Briefings - 1102. page

Not only were the meeting and the script of the October 16 meeting between President Obama and Chinese university students censored, but Chinese participation was also reported to have been staged.

 Chinese netizens discovered that at least two questioners in the audience were not bonafide students. The first “student” Cheng Xi is the Executive Vice Director of the Research Office of the Communist Youth League of Fudan University: http://www.youth.fudan.edu.cn/twjj4.aspx. The second “student” Huang Lihe is the Secretary of the Communist Youth League of the School of Foreign Languages, Tongji University: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5053613d01008zd9.html. [Ed: A search found that this was posted on many blogs and forums in China, although some were later removed.]

A CNN reporter saw a student reciting a question in English from a piece of paper. Liu Yufen, 21, a student from Shanghai Jiaotong University said that he and his fellow classmates went through “training” for a whole afternoon prior to the meeting.

Sources:
1. Janeyoung.cn website, Nov 17, 2009
http://www.janeyoung.cn/hot/1910.html
2. Google Groups, Nov 16, 2009
http://groups.google.com/group/go2group/browse_thread/thread/11c9e373d95a1787/6cf2a8c902e83d04?lnk=raot
3. Epoch Times Taiwan, Nov 17, 2009
http://www.epochtimes.com.tw/263032.html

Fifty-nine private sector entrepreneurs in Chongqing City were sent to Beijing on November 9, 2009, for a week of training at the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party. According to Wen Jieming, the head of the city’s CCP United Front Department, more than 10,000 people from the business community are to be trained in ideology, politics, and economic knowledge within five years. The trainings were said to be planned to take place in party schools in the central, city, and country government levels, as well as in communities and neighborhoods.

Source: People’s Daily, November 10, 2009
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/14562/10346700.html

According to Xinhua, Xi Jinping gave a speech at the Central Party School’s 2009 Fall semester opening ceremony for the 2nd training class. Xi stressed that the development of a learning-oriented Marxist political party is an important and urgent strategic task. The study should focus on Marxism, the Chinese Characteristics of Socialism, and the Socialist Core Value System. Party official’s promotion should be linked to an evluation of the study effort under his leadership.

Xi is the selected successor to Hu Jintao, currently a member of the Chinese Communist Party Standing Committee of the Political Bureau (Politburo), the secretary of the CCP Central Committee Secretariat, and the president of the CCP Central Party School.

Source: Xinhua, November 12, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-11/12/content_12444075.htm 

The International Herald Leader, a newspaper under Xinhua, published an article commemorating the downfall of Communism in Eastern Europe, stating the lesson learned is to continue socialism in China. An official from the government think tank Institute of Russia, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences states, “The lesson learned from the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe is that China should adhere to its own path. Only by better domestic buildup will China not be as vulnerable to external changes. We used to be gravely concerned about such changes in the social system. Now, we have more reason to be confident because China’s economy has made considerable progress. We should always remember that the reform and opening up has always been feasible under the socialist system." 

Source: International Herald Leader, November 9, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2009-11/09/content_12415817.htm