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Disparity of Income Distribution: A Long March from Pyramid Pattern to Olive

Yu Jianrong, a professor at the State’s Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, predicts that it will take another 30 years for China to move from the current pyramid pattern of income distribution to one that is olive-shaped. The pyramid pattern of income distribution is used to describe the great disparity of income, intense social conflicts, and the lack of a middle class as a buffer, while an olive-shaped pattern denotes the existence of a large middle class with relatively small groups of rich and poor. Hence it is more conducive to social stability. Yu holds that a middle class has not yet formed in China whatsoever. “For example, the popular ‘hatred of the rich’, ‘hatred of government’ and other social discontent and resentment are both the evidence and ‘combustion’ that has induced large-scale incidents of conflict by social groups to vent their anger.” “People at the bottom are growing in numbers, albeit economic development and improvement of living standard for the bottom society.” “Objectively, the white-collar workers are a little bit more capable of making money, but speaking of their social situation or political status, they are the same [as migrant workers],” says Yu.

Source: International Herald Leader, April 19, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2010-04/19/content_13383024.htm

State Continues to Dominate Reform of Culture System

An article on reform of China’s culture system was published on the website of the Party School of the Chinese Communist Party, addressing bottlenecks and recommendations. The reform moved from pilot programs to full implementation in March 2006. One of the key bottlenecks, according to the article, is “some of the culture enterprises blindly maximize their market profits,” and “have increasingly led to economic benefits diverging from social benefits” and to a greater disparity of income. The recommendation is to uphold the Party’s leadership in the reform, adherence to Marxism and ensuring the dominance of state-owned culture enterprises in the culture market.

Source: The Party School of The Chinese Communist Party, April 14, 2010 http://www.cntheory.com/news/Dshcdssdjt/2010/414/104141520769BBIIKAJ192JK20I11F.html

About the Chinese Model

Xu Chongwen, a senior research fellow at the State’s Chinese Academy of Social Sciences published a criticism of “four misconceptions” of the Chinese model. His article is summarized below.

Misconception 1: The term was first coined by foreigners with the ulterior motive of containing China’s expansion. Not true because Deng Xiaoping used the term back in 1980 when discussing the Russian October Revolution. 
Misconception 2: The term “model” means example or demonstration for others to follow; hence one should be cautious when using the term. Wrong because it contradicts Deng Xxiaoping who held countries should independently seek development paths and models suited to their own situation. 
Misconception 3: The Chinese model is the "Beijing Consensus" for the reference use of other countries. Disagree because Joshua Cooper Ramo’s Beijing Consensus was coined to mean opposition to the Washington Consensus. The Chinese model is to develop China based on its own situation and China has no intent to promote it the same way that the Washington Consensus has been promoted.
Misconception 4: It is too early to talk about a Chinese model. This is without grounds. Hu Jintao has set forth the theory on building a harmonious society. No one should use it to deny that the achievements of the Chinese model have already been well recognized.

Source: The Party School of The Chinese Communist Party, April 13, 2010
http://www.cntheory.com/news/Llltllyt/2010/413/1041393831I6EFADA9CEE5413J46J9.html

China’s Construction of a Modern Global Information Dissemination System

"The National Conference on Publicizing China Overseas concluded on January 5, 2010. This year the conference clearly brought up a number of high priority tasks related to propaganda targeting foreign countries. These included strengthening the development of the institutional mechanism for issuing press releases and building a good system for servicing and managing foreign media reporters and journalists who are in China; strengthening the propaganda and management of Internet information and creating a favorable public opinion environment on the Internet; effectively implementing the campaign of international public opinion in order to safeguard our national security and social stability; organizing foreign cultural exchanges to enhance the influence of Chinese culture; widely carrying out major international public relations activities and boosting news exchange and cooperation with foreign media; enlarging and strengthening the media that publicize China overseas and building a modern dissemination system with extensive coverage and advanced technology; and strengthening and paying great attention to the development of the cadre troops that publicize China overseas."

"The State Council News Office Minister, Wang Chen, said that improving our global dissemination ability complies with global media’s development trend and is a must in order to realize the leap-forward development of China’s media; … (improving our global dissemination) is a must to inform the world about China; is a must in order to actively participate in international cultural competition, and enhance Chinese culture’s soft power; and is must for breaking the Western media’s monopoly and promoting a world information and communication order that is more just and reasonable."

"At present, Xinhua News Agency broadcasts China’s news to the world 24/7 in 7 languages. … CCTV’s international channels in English, Spanish, French and other languages are broadcast in the United States, Great Britain, France, Northern Europe, Africa, Hong Kong, and other countries and regions, and some programs have gotten into their local TV channels. In 2009, we opened two more channels in Arabic and Russian, respectively. Our international radio broadcasts to the world in 59 languages and its influence is continuing to expand. China Daily currently is distributed to more than 150 countries and regions around the world and has a wide impact. Including the journals published by the Chinese Foreign Language Bureau, there are more than 30 journals at the national level that are published in other countries, and more than 200 journals at the regional level. "

"However, China’s current global dissemination power still does not match our national economic and social development. China’s global media resources and international voice are still very limited, and the dissemination power should be improved. It still happens sometimes that Western media misunderstand or even purposely distort China’s image."

"In the meeting celebrating the 50th anniversary of China’s television industry and CCTV, the CCP Central Committee Political Bureau Standing Committee member Li Changchun said, ‘As China’s economy  and society rapidly develop and our international position continues to rise, our dissemination power has yet to meet the requirement of our economic and social development, has yet to meet people’s growing spiritual and cultural needs, has yet to meet the rapid developing situation of modern science, technology and communication, and has yet to meet China’s new international status and influence.’"

"Wang Chen said, ‘There is still a big gap between China’s media and the overseas world-class media. Our voice is still relatively weak in the competition between international public opinions. The situation that more than 80 percent of global news and information comes from major Western media still has not fundamentally changed. Our media coverage does not have enough influence within the Western mainstream. Our passive position within international public opinion has not fundamentally changed.’"

“Yu Guoming, the Associate Dean of the College of Journalism at Renmin University, has offered this interpretation, ‘The key issue that has caused China’s voice to be so weak on the global media stage is that, in the international dissemination field, Western mainstream media have basically established the current rules of the game. These rules shape people’s information consumption appetite, and determine their talking styles in dissemination. This is what our media must face and adapt to when reaching out to the world.’” 

"Shan Bo, Associate Dean of the News and Media College at Wuhan University said, ‘Instead of creating a new rule, China should set the tone for its overseas publiciity on breaking the Western monopoly on discourse that is centered in the United States. We should be clear on this. What we need is to have an equal exchange, understanding, and communication in our cultures, and build a harmonious world.’"

"In addition to newspapers, radio, television and other traditional media, the Internet and mobile media, with many advantages, such as their massive, interactive, and real-time features, are rapidly taking over the frontier development of the media industry. … With this trend, all the countries around the globe are competing to use the Internet as an effective media for publicizing national images, improving their international dissemination power, and trying to occupy the forefront of information dissemination."

"‘With the deepening of media convergence and the growing status of the Internet on revealing, building, leading, and penetrating international opinion, there will soon be a new battlefield in the international war of dissemination. That is, in using social media as a way to achieve penetration, and fighting over young Internet users in target countries, victory will definitely belong to whichever side masters the essential characteristics of this new media, has a clear strategy, and takes quick action,’ said Dr. Deng Jianguo of the College of Journalism, Fudan University. He believes that the effort to build a world-class media is a new opportunity for China to greatly develop global information dissemination."

"In June 2008, when General Secretary Hu Jintao inspected People’s Daily newspaper, he said, ‘The Internet has become the center for ideological and cultural information and the amplifier of public opinion.’ He brought up that, “We must be fully aware of the social influence of the new media forms such as the Internet, pay great attention to the development, use, and management of the Internet, and strive to make the Internet become a frontier for spreading the advanced culture of Socialism, an effective platform for providing public cultural services, and a vast space for promoting the healthy development of people’s cultural lives.’ In December 2009, when Li Changchun attended the launching ceremony of China Network Television (CNTV), he said that, in today’s society, with highly developed information dissemination technologies, it is a general trend for the mainstream media to spread and extend into the Internet and other new media forms. In strengthening the dissemination power of mainstream media, we must enhance the sense of urgency and take the initiative to extend into the Internet, actively explore new media forms, and constantly expand coverage and boost influence."

"He Jiazheng, president of People Daily Online, said, ‘How can we take advantages of the Internet to better publicize China to overseas readers and improve our national image? This has become an issue that all of China’s Internet media must actively think about and deal with.’ He suggested that new media should further strengthen the numbers and intensity of news reporting, which will let China increase its international influence and voice."

"In order for Chinese culture to ‘walk outside’ [go abroad], we must have a global perspective and need to actively explore the influence of Chinese culture as it spreads to the world. Overall, currently most of the Western understanding of Chinese culture is limited to food, Chinese medicine, martial arts, Chinese opera, landscapes, and other similar aspects. It is extremely urgent to introduce the excellent results of contemporary Chinese culture, especially those cultural achievements that have the core value system with Chinese characteristics, to the world. … Each year, there are a large number of excellent academic achievements in China’s Philosophy and Social Sciences fields. However, due to the poor international communication for academic information and language barriers, this precious spiritual wealth rarely gains any attention from the international community. This really is quite unfortunate in today’s cultural communication."

"Dr. Du Huizhen from the School of Journalism and Communication, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, believes that ‘scholar strategy’ has a unique significance in publicizing our national image. She says that scholars’ multiple identities, authoritative status, nature of work, and academic positions all account for the fact that implementing the ‘scholar strategy’ is more diverse than only discussing how to improve media: it can have interpersonal dissemination, organizational dissemination, and media dissemination. Therefore, if we utilize the scholars’ roles well when building our national image, then through their participation in academic activities, we can have a more thorough and lasting impact."

"Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Documentation and Information Center researcher Zhang Shuhua has made several suggestions on ‘walking outside’: establish political confidence and national self-confidence; be good at expressing and not afraid to change our styles and discourse system; actively contribute to writing articles and utilizing our high level ‘think tanks’; form international forums, bring up international topics, and set the global agenda; establish a variety of international academic exchange funds in order to build the bridge of ‘walking outside, and inviting in’; and gather talent, especially good translation teams in all languages."

"In the process of gaining the right to speak and the right to lead and enhance dissemination power, philosophy and the social sciences can have a great impact. They will have an irreplaceable role in the timely and powerful dissemination of China’s voice to the world."

Endnote:
[1] Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Feb 2, 2010
http://www.cass.net.cn/file/20100202256909.html

Nanfang Metropolitan: Loving Ones Country Does Not Mean the Same as Loving the Imperial Court

On April 11, 2010. Nanfang Metropolitan published an article by History Scholar Hong Zhenquai, “Loving Ones Country Does Not Mean the Same as Loving the Imperial Court.” The article suggested that nowadays many people misunderstand the relationship between the people, the country, and the imperial court (or the government in modern society). Mencius [a philosopher from the fourth century B.C. who defended the teachings of Confucius against other philosophies] made public that “people are the most important, followed by the country, with the emperor coming last.” An explanation for the confusion is that the sitting government misleads people into believing that “loving the court is representative of loving the country.”

The article makes a case for people having oversight and control over the government. The article received a lot of compliments for its boldness, given the CCP’s media control. An unconfirmed blog message on Aiyuan said that Nanfang Metropolitan Editor Zhu Di was chastised (and lost her job) for publishing the article. The article is no longer available on the website of Nanfang Daily (Nanfang Metropolitan’s parent company), but can be found on many overseas Chinese sites.

Source:
1. Tianya website, April 14, 2010
http://www.tianya.cn/publicforum/content/develop/1/408089.shtml
2. Aiyuan website, April 17, 2010
http://aiyuan.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/%E4%B8%80%E7%AF%87%E8%AE%A9%E7%BC%96%E8%BE%91%E4%B8%A2%E6%8E%89%E9%A5%AD%E7%A2%97%E7%9A%84%E6%96%87%E7%AB%A0%EF%BC%9A%E7%88%B1%E5%9B%BD%E5%AE%B6%E4%B8%8D%E7%AD%89%E4%BA%8E%E7%88%B1%E6%9C%9D%E5%BB%B7/

Chinese Scholar: Five Challenges to China’s Modernization

Zhang Xin, Professor and Ph.D. Advisor to the Marxism Institute, People’s University outlined five challenges to China’s modernization process. Zhang furthered his thoughts during one of a series of interviews on "Studying and Practicing the Scientific Concept on Development" organized by Xinhua Net.

The five challenges are:
1. Countryside Modernization – the urban-rural gap is getting wider
2. Environment a challenge China has been facing over a long period
3. Resources
4. Regional Development Imbalance
5. Relatively Backward Technology


The greatest conflict that China faces is the conflict between interests. While China experiences exceptional economic growth, problems related to social security, an urban-rural gap, a regional economic development gap, and problems in taking people’s homes/land for new development are all interest-related conflicts that threaten social stability.

Source: Xinhua, April 19, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2010-04/19/content_13383544.htm

VOA: Culture Institutes in U.S.and China Disproportionate

China has established sixty Confucius Institutes in the U.S., but the US hasn’t formed a single formal culture institute in China. On April 9, 2010, VOA discussed the disproportionate nature of culture exchange institutes between the two countries. Some US politicians were concerned and working on improving the situation. China recently "graciously" agreed to have the US establish four “culture centers” in China as “independent organizations” which may be sponsored by the US government. China’s Confucius Institutes are under the domain of the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, an organization under the Ministry of Education. The Chinese government grants US$1 million as startup cost for each institute.

Concern that the US would promote human rights was given as the major reason that China limits U.S. cultural centers.

Source: VOA, April 9, 2010
http://www1.voanews.com/chinese/news/special-reports/us-china-relations/20100409-Confucius-90346234.html

Writers are not Telling the Truth

Modern Express News, a branch of Xinhua, recently published an article suggesting that today’s Chinese writers “owe this era” a lot because they don’t tell the truth. The article quoted a question by Tie Ning, the Chairman of The Chinese Writers Association, “I search my heart, and ask myself, as a writer, do my writings live up to the expectations of this great and tough era?" She did not explain more. The author of the article believed many writers are suffering from a serious decline of conscience. They write grand works to praise sham. The author concluded that the fact that most writers don’t tell the truth is turning society into one with a “quiet majority,” and critics should be truly respected.

Source: Xinhua, April 2, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/book/2010-04/02/content_13287088.htm