Government/Politics - 265. page

Xinhua published an article that listed five guidelines for promoting reform of the culture system:

1) Stay firm in using Marxist theory as the guideline and be proficient in knowledge of the ideology that is based on socialist theory with Chinese characteristics in order to ensure that we are walking on the correct path.

2) Follow the advanced cultural character of socialism to serve the people and society and to promote an uplifting spirit and a healthy lifestyle.

3) Stay close to reality, life, and the people and encourage the people to play an active role in reforming the culture system.

4) Give the social effect a top priority. Culture products can educate people, provide social ideology with a guiding principal, and bring economic benefits. However when there are conflicts between social and economic effects, the social effect should prevail.

5) Be firm on the open door policy to promote Chinese culture to the world. Developing Chinese culture should strictly follow the right path particularly in establishing the Communist Party’s leadership, the government management body, social supervision, and the related laws.

Source: Xinhua, November 17, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-11/17/c_111173335.htm

People’s Daily published a commentary advocating that the Party do four things to improve its control of media and of public opinion. The first one is to strengthen the capability to lead public opinion. In doing so, the article stresses the importance of adhering to the Communist doctrine and the socialist banner. The second is to improve control of the Internet and of the new media. Specifically, the Party’s newspapers, news agencies, television stations, and radio stations must aggressively expand into the new media field. The third is to speed up the development of a modern media network. The priority is to upgrade the Party’s media, including newspapers, news agencies, radio, and TV. The fourth is to establish a large army of news staff members.

Source: People’s Daily, November 11, 2011
http://theory.people.com.cn/GB/16208892.html

In Beijing’s recent "election," many independent candidates ran to be nominated as representative to the People’s Congress; however, the Chinese authorities prevented their nomination. Many found their names had been eliminated from the final list of candidates. On November 8, when the election results for the nomination to the People’s Congress in Beijing came in, only the names the government authorities chose appeared. No independent candidates made the list.

Ms. Wu Qing, a professor from Beijing Foreign Language University, said that the election procedure violated the related laws. Wu told Voice of America (VOA), “They did not hold a pre-election but rather used the number of nomination votes each candidate received as the pre-election votes.” “Taking Beijing Foreign Language University as an example, some students were asked to sign a blank recommendation form and didn’t even know who they were recommending. The same thing happened at the China University of Political Science and Law. … Some employees who worked for State Owned Enterprises were fired because they didn’t recommend their company president.”

Wu also disclosed that university students received tremendous pressure from the university authorities. “There were security personnel, secret police, the regular police, and people from my neighborhood at the university. Many students felt unprecedented pressure… The hidden guidelines from the authorities insured that the candidates recommended by the grass roots masses would never make it to the final nomination list.” She said she has made the nomination list seven times in the past, but didn’t make it this time because she was considered “the most difficult People’s Representative to deal with.”

Source: VOA, November 9, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20111109-BEIJING-ELECTION-133538593.html

Cai Fuchao, the head of the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) discussed the development of a modern media empire to enable socialist culture to increase its influence. During an interview with Study Times, Cai stated that the stronger a nations’s capability of distributing its values and culture, the more powerful will its influence be in the world. “The Party’s newspapers, journals, news agencies, radio, and television are the main forces that the Party has for its news and propaganda. In our modern communication system, developing them must be a strategic priority.”

According to Cai, Xinhua has over 140 overseas branches. China Radio International has 32 overseas correspondents’ stations and 62 overseas AM and FM radio stations broadcasting in 61 languages. China Central Television has 50 overseas correspondents’ stations broadcasting in six languages on seven international channels. There are over 200 million local subscribers through cable in 141 countries and regions. China Daily (English) has different editions for the United States, Europe and Asia in addition to its domestic flagship edition in China. The overseas edition of China News Service covers 22 countries.

Source: Study Times, November 7, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/11/07/01/01_34.htm

On November 2, 2011, 48 provincial and ministerial officials gathered in Beijing to attend the “forum on culture system reform and development” organized by the Central Organization Ministry, the Propaganda Ministry, and the Chinese Academy of Governance. It was the first such high level forum on culture reform and development to be held following the sixth Plenary Session of the 17th Congress of the CCP Central Committee. The 6-day forum discussed the main tasks and challenges of the current culture system’s reform and development; explored the policies and measures to speed up the process; and considered how to implement the tasks to promote socialist culture.

Source: People’s Daily, November 7, 2011
http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64093/64387/16159162.html

On November 7, 2011, Study Times, a journal of the Party School of the Central Committee of the CCP, published an article discussing the benefits of China’s foreign policy that Deng Xiaoping, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, had proposed: to “hide our capabilities and bide our time.” The article pointed out, “After China started its economic reforms and opened to the world, China stopped using its (Communist) ideological standards to deal with other countries. This has successfully reversed the diplomatic situation, which has been unfavorable to China.” It continued that China’s foreign policy is to “hide the (Communist) ideology and modernize China according to its plans while other countries are in chaos.”

“Sino-US relations can usually move forward when a ‘third party trouble maker’ appears. Once the ‘third party’ (Ed: such as bin Laden) disappears, the Sino-US relationship becomes problematic.” The article concludesd that the foreign policy “hide our capabilities and bide our time” is very important and necessary when China is in the process of integrating into the international system, since the U.S. foreign policy is more ideologically based when no third party trouble makers are around. “To create a favorable international environment to develop our domestic economy, we should continue to hide our (Communist) ideology so as to minimize the differences (between the U.S. and China).”

[Editor: “Hide one’s capabilities and bide one’s time” (or “hide one’s ambitions and disguise one’s claws”) comes from a well-known Chinese historical novel, "The Three Kingdoms" based on real stories from the end of the Han Dynasty (25 AD-220 AD) to the Three Kingdoms era (220 AD- 280 AD) of Chinese history. The kings of the Three Kingdoms were Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan. When Liu Bei was seeking refuge in Cao Cao’s territory, he was afraid that Cao Cao would kill him if he did not hide his ambition to unite the whole nation and become king. By working hard in his backyard vegetable garden every day and pretending to be cowardly, he successfully misled Cao Cao, who no long viewed Liu as a competitor. Liu Bei’s strategy was called “hide one’s ambitions and disguise one’s claws” (or “hide one’s capabilities and bide one’s time”).

Source: Study Times, November 7, 2011
http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2011/11/07/02/02_34.htm

On November 7, 2011, Xinhua News Agency’s Outlook Weekly published an article titled “The 80th Anniversary of Xinhua News Agency’s Founding: a Media with a National Mission.” Recalling Xinhua‘s 80-year history, the article proudly proclaimed that “no other media in the world has even been so closely linked to the rise and fall of a country, a nationality, and a ruling party.” Under the leadership of the CCP, Xinhua News Agency delivers the Chinese Communist Party’s messages.

The article especially mentioned the Xinhua billboard which has been in New York City’s Times Square since August 1 of this year, saying it “represents the beginning of a new era.” It concluded that “a culturally powerful country must have a powerful media force to influence world public opinion.”

Source: Xinhua News Agency Outlook Weekly, November 7, 2011
http://lwgcw.net/NewsShow.aspx?newsId=24278

On November 6, 2011, China Review News reported that, during his visits to the service industry and commercial systems, Li Yuanchao, a Politburo member of the CCP Central Committee and the Minister of the CCP Central Committee Organization Department, has been promoting Party development work in private enterprises and individual owned businesses.

Source: China Review News, November 6, 2011
http://gb.chinareviewnews.com/doc/1018/9/6/0/101896063.html?coluid=151&kindid=0&docid=101896063&mdate=1106111535