports in the Hong
Kong press, the General Administration of Press
and Publications demanded that eight books written
by Chinese intellectuals be removed from the
shelves and threatened the publishing houses with
severe punishment.
Among the writings that
have fallen pray are books delving into communist
China's censored past, the self-inflicted great
famine of the late 1950s and the prosecution of
Chinese intellectuals and artists during the
anti-rightists campaigns of the same period.
Others, like The Press and The
Other Stories of History: My Days at the
Supplement Division of the People's Daily deal
with the more modern topic of Chinese press
manipulation.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
