In Mao’s China, it was not at all uncommon for the Party to expunge from official photographs people who were deemed either irrelevant or politically toxic — the objective being to highlight Chairman Mao and those who were seen as his loyal followers. Some interesting examples of these acts of rewriting visual history are documented in this 2013 post by Oiwan Lam. In the early 1970s, as Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai fell into disfavour, they were systematically scrubbed from photographs with Mao.
This week we have an interesting contemporary example of this kind of image scrubbing for propaganda purposes. But the erased is not a political leader in disfavour, but rather a celebrity in the midst of scandal, and therefore deemed morally unsuited to appear in a prominent program on Beijing TV to celebrate the Spring Festival.
Also this week, readers should note how the Chinese Communist Youth League is discussing its own propaganda efforts over the past year, and the need to leverage social media platforms and other emerging media to find new ways to reach young people with the Party’s messaging. Worthy of attention, too, is the discussion taking shape in China around the release of the science fiction blockbuster film “The Wandering Earth.” To what extent does the film pander to nationalist sentiment, going against the work of short fiction that inspired it?
THIS WEEK IN CHINA’S MEDIA
February 2-8, 2019
➢ Chinese Communist Youth League takes year-end stock of its top attempts at viral propaganda
➢ Actor edited out of Spring Festival television event after scandal breaks
➢ Blood plasma products reported to be contaminated with HIV
➢ “The Wandering Earth” hits screens to general praise, and discussion of nationalism as a selling point
[1] Chinese Communist Youth League takes year-end stock of its top attempts at viral propaganda
Beginning on February 5, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) began running reviews on its official WeChat account of how the League, nicknamed “Tuan Tuan” (团团), engaged with audiences over the past year through various social media channels. The point of the reviews is apparently to highlight the work the CCYL has done to modernise propaganda and reach younger audiences with the messages of the leadership.
One example on the CCYL’s review of what it characterised as its “top” posts on Zhihu (知乎), a Chinese question-and-answer website similar to Quora, was a discussion about the CCYL’s opening of accounts on two popular video streaming sites, Kuaishou (快手) and Tik Tok (抖音). The question was phrased: “How should we view the Chinese Communist Youth League’s announcement that it will join Kuaishou and Tik Tok?” The answer: “When the Chinese Communist Youth League officially joined Kuaishou and Tik Tok on October 1, 2018, this received both attention and ridicule from internet users. Facing this situation, this team responded on Zhihu: ‘General Secretary Xi Jinping has said before that wherever the youth are, the league’s organisation and work must extend there, and so Tuan Tuan is coming for the sake of the youth!'”
The CCYL’s top-ten list of songs over the past year consisted entirely of patriotic songs, including “Born Unbending” (生来倔强), a tune produced by the CCYL-operated China Youth Workshop (青微工作室) about military maneuvers in the South China Sea.
Such public acts of taking stock of the implementation of Party policies are common in the Chinese political system, as various offices and institutions strive to signal to the leadership that they are proactive.
KEY SOURCES:
WeChat public account “CCYL” (共青团中央): 喜欢动漫就是“精日”?中国是一个幸运的国家吗?| 团团年度知乎文章榜TOP10
AND: 不看后悔系列!「那兔·生于忧患」「中国的未来拜托了」 团团年度视频音乐TOP10
Bilibili:【刘老师】走心解说这部讲述中国近几年飞速发展的电影!
AND: 南海阅兵MV震撼发布
[2] Actor edited out of Spring Festival television event after scandal breaks
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