Reports - 35. page

After the violent crime in Lhasa on March 14 of last year, all of a sudden the relationship between the Dalai Lama and some overseas “democracy movement” members became very close. The Dalai Lama recently visited many countries. Everywhere he went, he arranged meetings with these members, and either went on stage or had a closed-door discussion with them. There is news recently that the Dalai Lama and these democracy movement members will call a “Global Tibetan-Chinese General Assembly” in Europe, and hold a “2009 Global Congress of the Chinese Pro-Democracy Movement” in Dharamsala, India. It seems like they are completely in accord. Let’s look at the secrets behind this.

The combination of two sides each with their own axes to grind

It has been the Dalai Lama’s favorite trick to provoke the relationship between Tibetans and Chinese, and to undermine the unity between Tibetans and Chinese. He has never denied it. In 1987, he published “Five Proposals for Peace in Tibet,” in which he openly proposed to expel all of the Han Chinese from Tibet. Last April, in a speech at Colgate University in New York, the Dalai Lama exclaimed, “The Han population accounts for the vast majority of this communist country. My home country is currently under the rule of the Han Chinese.” Last October, another leader of the Dalai Lama’s “government in exile,” Sang-dong, talked about the future of Tibet in an interview, “Non-Tibetan people living in the Tibet Autonomous Region should not enjoy the autonomy.”  “All official positions in the ethnic minority autonomous regions should be held by ethnic minorities.” From these words where do we see any hint of “friendship between Tibetans and Han Chinese?” All we see is ethnic hatred.

However the Dalai Lama “woke up” last year. The Dalai clique stirred up the violent crime in Lhasa on March 14, 2008, assaulted overseas Chinese embassies, and disrupted the Beijing Olympics. Their acts angered all the Chinese people including overseas Chinese people and students. Overseas Chinese people and students quickly acted together to expose the Dalai clique’s crimes and lies, protect the passing of the Olympic torch, and express their opinion against the independence of Tibet and their love of the motherland. Their powerful moves shocked the international community and made the Dalai Lama very embarrassed. In June of 2008, he lamented in Australia, “Starting from March 10, no matter where I went, there were protesters following me, Chinese protesters, and Han protesters.” In August he complained again in France, “These young people’s behavior is distressing and incomprehensible.”

At this point, how the Dalai Lama could obtain sympathy from the global Chinese community and reduce resistance to “Tibetan Independence” became an urgent matter. After careful planning and before the Beijing Olympics, he offered the concept of a “Sino-Tibetan Friendship Association,” claiming that Tibetan and Han people must “establish a group and communicate.” In May of this year, he claimed in New York City, “I recently traveled around the world to communicate with Chinese communities and Chinese students in order to eliminate some Chinese people’s misunderstanding.” During a press conference in Denmark the Dalai Lama was more stunning, “One of my goals is to realize ‘Sino-Tibetan unity.’”

However, it is not easy for a separatist leader to turn into a national unity promoter overnight, especially for someone who engaged in separatist activities for decades and still adheres to the separatist stance today. During the several months after the Dalai clique proposed the “Sino-Tibetan Friendship Association,” not many people responded. At this point, some of the self proclaimed “pro-democracy movement” members came on stage. The so-called “democratic movement” members in fact are mostly those who planned and organized the upheaval activities in the eighties of the last century. They later went abroad, cursing, “China will soon collapse,” and claiming, “China is a threat to the world,” in order to beg for support from western anti-China forces so as to survive, dreaming one day they will take control over China. These people have worked about twenty years so far, but the harder they tried, the fewer members they had left. Today there are about a hundred key members in this group, yet they have organized forty to fifty different organizations. Each of them has a title like “president,” “chairman,” and “secretary general.” They became a joke for international society and overseas Chinese communities. A veteran upheaval activist once wrote, “Out of all the bad guys I have met in my life, 80% of them are pro-democracy activists. The bad people on the streets cannot count as bad guys compared with the pro-democracy activists.” Another veteran further said that 95% of “pro-democracy movement members” are bad.

Having reached such a dead end on their path, these overseas upheaval activists are overjoyed to see the Dalai Lama’s “initiative,” viewing it as a new way for them to survive. A senior upheaval activist immediately said, “I hope the Dalai Lama can understand the ignorance and recklessness these young people express.” Several other upheaval activists shamelessly claimed, “We apologize to the Dalai Lama on behalf of the Han Chinese people.” The Dalai Lama knows that these people have a bad reputation in the Chinese community, yet they have a Chinese face and they are in essence anti-China, so this is a group of people that can be utilized. On many occasions, the Dalai Lama has called these people “the Chinese people’s representatives.” The two parties have formed an alliance. With such a background, several “Sino-Tibetan Friendship Associations” formed. All are supported by the “Tibetan government in exile,” and have joined the upheaval activists. These organizations are in fact a common performance platform for the collusion among a few of the nation’s scum. They are actually the propaganda venue for the Dalai clique. Of course the upheaval activists would not miss an opportunity. They have claimed a bunch of titles like President and Secretary-General for themselves. This has also provided them with a way to claim credit in front of their Western master. 

The scheme behind “democracy” and “freedom”

If the Dalai clique made any improvements after they fled China fifty years ago, it is that they learned a few words, such as “democracy,” “freedom,” and “human rights” from the West. They use these words to cover up their true face of separatism. According to the Dalai Lama, at this time, “We must form a united front. The Chinese Communist Party can form a united front to defend its dictatorial regime; we can also form a united front for justice and truth.” “Only when the Han, Tibetan, Uyghur and other ethnic groups in China work together for unity and establish a unified Democratic Front, can we promote democracy in China.”  The upheaval activists immediately agreed, declaring that they would “immediately establish a China Democratic Grand Alliance,” “the political goal being to overthrow the Chinese Communist regime.” Recently, many overseas upheaval activist leaders met with the Dalai Lama. Some claimed, “Only the Dalai Lama has the charm and authority to integrate Chinese overseas pro-democracy forces.” Some have said that the Dalai Lama is “the spiritual leader of China’s democracy movement,” and that a “party” even wrote an article proposing that the Dalai Lama be the “President of China” in the future. In order to please the Dalai Lama, a few veteran upheaval activists openly claimed, “Tibet will be an independent state sooner or later.”

Praised by the upheaval activists, the Dalai Lama got a bit carried away. It seems that he forgot that, not long ago, he claimed he was “willing to solve the problem within the framework of the Chinese Constitution.” He forgot his statement that he was “willing to improve relations with the Chinese Central Government.” The Dalai Lama recently declared to some upheaval activists in Dharamsala that he had “lost hope for the Chinese government, and we will have a longer and harder struggle together.” In the US he called the upheaval activists "real comrades," and declared, “It is time for the Communist Party to retire after controlling China for 60 years.”

Now that they have the slogan, a “leader” and a “unified” political agenda, of course they need a ceremony to celebrate. The Dalai clique claimed that the upcoming “Tibetan-Chinese Assembly” will discuss, “the future of Tibet, democracy in China, and other major issues." Jointly with the “Dalai Lama’s personal secretariat and “the Foreign Ministry of the Tibetan government in exile,” the upheaval activists announced that after the Assembly they will hold a “2009 Global Congress of the Chinese Pro-Democracy Movement” in Dharamsala, India, “according to his Highness, the Dalai Lama’s schedule.” There they will “formally recognize the Dalai Lama’s spiritual leader status for China’s pro-democracy movement,” “create a unified leadership and collective leadership,” and be “fully prepared to take control over China.”

It became very clear that the only purpose of the so-called “democracy” and “freedom” movement is to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership, subvert the people’s democratic power and split the PRC, so that this small group of people can take control of China.

The fate of a doomed failure

Though the Dalai Lana and the upheaval activists show their respect to each other on the surface, behind the scenes, they are actually just using each other. A veteran upheaval activist once said the biggest enemy of the “pro-democracy movement” is their own members. They attack and slander each other in order to compete for Western financial support and to protect their own vested interests. These fights not only waste their internal resources, but have also caused the loss of a great deal of outside support. This is the upheaval group’s inadequacy. Of course, they bring it into their cooperation with the Dalai clique. Shortly after some upheaval activists met with the Dalai Lama in November of last year, an article was published on Boxun.com entitled “The Dalai Lama should be invited to directly invest in the Chinese domestic pro-democracy movement.” The article stated that the Dalai Lama is the biggest resource the pro-democracy movement can rely on. As long as they are not selfish, it is not too hard for pro-democracy movement members to beg the Dalai Lama for millions of Australian dollars. After all, the Dalai clique has some financial resources. Another veteran upheaval activist put it in an even more straightforward way, “The Dalai Lama is only a monk who asks for money everywhere. If it were not for the Nobel Prize he won, I am afraid he could only sit in the temple guarding his butter lamps all day. Pro-democracy movement members should learn from the West: cheer him up when needed, but don’t take him too seriously.”

Drifting along in international society for decades, the Dalai Lama knows what the upheaval activists are made of. Of course he will have some reservations when dealing with them. On March 10 of this year, though the Dalai Lama formally met with the delegation of pro-democratic members, afterwards the Dalai clique repeatedly stated the meeting was in response to the other side’s “request,” and the Dalai Lama did not agree to be the spiritual leader of the overseas “pro-democracy movement” as they requested. Some overseas commentators pointed out that, “The Dalai Lama views the pro-democracy movement as a heap of stinking mud. He played along with the pro-democracy activists not because the latter have any force, but to create the illusion that ‘Han people also support Tibet independence.’ On the one hand the Dalai Lama holds the pro-democracy movement in contempt. On the other hand, the Dalai Lama uses it; it was really pitiful and tragic for them.” A former pro-democracy movement member made it clear, “It is a big mistake for the pro-democracy movement to attempt to move closer to the Dalai separatist clique. This will provoke strong opposition from the Chinese people in China and abroad. It will also cause different opinions among themselves, which will lead to a further split of their power. Though the Dalai clique has some resources, they will not easily pay the bill for the pro-democracy movement.”

Obviously, such a “marriage” based on political and financial calculation is simply a self-deceptive show for entertaining and fooling themselves. We do not need to keep watching to know what the end of such a show will be.

Endnote:
[1] From Xinhuanet.com, August 5, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-08/05/content_11831154.htm

 “The Growing Trend of Mass Incidents both Online and Offline” [1]

Some experts have suggested that special attention should be paid to preventing two types of incidents. One type is an incident related to a direct conflict of interest involving the masses, such as elderly insurance reform in enterprises, which involves the interest of a large group. Improper handling might induce a large-scale group event. Mass events reported on the Internet would be especially prominent.

The other type of incident involves a direct conflict of interest triggering mass indirect interest. An example is the Chizhou City incident in Anhui Province a few years ago. A child scratched a boss’s car and the boss beat the child. This was a common dispute, but because one side was a boss, the incident angered many people not directly related to the incident. It eventually escalated to the point that people protested to the government and a police car was smashed and burned. In recent years many important mass incidents have had this nature, i.e. society’s masses bring the discontent accumulated during daily life into a specific incident, which leads to a greater mass incident.

Some experts who study social contradictions believe that real mass incidents and mass Internet incidents all have some direct trigger, but the escalation of these incidents is usually due to accumulated social anger. At present, to address this issue it is necessary to deal with two mindsets and three moods.

Dr. Zhang Haibo of The Social Risk and Public Management Research Center of Nanjing University said that a mass event has two main psychological characteristics. One is “Big events attract (government) attention,” particularly those related to demolition, land acquisition, village management, corporate restructuring, etc. The second is the psychology of “enthusiasm about exposing to the public,” particularly in relation to the opposition between government officials and people, conflicts between the police and the people, and differences between the rich and poor. This type of mentality will make people strive for publicity on the Internet.

At the same time, the government should prepare to deal with three kinds of social emotions: first, for the public’s dissatisfaction with corruption, the government should use system building and increased anti-corruption efforts to respond to the public’s new expectations. For instance, a better solution must be sought to deal with government official’s spending, personal use of public cars, abuse of power, etc. Second, for the public’s dissatisfaction with monopolies, the government should reform and monitor monopoly enterprise’s pay distributions and benefits. This is a high priority task. Third, for the public’s discontent with the appointment of officials, the government should improve credibility when appointing officials, using an open, transparent system to select good officials who people trust.

“Dealing with the ‘Rising Issue of Mass Internet Incidents’” [2]

Some experts analyzed over a dozen mass Internet incidents over the past several years and found those incidents have three types. They demonstrate the nature of the mutual linkage of online and offline mass events.

The first type is “mass Internet incidents with both real and virtual perspectives.” An example is the taxi drivers’ strike in Chongqing City, Sanya City, and other areas. At first, it was a small-scale taxi driver protest. At the same time someone posted the related information online, attracting more attention. Afterwards, two larger scale mass incidents occurred. All the taxi drivers in the whole city went on strike in the real world, and there was mass discussion on the Internet about the taxi drivers. Those two incidents affected each other, worsening the confrontation related to the incident.

The second type is “mass Internet incidents triggered by real incidents,” the “Zhou Jiugeng incident” is an example. The direct trigger was a speech given by Zhou Jiugeng, former director of the Jiangning District Real Estate Bureau of Nanjing City. During a meeting, he made a speech opposing real estate developers paying lower housing prices. He also smoked cigarettes with very expensive brand name. His speech triggered continuous discussions on the Internet, focusing on the government officials’ spending. In reality, there was no mass incident, but the Internet users expressed very strong opinions against it.

The third type is “mass Internet incidents triggered by real incidents and further developed to real mass incidents.” An example occurred during the Olympic torch relay overseas. A Qingdao student, who held up a Tibetan independence banner, was condemned on the Internet. A large-scale protest on the Internet gradually escalated to a “human flesh search” [Editor’s Note: it refers to gathering all possible private information about a person and posting them on the Internet]. When people found out the residence of this student’s parents in Qingdao, some Internet users gathered there to protest. Only after various types of persuasion did it gradually subside.

Multiple grass roots officials in Anhui Province who were interviewed believe the consequences of such "mass Internet incidents" could, in a very short time, result in a large number of people fundamentally changing their view of the party committee and the government.

Some grass-roots officials’ analyses, show that some of the recent “mass Internet incidents” reflect that the impact of the financial crisis has been gradually spreading. The entire social frame of mind has been quietly changing. The Internet users’ behavior has changed, too:

“From talk to action,” Internet users have really started to do something about officials’ illegal activities. In the past, Internet users repeatedly exposed some party officials’ illegal activities, but most of them just “talked about it.” Recently, however, the Internet users have demonstrated the attitude that “they will not let it go until those government officials are dealt with.”

Political awareness and participation are growing. For example, when the list of expenses for some officials traveling overseas was disclosed, some people took action. Afterward, some Internet users actively disclosed lists of names, one after another. The process of “exposure investigation-dismissal” has greatly increased the Internet users’ awareness, and initiative.
…

The interviewed grass-roots officials have summarized the lack of means to deal with “mass Internet incidents” as “three no access” (to the Internet users). The grass-roots party organizations have “no access,” the ideological and political workers have “no access,” and the police, armed forces and other national forces have “no access.”

More importantly, some grass-roots officials have found that partial grass-roots party committees and governments still believe that the current “mass Internet incidents” are only people chatting in their spare time. They are not aware of its psychological impact, which could further lead to political impact on people’s opinions about the government.

This has led to the spread of some negative news or even false news that has Internet users fired up. The local party committee and the government can only rely on the public security Internet police and local propaganda departments to deal with the issue.

However, the above two mentioned departments are very constrained when dealing with mass Internet incidents. The forces of the public security Internet police are limited by existing institutional and technical restrictions. A network police supervisor in Anhui Province said there is no territorial division of the network; yet in reality, the management of public security in each territory follows the principle of territoriality. When mass Internet incidents occur, it is often Internet users throughout the country gathering on the Internet for an event at one location. So far there is no good solution on how to integrate our limited Internet means so that during an emergency we can rapidly give a joint response and effectively deal with the event.

As for the local propaganda department, it lacks the legal means. At present, every day 3,000 new websites are added, of which 90% are commercial web sites outside the state-owned-enterprise system. If they reprint or disseminate false information, they should be managed in accordance with the law. However, at present, we lack the appropriate laws and regulations. In addition, a large number of foreign capitalists have invested in key Internet enterprises in China; since many key Internet sites are funded by foreign investments, they are clearly influenced by the foreign investors.

…

During the research on the Internet, experts have pointed out that there exist two media markets controlling the power of Internet public opinion. One is the top-down “governmental Internet media market,” from the party and government at all levels to release information via authorities’ releases and interpretations, etc.; newspapers, television, radio and other traditional media are the main source of information. Networking and other new media are just spreading vehicles. Another market is the “civil Internet media market,” formed from the bottom-up by Internet users’ postings, comments, and refining information. The grass-roots users and forum owners are the major source of this information transmission.

Experts believe that, currently, the focus and writing styles of these two markets have an obvious difference. In practice, the “governmental Internet media market” plays a dominant role on topics related to important national policies, etc. Internet users, meanwhile, more easily accept the “civil internet media market” on the topics that people are concerned about, such as corruption, the gap between rich and poor, social security, and the gap between urban and rural areas. Another important task during the Internet age is to manage the two media markets so that the party and the government’s voice can be transmitted in a way that everyday people can more easily understand and accept.

“Preventing Internet Public Opinion from Triggering a Media Trial” [3]

With respect to this, the dominant voices of public opinion are full of doubts, criticism, and accusations. When a case is under investigation (or supplementary investigation), the court has not yet opened a case, but the "media trial" seems have already pronounced the verdict. Some media reports and online user comments echo each other freely using qualitative terms, and using strong emotional language to describe the case or the parties, thus imposing a kind of invisible pressure on the judges and the jury. Thus those that should not become the media norm have now become the norm. For example, Liang Li is innocent. Hu Bin should be severely punished. Deng Yujiao acted in self-defense, and Luo Caixia’s educational rights should be protected. Some critics have even used “everyone is the judge” to describe this near mania as a media “feast.”

Looking at the reported comments of some of these cases, its main characteristics are:

Reporting the case sensationally, intentionally highlighting certain facts, only listening to and believing one side, only providing an opportunity for one party to give a statement of the facts and to express their point of view from a legal perspective; selectively choosing the interview material to support their own viewpoint; taking things out of context, and even distorting the original intent of those who were interviewed; speculating on the outcome of the trial; and, without trial, putting a qualitative statement on the case, or convicting the defendant.

Those reports and comments are contrary to the spirit of law, yet they seem to represent a growing trend. They have generated consequences that cannot be ignored, and they have brought a certain threat to justice.

It is a special form of democratic supervision in our country to have the media carry out media supervision of the judicial department. Now supervision by those not in a position of responsibility for some event or phenomenon has become a prominent problem in practicing media supervision. We need to respect the judiciary system, and safeguard the seriousness for media to perform its supervision. It is important to have complete media coverage on all aspects and avoid a “media trial.”

Endnotes:
[1] Outlook Weekly, June 1, 2009
http://news.sohu.com/20090601/n264260209.shtml
[2] Outlook Weekly, June 1, 2009
http://news.sohu.com/20090601/n264260014.shtml
[3] Outlook Weekly, June 1, 2009
http://news.sohu.com/20090601/n264263510.shtml

{Editor’s Note: In June 2006, Beijing released an eight-episode TV documentary series: Preparing For Danger In Times Of Safety – Historic Lessons Learned from the Demise of Soviet Communism. It was a research project conducted by the government think tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Science. Afterwards, the Chinese Communist Party instructed party members across the nation to watch the series and launch serious discussions. The script of the prelude of the documentary quotes Hu Jintao’s words, “There are multiple factors contributing to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a very important one being Khrushchev throwing away Stalin’s knife and Gorbachev’s open betrayal of Marxism-Leninism.” The full text of the narratives has been translated. What follows is the second episode.}

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The education and training work for all the party members is a foundation project for the party’s development. It was an important strategy task proposed at the 17^th CCCPC. The plan was generated in order to complete this job earnestly, according to the “Constitution of the Communist Party of China” and the party’s internal rules.

1. Guiding Principles and Basic Requirements

1) Guiding Principles

With the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics soaring high, and under the guidance of the Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thoughts of  “The Three Represents,” thoroughly implement the scientific development concept according to the requirements for strengthening the party’s advantage and its ability to rule. Adopt the need for building a study-style political party with the key focus being to study and implement the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the party’s structure. Regarding the party’s central task, implement the party members’ education and training on a large scale, improve the quality of the party members in every respect, provide a strong guarantee on political thinking and the organizations for building a harmonious socialist society, comprehensively construct an affluent society and speed up the advancement of socialism’s modernization.

2) Basic Requirements

a. Persistently take the enhancement of the party’s spirit as the first duty, and adopt the development of ideology/faith education and capability throughout. Persistently fortify all of the party members with the theory of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, teach the party members how to relate the facts and to practice what they learn, unify the enhancement of the party spirit and improve the party’s capability, emphasize party spirit and conduct, be a role model, and maintain and develop communism’s sophistication throughout.

b. Consider human beings as the fundamental source, and improve the ability to implement effectiveness in education and training. Respect the party members’ leadership status, understand the party members’ demands, and thus educate them accordingly. Train them according to their functions, improve education and training during their service, confirm their service during education and training, and stimulate the party members to participate actively and enthusiastically in education training. Make sure the general party members are willing to study, and to study well. Utilize them well.

c. Maintain an overall plan in order to coordinate and achieve frequent education and concentrated training at the same time. Include all party members; find the key points; pay special attention to frequent education and concentrated training using flexible and diverse means; fulfill the party members’ education rights and their study duties.

d. Focus on reform and innovation, and explore and establish new work mechanisms for the large-scale education of party members. Create new training concepts. Improve existing training contents and methods. Integrate training resources, expand training channels, and lead the party members’ education towards the scientific-style, using a systematic and standardized direction.

2. Job Objectives and Key Tasks

1) Job Objectives

From 2009, with the foundation of strengthening periodic education, all the general party members that do not fall into the training scope for different levels of party committee cadres will be trained over the next five years. Through education and training, the general party member’s thoughts and faith will be firmer, and their party spirits will be further strengthened, while fostering their good manners and style. Their working abilities will be further enhanced, role models will become more clear, and the party’s creativity, cohesive force and battle efficiency will constantly be strengthened.

2) Important Tasks

With thorough activities on studying the practical scientific development concept, and with the implementation of the “Opinion on Strengthening Party Member’s Frequent Education” published by the General Office of CCCPC in 2006, according to party members’ true demands, considering their different fucntions, levels and posts, set the plan up scientifically, and steadily implement the party members’ education and training step by step.

The primary elements of the party members’ education and training are: always place education on the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics in first place; educate the party members with the party’s constitution, the party’s fundamental theories, the party’s elementary knowledge, the party’s history, the party’s direction and policies, and the current situations. Provide education on laws and regulations, and the party’s spirit and discipline, and provide training in professional knowledge and technical skills.

Local villages and towns’ party committees, the residential party committees, and the school party organizations should carry out the education and training of party members from the countryside, the urban communities and all levels of schools. The education and training of the party members from the new economic organizations and the new social organizations should be implemented by upper level party organizations and should be done at least once annually with a minimum of 16 hours of study, and 24 hours of study for their keys members and instructors.

The education and training of party members from government organizations, state-owned businesses and financial institutions should be performed by their work places at least once annually with a minimum of 24 study hours, and 40 hours of study for their keys members

The education and training of party members from other kinds of units should be implemented by their upper level party organizations.

After completing their cadre training requirements, the different levels of party committee cadres that fall into the scope of cadre training should take leading roles participating in their workplace training.

3. Important Projects

1) Regarding the countryside party committee secretary training project, the focus should be on building up a countryside party leaders’ troop that embodies faithfulness, commitment, capability and good conduct, and truly carries out the countryside party committee secretaries’ training. Through the province-level demonstration training, the city-level focus training and the county-level broad training, the countryside party committee secretaries will be organized to participate in the above-county-level party school for the related concentrated training at least once every year for a minimum of 40 study hours. The new incumbent countryside party committee secretaries should be trained promptly.

2) Regarding the new party member training project, the focus should be on strengthening the party member’s consciousness so that they play exemplary roles, further joining their minds with that of the party, and truly carrying out the new party members training. Through concentrated learning, party education, discussion, seminars and theme activity, each new party member should participate in a concentrated training session within a year after they join the party, with a minimum of 24 hours of study. The higher level party organizations should be responsible for carrying out the training of their subordinates.

3) In the college-graduate “village official” party member training project, the focus should be on fostering socialism’s new-rural reconstruction leaders who are good at working with people, and on carrying out the college-graduate “village official” party member training. Adopt training methods like concentrated training in the county-level party school or above, and practice training at model villages, with training sessions run by the outstanding rural officials so they can pass on their experiences, and so on. Organize the college-graduate “village official” party members to be trained before taking their posts, and then once every year during their contracts with a minimum 40 study hours.

4) The party member entrepreneur and employment ability training project should focus on enhancement of the party members’ abilities to achieve well-off lives in the future, to lead others to achieve well-off lives as well, and to carry out the party member entrepreneur and employment ability training. The party member entrepreneur and employment ability training should be integrated into the new-farmer technology training project, the green certificate training project, the sunlight project on rural labor force shift training, the adult continuing education, the re-employment training project, and so on. All levels of party committees should coordinate closely with the departments of agriculture, science and technology, human resources and social security, pay special attention to the countryside party members’ practical technology training, especially the entrepreneur and employment ability training for the unsettled party members, with emphasis on the farmer party members, the unemployed party members and military retiree party members. Work hard to help them master at least one technical skill and enhance their entrepreneur and employment ability.

4.  Work Measures

1) Innovate ways and methods to inspire party members’ internal drive to participate in the education and training

Continue and improve the ways and means of educating and training the party members that have been used long-term and have proved effective. Adapt to the new situation and new tasks and actively explore more pragmatic, effective, flexible, and diversified ways and methods to educate and train the party members.

Actively organize party members to participate in the party’s educational activities. Adhere to the policy of positive education and self-education, emancipate minds, relate to the reality, and focus on solving our own outstanding problems, so that most party members are educated and the public will benefited in the long run.

Establish and enhance a rotational training system for the party members. Strengthen the research on party members’ training needs to develop targeted training programs, determine training content, and train the party members in batches and in rotation. Widely implement the spring and winter training programs for rural party members. Promote a menu option based training model and adopt special counseling sessions, case studies, seminars, knowledge contests, personal experiences, and so on, to enhance the attractiveness and appeal of educating and training party members.

Improve the party officials’ lecture system. Organize party officials at the county level or above and party officials at the grass-root level to give periodical lectures to party members and those who actively apply to join the party. Focus on the hot, challenging, and questionable issues that many party members are interested in; explain the profound theories in simple terms, to inspire the party members in their thinking and arm them with theory.

Widely establish the “Mobile classroom” program for party members. Organize party school-teachers and lecturers, party members who can be used as examples, experts, scientists, technicians and so on to go to the rural areas, communities, businesses, and schools to set up mobile schools and bring the lectures to people’s door steps; strive to achieve that there will be education classes wherever there are party members. The content of “Mobile classrooms” should be close to the party members’ practical needs, teaching the knowledge and technical skills that they want to learn the most and helping them to improve their understanding and enrich their fund of knowledge and capabilities.

Carry out a Party Day theme in education and training activities. Focus on the party members’ practical and work needs to determine a distinct Party Day theme, and organize the members to carry out study, training and exercise activities. Party cadres should take the lead in participating in the Party Day education and training activities.

2) Develop and integrate resources to build a vigorous educational and training environment for the party members
Develop and integrate educational and training resources. Improve their functions and enhance their services; convert the village- (community-) level facilities, party service centers (or stations) and modern remote education sites for village party officials into primary education sites for village, street, and community party members. Highlight the party’s innovative theoretical training and fully realize the important effects that the party schools at all levels have on the party members. Rely on colleges, universities, technical schools, research institutes, society training organizations, science and technology demonstration bases, and so on to conduct the party members’ skill training. Make full use of the patriotism education bases, caution education bases, anti-corruption education demonstration bases, and so on to train the party members on the party’s history, the party’s fine tradition and style, and the party’s discipline, etc. Provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), cities (prefectures) and counties (county-level cities) should establish the party members’ education and training demonstration base if it is practical. Actively advance the party member education and training bases that are jointly established by the army and the people and by the police and the people.

Optimize and integrate the teaching resources for party member education and training. Following the requirements of sufficient quantity, reasonable structure, superior quality, and the combination of both full-time and part-time trainers, optimize and integrate the instructor team. Provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), cities (prefectures), and counties (county-level cities) should set up an open pool of instructors for party members’ education and training and hire people from party schools, universities, and colleges, party officials, model party members, scientists, technical experts, rural local talent, successful business achievers, and so on as instructors. Encourage the establishment of a volunteer instructor team. Improve the instructor selection system, explore the implementation of joint teacher hiring and dynamic management mechanisms, and gradually achieve resource sharing of the high-quality instructors.

Strengthen the development efforts of the party members’ education and training materials. The Central Organization Department will work in conjunction with other relevant departments to develop and edit simple reading materials on the party’s basic information and the party’s history. The local party committees at various levels may compile and develop supplemental education and training materials that are practical, specific, concise, and efficient. The grass-root level party organizations can recommend books and reading materials based on the diversified and individual party member’s learning needs. Fully utilize the books, newspapers, and periodicals to educate and train the party members and promote the establishment of “party member bookstores” in rural areas and communities.

3) Actively use the modern information distribution methods to bring the party members’ education and training to the modern level

Continue to strengthen modern remote education for village party officials and electronic education for rural party members. By the end of 2010, achieve full coverage of all villages for the modern distance education for village party officials. Actively promote the modern remote education network into the party and government organizations, neighborhoods and communities, businesses, and colleges. Emphasize the usage, and strive to expand the scope, audience, contents, methods, and functions of modern remote education services for village party officials and the electronic education services for party members, and continuously improve the education’s quality and effectiveness.

Fully utilize television, the Internet and other mass media to conduct the education and training of party members. Create education programs on China Central Television (CCTV) and local television stations. Integrate the party members’ education training and Internet resources and establish a national party member education website. For local businesses or organizations that have websites, the party organization needs to set up a party member education section. Advocate the establishment of online party schools and explore the use of online learning, “red” text messages [Editor’s Note: an excerpt from an important party leader’s speech or writing], mobile paper and other ways to carry out party members’ education and training.

Actively develop education and training information resources. Provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), cities (prefectures) and counties (county-level cities) should establish a sufficient, content-rich, user-friendly information resource library for the party members’ education and training. They should strengthen the development and use of educational films, distance learning courseware, and other modern education resources to meet the needs of education and training of party members.

5.  Organization and leadership

Party committees (party groups) at all levels should attach great importance to the party members’ education and training, include it as part of the party-building responsibilities, include it as an important agenda item, and conscientiously strengthen leadership. Improve the joint conference system on the party members’ education and training between the central and local party committees at all levels. Under the unified leadership of party committees, the party’s organization department should take the lead, the discipline inspection departments, propaganda departments, party schools, and so on will participate in being responsible for the arrangements, supervision, and inspection of the party members’ education and training. A joint meeting should be held at least once a year to resolve any education and training work difficulties and issues. Party committees at all levels, discipline inspection departments, propaganda departments, and party schools should establish and improve the party member education and training organizations, ensure there is sufficient staff, and supply the needed work force. The grass roots party committees can, based on their actual need, provide for full time and/or part time employees to be responsible for organizing and managing the party members’ education and training.

Properly resolve the funding for party members’ education and training. The membership fees retained by the party committees (party groups) at all levels should be mainly used for the party members’ education and training. Budgeting offices at all levels need to allocate funds for the party members’ education and training in the training budget plan. The state owned enterprises should allocate sufficient party members’ education and training fees from their employee training budget. Public institutions should properly plan party members’ education and training expense through the specified channels. The party members’ education and training expenses at all levels should support the grass roots party organizations in villages, streets, communities and places that have difficulties. The membership fees managed by the Central Organization Department on behalf of the Central Committee should be applied more towards the party members’ education and training in the old revolutionary base regions, ethnic group minority regions, borderlands, and impoverished regions, and especially those areas subject to severe natural disasters.

Carefully supervise and inspect the party members’ education and training. Establish an education and training record system. The organization that undertakes the education and training tasks should establish a student management system and student study status file system, and provide timely feedback of the party member’s training status to his associated party organization. Party organizations at all levels should conscientiously supervise and inspect the party members’ education and training, gather experiences, identify issues and improve our work.

All localities and departments should follow this work plan and take into consideration their own reality to develop a detailed advisory and annual work plan for implementation.

Under the guiding principle of the work plan, the General Political Department of the PLA will design and implement the party members’ education and training work for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police Force.

Endnote:
[1] Xinhua, July 26, 2009
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2009-07/26/content_11775323.htm

{Editor’s Note: In June 2006, Beijing released an eight-episode TV documentary series: Preparing For Danger In Times Of Safety – Historic Lessons Learned from the Demise of Soviet Communism. It was a research project conducted by the government think tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Science. Afterwards, the Chinese Communist Party instructed party members across the nation to watch the series and launch serious discussions. The script of the prelude of the documentary quotes Hu Jintao’s words, “There are multiple factors contributing to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a very important one being Khrushchev throwing away Stalin’s knife and Gorbachev’s open betrayal of Marxism-Leninism.” The full text of the narratives has been translated. What follows is the first episode.}

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{Editor’s Note: In June 2006, Beijing released an eight-episode TV documentary series: Preparing For Danger In Times Of Safety – Historic Lessons Learned from the Demise of Soviet Communism. It was a research project conducted by the government think tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Science. Afterwards, the Chinese Communist Party instructed party members across the nation to watch the series and launch serious discussions. The script of the prelude of the documentary quotes Hu Jintao’s words, “There are multiple factors that contributed to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a very important one being Khrushchev throwing away Stalin’s knife and Gorbachev’s open betrayal of Marxism-Leninism.” The full text of the narratives has been translated. What follows is the introduction.}

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1. Enthusiastically celebrate the 60th anniversary for the establishment of the People’s Republic of China!
2. Enthusiastically cheer for the great victory of our country’s reform and opening-up policy and socialist modernization!
3. Tightly unite around the Central Party Committee with general party secretary Comrade Hu Jintao as the center. Millions of people forge ahead with only one mind to compose the new chapter of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!   
4. Lift up high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics; strive for a new victory for comprehensively building an affluent society!
5. Insist on direction and guidance from the Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the "The Three Represents" to thoroughly implement and realize the Concept of Scientific Development!
6. Lift up high and be firm on the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics; insist and be firm on walking the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics; insist and be firm on holding the theory of socialism with Chinese characteristics! 
7. Forge forward courageously and steadfastly along the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics!
8. Develop a prosperous, powerful, democratic, civilized and harmonious modern socialist country!
9. Continue to emancipate the mind, insist on the reform and opening-up policy, advance scientific development, and promote harmony in society!
10. Emancipate the mind, be honest and realistic, keep pace with the time, and advance the reform and opening-up policy steadfastly!
11. Grasp the strategic opportunity, intensely focus on development, and seek and pursue development wholeheartedly!
12. Insist on humanism and realize, maintain, and develop the fundamental interests of the largest number of the general public as much as possible!
13. Comprehensively advance the socialist economy’s development, political development, cultural development, social development, the ecology and civilization’s development, and the Communist party’s development!
14. Insist on the basic economic system with the public ownership system as the major foundation with the co-existence and development of diverse systems of ownership; insist on the distribution system with distribution according to work as the major foundation and the co-existence of diverse ways of distribution!
15. Realize the fast and superb development of the nation’s economy!
16. Improve the capacity for independent innovation; develop and build an innovative country!
17. Construct a new socialist countryside; form a new pattern for integrated economic and social development across the city and countryside!
18. Walk on the path of civilized development for the development of production, an affluent life, and good ecology; develop an environmentally friendly society with resource conservation!
19. Insist on the basic policy of opening-up; improve the level of the open economy!
20. Insist on the leadership of the Communist Party. The people are master of their own affairs; manage and unit state affairs according to law！
21. Insist on the essential direction and strategy of managing state affairs according to the law; develop a socialist country under the rule of law!
22. Insist on and consummate the National People’s Congress system; guarantee the people are the masters of their own affairs!
23. Insist on and consummate the political consultation system with multi-party cooperation under the leadership of the Communist Party; develop and strengthen the united patriotic front!
24. Insist on and perfect the regional nationality autonomy system; consolidate and develop equal, unified, cooperative and harmonious socialist ethnic relationships!
25. Insist on and consummate the grass-roots autonomous system by the people; strengthen the development of the basic unit of political power!
26. Insist on the direction of the advanced socialist culture; promote the great development and great prosperity of the socialist culture!
27. Build the core socialist core value system; consolidate the common ideological foundation for the Communist Party and the people from all ethnic groups to forge ahead in unity!
28. Vigorously promote the national spirit with patriotism as the core and the spirit of the age with reform and innovation as the core!
29. Develop a socialist harmonious society; promote social justice!
30.  Maintain the general situation of the stable development of reform; realize the long-term order and stability of the country!
31. Strengthen the modernization of the national defense system and the army; realize the unification of an affluent country and strong armed forces in the process of comprehensively developing an affluent society!
32. Promote our army’s excellent tradition of following the direction of the Party, serving the people and brave spirit in battles; cultivate the core value of the modern revolutionary soldiers!
33. Comprehensively promote the great new project of party development with the spirit of reform and innovation!
34. Thoroughly study and implement the concept of scientific development; strengthen the administrative capability of the ruling Party and the advancement of the Party!
35. Firmly implement the policy of “One country, two systems” and maintain the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao!
36. Insist on the principle of “One China” and promote the great undertaking of the peaceful unification of the country!
37. Insist on an independent and peaceful foreign policy; steadfastly walk on the path of peaceful development!
38. Lift up high the banner of peaceful development and cooperation; promote the development of a harmonious world with long-term stability, peace and common prosperity!
39. Unite to forge ahead; invigorate the nation of China!
40. Love the motherland deeply and develop the motherland!
41. Salute the revolutionary older generations and the martyrs who have established meritorious service for the independence, unification, democracy and prosperity of the country!
42. Salute the general workers, farmers, intellectuals, and cadres across the country!
43. Salute the various democratic parties, various mass organizations, and the patriots from all walks of life!
44. Salute the People’s Liberation Army officers, the armed police officers, soldiers and public security police!
45. Salute the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region compatriots, the Macao Special Administrative Region compatriots, the Taiwan compatriots and the overseas compatriots!
46. Salute all of the friends in foreign countries and the people of other countries in the world who care about and support the development of modernization in China!
47. Long live the great Chinese people!
48. Long live the great Chinese Communist Party!
49. Long live the great People’s Republic of China!
50. Long live the solidarity of various ethnic groups across the nation!

Endnotes:
[1] People’s Daily, September 12, 2009
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/10040024.html

The Development Process of the New China’s Foreign Culture Work during the Past 60 Years

By Cai Wu

The new China’s foreign culture work has passed through 60 years of difficult development. Under all party and state leaders’ care and guidance, the comrades at the cultural front have worked very hard. To diligently meet the needs of socialist and national development, they founded and developed the foreign cultural exchange enterprise. After going through many difficulties, it is a magnificent achievement.

I.
Comrade Mao Zedong said in 1945, “Regarding foreign culture, the anti-foreignism policy is wrong. (We) should absorb the developed foreign cultures as much as possible, so we can use them as references while developing China’s new culture.” In June 1949, when the new China grew from the flames of war,  our party selected a group of young artists from the liberated area and sent them to Hungary to participate in the World Youth and Student Peace Friendship Festival. In 1951, our country and Poland signed an intergovernmental culture partnership agreement. This was the first culture partnership agreement that the new China signed with a foreign government. It symbolized the official beginning of the new China’s foreign cultural exchange.

During the beginning period after the new China’s establishment, our country’s wide-range cultural exchange and cooperation was mainly with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, as well as countries in Asian, African and Latin America. At the same time, we also vigorously developed ties with the Western countries. In January 1964, China and France established diplomatic relations; in October 1965, both countries signed a cultural exchange plan for the years 1965 and 1966. This was first intergovernmental cultural exchange plan that our country signed with a Western European country.

Foreign cultural exchange and cooperation greatly helped the development of new China’s cultural enterprise. With the help of socialist countries like the Soviet Union, our country brought in ballet, the symphony, the opera and many other kinds of Western classical arts, trained large numbers of outstanding artists, and greatly enriched and proliferated our country’s culture art industry. By studying the overseas advanced culture managerial experience, we successively established a large number of new art organizations, which were completely different from the folk play groups from old China. Theaters, libraries, art galleries, museums and other public cultural facilities were established. All of these basically changed the poor and weak aspects of the old China culture.

During the Great Cultural Revolution period, the foreign cultural work encountered heavy damage, but the foreign cultural exchange did not completely halt. As a part of the government diplomacy, cultural exchange played a unique role in the state diplomatic situation. At that time, besides the continuation of the art group visits and exchanges with some friendly countries, we also organized the People’s Republic of China Archaeological Relic Exhibition in Western Europe, the US, Japan, Yugoslavia, Romania, Mexico and so on, more than 10 nations. The exhibition received high praise from those countries and was called Relic Diplomacy.

II.
The 3rd Session of the 11th Central Committee of The Communist Party of China (CCCPC) opened the new era of the reform and open policy and the foreign cultural work welcomed its spring with big developments. In September 1978, the State Council issued the document “Regarding the Ministry of Culture Taking Over Management of the Foreign Cultural Exchange Work.” In 1982, the 5th conference of the 5th Session of National People’s Congress (NPC) adopted contents about the development of various cultural exchanges with other countries into the constitution, providing a legal guarantee to constantly expand foreign cultural exchanges for our country.

In 1983, Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out, “Implementation of the economy’s open door policy is correct. In the long run, it must be kept. In the long run, the foreign cultural exchanges also should keep growing.” Under the direction of a series of reform and open policies, the scope of our country’s foreign culture relations and exchanges has gradually grown. The foreign cultural exchanges rapidly expanded, from 194 times and 3,035 people in 1979 to 1075 times and 9,499 people in1986, respectively 16 and 40 times the annual average before the Great Cultural Revolution. The number of agreements signed by the intergovernmental culture partnership was approximately twice as much as the number before the Great Cultural Revolution. The scope of exchanges also expanded from the nations traditional friendly (to China) to the western nations, including the U.S., and the surrounding countries.

As the reform and open policy was further implemented, our country’s comprehensive strength and international influence obviously improved and the situation and the responsibility that the foreign cultural work faced has also changed tremendously. In 1997, Comrade Jiang Zemin pointed out in the 15th CCCPC, “(We) must be persistent on the self-centered and self-adopted principle, develop many kinds of foreign cultural exchanges, learn the advantage from various countries’ culture and demonstrate the achievements of China’s cultural achievements to the world. (We must) firmly prevent corrosion from the various kinds of decayed cultures.” Since the beginning of the new era, the Central Party Committee led by General Secretary, Comrade Hu Jintao, has set a series of new higher requests for the foreign cultural work according to recent developments and the new changes in domestic and foreign situations. The report from the 15th CCCPC recommended to “continue widely developing grass roots diplomacy, expand foreign cultural exchanges, improve friendship between the people and promote the development of relationships between countries.” In the report on the 17 CCCPC, General Secretary Hu Jintao discussed the new idea of the enhancement of the “soft” power of national culture for the first time. Enhancing the soft power of national culture and strengthening the influence and competitiveness of Chinese culture became the fundamental goal of our country’s cultural reconstruction. Culture, politics, and the economy became three important areas in our diplomatic work.

At present, the foreign cultural work basically forms four big work domains: cultural diplomacy, cultural exchanges, cultural foreign propaganda and cultural trade, which constitute multi-dimensional, multi-level, wide-domain and multi-channel work patterns.

Regarding the Cultural Diplomacy Aspect, Party and state leaders, like Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and others, personally initiated and participated in a series of significant culture diplomatic activities. Since the new era started, Chinese cultural diplomacy has become more and more active every day and has developed into a vivid display on the international stage. The Sino-French Culture Years, the Sino-Russian Country Year, the Sino-Japanese Culture and Sports Exchange Year and so on, a series of large-scale cultural diplomacy activities, obtained high recognition and broad participation from domestic and foreign governments and international communities.
The quantities of projects, the large scale, the high-scale specifications and the profound influences were unprecedented and have improved China’s international cultural influence enormously. Among them, the Sino-French Culture Years lasted two years and President Hu Jintao and President Chirac both attended the cultural year’s key activities. Over a dozen cities in China and France and over a million people were able to personally get to know cultures in other countries. Not only did it greatly advance China and France’s cultural exchanges, but it also set a good example for the resulting effects on other European countries. After 2005, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, Britain and so on all conducted a “cultural year” or a “cultural festival” jointly with China, and have awakened a Chinese culture fever.

Cultural Exchange and Cooperation

As of now, our country has entered into agreements with 145 foreign countries for cultural cooperation and made plans for nearly 800 annual cultural exchange activities, as well as maintaining intimate cooperation with over 1000 cultural organizations. From the central administration to the local district, from government to civilians, the scale and the scope of cultural exchanges has broadened like never before, with increasingly colorful contents and formats, through more diverse channels and at various levels.

At the same time that we make efforts to export Chinese culture, we have also actively imported advanced culture from the world into China. Since the 1990s, we have hosted a series of programs such as “The International Music Year for Symphonies,” “The International Singing and Dance Year,” and “The International Fine Arts Year,” in which we imported first-class art productions from all over the world.

As we entered the new century, we established the international cultural exchange platform including the “Beijing International Music Festival,” the “Asian Art Festival,” and the “China International Folk Arts Festival,” so as to build a bridge between the Chinese people, and foreign people and artists around the world. At the same time, these programs serve to lay a foundation for China to become the key country in Asia for international cultural activities. Through bilateral, multi-lateral, cross regional and cross-country cultural exchanges, we have strengthened our rights of speech in multilateral cultural affairs in the international society.

In 1989, we became a member of the UN’s “Convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property,” and in 1997, we joined the UNIDROIT “Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.” We were able to obtain the return of numerous cultural relics from the U.K., U.S., Japan and Denmark. In 2006, China won a good number of votes and became a member of the Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and thus became involved in the “Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage” as well as the “Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.”

We have also successfully entered the core leadership level of the International Council of Museums, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, and the International Center for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property. We therefore have the right of speech in stipulating the rules regarding the safeguarding of international cultural heritage.

Up until 2009, China has successfully applied for 38 World Heritages, including 27 World Cultural Heritages and four Intangible Cultural Heritages, and thus greatly promoted the protection of domestic cultural heritage.

Cultural Propaganda

We have firmly followed the policy of making a priority of entertaining and influencing foreign mainstream society. Through a serious of diverse and colorful cultural activities, each with specific goals, we have introduced and promoted China to the world. After 30 years’ of this endeavor, we have established a series of influential brand names for foreign propaganda in forms of cultural activities; for example, overseas activities such as celebrations of the “Spring Festival,” National Day, and “Getting to Know China” have become important vehicles to spread Chinese culture. Among them, celebrating the Spring Festival in overseas countries has covered 18 countries. In Bangkok, London and Sydney, hundreds of thousands of people are attracted to Spring Festival celebrations every year. Foreign politicians and VIPs attach importance to this activity and actively participate in the celebration. It has become an important arena to promote Chinese culture. Our overseas cultural propaganda front is thus constantly strengthened.

China has now established 96 Divisions of Culture at the Chinese Embassy/Consulates in 82 countries. Since 1988, we have set up Chinese Culture Centers in the Republic of Mauritius, Benin, Egypt, France, the Republic of Malta, Korea and Germany. We have made rapid progress in our grass-roots project of spreading Chinese culture overseas. In the recent 10 years, we have made great efforts to have our radio and TV programs reach overseas audiences. China International Radio’s multilingual programs are broadcasting over 700 hours cumulatively every day. China Central TV’s international channel has more than 100 million overseas users. More than 100 thousand paid users are watching “Great Wall satellite TV.” On the other hand, we are also actively involved in the “Movies Reaching Overseas” project. In recent years, we have held a China Movie Festival (or China Movie Week) in overseas countries over 50 times annually, broadcasting over 400 domestically produced movies. Each year, we select over 200 domestically produced movies to participate in nearly 100 international movie festivals. A number of movies have won top prizes in major international movie festivals.
 
Cultural Trade

We have established a series of international cultural trade platforms that have had a wide range of influence. We came up with a group of cultural enterprises aimed at overseas business and trade; these were capable of competing in the international market. On one hand, these entities made a good profit; on the other hand, they effectively promoted Chinese culture. The first international commercial art show originated in 1979. We have made great progress in the past 30 years. We produced the original acrobatic ballet Swan Lake, which grossed 43 million Yuan in foreign countries. In 2007, the China Arts and Entertainment Group alone earned 8.89 million dollars through overseas commercial performances. The structure of the copyright trade is improving every year. The import and export ratio of copyrights fell from 15:1 in 1997 to 5:1 in 2007. The annual export of books has reached over 7.3 million, twice as many as imported books. The number of exported newspapers and magazines has reached over 4 million, reaching over 80 countries and regions, with an annual growth rate of 62.4%. Our publishing industry has therefore completed the transformation from “importing” to “reaching out.” Movie and video products take more and more of the overseas market share and have had an increasingly significant impact. Every year, we have had several domestic movie productions getting into the overseas theatres for mainstream audiences. According to statistics, the total export of movie and video products was approaching $3 billion in 2008. A portion of this figure, revenue generated from ticket sales for domestic movies, reached 2.528 billion dollars. The trading network of China’s movie and video products covers nearly 100 countries and regions in Asia, Europe, Oceania, America and Africa.

III.

As we review the glorious path of our foreign cultural work over the past 60 years, we conclude with the following major experiences and inspirations:

1. We must continue to keep the entire country moving in the same direction. We must earnestly implement the guiding policies made by the central CCP committee regarding foreign affairs and foreign cultural affairs, focusing on the two big projects – domestic and international, and firmly protect our nation’s interests.

2. The overall goal and task of foreign cultural affairs are to promote the mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese people and people all over the world. Through vivid cultural exchanges, Chinese culture will reach out to overseas countries, and thus expand the impact of Chinese culture on international society, so as to improve the soft power of our nation.

3. We must combine the quintessence from elite cultures from all over the world. We must learn to identify through comparison and borrow through exchange, in order to make the socialist cultural undertakings prosper, and to meet the increasing spiritual and cultural demands from the people.

4. We must persevere in cultural sovereignty, and at the same time respect the diversity of world culture. While spreading and emphasizing the independence and sovereignty of the values in our culture, we must strive to maintain the diversity of world culture, and respect the differences between diverse cultures. We must promote dialogues between different cultures on an equal basis, and promote harmony and cultural prosperity all over the world.

5. We must persevere in bridging the common feelings and emotions of humankind, and take this as our basis. We must use culture to nurture people, use culture to promote mutual friendship, and to help Chinese people establish friendship with people all over the world.

6. We must persevere in integrating our resources, with the government taking the leading role and have all circles in society get actively involved; we must enhance cooperation between the central government and local governments, and between government and civil organizations, forming a multi-faceted, multi-level communication structure.

7. We must keep up with the trend, and continue to reform and renovate the style and content in our cultural exchanges, encouraging originality, and creativity, while combining traditional culture and modern publicity methods, and combining modern culture and modern technology. We must pay attention to research and understand the characteristics of foreign audiences, so as to follow the correct rules in cultural exchange and improve the influence and appeal of culture.

8. We must learn from the commercial operation mode and channels most commonly adopted in international society, and use them to promote our cultural enterprises and products, expanding their market share on the international market, and improving their competitiveness.

9. We must always protect the cultural sovereignty and cultural security, defending against the invasion of harmful culture, and taking controls in accordance with the legal system, so as to supervise the cultural exchange in a scientific manner.

10. We must pay attention to the development of manpower and the battlefront. We must train a professional foreign cultural team that maintains high quality and efficiency, and make efforts to construct a variety of battlefronts in overseas countries to spread Chinese culture.

By the Minister of Culture

Endnote:
Qiushi Theory Online, August 1, 2009
http://www.qsjournal.com.cn/zxdk/2009/200915/200907/t20090729_8133.htm