China’s Hebei Provincial government recently announced a list of candidates for the province’s Natural Science Award this year. One scholar on the list sparked a public uproar when he used Marxist philosophy to invalidate Einstein’s “Theory of Relativity.”

Li Zifeng, a professor at Yanshan University in Hebei Province, proposed in his project titled, “Adhere to the Materialist View of Space-Time-Mass-Energy and Develop Newtonian Physics,” to use Marxist philosophy to overthrow Einstein’s theory of relativity. The Hebei Provincial government recommended his “research” for the Natural Science Award, as “a non-consensual theoretical physics project that adheres to materialistic philosophy and is subversive and innovative.” The content of the research is about “the most fundamental problems of philosophy and physics, correcting fallacies in physics, and exploring answers to ancient questions.”

The recommendation states that Li’s project “resolves a possible contradiction between physics and philosophy” and even “overturns Einstein’s theory of relativity, which has misled the physics community and mankind’s basic approach to understanding the world, and clears a huge obstacle to the healthy development of science.”

Li is a researcher and Ph.D. advisor at the School of Vehicles and Energy, with a focus on oil and gas mechanics and drilling engineering.

Although Li’s academic specialty has nothing to do with Marxism, his research has been encouraged by the Minister of Science and Technology and is featured in official media, including Xinhua News Agency.

A writer named Cai, who is based in mainland China, told Radio Free Asia that there are many cases like this. “These professors and scholars are doing these studies totally against basic common sense, and actually he was able to get funding for the subject.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, June 22, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/ac-06222021062526.html

China Global Television Network (CGTN) launched a plan to recruit foreign students and social media Vloggers (someone who creates short films recording thoughts, ideas or opinions and posts them on the Internet) to be pro-Beijing media promoters. According to the British media The Times, CGTN was suspended in the UK this February. It launched a “media challengers” campaign in April “to recruit internet influencers and Vloggers globally. Some of those recruited will promote China and counter western narratives that damage China’s image.” Successful applicants can receive a bonus of up to 10,000 U.S. dollars and get a part-time or full-time job on CGTN. The Times found that at least six students from the University of Leeds and one student from the University of Manchester had signed up.

This is part of the effort that Beijing wants to use to neutralize its wolf-warrior diplomacy by using western faces to tell the “China Story” to the West. Xi Jinping recently stated that he wants to build a credible, lovable and respectable image of China. On May 31, he told the members of the Political Bureau that China should make great efforts to strengthen its international communication capabilities, build a strong talent team, improve the art of communication, and expand its circle of friends in the global media.

Beijing has made a heavy investment in infiltrating foreign media. According to documents disclosed by the U.S. Department of Justice last month, China Daily invested more than $1.6 million in advertising expenses in The Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, and Foreign Policy. They paid $1 million to newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune and the Houston Chronicle to print the China Daily publications.

On YouTube, Lee Barrett and his son Oli Barrett own a channel with 2.7 million followers. They often praise China on key issues among Beijing’s propaganda list including poverty alleviation, infrastructure, Huawei, and ethnic relations. Jason Lightfoot is a British vlogger and often appears as a guest speaker on CGTN. In addition to Barrett and his son, David Dumbrill, a Canadian who runs a beer hall in Shenzhen, and Raz Galor, an Israeli, all went to Xinjiang and claimed that there was no forced labor there.

Source: Radio Free Asia, June 17, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/xx-06172021104240.html