Chinascope – Page 928

SARFT Issued New Guidelines for TV Movie Series Productions

The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television of China （SARFT) issued guidelines for the production of television movie series. The guidelines listed the following six requirements: on the history of the revolution, establish a clear definition of the “enemy” and of “us”; prevent unlimited intensification of family conflicts; do not allow fake story lines to be used in historic movie series; pay attention to value bases when producing modern commercial movies; do not reproduce movie series that are based on those overseas; discourage rewriting from an online novel and prevent rewriting from online games.

Source: Xinhua, August 3, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2012-08/03/c_112614450.htm

Briefings | | August 6, 2012 | Government/Politics

People’s Daily: The U.S. Reveals Its Intention to Stir up the Waters on the South China Sea Issue

People’s Daily published a commentary criticizing the statement that the U.S. State Department issued on August 3, 2012, on the South China Sea. It called the U.S. statement self-conflicting. It stated that the tactics the U.S. used were intended to drive a wedge between all the parties involved and to stir up trouble. It affirmed that China’s intention is to cooperate with all parties to peacefully promote stability and prosperity in the region. What China does not want is for U.S. to stir up trouble with ulterior motives.

(Editor: An AFP article describes the statement made by U.S. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell on August 3, 2012. Ventrell said, for example, that China’s actions, "run counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region …”)

Source: People’s Daily, August 4, 2012
http://world.people.com.cn/n/2012/0804/c1002-18668096.html
AFP, August 4, 2012
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22574:-us-criticizes-new-china-garrison-in-tense-sea&catid=81:news&Itemid=625

Briefings | | August 6, 2012 | US-China Relations

Six Challenges to the Ideologies of Chinese Communism

[Editor’s Note: Qiushi Journal, the core publication of the Chinese Communist Party, published an article on the challenges to China’s ideologies. The author is keenly aware of the ideological challenges that the regime faces. “Vying for “soft power” has become the focus in the competition for overall national power, including, for example, dominance in discourse, control of the Internet, the right to disseminate information, the power to establish rules, and cultural leadership.” The following is a translation of the entire article.] [1]

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Reports | | August 5, 2012 | Report

China Establishes its First Armed Urban Management Department

On August 1, 2012, Wuhan City in Hubei Province announced that, for the first time in China, it had established an Armed City Urban Management Department. The department had an initial staffing of 40 militia personnel. Most of the personnel were ex-servicemen. The militia will receive readiness training and national defense education. During times of peace, the Armed Urban Management Department will be responsible for combat readiness, maintaining social stability, and flood rescue. In times of war, it will be responsible for organizing and leading the militia reservists to join the armed forces. According to People’s Daily, the announcement invoked heated discussions online. Chinese netizens have expressed concerns and questioned the move.

Source: People’s Daily, August 2, 2012
http://society.people.com.cn/n/2012/0802/c1008-18659281.html

Briefings | | August 3, 2012 | Defense/Military

Huanqiu: A Victory for China

Huanqiu published a commentary on the recent protests in Hong Kong against the plans (for the mainland) to introduce a “National and Moral Education” course into the Hong Kong public school curriculum. The commentary stated that Hong Kong residents were claiming that it amounts to “brainwashing” young people with pro-mainland propaganda. It observed, “These protesters act more like they have been brainwashed by the British colonial and Western ideology, since they are so paranoid and resistant about the course. Their views of mainland China are totally Western views. … The core of the ‘National and Moral Education’ course is to provide national and civic education to students, with answers to such questions as ‘Who am I?’ ‘What is Hong Kong?’ and ‘What is China?’ It is not to instill allegiance to the central government into the people of Hong Kong. The patriotism in this course is beyond the political realities. … But we believe that the Hong Kong SAR Government will not concede to its opponents on whether to provide national education, which is a matter of principle.”

The commentary concluded, “The final outcome of the controversy on national education in Hong Kong will be nothing but a ‘victory for China.’ Perhaps it is not realistic for the protesters to pursue their own victory.”

(Editor: According to an opinion piece in the New York Times about the course, "It decries multiparty democracy as unfavorable to the lives of ordinary people …" and contains only praise, with no mention of faults.)

Sources: Huanqiu, August 1, 2012
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/1152/2012-08/2974531.html
New York Times, August 1, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/opinion/chinese-indoctrination-in-hong-kong.html?_r=2

Briefings | | August 3, 2012 | Geo-Strategic Trend

Scholar Details U.S.’s Short-term Strategy against China

In an op-ed published on People’s Daily, a Chinese scholar laid out the strategies the U.S. will use against China over the next five to ten years.

“… the United States will make greater use of non-military means to delay or interfere with the process of China’s rise in order to reap strategic benefits, revive its national strength, and ensure its hegemonic position. Its main tactics will include: comprehensively breaking into China’s tertiary industries to reap huge financial benefits while controlling the lifeline of the Chinese economy; using the yuan exchange rate as a breakthrough point and opening up China’s financial and insurance market as an interim goal; under the banner of ‘Internet Freedom,’ abandoning the traditional ‘top-down’ mode of promoting democracy in China, and, instead, aiming to infiltrate the grassroots of Chinese society with a ‘bottom-up’ approach, allying with human rights lawyers, underground religions, political dissidents, Internet opinion leaders, and marginalized social groups, to create conditions for ‘change’ in China; enhancing its partnerships and strengthening its relations with allies; sowing discord between China and North Korea, Pakistan, and Burma; re-launching U.S.-Russia relations, so as to put China in a diplomatically disadvantageous position; weakening the external environment for China’s rise and squeezing the strategic space for China’s rise; using issues in the ‘global domain’ such as ‘sea, air, sky, and web’ as the starting point to promote related dialogue mechanisms and develop guidelines so as to essentially weaken the strategic challenges from China in the above areas.”

The article did not give the name of the author, but identified him as Director of the Institute of American Studies under the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations.

Source: People’s Daily, July 31, 2012
http://ccnews.people.com.cn/n/2012/0731/c141677-18636091.html

Briefings | | August 2, 2012 | US-China Relations

Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”

The CCP’s Performing Arts Troupes in the U.S.