Old Propaganda Habits Die Hard

Feb 14, 2014

Old Propaganda Habits Die Hard

By Yiyi Lu

A plethora of recent reports in Chinese media suggests Beijing’s new anti-corruption and “mass-line” campaigns have gone a long way toward reforming some of the worst political practices that typically take place during Chinese New Year. But the persistence of one perennial holiday story suggests Beijing is still having trouble divorcing itself from politics as usual.

For the past few weeks, state and commercial media outlets in China have been filled with examples of ways in which the new campaigns are impacting New Year’s traditions.

An entrepreneur in the eastern city of Hangzhou, in one example, told the official Xinhua news agency that he used to arrange three or four meals before the Chinese New Year holiday to entertain government officials from agencies whose goodwill is essential to his business. This year, however, all the officials he had contacted declined the invitation (in Chinese). Mr. Liu also planned to give officials cash in red packets for the Chinese New Year, as was the custom, but it turned out to be unnecessary as “giving red packets” had become taboo. In the end, none of the expensive liquors and cigarettes Mr. Liu had prepared as gifts for officials was handed out. Mr. Liu said he knew that Beijing had issued new anti-corruption directives and officials were all very careful, but he didn’t expect “such a quick turnaround.”

Similarly, the semi-official China News Service reported on the case of Ms. Deng, a civil servant stationed on the tropical resort island of Hainan who was able to spend the holiday with friends and relatives this year instead of arranging transportation, hotels and meals for cavorting officials, as she had done in the past (in Chinese). The Beijing Evening News, meanwhile, reported on a counselling center for school children in Beijing that found itself trying to console children of government officials who received less cash in red packets this year than they had been expecting. The story quoted nine-year old Yingying complaining that she was only allowed to accept red packets from relatives. “I lost so much money, mum and dad must compensate me!” she said (in Chinese).

Not everything is different this year, however. One tradition which appears to have survived numerous political campaigns, including the current one, is the way Chinesemedia report the public engagements of national leaders.

It has been a tradition for leaders to travel to poverty-stricken areas, remote regions or areas that have been hit by natural disasters to visit grassroots communities ahead of and during Chinese New Year holiday. As a result, the public always gets a large dose of the highly stylized reports that adoringly describe the leaders’ interactions with ordinary folks around the time of the festival.

Take, for example, a Xinhua story on General Secretary of the Party Xi Jinping visiting soldiers stationed on the Chinese-Mongolian border amid temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius on Jan. 26. “Spring sun shines over thousands of miles to reach the frontier. Deep love warms the heart of soldiers, ” goes its opening line. The story (in Chinese) continues in that vein, describing how Xi Jinping joined soldiers for lunch in the company canteen: “Outside it was a world of ice and snow, but inside the room was filled with warmth. The soldiers’ faces were lit up with heartfelt joy and happiness.”

Or take a special Chinese New Year report in the magazine Party Construction in which 26 Chinese who had met Xi Jinping on his domestic tours in 2013 recounted their encounters with the General Secretary (in Chinese). “Let’s look back at those moving, unforgettable scenes and the warm, inspiring words of Xi Jinping together,” reads introduction. One of the narrators, a pensioner in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, is particularly breathless:

On the morning of February the 4^th, 2013, I came as usual to the restaurant where senior citizens can have government-subsidized meals…While I was waiting, I suddenly saw the General Secretary coming towards me carrying a tray piled with food. He gently placed the tray in my hands and said warmly: “Please enjoy your meal.” I was speechless with excitement…Since that day, my life has changed a great deal. Now joy accompanies me everywhere.

Another narrator, a village Party secretary in Tianjin, describes how Xi Jinping inspected the village’s wheat field in May 2013 and stressed the importance of grain self-sufficiency for China: “After the General Secretary visited our village, all the village projects made marked progress…Our village has also become prettier. Under the care of the General Secretary, we common people will have brighter prospects!”

Chatting with relatives and friends over the holiday, I heard many people praise the anti-corruption efforts by the new leadership under Xi Jinping. They believed that Xi is clean himself and his commitment to containing corruption is genuine. The same people, however, also said they were fed up with official media’s sycophantic reporting on Xi’s activities.

While the new leadership has brought some important changes though policy and action on corruption, as long as the propaganda system’s adulation of leaders continues, it will be hard for Chinese people to feel that politics has changed fundamentally. The new leadership has been pushing through a mass-line campaign that aims to change the government’s “work style” and make cadres and Party members reconnect with the people. The propaganda system’s portrayal of the leaders’ interactions with the masses suggests that the campaign still has quite some distance to go.