Everyone can guess on the basis of official Chinese news coverage that the recent full plenary session of top Chinese Communist Party leaders, which concluded in Beijing yesterday, was all about culture. But as for what the meeting actually spells for cultural creation in China, anyone could be forgiven for being totally stumped.
We’ll take a more in-depth look at cultural policy (both domestic and international) in the coming weeks. But for now we want to just give a flavor of how news coverage looks in China today as the plenary session language on cultural system reforms (文化体制改革) is being loudly promoted by media.
One of the most indicative pieces to be found nearly everywhere today is an official editorial from page two of the Party’s People’s Daily. “Without the flourishing development of socialist culture, there can be no socialist modernization,” the editorial begins. “The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation must be accompanied by the thriving of Chinese culture.” And there are hints of soft power and the international dimensions of culture as well in the statement that without thriving culture “a country and a people cannot possibly stand strong in the forest of nations.”

[ABOVE: An editorial on page 2 of today’s official People’s Daily says great progress was made at the recent sixth plenary session of the 17th Central Committee of the CCP on the issue of cultural reforms.]
But beyond a dizzying deluge of formulaic Party language speaking to the essential role of cultural creation in the “rejuvenation of the Chinese people,” there are few specifics anywhere today to tell us exactly what any of this means.
The following is a very partial translation of today’s editorial in People’s Daily.

“The Great March Toward a Great Nation of Socialist Culture”
People’s Daily
October 19, 2011
Page 2
Without the flourishing development of socialist culture, there can be no socialist modernization; the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation must be accompanied by the thriving of Chinese culture.
The sixth plenary session of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party concluded successfully. This important meeting held in the midst of the critical period of the comprehensive building of a moderately well-off society (小康社会), from the heights of the general layout of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, made deployments for the deepening of cultural system reforms (文化体制改革), promoting the great development and prosperity of socialist culture. It emphasized the need to cleave to the road of development of socialism with Chinese characteristics, working hard to build a strong socialist cultural nation (社会主义文化强国). This has major practical significance and deep historical significance in mobilizing the whole Party and the peoples of our country, under the leadership of Party, in promoting the steady development of various undertakings, seizing new victories in the comprehensive building of a moderately well-off society to initiate a new situation in the undertaking of socialism with Chinese characteristics, realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The plenary meeting heard and discussed the work report delivered by Comrade Hu Jintao on behalf of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, examining and adopting “Central Committee Decision Concerning the Major Issue of Deepening Cultural System Reforms, Promoting the Great Development and Prosperity of Socialist Culture” (中共中央关于深化文化体制改革 推动社会主义文化大发展大繁荣若干重大问题的决定). All were in agreement that with a rapidly changing international situation and facing the formidable tasks of maintaining reform, development and stability domestically, the Central Committee of the Party with Comrade Hu Jintao as General Secretary uniting with the whole Party, the army and the people, in implementing the scientific view of development, in accelerating a transition in methods of economic development, in thoroughly promoting the building of a socialist economy, politics, culture and society, as well as the building of ecological civilization (生态文明建设) and thoroughly promoting great new projects in building the Party, new advancements and new achievements were made for all the various tasks, and a solid foundation was set down for realizing a good start to the 12th Five-Year Plan period.
Culture is the circulating blood of a nation, the spiritual home of a people. From a strategic standpoint, this plenary meeting was an important meeting for research and deployment on cultural reform and development. . . The “Decision” fully expresses the Chinese Communist Party’s deep grasp of historical mission it bears, its scientific assessment of circumstances both domestically and internationally, its high level of awareness on culture construction (文化建设), and thoroughly reflects the common hopes of all the nationalities of China. It is the programmatic document leading current and future cultural reform and development in our nation.
. . . .
Without culture to guide the way, without the great richness of a people’s spiritual world, without bringing the spiritual strength of the whole nation into play, a country and a people cannot possibly stand strong in the forest of nations.

On October 14, Xinhua News Agency’s Economic Information Daily reported claims by commercial authorities in the city of Changsha that several local stores for the international retail chains Walmart and Carrefour in the city had been found to be re-labeling food products and selling them after expiration. The allegations come as Walmart China stores have been forced to close in the city of Chongqing and at least 37 employees detained over allegations regular pork was sold as organic pork. In this cartoon, posted by Kunming-based studio Yuan Jiao Man’s Space (圆觉漫时空) to QQ.com, a figure with a smiley face (representing Walmart in China) and a devilishly grinning figure with the long Pinocchio nose of a chronic fibber (representing Carrefour in China), work in cahoots to tinker with a clock.

China has been captivated this week by the distressing case of two-year-old Foshan girl Xiao Yueyue (小悦悦), who was coldly ignored by passersby as she lay bleeding in the street after being struck by a delivery van. Video shared widely across social media in China documented the October 13 incident in horrifying detail, including at least 18 people walking past Xiao Yueyue’s body without so much as a glance.
Xiao Yueyue is reportedly in stable but critical condition in a Guangzhou hospital. The implications of the incident are being widely discussed in China’s media, both new and old. According to People’s Daily Online, at least 151,342 microblog posts had been made on the incident by Monday afternoon. The vast majority of these (about 150,742), the site said, were from “ordinary users” (those, in other words, without large numbers of followers). The following is one composite image post made to Sina Microblog today:

[ABOVE: A composite image posted to Sina Microblog, one of China’s leading social media platforms. At top is Chen Xianmei (陈贤妹), who eventually did stop to help the child, Xiao Yueyue, who is pictured in the hospital on the right side of the composite.]
Traditional media have also jumped on the story, even local Party newspapers such as Foshan Daily, which ran a front page headline yesterday reading: “Today, they have shamed the whole of Foshan.” The headline refers to those 18 people who were caught on video walking or driving callously past the seriously injured Xiao Yueyue.

One of the lengthiest reports comes from the official, but also very commercial, Guangzhou Daily. The report quotes a number of experts, including Fudan University sociologist Gu Xiaoming (顾晓明), who said that people had lost their “reverence for life” and felt “indifferent or even cold about life or death” owing to the new complexities of Chinese social life. Faced with a situation like Xiao Yueyue’s, Gu said, many people don’t know how to act: “People will rationalize [the situation] and think, if I try to save her but she dies because I can’t, how will that make me responsible?”
Chen Xianmei (陈贤妹), the woman who eventually did come to Xiao Yueyue’s aid, told Guangzhou Daily that she asked four or five people who had stalls along the street whether they knew whose child this was. According to Chen they all responded, “It’s not mine,” and no one offered help. Chen then shouted in all directions, asking for help or information, and only then did the Xiao Yueyue’s mother come running.
At People’s Daily Online today, columnist Li Hongbing (李泓冰) writes: “Any one of us might become the ‘passerby’ at the side of Xiao Yueyue. Please, stop. Move her out of the center of the road. Or extend a hand of comfort, carrying her away from danger.”
Here are some Chinese news links on this story today:
“By extending a hand, we save ourselves,” Yangcheng Evening News
“Two drivers arrested for running over Xiao Yueyue,” Foshan Radio
“The Xiao Yueyue incident: gathering up the scraps of China’s conscience?,” Nanfang Daily
“Zhang Ming: those passersby who neglected an injured child are no better than animals,” Phoenix Online
“Good-hearted auntie: I did what I should have,” Hebei Youth Daily

In an interview with Southern Metropolis Daily, Han Han (韩寒), the widely popular blogger and cultural critic who doubles as a race-car driver, offers his views on China’s domestic film industry. Earlier today, the culture section of Southern Metropolis Daily shared portions of the interview through its official Sina Microblog account, pulling out Han Han’s choice quote on censorship.

It may be the case that the government in a country with cultural censorship no longer has to fear criticism or satire at the hands of its own creative works. But then the whole world subjects it to criticism and satire.

A portion of Han Han’s interview follows, but readers of Chinese are encouraged to read the original (and offer any pointers on our hurried translation).

Southern Metropolis Daily: Here’s a pretty cliche question, but can you talk about how you view “Lee’s Adventure” (李献计历险记)? Did you buy a ticket and see it? What kind of score do you give this film?
Han Han: This is a really tough question to answer. I bought a ticket at the theater to watch it, and before it came out I really wanted to see it. But during the first few days it was out I was racing, and there weren’t any theaters where I was. This is a film with the potential to become really great, but it falls short. I feel like the film actually could be made into three separate films. The first would be a fully animated “Lee’s Adventure,” nothing but animation; the second would be a youth film called “Lee’s Adventure”; and the third would be “Lee’s Adventure” the romantic adventure story. When all three of these are all put together, added to the narration bits that have a really distinct Beijing quality, a really sincere film with everything there falls a bit flat. But it’s still worth going to the theater and buying a ticket to see.
Southern Metropolis Daily: In the past you’ve commented on and graded a number of films, from “On His Majesty’s Secret Service” (大内密探零零狗) to “Founding of the Republic” (建国大业) and “Confucius” (孔子). You tend not to pull your punches. But lately you’ve not said very little about domestically-made films (国产电影), and we’ve not seen you scolding them much either. Is this because you’ve simply lost hope, or because you now know too many people in the industry and feel bad about being too critical? Can you talk about what films you’ve seen this year on your own dime that have really made a deep impression on you?
Han Han: I’ve not had contact with too many people in the film industry. It’s just that film criticism is something I’ve done in my spare time. I’ve not seen many good domestic films this year. “The Piano in a Factory” (钢的琴) was one, and while the part imitating Yugoslavian film and the totally unnecessary song and dance was a bit affected, the principal male character and the director held it together. “Lee’s Adventure” was another. Both films were filmed in a very lofty style, but both fortunately came back down to earth. Both films pushed hard to be moving and tragic but ultimately failed the audience.
Southern Metropolis Daily: Hong Huang (洪晃) once said that China doesn’t have independent film critics and needs more Han Hans. What did you think after hearing that? You’re not a film critic by trade, but many people (including the one sitting next to you right now) would read your reviews and weight them as they considered whether or not to go and see a film. Does knowing that make you more cautious in reviewing films?
Han Han: I do feel some caution about it. Every film, even the totally stupid ones, are the product of a lot of work and at the very least mean a whole crew has to get up early every day for three months. So sometimes I don’t have the heart [to be too critical]. I’m not saying though that work and effort are necessarily a good thing and should earn forgiveness. After all, killing and plundering, robbing and looting, are all a lot of hard work too. The efforts of others can’t become an excuse for forgiving [mediocrity].
Southern Metropolis Daily: You’ve started becoming involved with films in various ways, and sometimes you can be seen “standing up” for certain films. So are you planning to throw your strength in with filmmaking, or is this just out of friendship? And what if it’s you who are criticized once these films hit the screen?
Han Han: Basically it’s out of friendship, but these are all people I’ve picked out as people I can trust. I’m a pretty thin-skinned and soft-hearted person, but when I come across idiots my skin still thickens right up and my heart grows hard. So these are basically friends that I know won’t let me down. Fortunately, I don’t know that many. So I can preserve my independence.
Southern Metropolis Daily: You once had a director fire back at you, saying if you know so much about film why don’t you try making one yourself? You’ve talked before about how you have played with the idea of directing. So why have you not started? These past couple of years, film has been hot, and the money has flowed. On the surface, it seems to be flourishing, with box office numbers breaking hundreds of millions. Do you think there is a higher proportion of good films on the silver screen today?
Han Han: Films aren’t the work of a single person. If a film can’t make it into theaters, there’s no way I can face my investors and partners. The film market is flourishing, but it’s even harder to make decent films in China. The quality of Hong Kong films has been pulled lower as cooperation has been sought [with mainland film partners to reach both markets]. The film censorship system means current material [relating to life today] is avoided altogether. And many people who really should be in the field of television drama, or telemarketing for that matter, have entered the film industry — all of these are reasons the quality of filmmaking has gone down.
Southern Metropolis Daily: Do you think the film censorship system is the chief reason we have so many bad Chinese films?
Han Han: It’s an extremely important reason. When I was writing my book I found myself self-censoring, taking a lot of content out myself. And then the editor would take out more. This is even more the case with film. It may be the case that the government in a country with cultural censorship no longer has to fear criticism or satire at the hands of its own creative works. But then the whole world subjects it to criticism and satire.

Back in September, the [road-rage] attack case involving Li Tianyi (李天一), the son of major general and army vocalist Li Shuangjiang (李双江), once again (like the Li Gang Case of October 2010) drew the attention of the public to the arrogant attitudes and behavior of young Chinese with well-connected parents — that is, the sons and daughters of Party and government officials (官二代) and the sons and daughters of the rich (富二代).
Li Tianyi’s case was also cast as an illustration of the arrogant behavior of the sons and daughters of privileged entertainment stars, referred to as the xing’erdai (星二代). Right on the heels of the Li Tianyi case, Wang Ke (王珂) and Wang Shuo (王闹), two of the so-called “Beijing playboys” (京城四少) — both regarded as second-generation rich and powerful — crashed their luxury cars during a street race, which then led to a scuffle in which Wang Shuo allegedly pulled a gun on Wang Ke [More here from China Daily]. This case, like the others, focused attention on the dictatorial and unchecked behavior of some children of the second generation, and drew in related debates about social fairness and equality, corruption and rule of law.
Like Wang Shuo, the deputy general manager of property development company Beijing Wangfu Centurial Development, Wang Ke is regarded as a member of the so-called “second-generation rich,” or fu’erdai (富二代), but his exact family connections remain something of a mystery. In this cartoon by Kuang Biao (邝飚), “Second-Generation Running Amuck”(横行的二代) — in which the word hengxing, or running amuck, also means to “stalk” or “crawl” or “scuttle”, as in the movement of crabs — two crabs with lower bodies shaped like a government seal (left) and a sycee, or ancient Chinese gold ingot, battle it out for supremacy. The upper bodies of these crabs, which clearly represent the “second-generation powerful” and the “second-generation rich,” are shaped like, well . . . we leave the rest of the interpretation to our readers. (Could there also be a pejorative reference to Hu Jintao’s “harmonious society” and internet slang “river crab” here?)

China’s State Internet Information Office (国家互联网信息办公室), also known as the “China Internet Information Office,” held a meeting in Beijing yesterday under the formal topic of “positively using microblogs to serve society” (积极运用微博客服务社会). The meeting signals again that China’s government is exploring measures to reign in domestic social media.
In recent months Chinese microblogs such as Sina Weibo and QQ Weibo have had a clear impact in shaping national news stories and gathering public interest and attention around sensitive social and political issues, from China’s high-speed rail collision to charity-related scandals and even recently the detention of blind activist Chen Guangcheng (陈光诚).
Established by the General Office of the State Council in May 2011, the State Internet Information Office is an attempt to centralize the management and control of internet content in China, a function that in the past was performed by an array of government offices — with, for example, the State Council Information Office handling text-based online news and video content remaining the responsibility of the State Administration of Radio Film and Television. The State Internet Information Office is run by Wang Chen (王晨), who concurrently serves as a deputy minister of the Central Propaganda Department.

At yesterday’s meeting, Wang Chen emphasized that “[we] must thoroughly apply a series of guiding spirits of the central Party in regards to internet construction, development and management, keeping to the guiding principle of ‘positive use, scientific development, management by rule of law and ensuring safety’ . . . ” Wang said the government must “thoroughly give play to the positive role of microblogs in serving society, taking concrete steps to develop and manage [them], working together to preserve a healthy and orderly online communication order, serving the overall work of the government and the Party, and serving the masses.”
According to a report from Xinhua News Agency, representatives from various companies and local government offices also spoke at the meeting yesterday to share their experiences using official and personal microblogs to promote their own messages, making them “new channels for serving the people.” Guo Mingyi (郭明义), a manager at a mining company, reportedly told the audience how he had used his personal microblog account “as a new platform to promote and praise the spirit of [nationwide propaganda exemplar] Lei Feng (雷锋).”

NOTE: The following editorial published in today’s edition of Shanghai’s Oriental Morning Post is translated an re-posted here with the permission of the author, Guo Yukuan (郭宇宽), a former professional journalist who is currently doing post-doctorate studies at Tsinghua University’s Research Center for Theoretical Economics. The Oriental Morning Post version is available here.
Recently I posted something online that was a bit at odds with the views of some internet users. Of course, it’s quite normal to find different views about a particular topic or issue, and I’m perfectly happy to exchange views with those who don’t see eye to eye with me.
But many web users have a very interesting way of “conversing.” Not bothering to listen to specific points I make, they pipe right up with things like: “Guo Yukuan, what do you know about logic! You with your PhD! Has your conscience been eaten by dogs?” That kind of thing. It’s as though they feel an unrestrained hatred towards me.

This sort of thing really gets me down. Here I am trying to talk things out and these people harass me endlessly. Where exactly does this anger that they’re venting on me come from? What is it, I wonder, that has made us lose all capacity for rational discussion?
Not long ago, I went back to my native Nanjing for a visit. I hailed a cab to the airport, and as we were trying to leave the city the traffic was a bit backed up. As we approached an intersection and the light was about to turn red, the sedan in front of us suddenly stopped dead rather than accelerating through the light. It was maybe two seconds before the light actually turned red, so we had to wait through the light, costing us probably twenty seconds in all.
I noticed that the sedan in front of us was a nice one, worth perhaps three- to four-hundred thousand yuan, and the tags were brand new. Clearly, the owner was from a well-to-do family.
My taxi driver swelled with anger, curses tumbling right out of his mouth. When the light finally changed, he furiously drove out in front of the sedan. Was the little bit we had to wait worth all this, I thought? If your emotions are that out of check isn’t it dangerous to take the highway?
I tried to reason with the driver. He spouted on about corrupt officials and how they were all a bunch of nothings with no sense of shame. In their corrupt way they finagled themselves into nice cars like that, but they didn’t know the first thing about driving them. If he had a tank, he said, he’d shell the dogs into oblivion.
Actually, I’d noticed when we passed the sedan that the driver was a woman. She was wearing a very fashionable hairdo, and seemed to be new to driving, but there was nothing to suggest that she was indeed a corrupt official. But in any case this was what Brother Taxi Driver believed, and he spat out his litany of curses.
I changed tack and asked the driver about his own family situation. When he talked about his child he was quite energetic. His child was in primary school right now, and he talked about all the expenses this involved, how if they were to go to a decent middle school he would have to slide 20,000 yuan into the school’s hand. And all the time he had to send his kid to this or that extra tutorial class, for which fees were high.
Then he started in on how ridiculous it was that teachers at the school didn’t always do a proper job of it, and they had to pay extra for tutors. Seeing that his anger was ebbing up again, I piped up saying that it was only right to spend a bit of money for the sake of one’s children. I asked him how his child’s studies were going. He said they were doing very well, that their test scores were always close to the top. Well at least his kid was doing well, I suggested, and at that he finally calmed down a bit.
I was taken aback when the driver was again whipped into a fury as we reached the airport, saying that to get a passenger at the airport he would have to wait in line for more than two hours, but that going back to the city empty was a waste, so he wasn’t sure what to do. He said some people didn’t have to wait though, they knew the airport security people and just slipped them cash so security would just look the other way.
I asked why they didn’t set up a professional association to regulated such behavior. In China right now, no-one can set up an association, he said, and whoever tries will be arrested just like that. Well then, I asked, had they tried reasoning with airport management? And what would he say, he asked. These people don’t understand reason, he said. Reason with them and they’ll beat you up.
By this time it was much clearer to me why he was so angry. In his world going through the backdoor and relying on connections was just the way of it, and he despised this kind of corruption. But he had no choice but the play by these rules, all the while feeling deeply wronged. The emotions he built up were under a state of high pressure, with no release valve, and every time he came up against some small thing his emotions exploded. Even something like waiting an extra 20 seconds could set him off on a half-day rant.
This made me think of an experience I had several years back. I was at a dinner party and someone who knew a friend of mine at the table came in and joined us partway through. My friend made introductions, saying that this guy was an urban management officer (城管). My first thought was, geez, can’t you find respectable work to do? But this guy was quite upfront about it, saying right out that being an urban management officer wasn’t work for human beings, and that they were all quite conflicted about it.
Conflicted how? He said that these small-time hawkers didn’t have a basic sense of order, and if it weren’t for urban management the streets would be chock full of them — and what would happen if the roads were all jammed? The police couldn’t deal with it, so the urban management officers had to. Well, I asked can’t you guys deal with the problem a bit more tactfully? Come and try it for a couple of days, he said. Try saying politely to these folk, I’m sorry, sir, but you can’t put your stand up here because it blocks traffic. They’ll give you the cold shoulder, hem and haw, and as soon as you’ve turned your back they’re right back out there.
I remember back to my youth when I lived on a college campus, and in that oasis of culture there was quite a palpable atmosphere of reason. I grew up learning to cherish reason as a matter of habit, and I’ve never felt the poorer for it.
But China today has a massive social subclass (底层社会) that moves and operates on the principle of might makes right (强权规则), by which the largest fist holds sway and has the say, and reason is unwelcome. These brutal emotions feed off of one another, so that to a large extent they distort the character of the masses, to the point that they no longer believe that reason is the way forward.
When I put all of these experiences together and look back on those people who have attacked me on the internet, I can understand where they’re coming from. And given the chance I’d love to sit down and talk with them, so long as we can look into each others’ eyes. Might they not feel a touch of shame in noting that this Guo Yukuan isn’t such a terrible guy after all? Have I done anything so offensive that I should deserve your hatred and such poisonous words?
Some people have asked me where I find the patience to speak reason with those who have no sense of it. In fact, when I come across these irrational sorts of internet users I don’t feel angry at all. Quite the opposite, I feel a kind of sympathy.
I can’t blame them any longer for being unreasonable. Rather, I have to ask, what sort of social environments, institutions and formative experiences is it that have molded their characters, world views and values in this way?

Today marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the start of the Xinhai Revolution in China, which overthrew the country’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing, and eventually led to the founding of the Republic of China in 1912. Not surprisingly, China’s newspaper pages today are filled with news of this important anniversary.
But as a major political movement calling for freedom and democracy, and an end to authoritarianism, the Xinhai Revolution is also a highly sensitive issue for the ruling Chinese Communist Party. It is not surprising, therefore, that most of the coverage today sticks quite closely to the official story from Xinhua News Agency. Below the fold are other local stories, such as local commemorations of the Xinhai anniversary, and about a former chief engineer from Boeing making a visit to Wuhan.
We can see the basic Party treatment best by looking at the front page of the Party’s official People’s Daily, where a photo of the standing committee + 1 (former President Jiang Zemin), with Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin right smack in the middle, accompanies a dry report on the commemoration and the full official text of Hu Jintao’s “important speech.”

Typical of boilerplate Party coverage of official activities, and basically identical to the Xinhua version, the People’s Daily report begins:

Beijing, October 9 — A major conference to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution was held ceremoniously in the Great Hall of the People this morning. General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, National President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) made an important speech. He emphasized that 100 years ago, revolutionary Party members represented by Sun Yat-sen (孙中山) launched the Xinhai Revolution, which shook the world, beginning a social transformation such as China had never before seen. Today, we solemnly commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution . . .

The report notes, of course, that the rest of China’s powerful politburo standing committee were also in attendance: Wu Banguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang, Zhou Yongkang. But again, Jiang Zemin (江泽民), Hu Jintao’s predecessor as President, and still a powerful political player, is added to the beginning of the name list, given place of pride right after Hu Jintao and before the other 8.
In the People’s Daily, the underlined portion above (and some text immediately following) is emphasized in a bold pull-quote at the top right of the page, a place usually occupied in the newspaper by another major policy announcement.
We’ll avoid the temptation of parsing Hu Jintao’s speech in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution. In our view, this speech has little political significance in and of itself, the only substantial sign emerging from the commemoration ceremony being the appearance and prominent positioning of former President Jiang Zemin.
Coverage of the Xinhai Revolution anniversary in today’s mainland newspapers seems to follow two basic lines. First, there are the People’s Daily copycats, running coverage and framing coverage in exactly the same way as the chief Party newspaper. This is actually quite typical of what we generally see nationwide, across the board, in the official Party newspapers whenever a single story — such as a national conference or other major national or international event — dominates.
Here is a composite of four major Party newspapers — the People’s Daily, the Liberation Army Daily, Guangming Daily and Economic Daily — made by media microblogger Old Media Wang (传媒老王) today. The affinities should be clear to all.

This “mainstream” treatment of today’s big story seems to have been adopted uniformly across Party newspapers today. The treatment is also used by some commercial metro newspapers. Here for example is Changjiang Daily, the official Party newspaper in the city of Wuhan, followed by the front page of Wuhan Morning Post, a commercial spin-off of Changjiang Daily:

Both of the newspapers above differ from the People’s Daily in the way they have given the Xinhai Revolution commemoration story prominent position, but have offered only brief front page coverage, instead referring readers to the inside pages.
The upper right-hand corner of the Changjiang Daily front page has a story about cultural sector reforms in Wuhan. Below the fold are other local stories, including local coverage of the anniversary commemoration, and a story about a visit to Wuhan by a former chief engineer for Boeing.
But a handful of newspapers in China decided to pull their own news angles out of the Xinhai Revolution commemoration story. This was the case with major newspapers in southern Guangdong province, which has a reputation for slightly bolder media.
Nanfang Daily, the province’s official Party newspaper, opted for the same photograph of Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin that was used by many foreign and Hong Kong media in their reports on internal Party power plays and Jiang’s role.
The large headline at Nanfang Daily draws from Hu Jintao’s remarks on cross-straits relations between mainland China and Taiwan: “Increasing a national spirit of sticking together through thick and thin; with one heart, realizing the rejuvenation of our people.”

The front page of Southern Metropolis Daily, a commercial spin-off of Nanfang Daily regarded as one of China’s top professional publications, is much the same as that of its “mother paper” (母报). The main photo is of Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin smiling and shaking hands. The headline again is about cross-straits relations, this time the portion about “one heart” quoting directly from Hu instead of paraphrasing: “With one heart, realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people; this should become the common goal to work toward on both sides of the straits.”

The headline at Southern Metropolis Daily in particular has a strange ring as it is juxtaposed with the photo of Hu and Jiang shaking hands. This is nothing more than the editor’s personal feeling here, but I couldn’t help but wonder if the newspaper wasn’t trying to slip in a bit of commentary about reaching across divides within the Party as well. (I welcome thoughts from native news junkies.)
But the starkest and most telling of contrasts may be offered by newspapers in Shanghai, China’s financial center, and of course the city from which Jiang Zemin emerged political in the aftermath of June 4, 1989. Here is the front page of Wen Hui Bao, the official newspaper of the Shanghai committee of the Chinese Communist Party — in other words, the “mouthpiece” of the city’s top Party leaders.

Wen Hui Bao is virtually a mirror image of the People’s Daily, austere and packed with official content. But here is today’s Oriental Morning Post, one of Shanghai’s leading commercial newspapers, which in recent years has also distinguished itself somewhat with its stronger investigative coverage and editorial page.

The headline is a tribute to the anniversary, not so different from the paper’s Party counterparts. It reads: “.” But the entire space below is swallowed by a brilliant advertisement for the luxury watch brand Rolex.
And in many ways, that says it all.