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Chinese President Hu Jintao says China and the West are engaged in a “cultural war,” and China’s cultural integrity should be defended from “international hostile forces [which] are intensifying the strategic plot of westernizing and dividing China.”
The comments came Monday in an editorial in the Party journal “Seeking Truth” as a follow-up to discussions of “cultural security” at the October meeting of the Party Central Committee. Yesterday’s article added little to what was said back then, but the publication of a signed editorial by Hu is a sign that the slogan is unlikely to be forgotten in the near future.
The precise reason for penning the editorial now is still unclear, but it seems likely intended to address both concerns about a crisis of values in Chinese society, and the Chinese leader’s keen interest in developing the country’s soft power by creating internationally popular media.
Both the place of publication – a socialist theory magazine founded by Mao Zedong – and the stilted language mark the essay as intended for internal consumption by Party members rather than the general public. It’s essentially an agenda-setting slogan for Party leaders to use to guide rank-and-file members’ policy experimentation. The essay was accompanied by an editorial defending the morality of contemporary Chinese society, a hot topic in China. Many Chinese citizens argue that, lacking both traditional culture and Maoist socialism, China has become a country without values, drawing moral lessons from cases like the October Wang Yue incident in which a child struck by a car was ignored by dozens of passersby.
Paradoxically, the call for strengthening Chinese culture may mean pulling popular (and apolitical) homegrown content off the air and out of the cinemas – there has been a recent spate of bans directed at popular Chinese TV, including dating shows and, most eccentrically, dramas that involve time travel. Of course, this type of cultural censorship has a long history in China, including a previous ineffectual effort to force moviegoers to watch a martial arts epic about Confucius instead of Avatar.
Censorship is likely to cripple the international prong of cultural security – the effort to build a high-powered cultural industry. China’s efforts, such as the recent “Flowers of War,” which starred Christian Bale in what was an effort to communicate the Chinese perspective on World War II to a foreign audience, are frequently overshadowed by negative stories. In this case, Bale was forcibly prevented from meeting a rights activist under informal house arrest.
Despite the ham-fistedness of its efforts, we shouldn’t dismiss the soft power of the Chinese government too soon. They aren’t going to succeed by turning culture into a mass-produced and quality-controlled product, but they will gain influence in the “global south” as an increasing number of developing countries are seeking opportunities to join the fast-growing world of the BRICS.
Having pulled an estimated 600 million people out of poverty in the past few decades, China is increasingly attracting developing world politicians who hope to imitate its self-reliance and rapid growth in growing programs of party-to-party exchange and policy training at party schools. This gives it the potential to build organic influence that doesn’t rely on aping Hollywood blockbusters.
yang zi
David Cohen always makes good sense.
China doens’t have a coherent political, economic and moral system to explain what it is doing. It is all make up as it goes.
one thing set the tone is that China is still in the initial stages of socialism. This allowed all kinds of things happen in China, even if it is against party idealogy.
The party acts as a parent, throw a child in the pool for the child to learn to swim. but at the same time, it is the child himself. struggles in the water yet still holding the believe that this is the right move.
this is the inherent conflict of CCP. very hard to do for anyone, but it is doing it.
the big question is, when China reaches the middle stage of socialism, what does it do? democratize?
the very likely future for China is a open, democratic socialist country. Karl Marx would be happy in his grave.
Expert
@ yang zi
> the big question is, when China reaches the middle stage of socialism, what does it do? democratize?
The likely answer is that China will stay a totalitarian country and the CCP will brutally crush any revolt against it the Syrian style, and China will be stuck in the developing country status indefinitely, like other developing countries that aspired to the first world status but failed.
And like what Jackie Chan said, democracy is incompatible with Chinese values and the Chinese people “need to be controlled” for the benefit of society because there is too much social chaos in China already and the “freedom” makes the social chaos problem only worse.
John Chan
@Expert,
Roman brought the western civilization to zenith, but the collapse to Roman Empire plunged Europe into nearly a thousand years of Dark Age of backwardness, ignorance, brutality and poverty. The first world has not done better than Roman Empire yet, your confidence in the first world is premature and you are bragging like a well frog.
You do not know democracy, and you are contradicting yourself. Democracy allows different opinions to coexist and expressed; yet you take the democracy in China as social chaos, meanwhile you praise totalitarian as the way to advance a society to the first world status. Hence the following two western sayings are good for experts like you to maintain their appearance.
1. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.
2. If you had keep your mouth shut, we may have thought you were clever.
John Chan
@Expert,
Roman brought the western civilization to zenith, but the collapse to Roman Empire plunged Europe into nearly a thousand years of Dark Age of backwardness, ignorance, brutality and poverty. The first world has not done better than Roman Empire yet, your confidence in the first world is premature.
You do not know democracy, and you are contradicting yourself. Democracy allows different opinions to coexist and expressed; yet you take the democracy in China as social chaos, meanwhile you praise totalitarian as the way to advance a society to the first world status.
Expert
@ John Chan
> Democracy allows different opinions to coexist and expressed; yet you take the democracy in China as social chaos,
Democracy means “rights and personal responsibility”, not “rights and personal irresponsibility”. China is not ready for democracy because Chinese government and individuals are totally irresponsible and Chinese culture itself promotes irresponsibility of government, corporation, and individuals, where honest and law-abiding citizens are considered morons while cheaters get away with $100 million.
> meanwhile you praise totalitarian as the way to advance a society to the first world status.
Full democracy is a pre-condition of reaching the first world status. China, due to its lack of freedom and democracy, WILL NOT become a first world country and will see its growth slow down and crash in 5 years.
John Chan
@Expert,
You are the living proof of totalitarian; opinions different from your are not tolerated, form of democracy not to your liking is condemned and banished as irresponsibility and all other bad names you can label.
Your contradictory behaviour should surprise nobody, because people like you from the Westpac put themselves above the law, never say what they meant. They said they promoted democracy and protected human rights; meanwhile they are bombing and killing to get their ways as they pleased non-stop.
John Chan
@Expert,
The atrocity, misery and destruction the first world/Westpac has been bringing to this world are unprecedented to the mankind and too horrible to describe, yet their mouths keep on preaching democracy and human rights, their hypocrisy is too painful to watch.
China definitely will not touch the first world with ten-foot barge pole. You can keep the first world to yourself. For heaven sake, please do not spread your first world to the rest of world.
mareo2
“The Ecomomist” published a good article about the so-called chinese “soft-power” and chinese comments about “losing a cultural war”.
“Sun Tzu and the art of soft power – China is using a new tool to boost its influence abroad. Is it the right one?”
http://www.economist.com/node/21541714
Some bits that I find interesting:
For example talking about the “slogan-driven state policies” that BTW we in Japan got our own ration of them from the last PMs from the LDP:
“…The word “harmonise” is now widely used ironically by ordinary Chinese to mean suppressing dissent…”
About the American multimedia success:
“…Abroad, officials have been trying to win over Western audiences by pouring billions of dollars into the creation of global media giants to rival the soft power of brands such as CNN and the New York Times. A provincial propaganda official complained in January that America, with only 5% of the world’s population, “controlled” about 75% of its television programmes. “Combined with the influence of brands and products such as Hollywood, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, jeans and Coca-Cola, American culture has permeated almost the entire world,” he wrote…
Let’s face it, we watch american movies because it is fun and the artist’s talent blossom in freedom of expression. Something very unlikely to happen in chinese movies censored by the CCP, no matter how much money they waste on it, talent can’t be fabricated like a washing machine. For example young chinese from mainland seems to like more chinese music from Taiwan and Hong Kong.
But what I find a very important point mentioned is the theme of “common universal values” when trying to “sell soft-power”:
“…As Mr Nye sees it, soft power stands a better chance of success when a country’s culture includes “universal values” and its policies “promoted interests that others share”. But China’s soft-power push has coincided with an increasingly strong rejection by Chinese leaders of the very notion of universal values. Among China’s leaders, the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, has come closest to supporting the universalists’ view, but his is a lone voice…”
I talked before with a chinese about the universal value of justice when commenting about government corruption putting common citizens in danger and the response sounded very similar to a japanese ultra-nationalist response something like: “you can’t understand because you are not chinese/japanese, it is something cultural”. Ultra-nationalists use “cultural identity” as some kind of shield for reject criticism and calls for reforms. I find difficult to imagine how a government with a nationalist agenda can master soft-power that it is about attract people minds by appealing to universal values, I think that it is a contradiction.
Being honest the best the CCP can do is aim to an easer lower target of promotion of “common asian values” for influence the region instead of try to sell their culture to western countries like America that have too different values for be attractive to them. But that require that the CCP give up “nationalism” and embrace “regionalism”, something very unlikely to happen.
yang zi
good comments
John Chan
@mareo2,
You are confused. Why do a people take pride of their accent culture and civilization becoming ultra-nationalists? Why have a people to be assimilated by an alien culture in order to become open minded as you asserted? Why don’t you ever question the westerns ultra-nationalist and white supremist while they are carrying out ruthless culture assaults on other cultures?
John Chan
Chinese created their own culture, they have scared responsibility to protect the hard work of their ancestors, it is Chinese duty to make sure their culture and civilization flourish and survive forever.
sternhead
These “universal values” are stamped and identified with western philosophy , government and religion, which leads to a bad case of not-invented-here-syndrome. To accept them is to admit cultural defeat, and elevate western soft power even further. It must be the Chinese way or the highway to preserve Chinese culture.
Expert
This very act of censorship kills what little there is of Chinese entertainment industry desperately needed to win the so-called “culture war”, ensuring that China will remain a colony of foreign culture for decades, possibly forever.
Boris
It’s a sign of internal struggle, what communist played many times before. The story followed will be some guys will be sent to jail for reeducation.
Another communist joke.
Pravda
Hu has a point. If people westernise, they will want much more freedom to say what they want, to easily get influenced by the western connected democracy clans who want to destabilise China and have it torn to shreds, long term advantages mean the US empire will stay on top. Hollywood is a propaganda machine, and its influence is far greater than simply a good flick! If China wants to keep its own culture, build its own foundations, then it would not be prudent for China to kill all western influence overnight, which the government can easily do if they wanted, but theres far tooo much wealth to be lost.
Biggest problem, the balance of morals and greed…. the weakness of all humans, no matter what race or what religion… greed usually wins ;)
ashleyhk
The problem for the CCP and this soft power stuff is that nobody wants to be like them, or emulate what they have.Quite the reverse.
Confucius Institutes supported by a “Communist” government:)
Don’t exactly see people on the streets in, say, the Middle East,or Myanmar, clamouring for a CCP style government. They have had experience of it, or something close, and want the freedoms available in Western countries, rightly or wrongly.
John Chan
@ashleyhk,
HK is the negative teaching material of “how not to embrace western culture;” HK society is financial egoistic, commercial, superficial, no good at either culture, and forever carrying an inferior complex against the western culture.
Indeed China needs a call of cultural war to against the erosion of corrupted HK influence on China’s culture.
GaGa
“… the strategic plot of westernizing and dividing China.”
Duh, does Mr Hu even realize that he is wearing a western suit and tie?
Leonard R.
I think this story has important implications.
The CCP needs a foreign devil du jour. For a long time, Japan played that role.
I see this as part of a pivot to an undefined Western menace. If I am right,
Chinese media will take the cue. (I think it already has.)
Hu Jintao is a plodding, anti-charismatic leader. He will be followed by another -plodding, anti-charismatic leader. This moves smells of desperation. But it makes sense. Western markets are closing. Hard times are coming. Internal repression is growing.
Politically, the PRC has never been very removed from the North Korean model.
The PRC opened up for awhile. Now it is closing down.
citizen2000
China has an authoritarian regime and this just goes to show that they will continue to be authoritarian for the next generation of leaders. Why then do American universities who treasure academic freedom make deal after deal with China. The University of Michigan has a joint campus in Shanghai that was the source of the cyber attacks on Google last year. There are many other American universities that have similar deals with China.
Lung Sha Shou
Hu Jintao’s comment that China and the West are engaged in a “cultural war” is typical of the illegitimate regime in Beijing which seeks to enrich itself at the expense of the Chinese people and the world.
The bloody crackdown of the the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen square were also blamed on “international hostile forces” and external plots “westernizing and dividing China” as is anything the illegitimate “communist” party feels is a threat to its grasp on power.
Setting up their ridiculous pro-China Confucius institutes and making rubbish claims about history are ways in the illegitimate “communist” rulers are themselves waging “cultural war”.
Typical of illegitimate “communist” rulers Hu Jintao and is cronies seek to airbrush inconvenient truths out of history, like the regimes murder of student and other protesters in Tiananmen, and that megalomaniac idiot Mao whose regimes cost tens of millions of Chinese lives.
Worse still Chinese are systematically taught to hate and blame westerners for the problems in their own country. (To me this is worse than that idiot George W Bush’s adventure in Iraq & Afghanistan.) The illegitimate “communist” rulers always blame outsiders for their own shortcomings in their evil attempt to maintain power.
The illegitimate “communist” rulers in Beijing like tyrants everywhere carefully shape the minds and opinions of those they control for their own ends.
As for pulling a few hundred million out of poverty, I prefer to note that China’s income inequality is amongst the greatest in the world and note that China has indeed become a country without values.
When the “government” (a ruling clique of thieves) perceives any threat to its own survival it will bang the nationalist drum and stir the people to direct their aggression and hatred of the West (carefully nursed through years of propaganda).
Millions of people will die for the wicked Beijing regime to remain in power – (again) so what’s new?
China’s leaders, especially Hu Jintao – no honesty, no morality, no decency, just ends seeking manipulators.
JS
Excellent… excellent comment indeed. Thank you for putting it so aptly.
nirvana
(The “Cost of Culture”, by Victor Hugo)
—–
“The biggest error of our time, has been to tilt, I would even say to bend peoples’ minds towards running after material comfort, and consequently to drive them away from the quest for intellectual happiness… We need to remedy to this,…, our mission is to elevate people’s mind, to guide it towards conscience, nobility, righteousness and truth; towards disinterest and magnanimity. It is only then that men will find peace in themselves, and therefore that you will find that people will be at peace with Society”
(Extract of his address to the French Parliament lower house, 10 November 1848)
Drive by
@ Lung Sha Shou,
Why the communist government is illegitimate? Because you said so? Most Chinese have a strong sense of patriotism, and West culture is not very attractive to them. The reason is that they learned their own history very well. There really is no need for exaggeration. Just telling the history as it was is good enough for most Chinese to realize what kind of evil deeds the Westerners are capable of committing, and to learn to view anything from the West with suspicion. For the Westerners who dream of stirring up things in China, this must be very frustrating. But whom can they blame? Only their own ancestors.
Matt
Paranoid, foreign conspiracy. They only way to be immune is to completely cut yourself off from the world like the DPRK. That is why when they go to the DPRK and tell them to reform and follow Russia and China as a model. They laugh, once again the other day, no change. But to do that there is a price as you see with the DPRK.
What he is saying is the west the US is using psychological warfare via the media and culture. They are paranoid about it, which is what the US wants, same with the Jasmine revolution, people walking, everyone is a threat, paranoia. Paranoia is different levels of awareness, it is when you are at a level of paranoia that you see threats that are not there, when you are in trouble.
That was the case with the Jasmine revolution, it was a shadow, now they believe that the media is used and culture is used for psychological warfare a huge conspiracy, people are committed for less and these guys are running a country. Or is it? Maybe the US want them to crackdown or do they? Is it the peoples minds or their minds that are targeted ?. Clearly their thinking and actions are reactive so there is some influence occurring over their thought patterns which is seen via their actions.
People say the crackdown that has been going on is due to leadership change, it is not it is due to global events, they see what has happened in Russia, they see the fall of dictators. And this is just one more aspect of that ongoing crackdown.
We way see them with tinfoil wrapped around their heads to stop people reading their thoughts.
It is not first time either, they have been manipulated and controlled.
So intelligence can follow the network from the Chinese legals to illegals and get them on file, all on video and photographed around the world, huge collection of intelligence. Probably one of the largest in history.